Deep Blue (The Mermaid Chronicles Book 1) (18 page)

             
"Tommy, you know the rules. You have no excuse to be here."

             
"No reason, except to call you an idiot," Tommy said with his characteristic sarcasm.

             
"What do you want, Tommy?"

             
"Finn, you been like this since mom died. Get over it. Both mom and grandma would call you an idiot. Since they're not here, I'm doing it for them. Grow up, Finn."

             
"Brassila would never call me an idiot."

             
"Nope, but she'd be thinking it." Finn gave him an irritated predatory look. If it were another of the folk they would have left in an instant, terror in their eyes. Tommy just sneered at him and disappeared under the waves. Grudgingly, Finn slipped into the water and started swimming toward the shore. It was better when he slept in a locked house where no one could bother him, except, of course, Tommy. He was tired of the beach anyway.

             
They just wouldn’t let him be. The maids had redoubled their efforts. They knew very well that no mer had ever led a clan by himself. This murder; he knew it was because of him. The other clans heard things. Wanderlusts were known to come in and out, they would spread
all kinds of
news
over what was left of their ocean.

Brassila had led alone after the death of his parents. Then again, his grandmother was unlike anyone he had ever met. She was strong, capable, and independent. They didn’t make people like that anymore, and it had always been a rare trait. The women chasing him wanted the power he symbolized without any of the drawbacks that went with it, and he knew that Ashley would stop at nothing to be with him. That didn’t mean she was his problem. Let her mate with Tommy instead.

             
Sooner or later he would be forced to mate, but he wanted it to be his choice, and he certainly didn’t want a vindictive, murderous maid. But he wasn’t about to deal with her, either. She wasn’t his problem. He had named Tommy the leader, but Tommy had the gall not to tell anyone. Until the point where they forced him, though, he thought he would enjoy his last moments of freedom.

             
Alice swam hard and fast and straight for shore. Her muscles ached from the effort, she still hadn’t developed a speed that matched those born mer. She wanted to burst into tears, but she didn’t know why. She disembarked, only to find Ashley there. Alice looked up at the maid, who stared straight back at her.

             
“How are things with Adam?” she asked, sickly sweet.

             
“Things are fine,” Alice said, grabbing a towel of her own to dry off with.

             
“I’m glad. I feel I haven’t been very hospitable to you lately. I thought we could go for a swim tomorrow,” she said.

             
“Thanks for the offer, but I have work.”

             
“Enjoy!” she said as Alice’s legs returned to her. Alice got up as quick as she could and left Ashley there.

             
Ashley knew she was chasing Finn. The thing with the doctor was only a cover. She would have to be sure first, but sooner or later, she would take her rival down. She decided to stalk Alice instead of Finn, just looking for her moment. It wasn’t a long time coming. After only took two days of following her, Ashley found exactly what she was looking for.

             
Alice stalked into the house, in full view of the windows of the ballroom, where Ashley could see her perfectly. She wasn’t even trying to hide. Finn was walking down the steps. He saw Alice and began to flee. At least he was doing that right. Fleeing the transform was exactly what he should do. Alice was playing him for a fool, just like she thought she was playing Ashley. But Ashley wouldn’t be fooled; Tommy had confirmed her fears. The sneaky little bitch was going to have to go down. It had started when she stole the Selkie, the little redheaded girl who thought she could come back and spy on Ashley. Ashley had shown her what was what, leaving a mark across her cheek, just as she had the North Pacific girl’s hand. The North Pacificker had been quick to flee when Ashley took down the Marianas girl, who had thought she could sneak past Ashley’s defenses. Ever since the slap in her face when Alice did her little make-over trick, Ashley had known it would come down to this. How dare the transform take the gift of the hairnet-knife that was meant to be hers.

             
"Finn."

Finn started walking the other direction, hoping she would just go away.

"Finn!"

He quickened his pace. As soon as he reached a room he could lock the door in her face.

"Finn, stop." Alice grabbed his wrist. He spun to see her angry face. Oddly, seeing her angry made him less angry. "I was just going to ask you where your brother was. He was supposed to meet me and David."

             
"Do I look like my brother’s keeper?" Finn asked coldly.

             
"No, but you're supposed to be the clan leader. I thought you might know where your people were," Alice snipped.

             
He pulled his wrist out of her hand, almost surprised to find it was still there. "I told you, I don't, and never did, want to be clan leader."

             
"Too bad for you, you are. Someone once told me you have to deal with the hand you're dealt."

             
"That person was either an idiot or a certain doctor that pokes his head in places it doesn't belong." She stared at him fiercely, then stalked away, headed for the ocean. Ashley had already slipped back into the waves.

             
"That sounded fun." Alice spun to see who had been talking. Leaning against the wall stood Tommy, complete with a smirk on his face.

             
"Where the hell were you?"

             
"Don't snip at me princess."

             
"You're such a dick sometimes, Tommy."

             
"And you all love me for it, so why should I stop?" He ran past her and leapt to the waves, dropping his pants on the way there. Alice grudgingly followed. They met David and went to play under the waves, but Alice wasn't really into it. She was busy looking forward to another dinner with Adam. As she left the boys to return to shore early, Tommy watched her go.

             
Alice sat on the shore drying herself off. The scales were almost gone when someone else emerged from the water.

             
"You need to leave now, half-breed." Alice looked up. It was Ashley. Her eyes were wild, her hair plastered against her face. “You’ve worn out your welcome ten times over.”

             
"What do you want, Ashley?" Alice said calmly.

             
"You think you have the others fooled: you and the doctor. I know better. You're trying to throw everyone off. You're after Finn just as much as the rest of us."

             
Alice laughed, "You're crazy." Suddenly, Ashley was on top of her, a knife at her throat. Alice stopped short and didn't breathe. She was afraid of Ashley. With the look in Ashley’s eyes, she would be crazy not to be afraid.

             
"You'll fight me here. Tomorrow. On land. Or you will never touch the water again." Ashley said acidly.

             
“I don’t want to fight you, Ashley,” Alice said, trying to keep her voice calm and steady.

             
“You’ll make your choice tomorrow. If you are not after Finn, you are with the doctor, and if you’re with the doctor, you have no right to be in my ocean.” Ashley withdrew her knife, then rolled over and let Alice up. Alice leapt to her newly-formed feet and ran. She saw the look in those eyes. She had been a bug under Ashley's heel. It was a threat, and not one to take lightly.

             
Alice blew into Adam's house the instant he opened the door. The delicious smells of dinner lit the air, but it didn’t mean anything. Alice had seen what Ashley had done to Kari, and Kari hadn’t dared to go into the water since; she was laid up in a room in the mansion, hiding from Ashley. Tommy was protecting her until Finn had some big epiphany and decided to take on his responsibilities. Alice had no faith in that ever happening and she had to deal with the cards that were on the table. 

             
"Alice? You're a little early." Adam said, surprised at her disheveled appearance. It was obvious Alice had come there directly from swimming. He had expected her to get a little more ready than bikini and wrap.

             
"You were right you were right about everything. I should have listened. Ashley challenged me to a fight." Adam had a horribly stupid look plastered to his face as she looked to him for guidance. He sat down helplessly. "I don't want to fight her, but she threatened me. It doesn't seem like something I can get out of. Tomorrow morning. On land."

             
"She's giving you a chance, fighting on land,” he said, waking up, “In the water she'd overtake you in seconds. She's trained all her life." His voice was empty. He was keeping it level, but he was afraid.

             
"I don't care what kind of chance she's giving me. I don't care about Finn! Is there any way out of this?"

             
Adam looked at her, his eyes as empty as his voice. "The only way out would be if Finn interfered." Adam knew better than anyone else that Finn wasn't about to interfere. 

             
"I don't think I'm fighting just for Finn. I have a feeling Ashley wants me to give up the ocean entirely."

             
"So just do it." Adam said, throwing his arms around her. She was stiff but she looked up at him. He pinned a kiss to her and was answered with cold, unresponsive lips. "Stay with me! Go public with me. I love you, Alice." She stayed there a moment, pausing in the warmth of his arms, letting him comfort her.

             
Alice suddenly pushed him away, almost enraged, though she didn't shock him. "Adam, I care about you. I'm just not ready to give up the ocean for you. The ocean is the only place I feel like a person."

             
He slumped against a table, then looked up at her. She was so distant from him now. He felt like he was grasping at a bar of soap that he had neglectfully dropped into the ocean. Trying to catch a fish with bare hands. "Alice," he breathed.

             
"I do care about you. I just...I can't right now." She turned; she was leaving. There were tears in her eyes. She had let this go too far. This wasn’t it. She couldn’t lose the ocean, but Adam was the person who had been there for her from the very beginning. 

             
"Alice, you can't do this," he said, scrambling to his feet. "I can't stitch you up when you come back in pieces."

             
She paused at the door, "Then don't."

             
She'd said it to be mean; she felt horrible, but she just had to think. She hadn't gone back to meet him for dinner at his house. She didn't really feel like eating anything. She had gone for help and all he did was throw himself at her, throw his love in her face, a love Alice knew full well about, but couldn’t even begin to reciprocate. Instead, she headed the one place that had been home to her for so many terrible nights.

She walked through the gaudy pineapple and set her money on the bar. One way or another, Alice didn’t think she would need it for anything but booze.

“Haven’t seen you in a while,” the bartender said.

“Look, I don’t need your judgments. Just keep the booze coming.” She took the shot of Jack that was the first thing offered, then grabbed the beer next to it. She quickly moved to her spot near the wall. Jaeger, Jack, and a few beers later she sat, staring out at the ocean, contemplating. She could hear the song of the waves and all the creatures in it while her head spun.

Who said she had to decide her whole life right then? Whose crazy idea was it? She could stay with Adam. It would take time, but she knew she could be a whole person again. She just couldn't contemplate giving up the ocean. Why would she have to? To never enter that kingdom again, to never be truly at peace: that would be pure torture.

David knew about the scheduled duel now, most likely from Tommy. He told her she should just run away, but he couldn't do anything. He couldn't make it better, whatever she did. She was on her own and it was her decision. She could throw down her knife and refuse to fight, but she couldn't go in the ocean again if she did: Ashley would make sure of it. With no one opposing her, there was no way to say she couldn’t.

             
Why'd they even come to this stupid town? What would Grandma Emma have decided? She had decided: Emma had given up the ocean. Alice wondered, if Emma had the chance to do it again, whether she would have made the same decision. Alice remembered that look of longing in her eyes. Would that happen to Alice, too? Would she become an old woman watching her grandchildren playing in the surf, longing to join them? She put her head in her hands. She never wanted any of this.

             
Adam entered the mansion, turning the key that he still had from when he had to check on Brassila all hours of the night. He went straight to Finn's room. Finn was there, hiding from the world, no doubt. Luckily, Adam had a key to that closet-sized room, too. He opened the door and looked at Finn in the single bed crushed against the wall. He was wound up so tightly in the sheets that it had to be almost suffocating. That was the way the folk were: more comfortable when they had something wound around them, like the ocean. Adam grabbed Finn's feet and yanked the small-framed man out of the bed. Finn woke up before he hit the floor.

             
"You bastard!" Adam screamed.

             
"What?" Finn was sitting up, glaring at Adam with the shimmer to his eye that allowed him to see in the dark. He gingerly began to unwind himself from the sheets.

             
"You have to stop this!"

             
"Stop what?" Finn asked poisonously, losing patience fast.

             
"Ashley. You're the leader. You're the only one who can stop her."

             
"I never asked to be a leader, Adam, you know that. I believe I’ve turned down the job multiple times. I don't interfere in the affairs of others."

             
"Ashley will kill Alice whether or not she lays down her weapon. You know that."

             
"What's that got to do with me?"

             
"She's your clan!"

             
"You love her, stop her."

             
"You are such a brat. Brassila never would have let this madness continue."

             
"I'm not Brassila."

             
"No, Finn. You're nothing like your grandmother."