Hidden Depths

by L. M. Brown

  “It’s my choice to make.”

  “I took a vow to protect all mer who set foot on land,” Caspian said.

  “I don’t care about your stupid vow. I’m going to go back to the water with or without your help.”

  Caspian gave him a hard stare. “If you truly wanted to go back to the ocean, all you have to do is get Jake to drive you to the beach and swim from there. The fact that you haven’t tells me that you’re not so eager for death as you would appear.”

  “I’ve been training,” Marin said. “I want to be prepared so I don’t die.”

  “You can train for years and you’ll still fail. No merman can fight a sea dragon singlehandedly, and certainly not you. Having an accurate aim against broken furniture won’t help against a sea dragon. They fight back.”

  Marin bristled and grabbed his trident from where it rested again the wall. “Maybe I should try a moving target then.” He pointed the trident at Caspian. “What do you say? It’s not like it can kill you.”

  Caspian gave him a measuring look and nodded. “Very well.”

  “What?” Marin gaped at the god.

  “If it keeps you from the suicide mission you seem to be desperate to undertake, then yes… Agreed.”

  “Oh.”

  Caspian smiled briefly. “Never bluff a god. We’ll always know when you’re lying. Pack your things and once I’ve finished escorting the mer to the new colony, I’ll take you somewhere where you can practice as destructively as you like, and on me, if you wish.”

  Marin stood silently and made no move to do as Caspian had said.

  Caspian turned to Jake. “Come on. Let’s get everyone to the colony.”

  Jake hurried after the god, leaving Marin to pack. He wondered if the young merman had any idea what he was getting himself into. He suspected not.

  * * * *

  When the last of the merpeople had been transported to the new colony, Jake stepped forward with Maurissa in his arms. She was the last of the mer, save for those who were staying and Marin.

  Cari reached out her arms to take Maurissa, but Jake didn’t relinquish her. “I’ll deliver her to her mother personally.”

  “Will you, indeed?” Caspian asked as he joined his sister. “Care to explain?”

  “I’ve decided to go with the mer, to join Kyle and Finn,” Jake explained. “You said I should be able to survive under the water.”

  Caspian frowned. “You’re prepared to give up everything—your entire life—for them?”

  “Yes.”

  Jake thought Caspian might have been about to crack a smile but put it down to his imagination. The bad-tempered God of Justice wasn’t the most cheerful of people.

  Medina’s perfume filled the room and the Goddess of Love appeared a moment later. “Jake, darling.”

  Jake stepped back as the goddess practically flew at him, wrapping her arms around his neck and squealing madly. Maurissa cried at the noise and Jake struggled to quiet her until Cari took her from his arms.

  “Can’t…breathe…” Jake gasped as he tried to disentangle himself from Medina’s embrace.

  “I knew you’d make the right decision,” Medina said. She stepped back a little and wiped tears of joy from her eyes. “You do know the meaning of love. Giving up everything for love proves it. I’m so happy for you. I don’t mind saying that I was a little worried that you might choose to give them up, and if that had happened, you’d never be able to love again.”

  “Not anyone?” Jake asked.

  Medina shook her head. “You were my gift to Finn, a lonely young merman who prayed to me for love. To turn away from Finn would be to turn away from me, and in doing so, you’d lose the ability to love at all. But we need not talk of such things. You’ve passed your initiation and no goddess could ask for a better offering from her priest.”

  Caspian coughed deliberately. “Touching as this is, Jake doesn’t actually need to give up everything to keep his mermen in his life.”

  “I don’t?”

  “No,” Caspian replied. “While I’m sure that dog of yours would be well-cared for by the Mitchells, I suspect you’d be much happier to take him with you.”

  “I don’t think he’d survive at the bottom of the ocean,” Jake pointed out. “He doesn’t even like the pool that much.”

  Caspian rolled his eyes. “I wasn’t suggesting you and the animal go live in the caverns.”

  “What were you suggesting, then?” Jake asked. He had been reluctant to give up Treacle. He and the mongrel had been through a lot together over the years. If there was a chance he could keep him and still be with Kyle and Finn, he would definitely take it.

  Caspian turned to Cari. “Can you take Maurissa to her mother?”

  “Of course.” The goddess vanished from the room in an instant.

  “You could at least have let me say goodbye,” Jake said.

  “You’ll see her again soon, I’m sure. Go pack your things—and the dog’s—and meet me back here in ten minutes.”

  “What?”

  Caspian pointed at the staircase. “Pack, now.”

  Jake looked questioningly at Medina, but she merely shrugged in response. “Are my powers going to be under control?” he asked. With the departure of most of the merpeople, he was no longer being bombarded with the intimate thoughts of those around him, but he couldn’t tell if that was because they had left or for some other reason.

  “Your powers will continue to grow for as long as the Atlantean pantheon strengthens. They will peak eventually, and I suspect that after a couple of years, you’ll have your abilities under control.”

  “Will there be any more surprises?” Jake asked. “No new powers like the permanent erection or anything like that?”

  Medina laughed. “I see you’ve been talking to Fabian. No, if that one was going to manifest, it would have happened long before now.”

  Jake breathed a sigh of relief.

  Medina nudged him and laughed again. “Like you aren’t desperate for sex whenever you’re in the presence of Kyle and Finn, anyway.”

  “Good point,” Jake mumbled as his face flushed.

  “Are you packing or not?” Caspian complained. “I don’t have all day.”

  Jake raced up the stairs and hurried to the bedroom where he grabbed a suitcase. How the hell am I going to fit everything in? Do I need to take Kyle and Finn’s clothing, too? Admittedly, they walked around naked a lot of the time, but since he had no idea where Caspian planned on taking him, he didn’t know whether his lovers would need to be fully clothed or not.

  “What’s the hold-up?” Caspian asked from the doorway.

  Jake nearly jumped out of his skin. “I’m trying to decide what to bring. It might help if I knew where we were going.”

  Caspian walked over to the case and pulled out the two jumpers Jake had already packed. “You probably won’t need those any time soon.”

  “What about Finn and Kyle?”

  “What about them?”

  “Do I need to pack their clothes?”

  Caspian snorted. “Leave them here. You can always buy them new stuff if they suddenly decide they enjoy wearing clothing, which I’m sure you know is highly unlikely.”

  “Then there are clothes shops where we’re going?”

  Caspian frowned. “No.”

  “Er, what about a supermarket?”

  “No.”

  Jake stopped packing and stared at the god. “What are we going to do for food?”

  Caspian sighed and grabbed a pile of t-shirts from the open drawer. “You’ll be flying out for anything you need.”

  “Flying?”

  “Yes.”

  “So there’s an airport there?”

  “No.”

  “I don’t understand. Where are you taking me?”

  Caspian moved onto the next drawer. “If you don’t hurry up, I’m not taking you anywhere at all.”

  Jake could tell he wasn’t going to get any sort of helpful response
from Caspian, so he went to fetch Treacle’s things. He piled his favorite toys, bowls, blanket, collar and lead into the dog bed. He also put all the food and treats into a carrier bag and left the entire lot in the hallway.

  Treacle himself wasn’t too hard to locate. He hadn’t liked the crowds, probably because most of the merpeople were unfamiliar with dogs and reluctant to give him attention. The lovable mutt had instead sought shelter in Jake’s bedroom, most often hiding under the bed. Jake didn’t blame him and had often felt like joining him down there.

  Jake found Treacle curled up under the bed, fast asleep. “Come on. We’re going on a trip.” He ruffled the dog’s fur and Treacle licked his hand before crawling out and running to the door. Jake hoped he wouldn’t be too disappointed that they weren’t going for a walk.

  Caspian waited in the hallway, two heaving suitcases at his side as well as the trunk from the end of the bed, which contained a wide range of sex toys. Jake hoped the god hadn’t opened the box, but since he suspected he probably had, he kept his mouth shut rather than ask.

  “Are you ready now?” Caspian asked.

  “Will I need my passport?” Jake asked.

  “For the love of… Yes, you’ll need your bloody passport. You know the new mer colony is in the South Pacific.”

  Jake scowled. “Yes, I knew that, but I’m pretty sure you travel all over the world without one, right?”

  “I’m a god. I don’t need to use planes. You, on the other hand, will need your passport if you ever want to go anywhere once you arrive at our destination.”

  “What about Treacle?” Jake asked after he had located his passport, driving license and other documentation, along with those Caspian had conjured up for Kyle and Finn. “Does he need a passport? What about quarantine?”

  Caspian ignored his questions and a moment later the world around them changed.

  Instead of the mansion Jake had been living in, thanks to Caspian, they were now in an entirely different building. The old-fashioned rooms had been replaced with modern, airy ones. Tall and wide glass windows stretched along the entire wall opposite him. Treacle ran to the windows and barked excitedly.

  “Where are we?” Jake asked.

  Caspian held out some papers. “This is a private island in the South Pacific, about three miles north of the location of the new mer colony.”

  Jake took the papers. “Please tell me these aren’t what I think they are?”

  “Ownership papers,” Caspian confirmed. “This island is in the names of yourself, Kyle and Finn.”

  Jake frowned. “I thought our future was in England,” he said. “Cari showed me a life where the three of us were in our house there, with Summer and Alex and their children.”

  “Cari shows possible futures,” Caspian reminded him. “Every decision you have made since she showed you that vision may have altered your course.”

  Jake wasn’t sure he liked the sound of that. He had liked the vision Cari had shared with him.

  “It may still happen,” Caspian added. “You may decide to return there, when things have died down and it’s safe to do so. You may live there permanently or simply visit. It is entirely up to you. For the moment, however, this is your new home.”

  “Is there anyone else on the island?” Jake asked as he approached the windows and savored the beautiful landscape. A small garden outside ended at a stone wall. At the other side of the wall were trees, and at the far side of those was the ocean.

  “No.”

  “What happened to the previous owner?” Jake had visions of someone arriving on the doorstep demanding his or her home back.

  “There is no previous owner,” Caspian explained. “Until today, this island didn’t exist.”

  “What?” Jake gaped at the god. “You don’t think perhaps someone might notice a second island appearing out of nowhere?”

  “No, this one cannot be seen from the air, the sea or by your satellites. Ships in the area will steer clear, though the captains won’t know why they alter their courses to avoid the place. Planes will see nothing but sea. Only the mer will be able to find this island.”

  “How is that possible?”

  “For a small island such as this one, it’s quite simple,” Caspian replied. “It’s how the gods shielded the islands the mer used during the mating seasons.”

  “It’s a pity you didn’t do that with Atlantis itself.”

  “With the sea dragons hiding it, we didn’t have to.”

  “And after the dragons left?”

  Caspian sighed. “Atlantis is much bigger that this place, and to hide the entire thing would take more power than I and the rest of the allies of the merpeople have.”

  “You could have tried.”

  “We did,” Caspian snapped. “Or we tried to hide the palace and surrounding buildings, at least. But with other immortals working against us, it was impossible to do so. Mariana wanted the mer discovered and driven from the city. We soon discovered that whatever we did to try to hide any part of the city was completely ineffective.”

  “I didn’t realize.”

  “Of course you didn’t. Why would you?” Caspian said. “The immortals don’t have to tell you our every move.”

  “Sorry.”

  “It doesn’t matter. And before you suggest that we should have tried to hide the city after it was raised, by then we had most of the pantheon working against us, and hiding the city then would defeat the purpose of raising it.”

  “I see.”

  “Anyway,” Caspian continued, “the mer will be able to find this place without any difficulty. You’ll no doubt get a lot of visitors to your beaches during the mating season.”

  Jake sat on a comfortable sofa and stared at the god who had done all this for him. “Why would you go to this much trouble for me?”

  Caspian shrugged and avoided his eyes. “No particular reason.”

  “But this is so much and I’m an Atlantean, not mer. Your vow to help the mer doesn’t extend to me.”

  Caspian sat beside him and gave a sigh. “Forget being Atlantean and forget that your lovers are mermen. You’re just a man who loves someone—two someones—so much you’d give up everything for them. Do you have any idea how rare that is?”

  “Not really.”

  “Speaking as a god who has lived for thousands of years, I can tell you it is very rare indeed. There are few who would do what you intended to do. I couldn’t. But I once knew one who could. He…”

  Jake remained quiet rather than prompt Caspian, who seemed lost in the past. He rather suspected that Caspian might have forgotten he was there at all.

  Caspian stared at his hands for several long seconds. “I didn’t deserve him, not at all. But I loved him.”

  “He was mer, wasn’t he?” Jake asked softly.

  Caspian nodded then seemed to remember where he was and who he was talking to. He jumped up from his seat. “Now, you’ll want to know how to get off this island when you want to get supplies or go on a shopping spree. This way.”

  Jake followed Caspian, who was all business again, through the house and out the door. They walked down a path that sloped gently downward. Jake didn’t bring up what they had spoken about, but his mind slowly put together a few more pieces of the mystery that was Caspian. Things that Cari, Fabian and others had said about the bad-tempered god he now saw in a different context. He didn’t need to be told that Caspian had lost the merman he loved, that much was obvious. Although he knew the god wouldn’t welcome his sympathy, Jake found himself feeling quite sorry for Caspian anyway.

  “The beach is that way,” Caspian said, pointing at a path to the right.

  They didn’t go to the beach. Instead, they carried on straight ahead until they reached a dock where a seaplane had been parked.

  “Your new transportation,” Caspian announced.

  “Um, I have no idea how to fly one of those,” Jake said, “or anything else, for that matter.”

  “You’ll find yo
u have the knowledge when you need it. Just remember to take your passport with you for when you arrive on the mainland.”

  Jake could barely believe it. An island of their own and a seaplane, as well. He hoped Caspian’s knowledge of flying the seaplane was better than his knowledge of using other human technology. Perhaps he should take some lessons from a professional, just to be on the safe side.

  Treacle yapped as he raced past them, chasing some exotic bird he had no hope of catching.

  “What about him?” Jake asked. “How would we go about taking him with us if we went back to England?”

  Caspian sighed. “Call myself, Medina or Cari and we’ll transport all of you, mutt included, to England. I’m sure one of us will be available for infrequent visits such as those. What we aren’t available for is monthly shopping trips.”

  “Thank you.” Caspian might not welcome Jake’s sympathy, but he could at least offer him his heartfelt gratitude.

  Caspian gave him a brief smile, taking Jake by surprise. “You’re welcome, Jake Seabrook.”

  Jake stood on the dock as Caspian vanished.

  Now all he had to do is settle into his new home and wait for Kyle and Finn to track him down. The mating season was upon them, and he had no doubt they would be coming to land, eager for sex, sometime in the next twenty-four hours. He couldn’t wait to see them again.

  Calling Treacle to follow him, Jake headed back to the house. He found the cupboards and fridge full and set about cooking a meal for his men. He suspected they might have been missing human food during their time traveling in the oceans. A romantic meal to celebrate their reunion would be ideal.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Finn and Kyle arrived on land with a couple of dozen other merpeople. No one seemed to be shy about getting started the moment they took human form, except Finn.

  Kyle guided Finn a little way down the beach, but there were still plenty of mer around. The island was pretty small, and Finn suspected that wherever they went, someone would be able to see what they were doing.

  Realistically, Finn knew that most of the mer had no interest in watching others of their kind having sex, yet he still couldn’t help feeling embarrassed at the idea of anyone discovering what he needed to break his mating fever. He caught sight of Otus a hundred or so feet down the shore and cringed.