The Last Thing (33 page)

Lucy scowled and crossed her arms. “You’re lucky you haven’t
already. It’s dangerous out there. What’s there that’s worth risking your
life?”

“Do I really have to repeat myself? Treasure
and
Tristen,”
I said. My smile grew wide and adrenaline coursed through me. Once I satisfied
that need, I would find a way to free my people. Tristen would help me, I was
sure, but I couldn’t tell my sister that part. It needed to be kept a secret.

“Listen, I know that you have a good time sneaking about with him,
but one of these days you’re going to get yourself into some serious trouble.
No treasure is worth that.”

“But it’s a
pearl
, Lucy, my favorite. This one is supposed
to be magnificent.”

“I don’t care how magnificent—”

“I’ll be fine,” I said. I yearned for the adventure and the chance
to add it to my collection. 

The sad but disappointed frown on her face should have told me
what was coming. “What would mother say?”

 “She would want me to follow my dreams.” But my mother wouldn’t
have been happy I was sneaking out in the middle of the night to go on some
adventure and leave my sisters behind.

“Raewyn, please,” Lucy plead. Her words cut to my heart. She was
right on some accounts. I
should
have been dancing the night away at the
ball and then sleeping soundly in my bed. Being the oldest, I
should
have
been the one to set a good example. I
should
have stayed and watched
over my sisters. Had I done as I was supposed to, things would have remained
simple in my life.

“I love you,” I said and planted a kiss on her forehead. I might
not see her again.

Without another thought, I slipped out of my window and swam
toward adventure, over the lands of the merfolk. My heart raced with a mixture
of excitement and nervousness.

Our kingdom was small, and it reminded me of all that we lost. We
had once been a vast race and ruled both land and sea. I didn’t stop to look
back until I was out of our territory.
Finally,
I turned to look at my
home, my eyes searching for the large architecture of rocks that hid our
existence from the prying eyes of the humans. I couldn’t see it because it was
hidden among the other rocks and stones here at the bottom of the ocean.

“You can do this,” I told myself as I swam toward Death Valley.

When fear crept up in me, I pushed it down and ignored it. I
focused on the treasure that was waiting for me. Pushing past the fish and
other sea life that swam around me, I continued on my journey.

A large construction of coral appeared in the distance, showing I
was near my destination. It was beautiful, with all of the colors of the
rainbow dancing along it. Behind the coral I found the valley hidden from
sight—the one holding the treasure. The area was closer to the surface than my
kingdom, and a single ray of moonlight shone down through the water.

The closer I got, the more my body shook in excitement. I forced
myself to brush off the fear and
uncertainty, but it persisted. As I entered Death Valley, the
fish became sparse, showing me even sea life was terrified of this place. I had
never seen anything like it.

A large current hit me out of nowhere, sending me spiraling
backwards out of control. I screamed and struggled to stop
spinning through the
water. When I finally stopped flipping, I steadied myself. With a frown, I
headed back toward the uneasy waters. Carefully I swam, fighting against the
harsh currents that threatened to push me away again. As I reached the coral,
the temperature dropped significantly. Chills broke out along my skin. I looked
down below me to see dead sea life scattered about and bones…lots of them. Even
the plant life was dead. Nothing about this place looked inviting. In fact, it
looked like something had slaughtered everything that came here.

When
I saw Tristen waiting for me at the top of the coral, my heart slowed down, and
my body stopped shaking. I was no longer alone in the deserted area. His back
was to me, and his green tail flipped excitedly. His shoulders were broad, and
as I got closer I could see the way his muscles rippled underneath his skin
from all the extra swimming he did. He was handsome and my closest friend, but
still, I wasn’t sure what we had was true love. If my father forced me to
marry, I would choose him. I had absolutely no interest in any of my suitors.

I
ran my hand through my thick brown hair, which always seemed to be knotted, and
slipped over to where he was. A devious smile twisted on my face as I reached
out to push him against the coral and leaned over to whisper in his ear.
“Caught you!”

Tristen
whirled around to face me. He took my cheeks in his hands and a smile broadened
over his handsome face “Ah, so she lives! She survived the evil dancing of
doom.”

I
giggled. “I did, but it was awful. You can’t imagine.”

“That’s
because I’m not invited.” He frowned.

“You
aren’t royalty,” I said deep and shaky, with the best impersonation of the
king’s voice that I could muster. “Besides, you wouldn’t have had fun anyway.
It’s only to match people up with someone they will marry and have babies with.
It’s not like you get to meet someone you care about and fall in love.” I was
rambling, so I shut my mouth. I was going to ruin my own fun if I kept that up.
It was hard, though, because I remembered another time when we roamed free on
land, or under the waves, and did as we pleased. It was a time when falling in
love was encouraged, and stories were told of past great rulers and their
adventures. I remembered my mother filling my head with stories while we sat at
my bedroom window and looked towards the sea.

 “Raewyn!”
Tristen snapped. “Stop worrying about all that. Things weren’t always like
this, and they don’t have to be forever.”

“If
it’s my choice, it won’t be.”

“Well,
then once we get this treasure of yours, we can do something about it.”

I
smiled. “You read my mind; that’s the plan.”

He
ruffled his short, blond hair. “You need to stop dwelling on the past.”

I
sighed and nodded. He was right.

“So,
what’s it look like?” I asked.

 He
motioned to the other side of the coral. “Awesome. You have to see this thing,
it’s massive. The rumors are true.”

 Tristen’s
blue eyes beamed with excitement, and I was glad I had him with me. My heart
began to race, and my body filled with anticipation. I almost didn’t believe
his words, so I moved to peek over the top of the coral. The breath in my
throat caught as I laid my eyes on the prize.

In
the distance, I could see it. The pearl was five times the size of a regular
one, almost pink in color, and glistening inside a gray clam. The clam was open
and obviously dead, thankfully, or we would have a more difficult time
obtaining the pearl. It glowed beneath a single ray of moonlight, just as the
rumors said it would. Only during a full moon would it glow like that. We were
closer to the surface than we were supposed to be, but the moon would keep us
safe if we needed
her. She always did.

 
“Can’t
you just imagine it sitting in your little treasure trunk with the rest of your
trinkets? It would outshine any of those other gems you have,” Tristen asked.

“Yes,”
I breathed and began to drift toward it. I felt drawn to such treasures,
yearned to add them to my collection. It was important to me to have things
that were precious and mine alone. These things weren’t alive. They couldn’t
die and leave me behind. The king would be angry if he found them, but he
wouldn’t ever understand. My hands dug into the coral to keep me in place. It
wasn’t time to race toward it yet.

 “I
bet I can get to the treasure first,” I teased with a sly smile. I continued to
slowly move forward toward the prize.

“Raewyn,”
Tristan chastised as he pulled me back with him.

“I
just can’t believe it.”

“I
know.”

“It
can’t be so easy as to just swim over there, can it?” I asked and furrowed my
brow. This seemed a lot easier than some the other excursions we’d went on.

“I’m
not worried about it.”

“It’s…so
magnificent…”

“It’s
not the only thing that’s magnificent in the water tonight,” Tristen whispered.

I
wasn’t sure what could be better than the pearl at the moment. 

I
tore my eyes away from the pink beauty to
see him
staring at me with adoration
. I’d seen that look before; he wanted to
kiss me. Each time he did, I became less sure of what our relationship was.
Whatever this was between us was always comfortable and safe, but over the past
year things changed. We grew up and each held different ideas about how life
should be. 

“Tristen, not right now.”

His hand cupped my face as he looked down at me. “We don’t get to
be alone much anymore.”

“I know, and I wish it was different. I miss you, but
nothing will change until we
figure out a way to stop this madness our people have come up with.”

“So
you
do
miss me?” He bit his lip as his eyes lowered to linger on my
lips. “I miss you too, Rae, I love you.”

Before I could respond
,
he closed the distance
between
us and placed his warm, familiar lips on mine. Like all the times before, it
was nice. Definitely better than any kiss I’d shared with my suitors. But I was
disappointed to find that he still didn’t arouse any feelings that were similar
to what my mother claimed love would. My heart didn’t rush, and all the
excitement I felt was because of the pearl. I was sad to think that I was
starting to give up on love and rule my mother’s story out as just that—merely
tall tales made up to make a young child happy.

I
pulled back from him and dropped my eyes. I’d wanted to be in love with
Tristen, badly. He’d always been there for me, never left my side. His kiss was
just another reminder things were missing in my life. At eighteen, I hoped to
be married to someone that I truly loved. I was taught a mermaid’s true love
would find
her, against all odds. Somehow her heart
would call to him, and he would answer. So far it hadn’t happened to me. It
seemed my glittery vision just didn’t exist in reality.

 His warm hand settled on mine. “I’m sorry if I did something to
upset you.”

 “No, I’m fine. Things are just confusing these days. The older I
get, the more unsure I feel.”

“Then we will concentrate on something that’s sure! Like that
beautiful treasure!” Suddenly,
his face fell and his eyes opened wide. “Look out, Raewyn!”

Fear
trickled down my spine at his words, and I spun around to see what was coming
for us. Just as it registered there was nothing there, I heard Tristen’s
laughter ring out behind me, followed by a swish of his tale.

“Got
cha!”

 “You
jerk!” I screamed and turned around to see him flying through the water.

He’d
tricked me.

I
cursed under my breath and took off after him, my hair flying back from my head
as I shot through the water. The king would be furious if he found out I was
running around in the open with Tristen again. Open waters were dangerous, a
place to be found out by humans, he said. He never missed a chance to tell me
how quickly humans would snatch you out of the water, and you would be a
prisoner of the land forever.

Being in
cold,
unfamiliar water scared me, especially with all the dead creatures littering
the ground below. But the opalescent beauty was not far away. I had to make it
a part of my collection. Thankfully, it was dark, making it easier for us to
slip into the waters undiscovered. The
moonlight
shone right onto the pearl, beckoning us to come closer.

I pushed myself
harder,
giggling as I neared Tristen. “You don’t play fair!”

“Do
I ever?” he asked as he moved to swim backwards and look toward me. “It’s not
like you ever play fair!”

“No,
but you’re supposed to be the responsible one!”

“Responsible?”
he said with a laugh. “I don’t think that has anything to do with this. Look
around you. Does any of this look like something a responsible merfolk would—”

He
stopped swimming and motioned for me to come back. His mouth fell open in shock
as he shook his head. For a moment, I thought there was something after me, but
I wasn’t about to fall for another trick, especially the same one. I swam
forward and glanced back at him to point and laugh. I would win; I just knew
it.

Suddenly,
I slammed into something large and knocked the breath out of me. Black dots
took over my vision as I sunk down into the water. I rubbed my eyes to try and
clear them so I could see what it was. Panic hit me at the thoughts swarming
around my brain. It could be anything.

Oh
please let it be a whale.

“Get
out of here!” Tristen screamed.