Water and Blood

by B. Kristin McMichael

  Sam laughed again. “No, I’d expect they don’t like us much. My father is an idiot thinking that if the blues and greens can just live peacefully on land together something will change. Nothing is ever going to change there.”

  “Blues and greens?” Now he was back to confusing talk.

  “Did you listen to anything I told you yesterday?”

  “Um, yeah?” That was the answer he wanted, hopefully.

  “The siren world is divided into blues and greens. It’s decided by the color of your fin. If you’re a blue, you stay with the blues, and if you’re a green, you are with the greens. I happen to be a blue.” Sam flicked his tail out of the water. It was more of an inky blue color now in the dark cove. There was only a bit of sunlight peeking through the clouds.

  “And that means …” Whitney prompted him to continue. She didn’t need to get distracted from her goal of getting answers.

  “That I’m part of the upper layer of the siren world. Okay, you weren’t listening. What you need to know, all summed up, is that there are tons of hierarchies in the mer world. Overall the half-human merpeople have a ranking. Siren sit right at the top of types of mer. We’re stronger than all the groups, and with our singing, we have control that none of the others have over humans. But not all sirens have total control. Only blues can control both day and night humans with their voice. We have a division in the sirens of blue and green. Their tail tells us which kind they are before they even sing.”

  “Um.” Whitney glanced down at her own pink tail. “Then I’m not a siren?”

  Sam looked down and watched her tail flick in the water. Smiling, he shook his head. “No. I’m sure you are a siren, but I have no idea why your tail is pink.”

  “I kind of thought it had to do with the fact that I wear pink all the time. The first time I transformed with clothing on, I was wearing pink. It isn’t because you always wear blue that you have a blue fin?” Whitney already knew the answer.

  “That’s a good theory, but no. You can wear any color clothing you want, and it doesn’t affect your fin color.”

  Whitney shrugged. “It was worth a shot. I had to figure out some reason you don’t lose your clothing when you turn. That still baffles me beyond anything. Night humans I get, but transforming fully clothed and returning to that clothing afterward? I just don’t get it.”

  Sam laughed. “You can understand turning half fish, but not your clothes disappearing? Isn’t it a bit magical in the first place, being able to turn into a mermaid? Why can’t there be other magic involved?”

  Okay, he had a point there.

  “Like your magical eyes?”

  Sam grinned. “So glad you noticed. At least you pay attention to part of me.”

  “Um, yeah. And I’ve noticed before.”

  “Dang. I thought I kept them hidden. Yes, my eyes change color when my siren side comes out. It doesn’t mean I’m going to transform, just that there’s more of that side taking control. It happens when you get emotional.” Sam smiled sheepishly. “We shouldn’t let our siren sides do that, but it’s hard to always be in control.”

  “When you were mad at your brother in the lunchroom the other day, your siren side came out?” She had no clue what that meant.

  Sam shrugged as he ran his hands through his drying hair.

  “My siren side is more powerful than my human one. When I feel any sort of emotion strongly, it tends to leak out. Most blues have everything all under control. But then again, most blues don’t feel any emotion very strongly. Sirens overall are very selfish beings, but blues are by far the worst. I don’t want you caught by the sirens because I know they won’t give you a chance. Your pink fin means you don’t fit into their perfect society view of all things. And they don’t want that. Everything has to line up just right. It’s actually rather boring. And if you don’t fit perfectly into siren order, it’s like you don’t belong, and they make sure you feel that every waking moment.”

  Sounded like personal experience to Whitney.

  “And your brother?”

  “Is as blue as you can get. And is a royal pain. He’s into everything that will bring him higher on the blue power list, and trust me, he doesn’t have too much farther to go to be on top. I hope if that ever happens, someone will just put me out of my misery. He’s not a good person. Please promise me to never talk to him or make eye contact with him if he decides to stop by school again. The guy is bad news.”

  Sam looked sad, but not at his words, more like he didn’t exactly like his family. Whitney couldn’t imagine being related to someone you hated. Her little brother was a pain growing up, but he was still her little brother.

  “It sounds like you have a great family,” Whitney added sarcastically.

  “Oh, they’re just the best. That’s why I volunteered to come to land and watch over everyone by the time I was fourteen. I couldn’t leave fast enough. They are all like Tim. And I had to put up with him here on land until he graduated. I was happy he left. Now if he could just stay away like everyone else.”

  “They? How many siblings do you have?”

  “I have fifteen brothers and ten sisters, and I had three older brothers that are now dead.”

  Whitney stared at Sam as he lay back in the water and floated, gazing up at the open sky peeking out from between the rock cracks. His family was huge, and her shock didn’t seem to register with him. All she had was one little brother.

  “Wow. Your parents sound like busy people,” Whitney remarked as she lay back also.

  Sam laughed again, but it wasn’t a happy laugh this time.

  “Not my parents. My father. He likes to keep the sirens populated with blues. Did you know it’s actually a law that all blue couples must have at least six children? My dad, the overachiever, decided he wanted at least twenty-five. Lucky me to be the last of all of them.”

  There was no love in his voice when Sam spoke of his family. Whitney felt a little bad for him. Her little brother would always be part of her life, and even now she looked at her younger cousin just like a brother. She loved them both and would do anything for them. She had a feeling Sam didn’t feel that way about his siblings.

  “What were you and Tim fighting about?” Whitney was curious. It sounded so serious back in the cafeteria. Heck, they sounded like they were threatening each other for a bit.

  “My birthday.” He pushed himself under the water. Whitney had to wait for him to resurface to find out more. Sam came back up with his hair slicked back in place.

  “You were arguing about your birthday?” Okay, that did sound as odd as she thought it would.

  Sighing, he scooted back farther to lie with his head on the sandy beach, his body still in the water. Whitney took that as the direction for her to go also. He didn’t seem excited about his birthday, and there had to be a story behind it. More siren mysteries to solve if only he would tell her about it.

  “Okay, since we covered you weren’t listening really well yesterday, I’m just going to go ahead and repeat things I told you.”

  Whitney was glad he couldn’t see the blush creep back to her cheeks.

  “Birthdays are a big deal in the siren world. We typically have celebrations that have hundreds of people at each of them.”

  Whitney didn’t know hundreds of people to invite to a birthday celebration. Then again, his family was huge all on its own.

  “Certain birthdays are marked as extra special and eighteen is one of them.” Sam continued, yet stopped again. He seemed to get caught up in his thoughts.

  “What about other ages?” Whitney asked, sensing his hesitation.

  “Well, there’s your coming of age birthday party. That one’s a real doozy.” Sam stared up at the sky and watched the sun peek out at them, his beautiful seafoam blue-green eyes deep in thought. “When your parents deem you old enough to join the sirens on your own, they basically kidnap you from your birthday party, take you anywhere in the world, and drop you off. You’re expected to m
ake your way home. If you don’t make your way home, you’re no longer part of the sirens. It’s a fun family tradition,” he added wryly.

  Whitney couldn’t help it. She reached out and took his hand. Talking about the sirens seemed fun and upbeat most of the time, but she was getting a good feeling there was a rift between Sam and his family. She didn’t look at him as they laid there half in the water watching the clouds flutter by overhead.

  “I was thirteen when my parents decided I was old enough. Most people don’t do it until their children are fifteen or sixteen. That’s why most of the sirens here are in high school and are typically juniors and seniors.”

  “Where did they leave you?”

  “That’s the kicker of it. Most parents want their children back, so they get left somewhere up the coast, maybe as far north as Maine or Canada, but not mine. Parents who really like their child just leave them on the other side of Florida in the Gulf. There is nice warm water, and easy access to home. My father actually asked for me to be left in the Pacific Ocean. He had me drugged and flown across the country, and as you know, most sirens don’t want to go inland. It was real sweet he chose a place far away. I think he was secretly hoping I wouldn’t make it back.”

  Whitney squeezed his hand. She couldn’t imagine parents that wouldn’t want their child back. She did her best not to think of her own parents that had been dead over a year now. She knew every day they were alive that they had wanted her, even if she didn’t fit perfectly into the skinwalker night human world.

  “But you did make your way back. You’re here now.”

  Sam didn’t answer as the water lapped at their elbows. The sea was slowly going back out. They wouldn’t have much time left to talk for the day, and the next day was school. Whitney was more than a little disappointed.

  “It took me weeks to make it home. I went inland a little bit to the first town I could find just to figure out where I was because I didn’t recognize the fish in the area. I ended up off the coast of Oregon. I guess I should be glad he didn’t put me in another country. He probably couldn’t get someone to take that plane ride with the risk of getting stuck without water.”

  “Didn’t they worry that you would be found? Aren’t sirens supposed to keep a secret?”

  Whitney couldn’t fathom being left on the other side of the US as a thirteen-year-old, let alone needing to make your own way home.

  “That’s kind of why I think he did it on purpose. If a hunter had found me, there was no way at that age I could fight back. Luckily I made it up a river into the town. It only took talking to one person, and she was my own age, so I wasn’t worried that she was a hunter. I think she thought I was crazy or on drugs. I must have sounded crazy as I demanded to know where I was. When she went to find her mother, I took off again. Once I knew where I was, I made my way home.”

  Whitney tried to hide her surprise. She remembered that day. She was downtown with her mother shopping. Her mother had gone into an old lady store full of fluffy blouses and suits. Whitney didn’t feel like tagging along and instead offered to wait at the bridge. Since her mother could see her from the store window and it was pretty much safe for any night human in town as they looked after each other, her mother agreed. Whitney sat on the bridge and threw stones in the river. She didn’t notice the boy until he was standing beside her, wondering why she was throwing stones at fish. When she explained that it wasn’t at fish, she realized he wasn’t from town. He then demanded to know what town they were in. So yes, she remembered thinking he was crazy.

  Watching the sky and trying not to give her thoughts away, Whitney kept her mouth shut about her memories. It would only bring more confusion into the whole thing if she added that anyway.

  “Why wouldn’t your dad want you home?” Whitney asked, avoiding the fact that she had been the girl. It was just too strange of a coincidence. She needed more time to think about that one. In the millions of places in the world he could have been left, and the multiple cities he could have swum to check, he had found her.

  “I think it’s because of my control. Even at a young age, I’ve been able to control my singing to not hurt people when controlling them. He’s not that type of guy. He’s a lot more like Tim. He thinks sirens should dominate with a hard hand. I don’t do that, and he thinks I’m weak because of it. I proved to him that I’m not weak, but that didn’t change anything.” Sam rubbed the lines on his right arm.

  “What are those tattoos?”

  “My proof,” Sam replied and pushed up into a sitting position. He didn’t turn his fin into legs, yet had such an easier time of maneuvering than Whitney.

  “There are several jobs you can choose from in the siren world. One of them is to join the guard. We protect the sirens from hunters.” She had heard the term hunters several times now. She would have to ask for more details since she knew only the basics, but she didn’t want him to stop talking as their time ran out. “When you join, if they accept you, you get one ring. When you pass the first test, you get a second ring. When you pass the last test, you get the third ring.”

  “Yet, you have four …” She had wondered more than once about those tattoos when he was teaching her how to swim.

  “Because I passed a test no one else could pass in my batch of recruits. I’m the head of the guard currently … well, at least here on land. There’s only one more test for me to pass to get the very head spot. I thought joining the guard would make my father see that I was as much a siren as Tim or any of my older brothers.” Sam shrugged. “It didn’t make a difference.”

  Sam pushed himself into the water. Whitney still had more questions, but the tide was going out. They had to leave.

  “Do you feel hungry?” Sam asked.

  How could she be hungry, they had eaten before they came in and had been there less than an hour. Sam waited as realization set in. He wasn’t talking about food. Blushing from the thoughts of being pulled close to him again, she shook her head no.

  “Then I’ll feed tonight, and you can feed on me tomorrow. Can we meet by the pool after my lessons? I get done at 6:30. Will that work for you?”

  His somber mood was completely gone now that they weren’t talking about his family. He flashed a concerned smile, like he was trying to read her face to see if she was telling him the truth about being hungry. She really wasn’t hungry and tried to convey that with the smile she gave in return.

  Nodding, he dove further away. Sam was now fully in the water with just his head sticking out so he could talk. Whitney followed him even though she didn’t want to. She wanted more time.

  “Yeah, I have tomorrow night off from work.” Whitney paused as the realization hit from her own words. She didn’t have today off, and she was going to be late. Questions would have to wait. She dove under and made her way back out of the cove before Sam could reply.

  CHAPTER 6

  Sam drove as fast as he could to get Whitney to work on time. He didn’t know she was supposed to be there. Otherwise he would have cut their question and answer time short. Whitney didn’t have spending money since she began living with her aunt, so she needed the job. That much he knew and respected. Luckily, as they pulled into the parking lot of Bingos, they saw that Mark was working, too.

  “Shoot,” Whitney exclaimed as she dug through her bag, “I forgot to bring my shirt.”

  “You have a shirt on.” Sam pointed out the obvious.

  “No, we need to wear a white shirt,” she explained.

  Sam thought for a moment. He didn’t want her to get in trouble on his account. And there was also the problem that he needed to be able to spend more alone time with her without anyone suspecting. He needed a really good excuse, especially if he wanted Mark to fall for it. Mark had known Sam all his life. They were the same age and had grown up together. Mark would be able to tell if he was lying, so it had to be really good.

  “Let me talk to Mark. I’m sure he keeps backup shirts in the office. I’ve seen him not bring anythi
ng with him to work on many occasions,” Sam replied, still racking his brain for a solution.

  Whitney stepped out of the car, and Sam watched her as he moved to follow. She reached the door and pulled her hands through her hair, piling it up into a perfectly messy bun. That was Whitney. Even as she was faced with getting in trouble, she faced it head on. Or maybe she just trusted Sam. He liked that idea. Here she went off with him two days in a row and didn’t ask where they were going or when they would get back. She had to trust him. He liked that about her, too. Who was he kidding? He liked everything about her and now that she was a siren, she was perfect. Now he just had to convince her that he was perfect for her too.

  Sam grabbed the door to hold it open for hear. A plan fell into his head, and he was ready to be the one saving her. Yes, he was sure his plan was flawless.

  “Hey, man,” Mark said as he came up to them, looking at Whitney with questioning eyes.

  “Would Whitney be able to borrow a shirt, so I don’t have to drive her home and make her late? It’s my fault,” Sam began. Mark wiggled his eyebrows a little, and Sam was sure Whitney noticed.

  “Sure. I have a few in the back.”

  Mark led the way to the break room. Sam had been there more than once. It was always where he had to sit and wait for Mark when they needed to be at concerts, and he didn’t want to leave without making sure the place would run without him. Most sirens didn’t care about anything on land, but it seemed like Mark cared more than a little for his job, even if he’d never admit it.

  Opening a box by his desk, he pulled out a T-shirt and tossed it to Whitney. She took it with a grateful smile and headed into the only other door in the break room, the bathroom.

  “Is she your new toy?” Mark asked quietly.

  Sam grinned at Mark. He needed to make it seem like he didn’t really care for Whitney and play along, even if it was far from the truth. If the sirens thought Whitney was just a fling, no one would care. Siren were allowed to date day humans on land food. If they thought he was serious about her, then they would look closer and for the reasons why. He didn’t need people looking closer at her. She still didn’t have full control of her siren, and that made things a bit hard for the time being.