by Sara Summers
Something stabbed my foot as I walked, and though I knew I was bleeding I didn’t care. I was on a cloud of some kind. My mind wouldn’t accept the truth that my heart knew to be true. Marie was gone.
Alena walked around the car and latched onto my arm. I pulled her close, and we watched silently as Sam pulled Marie from the car.
A moment felt like a lifetime as he walked to the edge of the cliff.
I started to gather the ocean so it would climb up and take her, but lost control. It knew what to do and didn’t want me interfering.
The ocean rose slowly. Alena and I stepped closer to the edge to watch, holding on to each other as if our lives depended on it.
We watched the body of water gather itself, rising in a strong column of water. It stopped at Sam’s arm-height, and he leaned forward to deposit Marie into it.
The ocean pulled her in, and the column of water retracted itself back down.
“She’s gone.” Alena whispered. I could hear the horror in her voice.
“No, she’s part of the ocean now. We’ll feel her every time we swim.” I pulled her in for a tight hug. “Everything’s going to be okay.” I promised her. Though I wasn’t sure my words were true, it was what I thought she needed to hear.
“Can we swim?” Alena choked out the words.
“Of course.” I gulped, then pulled my shirt off over my head.
Sam turned, undressing and then jumping in before either of us could. I watched him free-fall until the ocean caught him, and the smallest of smiles tried to replace my tear-streaked sadness. He trusted the ocean now, apparently.
Alena struggled with her clothes and tears, so I helped her get her shirt off. When we were both down to underwear, she looked at me desperately.
“What are we going to do now?”
“We’re going to go back to Capitol City, and we’re going to rule the mermaid kingdom the way we believe it needs to be ruled. Screw the council.” I took her hand. “Ready?”
Alena took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and then nodded.
“Ready.”
We jumped off the cliff together, heading down into the ocean that we loved so much.
The three of us made our way to the ocean floor. Sam struggled a bit, but didn’t say anything about it. Alena led the way, and the two of us just followed her.
She sat down on a boulder at the bottom of the ocean, and then slowly changed positions until she was laying down. Her eyes closed and her head rested on her hands.
Sam put his hand on the small of my back, sitting next to me in a patch of sand.
“I’m sorry.” He said softly. “I should’ve done something to protect her.”
“If anyone is at fault it’s me.” I sighed. “I knew you could handle yourself, I should’ve helped her before you.”
“You had no way to know what would happen.” Sam shook his head.
“None of us did.” I whispered.
He wrapped his arm around my waist, and I leaned my head against his shoulder. My tears started to fall again, and I swallowed and almost choked on what felt like a rock sitting in my throat.
“You know, one of our legends says that the ocean started as fresh water.” My voice was scratchy. “It wasn’t until mermaids were here that it starting becoming salty. So many mermaids have cried so many tears in this body of water.” I turned a little, putting my arms around Sam’s middle and burying my head into his collarbone. “So, while we’re in salt water we’re never alone in our agony.”
“I don’t know whether to think that’s sweet or creepy.” Sam told me. I choked again, this time on laughter.
“It’s a little of both, I think.” I cuddled against him, desperately needing someone to remind me that I wasn’t alone.
Sam held me close for the next hour or two or three or four. I wasn’t keeping track of time; I was just trying to accept what had happened.
I’m not sure how long it was, but a little while later, Alena sat up on her rock. Her eyes widened, and then she started to cry again.
“It happened, didn’t it? She’s gone?” Alena fell apart. She dropped back down to the rock and held her hands over her eyes, crying a horribly ugly cry that was somehow painfully beautiful. There’s something so mortal and unique about grief.
“Come here.” I told her.
She swam over and latched onto me. We both ended up cuddled against Sam, leaning on him for support.
We sat like that for a long time, and when we couldn’t sit anymore, we let ourselves fall asleep in the sand. For the first time, Sam was acting like Alena’s brother, and for the first time, he was acting like my soulmate.
He had come around exactly when we needed him.
Chapter 21
When we left the ocean, it was 11 AM. Mine and Alena’s eyes were red and puffy from crying, but we all knew we had to go back. It was the last day of the summit, and we needed to prove to everyone that we still believed in peace and equality even after suffering such a devastating loss.
“Wait, why am I not hungry?” Sam frowned, as the ocean lifted us up to the land.
“Oh, you don’t need to eat in the ocean. When you breathe water, it satisfies you enough that you don’t have to eat like humans.” I explained.
“Seriously?” Sam raised his eyebrows.
“Seriously.” Alena and I nodded.
“Weird.” He shook his head.
We stepped onto land and looked at the ground beside the car, where our clothes should’ve been.
“Not again.” Sam muttered.
“Someone took our clothes?” Alena asked in disbelief.
“Apparently.” I had to smile. “Guess we’re wearing shorts to the summit today.”
“Good. Let’s show them that we’re mermaids, not politicians, and that we’ll do what we want no matter what any humans think.” Alena folded her arms over her chest.
“That’s the spirit.” I laughed, and Sam smiled a little. “Let’s go.”
When we got back to the hotel, we hurried up to our rooms to throw some clothes on. Alena didn’t want to go back into the room she had shared with Marie, so Sam grabbed her suitcase for her.
When we were finished changing, I noticed a ring on Alena’s right hand.
“That’s pretty.” I stepped closer to see it, then recognized it as the ring Marie had always worn. “Oh.” My heart fell a little.
“She gave it to me while Lyssie was sleeping.” Alena admitted. “She told me that her time was coming soon and that she wanted me to wear it and remember that my love story will be as good as I make it. She said her husband gave it to her, and that she thought of him every day. He was her happily ever after, and she was excited to see him again.” Alena blinked away tears, and I pulled her in for a hug.
“That’s sweet.” I whispered, fighting back more tears of my own.
Sam came out of the bathroom wearing shorts and a t-shirt. He matched Alena and I, and our stance on showing the humans who we really are.
Alena took my right hand and Sam took my left. Together, we walked to the conference room.
“You ask me why shifters are gathering in Glacier,” I heard Leah’s voice coming through the doors to the room. “everyone asks me that, and this is why. Because of the hatred we receive, because there’s strength in numbers, and because shifters are people too. We want to fit into the communities we live in, and if the only way to do that is to live in Glacier then so be it.”
We stopped outside the door, waiting for Leah to stop talking before going in.
“You sit here and talk about peace and equality, but what are you doing to get us there? There are still riots going on throughout the world; people are murdering shifters in every country I know of. Even here in the U.S. some shifters are targeted. We’ve been attacked four times in the two days we’ve been here, and that’s ridiculous. We may be animals, but so are humans. I’m tired of talking about equality. Why don’t you come up with a plan to make it happen?”
She did
n’t say anything else, so we figured it was time to go in.
Alena, Sam, and I nodded at each other, and then I stepped forward and pushed the doors open. All eyes turned to us.
“It looks like next, we will be hearing from the mermaids.” The man directing the meeting gestured to the three of us.
“I have something to say.” Alena strutted forward, standing in front of the podium. “I’m a sixteen year old girl. I grew up in the mermaid version of an orphanage, in the ocean, away from the only family I had. When my sister became the queen, I finally got to come live on land.” She folded her arms.
“Twelve hours ago, my guardian was murdered. She was an old woman who couldn’t have hurt a fly, and someone killed her.” Alena swallowed. “Losing her hurts me the same way it would hurt you, even though I’m a mermaid shifter. I’m the same as all the other sixteen year old girls. I have dreams and I care about people.” She walked over to the seat Sam and I had saved for her.
I squeezed her hand before standing up. Sam happened to stand at the exact same time as me.
Should I sit back down, or… oh, screw it.
We walked up to the podium together.
“Humans complain about shifters all the time, but do you know what?” Sam tilted the microphone up to his mouth. “Shifters never complain about humans. There are shifters teaching in human schools, shifters working as doctors and nurses, saving human lives. There are shifters fighting in the military to save more human lives, even. And those shifters don’t complain because they’re teaching, helping, or fighting for people who are different than them. They just teach, save, and fight.
“If everyone could be as accepting as them, this world would be a much happier place.” Sam stepped back, and I stepped forward.
“I only have one thing to say.” I tilted the microphone down. “And it’s been said already. Shifters are people too. We may not be humans, but we are people with personalities and families that we love. Thank you.”
Sam took my hand, and the two of us walked back to our seats together.
We listened to politicians talk for the rest of that day. No one brought any plans to change the way shifters were being treated, but they were still talking about it. That at least counted for something.
The dinner that night was the last meal of the summit. A local restaurant was providing the food, so we figured it was probably safe enough to eat.
We were tired of playing politicians though, so all of us shifters ignored the name cards that assigned us to certain seats. Instead we sat together at two tables in the upper-middle of the room. We were close enough to the front that everyone could see and find us if they had questions, but far enough back that we’d be hard to hit if a bunch of people showed up with guns and knives.
Sav and Jordie tried to convince Lyssie to eat something, while the rest of us enjoyed the delicious food.
About halfway through the dinner, the president and his wife brought their plates and chairs over. They asked if they could sit by us, at my table.
“Of course,” Brooke smiled at the leader of our country.
He and his wife chatted with the other girls at the table, while Alena, Sam, and I ate quietly. I didn’t have anything to say, not after all that had happened.
A man walked up to Alena and patted her on the shoulder. I recognized him as one of the men who had asked me questions during the first night’s dinner.
Alena turned and stood to face him, and he gave her a bright smile.
“I just wanted to say thank you for what you said earlier. It really touched me.” He thanked her.
Alena shrugged.
“No problem.” She gave him a half-smile.
“Or at least it would’ve touched me,” he grabbed her around the waist, spinning her and placing a gun to her head. “If you weren’t a mermaid.”
He said the word like it disgusted him, like mermaids were something terrible and wrong. I remembered how one of the voices had sounded familiar, how he had argued against everything I said. It made sense that he was one of the ones plotting against us, now that I looked back on it.
“Put the gun down.” Sam threatened, standing up.
“No. If anyone moves at all, I shoot the girl.” He pushed the gun against her head in a swift, hard motion, and Alena winced. “And you,” he glared at me. “I know what you can do, and if you try any of that she’ll be dead before you know what’s happening.”
“Let go of me.” Alena threatened him.
“What are you going to do, little girl?” the man sneered.
The president stood up and held his hand out.
“Now, let the girl go. Everyone is here for peace, remember?” He reminded the man.
“I don’t want any of your peace.” The man snarled. “No president of mine would make peace with shifters.”
He had to grind the word through his teeth, he hated shifters so much.
“I’m the president of this country, whether you consider me yours or not. Put the gun down.” The president ordered.
“I’ll kill the girl, I really will.” The man was starting to sound and look like a lunatic. I had assumed he was someone important, a leader of a country or something, but maybe he was just someone who knew the right people to get him a seat in the shifter peace summit. His eyes were crazy, and his whole body was shaking.
“Enough.” Alena elbowed him in the stomach and ripped the gun out of his hand. She spun around to face him, turning the situation around completely.
Sam jumped up and tackled him to the ground, taking the man out with relative ease. Alena glared at him while Sam held him down.
“No person in their right mind would want to kill someone for being different. If anyone’s messed up, it’s you.” She glared at him until a security guard came in and took him out of the room.
Another guard took the gun from her.
I finally started breathing again when the man was gone.
“I’m sorry.” The president shook his head. “That never should have happened.”
“It’s not your fault.” I stood up and smiled at the leader of our country. “You have no control over the actions of others.”
“Still, I’d like to make it up to you. Would all of you accept a ride back to Glacier in my plane? It’s very secure, so you won’t have to worry about anything else happening.”
“That would be great.” I nodded. “Thank you.”
“No, thank you, Ava. And all of you shifters.” He looked between our two tables. “The way we saw shifters before you intervened was unhealthy. Thank you for stepping forward and speaking out to help us understand you. What you did takes courage. You’ve made a huge difference in our country, and for that, I owe you.”
“You took care of the lawsuits on our university. That’s plenty.” Brooke assured the president.
“Still, it doesn’t feel like enough. If there’s every anything you need, let me know. Savanna has my personal phone number.” He told us.
“Thank you.” We smiled and nodded.
“Stop thanking me.” He waved our gratitude away. “Let’s have dessert.”
“That sounds great.” Alena agreed, sitting back down in her chair. “I could really use some chocolate right now.” She muttered.
“You and me both.” I murmured, sitting down next to her.
Sam took my hand under the table. Though it was a little weird to eat my dessert with my left hand, I wouldn’t have had it any other way.
Chapter 22
We packed our bags and left an hour after dinner was over. It was a little awkward to fly on a plane with the president and some other high-ranking government officials, but between Brooke and Cosette, there wasn’t a silent moment.
When the plane finally landed, I had never been happier to be done with something. The summit had been much, much too long.
“Tomorrow, can I get a video of you for the channel?” Cosette asked me.
“Sure.” I nodded, though I didn’t want to agree.
“I’ll be in a video if you want me to.” Alena told our chimp shifter.
“That would be awesome.” Cozy nodded, a big smile on her face.
Leah led everyone in through her front door. As soon as she was inside, Ty, her mate, scooped her up in his arms and planted a kiss on her forehead.
When he put her back down, she yawned.
“Alright, guys, that closet is full of pillows and blankets. Make yourselves at home. Everywhere that isn’t my room is free game.” She announced.
“Bye, everyone.” Sav and Jordie waved. It was late and Lyssie was asleep, so I didn’t blame them for leaving so fast. I would’ve done the same thing if I had lived next door.
The single girls headed upstairs to take whatever extra rooms were up there, so Alena, Sam, and I grabbed pillows and blankets before searching the main floor.
We found a room just past the kitchen and claimed that one.
“Take the bed, Alena.” I told my sister.
“Thanks.” She yawned. Even though the light was on and she was still in all her clothes, she slipped under the covers and went right to sleep.
Sam and I took the floor, sleeping on opposite sides of the room. It was already late, and we were all exhausted.
A few hours into the night, the smell of salt water woke me up. I opened my eyes, glancing around to see what was going on.
I saw Sam standing in front of the glass door that led out onto the back patio. He leaned against the wall, staring out at the dark forest behind Leah and Ty’s house.
I stood up, and the wood floor made a little noise. Sam didn’t turn around, staying still as he stared outside.
“Is everything okay?” I whispered, trying not to wake Alena up. She didn’t move, so I was quiet enough.
“Fine.” Sam still refused to look at me.
“Hey,” I reached my hand out and placed it on his arm. “What woke you up?”
“Memories.” Once again, he wouldn’t turn around.