Authors: Kelly Coughlin
My breath came in slow, drawn out flusters. I tried to control it so I wouldn’t hyperventilate. “So, does this mean that you’ve killed people? That you acted like… like she did, to try and end my life?” His movement was much too quick and fluid-like as he unlatched my hand from the table, stroking it softly with both hands, it further displayed his inhuman qualities.
Horror struck, he tried in vain to break my blank stare with his eyes. I looked through them. I didn’t want to know what horrible power they held. “No! Amy I’ve never even tasted human flesh, please listen to me. I’m only part Merman, remember? I am no cannibal, I can assure you that!” I couldn’t doubt the sincere look on his face. I wanted to believe him so badly it hurt. “I only eat small fish, or other game, no worse than humans. Please, Amy, I would never hurt you, or anyone. Never.”
I nodded slowly, taking everything in. Ty continued to stroke my hand. He wanted to break down the wall I had so recently flung up. Helplessness burned in his gorgeous eyes, cascading down his perfect face. Eventually I found my voice.
“How do you… know that thin—Mina? Was she… Did she turn you into this?” I imagined Mina, cornering a defenseless Ty, completely oblivious to her dark charm. Her hypnotic eyes drawing him closer, and closer, until he was just close enough to kill. Instinctively I flinched away from that image.
Some of the helplessness left his eyes, if I was competent enough to ask questions, then I was obviously aware of what I was doing. And I hadn’t run from him, at least not yet.
“No, of course not. Mina would never hurt
me
, because I share instincts with her, I was born this way. My father was a merman, my mother was a human. Mina, is our—the Mermanese word, for grandmother.”
“WHAT?! That monste—that beautiful young creature is your grandmother?!” I tried to think of some universe where something that young or beautiful or deadly would be a grandmother. My voice had risen from an inaudible whisper to a small shriek, several customers turned to look at our table. I looked down at the table in embarrassment, afraid that I’d made Ty uncomfortable.
He calmly continued to stroke my hand, patiently waiting for the customers to turn back to their own conversations. “Yes. True Merpeople don’t age the way you humans do. Since I am—a half-breed if you will,” he smiled at his choice of words, “I age at the same rate as humans. The only real difference between me and regular humans is that I need the ocean, as it needs me. I have to go to it at least once every couple of days. Otherwise I would shrivel up and die. We help maintain the ocean, keep it safe for other sea creatures, even you humans.”
The thought of him shriveled up, never to move again was enough to almost send me off the deep end. “Don’t you see, Amy? I didn’t want to tell you all this, I know I’m an oddity. I didn’t want you to have to go through this, again. It’s my life to suffer. Not yours.” His tone pleaded with me. His eyes begged me to understand.
“No. You’re wrong.” His eyes burned with a new hope, “You aren’t an oddity, by any means. You are a wonderful caring person that I owe my life to.” I gave him a reassuring smile.
“I wish I could believe that. Your version is so much nicer than mine.”
“Then believe it. You don’t have to go through any of it alone. I’ll be there for you, if you want me to be. I don’t know how, but I’ll find a way to make it easier on you.” An evil grin quickly spread across his tan face.
“You promise?” He extended his pinky towards me this time. I smiled sheepishly in response, all the traces of anxiety gone from the conversation.
“Yes.” Then I raised my hand to entwine my pinky in his. “I promise.” I paused, remembering something I’d rather not say.
“But, now I have a confession to make to you.” His brow wrinkled in thought. I was careful not to show any emotion. He gave up trying to decipher my tone.
“Yes? I hope it’s nothing as trivial as murdering humans? That is always such a boring topic at dinner parties.” I had to giggle at that.
“Oh, no, nothing that mundane. It’s something far worse than murdering insignificant humans.” I was surprised at how bravely I could discuss murder. Maybe it speaks for my character. “I may have borrowed your sunglasses the other day. You were behaving very rudely, in my defense.”
At first it was dead silent. It took him a minute to process the information. Then his soothing voice boomed with laughter. His muscular chest shook with the effort. “Do you mean to tell me that you
stole
my sunglasses the other day?” The other customers once again turned to stare angrily at our table for interrupting them, another time.
“Don’t you think that ‘stole’ is a bit harsh? I mean technically I only borrowed them. I really did plan on giving them back… just as soon as I was allowed to come back to the beach, with your permission of course.” We both laughed at that. It was clear that at that time Ty had no intentions of letting me come back to the beach.
“And here I thought I was the evil one. Wow. You’re right, murdering humans is a trivial matter.” I didn’t know what to say to that. Once again, our conversation had circled back around until we were both laughing. I didn’t want to be the one to bring it back to its former gloomy level.
Suddenly I felt something feather-light tickle my toes. I looked down to see a small, scaly, lizard crawling half-way up my leg, it’s tiny claws digging into my already sunburned skin. I half-screamed half-kicked the small reptile off, flailing my arms like a mad woman. “Eww. I don’t like lizards.” The tiny animal landed nimbly on its feet, then scurried away. I turned to see Ty’s expression; a mix of amusement and disdain.
“So, you are afraid of lizards.” It wasn’t a question. There was a hard edge to his voice, a deeper meaning lay just under the surface of the simple one. I tilted my head to the side, analyzing his expression before answering. “They are so disgusting. Something about the way their body moves, it’s very unnatural. It’s always disturbed me.”
“Very unnatural for humans, you mean,” he corrected. He didn’t seem too keen on continuing, so I let it drop. His amused expression perplexed me more with every second.
I picked up my spoon to eat another bite, until I realized that it had melted to chocolaty mush. Ty’s ice cream had melted as well. “Well,” Ty began, “I guess it’s about time that you headed home, before we are banned from ever coming back in here.” He gestured to the disgruntled customers staring at us. They glared at us as we walked out. I bit down on my lip to stifle my giggles. We didn’t dare look at each other. We knew it would be certain trouble if we disturbed the parlor anymore.
We headed back to the beach in silence. I didn’t want to let him go, but I wasn’t brave enough to say it out loud. I didn’t know when I’d ever get to see him again, or if I would ever get to see him again. I started wringing my hands in worry.
“What’s wrong?” Ty asked. His concern was always overwhelming.
“Nothing. I just don’t know if I’ll see you again, soon.” I made the mistake of looking up into the deep pools of his eyes. There was no escape for me now.
“You actually want to see me, later?” there was hope in his voice. I nodded my head helplessly, the mouse mesmerized by the snake’s overpowering gaze. He smiled, breaking the trance.
“Good then. I have
so much I want to show you. So much I want you to know, to understand about my life. Amy you have no idea how much easier this makes things.” I felt his arms wrap around me, before I saw them, my slow human vision blurred his movements terribly. I wrapped my arms around him in response. My heart thumped noisily in my chest. I prayed he couldn’t feel it, or hear it. I didn’t know what extra senses Merpeople might have, I doubted there was any sort of handbook that detailed what they were capable of.
He released me from his embrace, sliding one arm around my waist. Ordinarily I would have yelled at the impropriety of this on a first date, but there was something about him that I felt I’d known him all my life. He walked me back to my car in a happy daze. After I was inside, and securely strapped in, he turned to flash me a wicked smile.
“I’ll be seeing you later. Have a good night, Amy.” Before I had time to react he shut the car door and practically ran away.
Slightly ruffled, I decided it was time to go in and face my mother. I wasn’t entirely sure how I was going to explain not having any bags to show for my hard day of “shopping.” I was just grateful I had completely dried so that there would be no traces of the beach on me, except for the stupid grin plastered on my face from seeing Ty.
It didn’t matter to me what Ty was, just as long as he didn’t hurt anyone I could live with that. It was even comical that he was merman, something I could joke around about with him.
So that was that; Ty was a merman, I was a human, and the whole world continued to be. There had been no catastrophic meltdowns; the world had not suddenly come to an end. Ty was Ty, I was Amy, and there would be no changing how I felt about him.
Now the only thing I had to worry about was making sure that Mom and Steve didn’t look too closely into my actions. If they ever found out what I had been up to I’m sure I would be on the next flight to a military institution.
The thought of being separated from him for any length of time worried me. My breath stopped in my lungs, my body just couldn’t work without him. I never wanted this summer to end, because if it ended then my time with Ty would come to an end as
well. I wouldn’t let my mind think about it yet.
I just wanted to live in the moment, live in the now while I was happy.
With that I sped towards my house, my heart hammering loudly the whole way.
8.
Atlantis
Forehead creased with agitation, my thin lips pressed together in one line, the evidence from today’s rendezvous in my trunk, I pulled up to my house feeling more like a fugitive than a teenager. Although on certain occasions those occupations can go hand-in-hand. I scanned the driveway clinging to the hopes that my parents might still be out at one of their many events for the evening. Once again, I never had that kind of luck.
All the cars were in the garage, lined in straight perfect little rows, never once veering even an inch out of place. I looked over both shoulders before getting out of the car, carefully making sure that my towel was securely in the trunk, ready for me to unearth it in my spare time.
I carefully molded my hair so that it only looked wind swept, instead of half dry from the beach. All in all I didn’t look like too much of a disaster, I almost looked passable. I say ‘almost’ because my eyes sparkled with a bright new light, I had to work hard to press my lips together to keep from smiling stupidly at everyone and everything and my hands fidgeted nervously with the prospects of seeing Ty again. I had a feeling I resembled a murder suspect. I’m hopeless.
Okay, time to put those theater classes to the test. I burst through the door, stomping my feet loudly. I bunched my lips into a thin pout, trying my best to sound distraught. After everything that happened today, that was a pretty hard thing to do.
“Mom! You’re never going to believe what happened!” I practically yelled.
“Oh, baby, come
in here and tell me what’s wrong.” I rounded the bend through the kitchen, turned past the work out room, following her wispy voice to the living room.
She sat like a prima-ballerina getting ready for her recital. Her white blond hair cascaded in ringlets, each pinned tightly to her head, not one strand dared to be out of place. Her tight black dress clung to her slender silhouette, accentuating her milky white skin. Even though she was my mom I couldn’t help but be in awe of her beauty, it was no where near as wonderful as Ty’s, but it came close.
“Well, today, when I went to the mall I saw this beautiful dress! Mom, you would have loved it, it was the most amazing dress I’ve ever seen. I knew it was something you would have picked out for me.” Okay. I may have gone a little overboard with the theatrics. “Then, just when I went up to buy it, I couldn’t find my wallet!” I stomped my foot in pretend horror.
“So I walked all the way out to the car, fuming all the way of course. Then I looked at the seat and there it was! It must have fallen out of my purse while I was driving. But by then I was too embarrassed to go back to the store, so I just decided to go home, and get it early tomorrow, before the date.”
To my amazed relief she nodded in agreement. “Yes, I suppose that will work. Janice called earlier with the details.” Her hands fluttered to her face as she spoke. I took this as a very bad omen for me. “Adam wants to take you to this cute little Asian place, after that he wants to take you for a romantic stroll in the park.” She squealed with tangible delight, I actually felt the color drain from my face for the hundredth time today. Ty’s majestic face clouded out every other thought, intensifying my annoyance at my mom’s preference for Adam.
“Amy did you hear me?” Her reproachful tone brought me back. “I said aren’t you excited?”
“Hmm? Yeah, oh, yeah. I’m excited, just, uh, nervous I guess.” Sure, I guess annoyance could pass as nervous.
“Dear, just relax. I’m sure he likes you, it will be fun! It reminds me of my younger days when I was asked on dates. Oh, I used to—” No! Not the trip down memory lane. Hadn’t I suffered enough in the last couple of days?
“Uh, Mom I don’t mean to interrupt you but where’s Steve? I was going to ask his opinion on something. You know, ask him some questions about guys.” Whew. That was a close one.
“Steve is arranging some—things, with a new client.” She paused eyeing me suspiciously. “Is that all you wanted to know?”
“Yup.” Then I yawned as loud as I could, ignoring my mom’s less-than-ladylike look. “Wow. I’m exhausted. I walked up and down the mall for hours looking for the perfect dress. I think I’m just gonna head upstairs and get ready for bed. Night mom!”
I had to control my movements so that I didn’t sprint away. Mom followed me to the staircase, still scrutinizing my every movement. “Amy Jane, are you going up to bed already? Are you hungry? I can get something for you to eat?” Mom’s futile attempts at making me stay were almost sad. She had resorted to using food, her last resort.
“Nope. I ate while I was out. I’ll see you in the morning. Have a great night Mom.” I called from the second floor. When I was out of ear shot I dashed up the last few stairs making sure my movements didn’t make a sound.
From the time it took to get up the stairs I decided it was time to do something I hadn’t done in a while. I was going to take a bath. I practically danced around my room as I slung my purse on my bed, slammed the door to my room, and began getting ready for a night of complete relaxation.
I threw open the doors leading to the balcony, welcoming the warm breezes that brought the briny ocean smell. The waters glittered
dangerously with the setting sun. It was no longer terrifying for me to see the ocean, but fascinating. I had so many questions I wanted to ask as soon as I could see Ty again, if I ever saw Ty again. The overwhelming waves of despair washed over me when I thought of never seeing his warm face ever again.
Glumly I turned the water for the bath on, giving it plenty of time to warm up. I took off my shirt and shorts, letting them drop to the floor while keeping my bathing suit on. Silly as it is, I examined myself in the mirror with it on. The blue of the bikini brought out the blue in my eyes, contrasting just enough with the auburn in my air to be acceptable. My skin had turned a slight shade of red from not wearing sunscreen. If I kept this up I was going to look like a lobster by the end of summer.
I was vaguely aware of the running water until I heard
it
. The sound became etched into my brain. It was one of fear, and happiness; the sound of air compressing around an object as it is sucked through a vacuum, then the splash as it is released into a tub of water. My body was paralyzed with fear. I had so many images running through my head at one time it became impossible to distinguish what was right in front of me from what was in my head.
I turned my head very slowly towards the bathtub, my body slightly angled to bolt out of the bathroom door if it was an axe murderer. I sighed in relief as I took in Ty’s impishly innocent face grinning at me. A wave of horror washed over me as I realized he was in my bathtub, with my mom directly below us downstairs.
In my excited state I ran my questions together. “Ty what are you doing here—my mom is right down stairs she is going to freak out—how did you get in here—how are you able to do this—am I dreaming—am I crazy? “ I turned back and forth, between running toward Ty, and covering myself up with a towel. He laughed leisurely turning his head to glance over my messy bathroom.
“Relax Amy. I can only answer one question at a time. As for the first, I came to see you, silly.” That was enough for me to make the decision to stay. I gently edged toward the tub. “As for your mother, you don’t need to worry about her. She left to get a late dinner, she won’t return until much later. I’m sure about that. And the third,” Ty gently slid forward, my knees buckled in shock. I thumped loudly on the bathroom floor, but I was in too much shock to notice. There hanging out of the side of my tub were two small fins, attached to the tip of a scaly tail.
Almost as if he wanted to prove it was real, he took the end of his tail, and turned the running water off, then turned back to see my face. I could only gape in amazement for a few moments. Ty extended his hand towards me, beckoning me towards him. Slowly I crawled across the bathroom floor, taking his extended hand in both of mine.
Leaning over the tub I examined Ty’s changed body. His head and chest remained the same, he didn’t wear a shirt so that his tan skin slightly glowed in the bright lights. I tried not to let my eyes linger on his chest, a feat not easily accomplished. Where his hip bones were supposed to begin on a regular human, tiny shimmering scales wrapped around his torso, gradually increasing in size, until they once again narrowed at the base of his tail.
“Wow” I mouthed. His scales are earth shattering, they are inexplicably beautiful. They continually changed colors every second; from brilliant crimson, to canary yellow, cascading to pearl gray in seconds. His tail was a foot longer than his human legs, easily overshadowing any human beauty he could have held.
I reached out my hand to touch his magnificent tail. I pulled it back when I realized I didn’t know if there were any indecent spots on a merman’s tail. Better to be safe than sorry for modesty’s sake. Slowly I allowed my brain to take every detail of his splendor into my bland human mind.
The floor of the bathroom dropped out from under me, my world turning black as I spiraled down deeper into the black mist than I had been before. I knew I was blacking out, but there was nothing I could do to stop it. I felt Ty’s steady hands grab hold of my face, his hypnotic eyes locked into mind, forcing me out of the mist, to live in the moment, not the past.
“Amy, Amy! Look at me. It’s going to be okay. You don’t need to remember anything, it is okay. You’re here. That’s all I can ask for.”
I swayed slightly until I steadied myself against the edge of the tub. He carefully slid his hands away from my face and set them on top of my hands, his eyes scanning my face for any signs of insanity. I dropped my face to stare at his hands on top of mine.
I froze, fear grabbed hold of my voice and clenched it shut. The tips of his fingers were coated in black volcano resistant nails. The razor blade sharp nails jutted out an inch away from his body, adding to the deadliness of his beauty. I took a deep breath, forcing down the scream that threatened to erupt from my suddenly dry throat. I tried not to imagine what they could do to human skin, especially not mine.
“Just say the words Amy and I’ll leave. I won’t ever bother you again, I promise. If you will it, I won’t dare to come near you ever.” His voice was crooning, but his eyes pleaded with mine. His majestic eyes only grew more powerful with his present form, his voice becoming an intricate melody of jumbled words, creating harmony with the crashing waves outside.
“No, please don’t leave, although I am slightly angry at you.” His eyes opened in shock, but I continued without noticing. “Ty, what exactly did you plan to do if I wasn’t wearing my bathing suit when I got in this tub?” It was my turn to glare at him.
My question caught him off guard. He stumbled looking for the correct words before he turned to grin mischievously. “That was a risk I was willing to take. Look how lucky I got, you still have it on.” I rolled m
y eyes as he chuckled softly. I kept my eyes on his face to minimize the chances that I might black out again.
“How did you get in here? How did you find me? I don’t understand how it all works.”
He answered simply, “Water is a part of me and I am a part of the water. Anywhere there is running water I can travel. It is stagnant water that gives me a hard time.” He slipped one hand under his chin for support. “Now as to your finding you question, not seeing you every time I’m in water is the hard part.” My eyes accidentally slipped from his face to become momentarily mystified by his opal like tail, every time the light hit it changed instantly, shifting easily between hues.
“I don’t follow.” I grumbled. He laughed lightly.
“Sorry, I forget what you remember, and what you don’t.” He ignored the nasty look I gave him, “Most Merpeople don’t see things as you humans do, our world is a mixture of lights and colors, not shapes and textures. To us, animals actually emit a certain light usually designating how good they will taste. Generally the brighter the light the tastier the skin, the duller the light the less value the skin is to us.” He paused, not wanting to push my limits.
“Your skin glows brighter than any human’s I’ve ever seen before. You are like a small sun under water, that’s why Mina was attracted to you, which is why I was able to see you the other night, to stop her from getting you. Another few seconds and I don’t know if I could have saved you from her.” The mention of the other night sent my heart beating sporadically. Ty mistook my silence for not comprehending his light analogy.
“In a way I feel like you are my lighthouse, Amy. Your bright light was enough to guide me safely to you. You saved me as well, if I didn’t know that you existed, I would be frustrated enough to join the rest of our kind, to forget that I have a mission on land.”
“Ty don’t sa
y things like that. We both know that you are so much stronger than I could ever be, no matter what you say about some mission.” I splashed water playfully at him, “Besides, that little boy would have drowned the other day if you hadn’t saved him. You will never be able to deny that.” He smiled, revealing his luminescent teeth. I subconsciously inched away from the deadly tools.
“Now,” his tone brightening considerably, “I believe you have some thing that belongs to me.” He grandly placed one hand palm up in front me.
“I dunno. You were really rude to me the first time I met you. I’m not sure I can easily forgive you for that.” I placed my palm on top of his, showing that I wasn’t going to give up the glasses without a fight.
He placed his faces inches from mine, his wet breath tickling my face, sending shivers down my spine. “Really? Let’s see what I can do to make that up to you.” With the speed of lightning I felt his free hand grab a hold of my shoulder, his other hand clenched on mine, making escape impossible. He dragged me kicking and screaming into the tub with him.
“Ty—you are—such a—JERK!” I thrashed angrily in the water, slightly scared of what he might do in that state. In the time we spent together he never once just let go like this. He wrapped his coral tough arms around my waist, pushing his soft face against mine. My face burned with embarrassment, I looked down to avoid eye contact. His melodic laughter enchanted my senses momentarily. I was able to enjoy just being with him, until the horrible embarrassment returned.