by Aratare, X.
She answered him telepathically too, Show me.
And he did. He let her experience how he had met Casillus. He let her tour Emralis with them. And, finally, showed her Aemrys’ face. Her mind was awhirl again, but not with anguish, but with wonder, joy, shock, and love.
Your meeting with Casillus is like a storybook! Emralis is so beautiful. House Liseas is a dream! I wish … She bit her lower lip. I wish I could see it myself.
You will, Gabriel said.
I don’t have gills, Gabriel, she said with a soft smile.
He paused and then said, I can help you experience it with me.
Her forehead furrowed, but then cleared. Oh, yes, of course, you will visit there --
Live. I will live there, he corrected.
She froze. He took in a deep breath. The hardest parts of what he had to tell her he had not yet showed her. This was the first of those.
You’ll live there, she repeated as if the words had no meaning.
I have to.
Her hands went to his gills again, which were now settling down on his sides. You have to or you’ll … die?
Yes. He grasped her hands and gripped them. But this gift, this ability to talk like this, show you these things, will only grow stronger. You’ll be with me and I’ll be with you no matter where we both are physically. We will be only a thought apart.
Tears were flowing now. Casillus came and touched her shoulder. She looked up at him and put a hand on his face.
You’ll take care of Gabriel for me, won’t you? she asked.
I will. He is worth more than my own life, Casillus promised her.
She swiped tears from her eyes. I can feel that’s true.
Gabriel took in another deep breath. She had accepted that he was a Mer. She had accepted that he had to leave. But the truth of Johnson remained to be revealed. She heard his breathing grow labored or perhaps she felt his sudden tension and turned back to him.
What is it, Gabriel? she asked. What more do you have to tell me?
Could he lie to her? Could he say that Johnson had died in a terrible boating accident and leave it at that? No, of course, he couldn’t. She would know these things were lies.
Let’s go sit on the porch with the others, Gabriel said, stalling, delaying.
All right, she agreed though she kept looking up at him anxiously. Do the others know about you?
The others were Corey, Greta and Roger. He nodded. Telling her more than that was dangerous. Gabriel had to keep his emotions and thoughts in tight check so that they wouldn’t accidentally be revealed to her. What would she think of him when she discovered he had allowed Johnson, Marko and Jax to die?
You have nothing to feel ashamed about, Casillus said. You did everything you could to save them.
She cared about him though. Cares. She might even have been falling in love with him! Gabriel objected.
She loves you more than she could ever have loved Johnson. And once she hears what he tried to do anything she felt for him will die, Casillus said knowingly.
But it’ll hurt her when it does, Gabriel said quietly.
The three of them continued to walk slowly back to the porch. Gabriel could feel his grandmother’s emotions spiking in both amazement and then falling into confusion. She moved from joy to concern and back again and yet all the while her expression was serene under the moonlight. He was amazed at her ability to control herself. If only he was so strong. Not once did she flinch back from wanting to know the truth. Would she regret that once she heard about Johnson?
As they came up the porch steps, Corey called, “Oh, man, is it good to see both of you! Everything -- is everything ah okay?”
Gabriel could see the questions in his best friend’s eyes, but before he could answer, his grandmother said, “Yes, Corey, everything is -- is quite fine. My grandson is a Mer! And that is quite a miracle.”
“Total miracle! And Casillus is a prince! Can you believe our very own Gabe has a prince as his boyfriend? Soon they’ll be living in a palace. It’s amazing,” Corey enthused with a bobbing head.
“How’s your ankle doing, Corey?” Gabriel asked and winced as he caught sight of the swollen dark skin.
“It’s ugly,” Corey said, interpreting the wince. “But it’s no big deal. We have a happy ending here, Gabe.” Then he gaze slid to his grandmother and he added, “Well, mostly.”
Gabriel realized then that Greta was talking on the phone. She pulled the cell phone from her ear after signing off with someone. Meeting Gabriel’s gaze, she said, “Everything’s been cleaned up at the settlement. The whole place is now secure and in the proper hands. Dr. Marstand should be here in a few minutes.”
His grandmother’s head lifted. “The settlement? Did you all get injured at the settlement?”
“We ah …” Greta’s voice dropped off. Roger took her hand and Gabriel saw their fingers link.
“Come and sit beside me, Grandma G,” Corey said with a wave of his hand.
She sat down on one of the rattan chairs next to the loveseat he was sprawled out on. Corey took her hand.
“So you know about Gabe. I can tell. I could almost hear you guys talking out there,” Corey said.
She nodded and that flash of wonder crossed her face. “I’m aching at the thought of him going, but … but it doesn’t feel like he’s going all that far. He’s in my mind. He’ll never truly be gone.”
“You’ll probably hear from me too much,” Gabriel said as he and Casillus perched on the railing side by side.
“Never!” She swatted the air with one hand as if she could physically swat such an absurd idea away. Her gaze was on him then and there were tears in her eyes. “I’ve always known that you were going to go someplace else to live, Gabriel. Maybe even across the country. Emralis is the same as San Francisco in a way.”
Gabriel’s throat got tight. He nodded. “But this mind to mind thing is way better than Skype or phones or anything.”
She smiled and touched her temples as if she were touching him as she did so. “It’s the most incredible thing. I would never have said I felt separate from you before, but compared to now … you’re truly with me, Gabriel. I am not alone.”
She understands. Her mind is Mer. If only her body was as well, Casillus said. His left hand snaked around Gabriel’s bare waist.
She figured it out way faster than me, Gabriel responded.
His grandmother sat up straighter and regarded each of them with a rather stern expression. “Now tell me what you’re holding back. Spare nothing. I need to know.”
Corey and Gabriel’s gazes met. Again, though it was Corey who spoke, Gabriel felt as if it came from both of them. Corey said, “It’s about Johnson.”
“Is he all right?” she asked, her eyes flickering between him and Gabriel.
“He’s dead,” Gabriel said. His voice sounded almost cold. He wished it didn’t for her sake. But anger at Johnson flared inside of him once more. If the man had not been so damned bullheaded he would still be alive. As much as Johnson had been affected by the statue, he had opened his heart to darkness as well and let it stream on in. Most importantly, Gabriel couldn’t forgive the older man for seducing his grandmother as part of his plan.
Even if he loved her, he knew what he was going to do would make her hate him, Gabriel thought.
He is gone now, my love, Casillus reminded him and gently pried one of Gabriel’s hands from the porch’s railing where he had been gripping the wood so tightly that his knuckles had gone white.
“Oh, my God,” his grandmother breathed and stared out at the sea for a moment as if to take in Johnson’s death. “How did this happen?”
“That, my dear Mrs. Braven, is partly my fault,” Dr. Marstand said from the side of the cottage.
He must have parked his car and walked around the side of cottage following the sound of their voices. Gabriel was surprised he hadn’t sensed Dr Marstand’s approach. Even now the professor’s mind was locked to him. Dr. Marstand
briefly glanced at him and Gabriel realized that the professor knew that he was trying read his thoughts. Gabriel quickly looked away.
“Who are you?” his grandmother asked as she half rose from her seat.
“I am the man who allowed Johnson to come here when the temple was discovered even though I knew he was deeply obsessed with --”
“Don’t say it’s name!” Gabriel interrupted sharply. While Cthulhu and he had an understanding, the monstrous creature could change its mind. They shouldn’t tempt fate. Then softening his tone, though it was still full of conviction, he added, “Never say its name here in Ocean Side. It’s listening.”
Dr. Marstand regarded him without blinking for several moments, but then he nodded, agreeing to what Gabriel asked, recognizing him as an authority. He was one. The only one.
“Tell me everything,” his grandmother said again, her hands balled on her lap.
Gabriel found that he couldn’t open his mouth to speak, not even with Casillus’ strength and love flowing into him, but he didn’t need to. Corey, Greta and Roger spoke for him. As they explained all that had happened with Johnson, he watched his grandmother sag. Pieces of her seemed to be chipping off with every word like an ancient monument worn away by the sands of time. When they reached the part where Johnson had taken Gabriel out to Call Cthulhu, she buried her face in her hands.
“Did he hurt you, Gabriel?” she asked, her voice was small and muffled against her palms.
“It doesn’t matter. He’s gone now,” Gabriel said.
Her head shot up and so did she. She was across the porch and gripping his shoulders. Her face was haggard. “It does matter! After your parents died I was the one person in this world whose only purpose was to protect you. And I let him into our house. I introduced him to you.”
Gabriel wrapped his arms around her and she sobbed against his chest. They were hard, wet cries. Everyone on the porch was stricken by them. Corey looked like he was ready to hobble over to them and crush them with love. As Gabriel held his grandmother, Casillus stroked Gabriel’s back and rested his other hand on Grace’s shoulder.
“I know you’re not going to believe me, Grandma, but you have to forgive yourself. This really wasn’t your fault,” Gabriel told her.
She slowly drew back from his chest, her arms still tightly around him, in order to look at Dr. Marstand who was standing between Greta and Roger. “You were Johnson’s boss. You sent him here. How do I know that you aren’t here to hurt Gabriel and Casillus, too?”
Dr. Marstand smoothed a hand down his front before meeting her gaze. “Because I know what Gabriel can do. Attacking him or Casillus would be the death warrant of potentially the entire human race. Like the settlement, Ocean Side would be destroyed for sure. But beyond those very reasonable explanations for why I wouldn’t make a move against your grandson is the fact that I am a member of the Next Society.”
“What exactly is the Next Society?” Corey asked.
“I’m glad you asked me that,” Dr. Marstand said with a faint smile. “It is simply this. We are humanity’s ambassadors and defenders against all non-humans on this planet and beyond. Our first tenet it to make contact and our second is, if at all possible, to make peace with other species. We never attack first. We act only in defense.”
“Because you would lose,” Gabriel said, a hint of frost in his tone.
Dr. Marstand regarded him again with those steady eyes. “In some cases you are quite right, Gabriel. But we don’t want war. We want peace and understanding. Those are our goals.”
“So Johnson just didn’t get this memo?” Gabriel snapped.
“Johnson was never part of the Society. He wanted to be, but his his mind was too filled with aggression,” Dr. Marstand said. “This mission at the settlement was a test to see if he could put that aggression to the side.”
“He totally failed,” Corey pointed out.
“He did and in a way that nearly cost humanity everything,” Dr. Marstand said. “I take full responsibility for that.”
Tell him that he is not Johnson, Casillus said after a long moment. And the Mer are not war-like either unless we have no other option.
Gabriel relayed Casillus’ words to Dr. Marstand.
“By the way Casillus is a Mer prince!” Corey emphasized. “Johnson kidnapped the prince of their entire species!”
“Yes, I know,” Dr. Marstand said.
“You know?” Gabriel’s forehead furrowed.
“Not from just meeting him now, but we have records. You are not the only descendant of Mers among humans, Gabriel,” Dr. Marstand said.
Casillus straightened. He knows of other children lost to us! I can tell! He knows of others like you, Gabriel! They must be returned to us!
“I see by Prince Casillus’ face that he understands some of what we can offer the Mers,” Dr. Marstand said.
“In exchange for what?” his grandmother asked. She held Gabriel tighter.
“After Johnson, I don’t blame your distrust,” Dr. Marstand said.
“Tell them what you want, Dr. Marstand,” Greta urged.
“As I said,” Dr. Marstand paused, holding Casillus and Gabriel’s gazes one after another. “Peace and friendship between Mers and humanity.”
“That’s a tall order,” Gabriel said.
“It is,” Dr. Marstand agreed. “And that is why we must start this process tonight, while you are still on land, Gabriel Please, won’t you, at least, hear me out?”
Casillus? You’re the Mer prince here. What do you want to do? Gabriel turned to the Mer.
Casillus studied Dr. Marstand with an expression that was rather opaque. I believe we can trust him to an extent. But more importantly, I believe he knows where more of our children are.
And Mer children are precious, Gabriel finished.
Casillus nodded.
Gabriel took in a deep breath. He squeezed his grandmother to him and then urged her to sit down. This was going to be a long discussion.
“We’re willing to listen, Dr. Marstand,” Gabriel said. “I can’t promise more than that.”
“It’s a start,” Dr. Marstand said.
12
COREY THE AMBASSADOR
The conversation with Dr. Marstand was not as onerous as Gabriel feared. In fact, he quite grew to like the genial professor. Sometimes when he looked into those shrewd blue eyes he felt that there was far more to this man than what appeared on the surface, but what was there was neither bad nor was it necessarily dangerous to the Mers. In fact, Dr. Marstand could be quite the opposite. He offered a list of people Miskatonic suspected might have Mer blood without asking for anything in return not even the peace and friendship he wanted. It was a gift.
He will give us this? Casillus asked. His hands trembled slightly.
Even if Gabriel wasn’t able to sense the incredible joy mixed with shock in the Mer prince through their bond he would have known it was there just from seeing the look in Casillus’ eyes. He smoothed a hand up and down Casillus’ bare back. He could feel the Mer prince trembling with eagerness.
“You really don’t want anything in return for this list of Mer children?” Gabriel confirmed.
Dr. Marstand shook his head and then with a rueful smile added, “I think we already owe you quite a bit for stopping Johnson. He was a member of our faculty. We were responsible for him even if we were unaware of what his true plans were.”
“I believe that giving over the names and locations of potential Mer children will go a long way to mending any fences with the Mers,” Gabriel said, which were also Casillus’ feelings on the matter.
Casillus could not wait to tell his parents that there were more children out there that might be capable of joining them in Emralis.
And even those who do not have the capability, they are our family just as much as those who live in the sea. They should know their complete heritage and understand that they are not alone, Casillus said.
I agree.
Gabriel
knew all too well how alone those with Mer blood felt even surrounded by people who loved them. Gabriel covered one of Casillus’ hands with his own before looking over at his grandmother. She immediately looked back at him, aware of his regard from catching sight of his movement as much as sensing it in her mind. He knew that his gift had increased exponentially since touching minds with Cthulhu, but he knew that part of the reason she could hear him so easily was the Mer blood in her. She smiled warmly at him. Now neither of them would ever be alone.
“There’s something else I think you’ll approve of,” Dr. Marstand said, breaking Gabriel out of his thoughts.
“What?” Gabriel asked, his curiosity peaked.
Dr. Marstand turned those shrewd blue eyes on Corey. The red-head straightened up from his slouch. One if his hands froze in the air, about to plop a nacho into his mouth.
“Uhm, yeah, what?” Corey asked.
Dr. Marstand pointed to the melted cheese that was dangling precariously from the chip. “Do eat that, dear boy, before it stains that rather glorious shirt.”
Gabriel had brought down one of Corey’s orange, pink and yellow long-sleeved shirts to replace the black ensemble in order to cheer him up. Corey had stripped without delay and immediately sighed in relief as if just wearing something less than neon had oppressed him in some terrible way.
Corey did as Dr. Marstand recommended and gobbled down the chip. When he had finished crunching it, the professor said, “I believe from the reports I’ve had of you and my, albeit limited exposure to you, that you would do well at Miskatonic, Corey.”
Corey blinked. Gabriel blinked. Greta and Roger perked up like prairie dogs sticking their heads out of their burrows to see what was going on.
“You do?” Corey asked.
“I do,” Dr. Marstand answered and pressed his hands together as if in prayer. “I also believe that you would do even better as a member of the Next Society.”
There were gasps from Roger and Greta. Gabriel had pretty much figured out that to be in the Society was a pretty big deal. Considering they used magic in the Society, Gabriel was positive that Corey would love it.