Deep Blue (The Mermaid Chronicles Book 1) (15 page)

             
"Grandma was a mermaid, David. That's why she never went in the water with us as kids."

             
"That...doesn't...make sense," he mumbled “Grandma?”
             
"She couldn't go into the water. She was forbidden. Both for the tail, and because she fell for a human." That wasn't exactly what David had meant. None of it made sense. Mermaids weren't real, but there Tommy was, staring at him with that sarcastic gaze. Staring at him, laughing at David's expression with his eyes. It was all widely disconcerting, far too much for his sleep-addled brain to understand.

             
David looked back at Alice, perplexed. "You—how long?" he demanded, suddenly angry.

             
"About a month after we moved here, when I decided to take a swim."

             
“You…you didn’t…” his hands shook. How could she keep something like this from him? This was it, this was the secret, this was the reason she had started changing, and here he was, sitting in the dark. What did she want from him? What did she expect from him? He shook his head and opened his eyes again. This time he stared at Tommy.

             
"A touch of any merfolk's tail will open up the gills in your nose and mouth and change you, as long as you carry the gene," Tommy put in, unhelpfully. He also gave David a look that he didn’t like at all. It was a look that made David feel like he should run away from this revelation right now. 

             
"His brother was swimming past," Alice continued.

             
"He hated you then, by the way," Tommy said, turning toward her, interrupting again. Alice felt awkward, having just seen the little brother in his birthday suit. Maybe it was something left over from when she was human; logically, it made more sense than wasting a pair of trunks every time. Alice hardly heard what he said.

             
"That's how you met the Caraways? The Caraways are
fish? I'm a fish
?" David didn't seem to be processing the information, Alice was reminded of her own trouble with it. "I just… I… Alice, I role play! Stuff like this isn't real."

             
"It's real, David." He looked at her, looking for help. She was calm, perfectly calm, and Tommy was eyeing him like he could be on a dinner plate. If Alice had been excited, if she had been sad, he would have run away screaming. He was reminded of times when they were kids at Grandma's house and Grandma would watch as David and his sister went in and out of the waves, him on stubby legs chasing his adept bigger sister, or riding on her back as she swam like a dolphin. He missed those times. He had been so caught up in his computer games ever since Alice had gotten back from Grandma's after Grandma died. When Alice came back, it was as if she was an oyster that had been scooped of pearl and meat alike, and the shell smashed with a hammer. He buried himself deeper in the games when he realized his sister wasn't really there anymore, and she didn’t seem to be ever coming back. He looked at her now with her bright green eyes shining brightly like they used to, before their family had been spontaneously torn apart.

             
David trusted Alice. He didn't understand anything she was telling him, and he certainly didn’t trust the young Caraway, but he trusted her. He didn't know how any of it was possible, but he trusted her. David slowly inched toward the water. Tommy moved away into the depths and David jumped a little. The presence of the younger Caraway with his short sword made him nervous.

             
"David, if you touch it, you'll have a tail any time you submerge yourself in water.” She didn’t add that if he couldn’t grow a tail, Tommy would likely murder him right then and there. "You could never go to a pool party or play with your friends in the ocean. You can’t tell Mom and Dad. It would just be us." David looked up at her seriously.

             
"Aly, you've been my big sister since I was born. We never had anything between us until you went away to Grandma's. You were sad before you left, but when you came back you weren't even there anymore. Then we move to this armpit and after a couple months, I can see you again, but it's like I'm on the outside looking in. I can see you, but I can't reach you. I'd give anything just to be your little brother again."

             
He was close now. She reached up and ruffled his hair as he leaned down. "You're not as stupid as you look, little brother. I love you, you know." He looked up at her, startled. He knew there was something she wasn’t telling him; there was fear in her eyes. He kneeled in the surf next to her, staring at the tail that had never been a part of his sister before.

His hand climbed away from his body against his will. He reached for where her legs should be as she watched him intently. His hand came into contact with the slimy surface of her tail. He pulled back immediately, but it was enough. He felt the current running through him, and then it burned. It burned bad. Tommy smiled his sardonic smile and moved beneath the water; he grabbed Alice's tail. Alice realizing what he was doing, grabbed David's feet, and together they dragged David in the water so fast he had no choice but to breathe in the water. He didn't drown. He was breathing water, breathing through gills, gills that had opened and burned in the coastal air.

             
He looked at Alice through eyes that could see through the murky seawater. Tommy was behind her. He had a smirk on his face, as if daring David to catch him. There was a small forest of kelp behind them in the shallow water. It looked like fun as Tommy zipped into it. Alice smiled at David, her relief palpable as she followed Tommy. David looked down at himself: tail, fins, webbing between his fingers. He smiled and was after Alice like a shot.

             
It was unlike anything he had experienced ever before; the life around him, the invigorating feeling of being a fish
in
water. His sister alive and well and with him, playing with him. Even Tommy was fun. They weren't talking to each other, but he didn't feel like he couldn't. Tommy started singing, but it wasn't like a song on land. It was like some mellow instrument. Tommy was singing a song of challenge. David knew, knew instinctively, this must be how they communicated to each other in the water. He was a mer, part of a species with a history unknown to those people walking on land. He wondered how he had ever endured being tied to a flat plane, because moving in three dimensions was just so easy. 

             
Down, down, down as fast as they could go, all three of them traveling so fast that they were bullets speeding past the life around them. Up, up, up, up, up: it was insane, the speed, the feel of the water streaming across his scales, Alice's hair with the pearls gleaming in it, then they were out! Air! Down again! A little girl joined them, smiling her greeting to David. Others slowly began to join the game. It was nighttime and the folk were so far out to sea that no humans could see them. Dawn was only barely breaking over the ocean. It was the one time that the folk were free to move as they wished, to move like what they were, lords of the ocean. There were dolphins joining them; they were so playful, joining the dance. It was more than David ever could have imagined. Then Alice sang. It was happy and sad all at the same time. David joined her, with a song of pure delight. Happy that they were all together again, he sang a song of rebirth, renewal, and reunion. All of a sudden, David had a place where he could enjoy himself, where he belonged.

             
Alice leapt from the water and he leapt with her. They met in the air and grabbed at each other; they were hugging in midair, and then, with a splash, they were beneath the surface again. There was another girl there, a cute one who couldn't be much older than David. Her hair was red and she had a huge smile on her face. He danced with her, he danced with Tommy, he danced with Alice, all in an environment that no human could ever see. Despite his ties to the land, right then, at that moment, this felt more right than anything in the world.
             
Alice thought of Brassila, the titan, the matriarch, the amazing woman who had worn her knife in the plaits of her hair and stolen the heart of a young millionaire. She thought of her grandmother. She wondered how it was possible to give up this feeling. She knew this was right: her brother, the ocean, the night, and the memory of a great woman she could only strive to emulate.

             
David would dream of that moment for years and years. It was the first moment he knew he had his sister back. He was surrounded by people who didn't think he was inept at everything. He was accepted and at home in those coastal waters, and he was free.

             
Tommy watched the two of them together. It was almost heartwarming. He was glad he didn’t have to spill blood this night. He touched the hilt of the short sword, fingering the thumb-sized emerald and watching its mate twinkling amid Alice’s hair. All the young mer were there, dancing in the rising sun, except two. Tommy knew exactly what it meant, but he didn’t see any reason to interrupt the two transforms. They would discover their destinies in their own time. For now, he smirked.

             
Alice walked down the road on a mission. It had been a couple of days since she had abandoned Adam, and she owed him an explanation. She reached her hand up to knock on his door and stopped when the door opened. She smelled dinner cooking in the house. She looked at Adam quizzically.

“No, I had no idea you were coming,” he said sarcastically. “Come on in, I’m making dinner.”

She didn’t move. “I owe you an apology.”

“Apology accepted. Come on in!” he said eagerly. She looked him up and down. The food did smell good. She figured it wouldn’t hurt to share dinner with him; she did owe him for what he had put up with at the party. He sat down on a plush green couch and she sat in a nearby armchair, which nearly swallowed her. She wondered why he didn’t get a new set of furniture.

“I was rude. I’m sorry.” Alice
continued.

“You had to deal with fish stuff
,  Aly. I understand.” He reached forward to grab her hand, but she pulled it away.

“No one calls me Aly but my family.” She didn’t know why it grated her so much but it did.

“Ummm,” he mumbled folding his hands in his lap, “So, David?”

“Obviously alive,”

“He’s,”

“Like me, yeah.” Adam frowned, but quickly tried to hide it from her. Before he could decide what to say next, they were abruptly interrupted by the oven timer. Adam hastily got up to fetch it out.

“What are you cooking, anyway?” Alice asked.

“Pepper-crusted lamb with plum chutney.”

“This, coming from the guy who didn’t expect company?”

             
He peeked out from the kitchen, “Nope, didn’t expect it at all.” He smiled one of his disarming smiles at her and all was forgiven. She enjoyed his company, however awkward the situation might be lately. He had a habit of disarming any situation.

             
Suddenly, a loud knock came at the door.

             
Adam looked up. “I wasn’t expecting any more company…you didn’t bring David, did you?”

             
“No,” she said. “I’ll get it if you’re busy.”

             
“Yeah, if you could, I’d appreciate it.”

             
Alice pulled herself out of the armchair and padded noiselessly across the carpet to the door. She reached her hand forward to the handle, opened it, and suddenly jumped back.

             
The knife cut through the air where her face had been only moments ago. There was no time to think, only time to act, though she was nothing but surprised.

             
She fell backwards into the table, sending a lamp crashing to the floor.

             
“Alice!” Adam ran out of the kitchen, then stopped in his tracks.

             
Alice blocked the next thrust, her arm against her attacker’s. She put her weight into him, but he pushed back. She flew over the back of the couch, landing on her feet, and he followed.

             
“Stop it! Get out of my house!” Adam screamed.

             
The assailant gave Adam a look that brooked no argument, but it was all the time that Alice needed. She jumped toward her purse and grabbed the knife out of the hairnet she kept there. She thrust forward and he dodged;
her knife found
the plush cushion of the couch. She blocked his underhand thrust with her left arm as she spun, and they began a dance. All of her brief training flooded back into her brain, but it was mostly defensive. She couldn’t fight this boy that had been trained his whole life.

             
She did her best. She was panting and sweating, and Adam’s living room wasn’t in a condition to entertain anymore. Only one last touch would make it any worse.

             
CRASH!

             
He threw her bodily into the glass coffee table.

             
“Tommy, stop! You’re going to kill her!”

Alice panted. She didn’t feel keen on fighting back anymore, not with Tommy’s knife at her throat. She stared at the teen, who smiled that sardonic smile back at her. The worst part was there was no malice in it. He looked almost proud as she felt the cold of the steel against her throat. He cocked his head as he looked deeper; looked into the fear that lit her eyes, the terrors that colored her past. Adam looked from one to the other. It was obvious Tommy wasn’t trying to kill her, but that didn’t make this okay.

They had ruined his living room, reminding him of exactly what Alice was. The lamp Alice had knocked over lay on the floor in its separate pieces, among a bit of blood that he was pretty sure belonged to Alice, though Tommy wasn’t without his own scratches. No one moved, no one breathed, no one dared. The room belonged to Tommy.

Lightning fast, Alice’s leg flew up as she attempted a move she had only seen once. To her surprise, it worked. Her legs were stronger than they had been, her body more agile. Tommy hadn’t expected it, and now he was pinned to the floor. The knife flew out of his hands and skittered across the floor to join the broken lamp.

Tommy burst into laughter, pinned beneath Alice’s leg. Adam was only looking at Alice; besides scratches on her arms and back, she looked okay from her crash into the table. There was a cut on her forearm that didn’t look so great, which must have been from the lamp.

Alice had forgotten he was even in the room. To her, the only thing there was Tommy. She stared at him, outraged at his laughter. “You can get off me now,” Tommy chuckled. Alice climbed up and off him, limping on the ankle that she had hurt when she lost her own knife. “Good show!” Tommy laughed.

“What’s wrong with you?” Alice screamed. Tommy looked up, innocently, infuriating her.

“I’m going to have a few bruises tomorrow, too, you know.” Tommy said in defense.

“Tommy, I want you out of my house, now,” Adam said, finally deciding to take charge of the situation.

“Chill out, ape. I’m paying you to let me be here.”

Adam opened his mouth as if to say something before clenching it shut. The boy was right. No matter how much Adam hated it, this whole town was the Caraways’ domain.

Tommy didn’t take his eyes off Alice. “You’re better than I thought you’d be. Where’d you learn fighting?” Tommy asked.

Alice said nothing. Her eyes were glassed over again and Adam saw it. He moved forward. He wanted to run to her side and put his hands on her shoulders, but she held up her hand, stopping him.

She looked back up at Tommy. “What
right
do you have to do this?”

“Well, I’m acting clan leader, don’t you know.” Adam choked in surprise and Tommy looked at him. Adam realized that he should have seen this coming: Finn never would have taken the responsibilities of the clan leader. “It’s my job to get to know each and every one of my subjects,” Tommy smiled before turning to Adam again, “You can feel free to treat her arm anytime,
Doctor.
”

Adam gritted his teeth and found his bag under the table. Alice sat down hard in the armchair, her forearm bleeding everywhere. Adam dragged over an unbroken standing lamp and let it shine on the wound.

“This will need stitches.”

“Well, get to it, why don’t you?” Tommy said.

Adam took Alice by the elbow and led her to the bathroom so he could wash and sanitize the wound. She sat on the toilet, letting him take care of it, staring glassily into nothingness. He finished quickly and put his warm hand on hers.

“Alice, it’s okay. You’re here with me. He’s not going to hurt you anymore.” Her eyes looked down at him, though she refused to focus.

“I could have stopped him.”

“Alice?” She didn’t answer. “Alice, are you okay?”

She looked at him, “If I had believed in myself, if I’d have known, I could have saved her.”

“Oh, Alice,” he reached up and brushed her cheek. She held his hand there. “You can’t change the past, sweetie.”

She looked up. “But I can change the future,” she smirked.

“OW!” Adam yelped, jerking his hand back. “Why did you do that?”

She eyed him, considering, “I’m sorry. It’s become a habit when I’m deep in thought. I’m sorry, Adam.”

“Yeah, it hurt,” he said, cradling his shocked hand. “Why don’t we just eat?”

She nodded placidly. There was something different. She wasn’t lost in her netherworld; it was thoughts that had her occupied. He wasn’t sure that he liked wherever her thoughts were leading her, at least not judging by the expression on her face. He led her out of the bathroom and down the hall to the kitchen. “Hey, you know, it wasn’t your fault. You’re only human…”

“No, she’s not,” Tommy said with his mouth full, sitting at the table, eating the dinner Adam had cooked for him and Alice. “I hope you don’t mind, I took the liberty of serving myself,” Tommy said casually. Adam’s hands clenched into fists. “Don’t look so bitter, doctor. I served you and Alice, too,” he said, nonchalantly. Adam knew it was anything but nonchalant. Tommy loved pushing everyone’s buttons, especially his, it seemed.

“Oh, and I think a New Year’s party on your yacht is a great idea. I’d be happy to come.” Adam’s face went blank again as Alice looked up at him.

“I was going to invite you and your brother onto my yacht for New Year’s.” Adam said to the woman with the bandaged arm.

“Okay,” she said, “The food smells good,” Alice lit her face with an overused smile.

“Oh, don’t worry, it is.” Tommy added. Adam frowned but pulled a chair out for Alice and got the plates that Tommy had been so kind to set out for them. It might have been Tommy’s way of apologizing for making a mess of his living room, or it could just be Tommy messing with his head. He never could tell with the boy. Alice sat smiling her distant, but ultimately false, smile. She moved mechanically bringing the food to her mouth, back to plate, and to her mouth again.

“It is very good,” Alice said as Adam sat with his own plate.

“Thank you,” Adam grumbled. The awkward silence spanned the length of dinner and only intensified when Tommy went up for seconds. Why couldn’t the boy just leave? All that Adam had planned for the evening was falling to pieces because he was there. Adam had hoped to curl up on the couch and watch a movie with Alice, but that wasn’t happening. As the silent dinner came to a close, Alice moved their dishes to the sink and threw her purse over her shoulders, ready to leave, lost in her own thoughts. Tommy moved to the couch, turning on a sports channel. The TV had luckily escaped the massacre suffered by the rest of the living room.

Adam stepped into Alice’s path, ignoring Tommy. “Would you like me to walk you home?”

She smiled at him, a real smile this time. “No thanks. I can make it home alone.” She touched his hand briefly. Tommy was up in an instant and was suddenly beside the both of them.

“Well, if you’re leaving, I’ll go with you.”

“I meant the whole ‘alone’ part,” Alice said stiffly, this time.

“Well, we both know you can protect yourself,” he smiled. She couldn’t tell if he was being sincere or not. The current Alice so adored passed over her fingers once again.

“Now you’re starting to get it,” Tommy smiled, his sardonic nature showing only in his eyes.

Alice spun on him and shoved him into the door. Tommy laughed. “How the hell did you get to be this way?” Alice asked. Adam took a step back.

“We are all products of our upbringing, Alice,” he laughed.

“Ugh. Do you ever give anyone a straight answer?”

             
Tommy stopped laughing. She jumped back as he reached out and shocked her. “No,” he said bluntly. He looked at Alice’s face and started laughing again. Alice might as well throw her hands in the air. He wasn’t a person you could deal with normally. She turned and found Adam right in front of her. He put his hands on her arms and she shook him off.

             
“Look, I’m going for a swim. Alone. You both can just leave me alone.”

             
“Alice,” Adam started.

             
“No, Adam, just don’t. Thank you for dinner,” She turned and found Tommy blocking her path this time. He smiled at her, his usual smirk this time.

             
“You mean you aren’t going to thank me, too?”

             
“Get out of my way, Tommy.”

             
“Oh, happily, my dear.” He made a big show of stepping aside, bowing, and pushing the door open at the same time. Adam rolled his eyes.

             
“I hope you know you’re an utter asshole,” Alice told Tommy.

“Oh, I know,” he said, giving her that sarcastic smile he had down to an art.

“Thanks again, Adam.” With that, Alice stalked out, leaving the two men standing in the doorway. Adam spun on the boy.

“What game do you think you’re playing?”