Beyond the Sea (38 page)

Peter was still fast asleep when Melia got out of the shower. Nerina had her face inches away from the TV, fascinated. Melia gave her another dress to put on and led her into the kitchen, where she introduced her to Charles. They ate their breakfast of fruit salad silently. Nerina still looked curiously about the kitchen, and Melia had a lot on her mind.

Lana’s death. Jamie’s visions. The gwyrrd. The kappas. Rèalta. Vaianu. The uprising. Where was Actassi? Why hadn’t he done anything to stop this? Melia was afraid to look at the ocean. Vaianu said he’d be back. Was he going to try to drag her into the water? She let Nerina braid her hair after they ate, then busied herself, showing her different electronic devices until Jamie came over.

At eleven, Peter finally woke up. His head hurt, he felt sick, and was incredibly thirsty. He was alone in Melia’s bed, dressed only in his boxers. He tried to recall last night’s events as he shakily walked to the bathroom. He turned on the shower and caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. A pale purple bruise sat on his face. When did he get a black eye?

He had just taken off his boxers when the door slowly opened. Melia stepped inside, quickly closing it behind her.

“How are you feeling?” she asked.

“Pretty crappy,” Peter responded.

Melia frowned and strode over. “That wasn’t there last night,” she said, gently touching the bruise. “It must have formed when you were sleeping.”

“Any idea how I got it?”

“Oh, yes. You got in a fight.”

“I did?” Peter closed his eyes. “I don’t remember anything from last night.”

“Nothing?” Melia asked, setting her hands on his firm chest. Peter shook his head. “Take a shower. Then, we need to talk,” she instructed.

“Did I do something to upset you last night?”

“No,” she said quickly. “Not at all. You don’t remember meeting Nerina, do you?”

“Nope.”

“Oh, she’s an Oceanid. Connor and Nate think you had a threesome with me and her last night, too, by the way.”

Peter blinked. “Why?”

“I asked Connor to bring your keys over. Nerina slept in bed with us last night. They saw us all together. They assumed.”

“Oh,” Peter laughed. “Who did I get in a fight with?”

“I don’t know. I wasn’t there yet.” She kissed him. “But Amanda said you were defending me. So thanks, I think.”

“And you’re welcome, I think.” Peter grinned.

“Do you want me to bring you food?”

Peter wasn’t sure if his queasy stomach could handle anything, though he was hungry. “Anything greasy,” he decided.

“Ok. I’ll see what we have.” She left the bathroom and passed on Peter’s request to Charles.

Peter couldn’t find his clothes. Remembering what Melia said about the closet, he went and looked in there but came up empty handed. The wonderful smell of food distracted him, and, with only a towel wrapped around his waist, he followed the scent to a plate placed on the dresser. A full English breakfast had been served.

Suddenly famished, Peter took the food to the bed and started eating. He was halfway through his meal when the bedroom door opened. Melia, Jamie, and a girl he presumed to be Nerina came in. Melia didn’t think anything of Peter being barely covered in a towel. Nerina licked her lips and Jamie flushed.

 
“I can’t find my clothes,” he told Melia.

 
“I put them in the laundry room.” Melia sat next to him, stealing a piece of sausage off the plate and tossing it to Wolfy. “I don’t know if they’ve been washed yet.”

Peter shrugged. “It’s better than nothing.”

Melia wrinkled her nose. “No, I guess you don’t remember puking then, either. It’s all over your pants.”

“Oh,” Peter said and drank the rest of his milk. “Thanks.”

“Do you have clothes in your car?”

“Yea.”

“I’ll get them.” Melia stood. “You should start keeping stuff here. You end up needing clothes a lot,” she said with a laugh. “I’ll be right back.”

Nerina took Melia’s spot next to Peter. She leaned close to him, looking into his eyes.

“Ego olla koskaan llygad tama koule anvan,” she said.

Peter looked at Jamie for a translation.

“She doesn’t speak a word of English,” Jamie explained, not looking at Peter.
 
She was relieved when Melia came back only a few minutes later. Peter set the plate aside and stood, careful to hold the towel in place. When he emerged from the bathroom, fully clothed, Melia ushered him to the bed, telling him to sit next to Jamie. Nerina, who wouldn’t be able to understand her speaking English, played with Melia’s iPad, enthralled in the bright colors.

“Ok,” Melia began nervously. “There are things about the ocean that I purposely didn’t tell you.”

“Like what?” Jamie asked.

“Darklings.”

“You mentioned them before.” Jamie tilted her head. “What exactly are darklings?”

“Darklings,” Melia explained, looking behind her at the open window, feeling more and more paranoid. “Are bad. They would be the ‘sea monsters’ in your fairytales.”

“Myths,” Jamie automatically corrected. “Sorry, go on.”

“Darklings do not like humans. They don’t really like merrows much for that matter. But we are smarter and stronger, and darklings draw attention. So we keep them in line, hidden, off the radar so to speak. But there’s a fine line between merrow and darkling. There are things…in between.”

“What does that mean?” Jamie inquired.

“I think,” Peter answered. “She means that there are bad things that are smart enough to come up with some sort of evil plan.”

“Yes. That is exactly what I mean.” Melia paced in front of the bed, tugging at her hair. “So you both know about the arrangement. Well, I found out something else. Something that makes it…” she trailed off, shaking her head. “It goes from bad to worse, as you humans say.”

“What happened?” Peter asked, feeling nauseous all over again.

“I need to explain some things first. You know that Vaianu isn’t a merrow, right? He’s an adaro.”

“Adaro” Jamie repeated, the word foreign.

“Yes. They live in more tropical waters, in between the Solomon Islands and Hawaii.” Melia ran a hand through her damp hair. “More importantly, you need to know that they absolutely hate humans.” She paused, taking a breath to steady herself.

“Why?” Peter asked.

Melia stood and walked to the window. Maybe she should invest in some curtains? She had never wanted to block the view of the ocean from her window. Now she wanted to block the view of her window from the ocean. “Some things…” she hesitated. “Some things that live in the ocean don’t like humans coming into their territory. They think of it as humans have land and they have the water. For the last three hundred years, merrows have had sole control over the ocean. Before that…the-the in between things I told you about. They would kill humans freely.”

“And those adaro guys are ‘in between things’,” Peter suggested.

“Yes.”

“What did they do?” he asked, his voice a harsh whisper.

“Sink boats, mainly. Lure humans into the water to drown them. Steal. Ruin fishing nets and gear. They feel that fish belong to them and they’re not gonna share.”

Peter felt a little dizzy. “And when the merrows came into rule?”

“They put an end to it. Merrows aren’t, uh, humans’ number one fans either. But killing humans attracted attention so they put a stop to it.” She sat down again, quickly adding, “And it’s wrong, of course.”

“So why would you be friends with someone like that?”

“Under Actassi’s rule, harming a human resulted in death. Adaros weren’t a threat anymore.”

“And anything that’s not a merrow probably doesn’t like that rule, right?”

“Right. But, like I said before, merrows are smarter and stronger. No one would challenge us. Plus, we outnumbered anyone else.”

“What do you mean ‘would’”? Peter asked apprehensively.

Melia bit her lip and shook her head. “Ok, I need to confess something.” She frowned. “You know my father is dead. Well, I need to tell you how he died.” She turned away from her friends, scared they would hate her after learning the truth. “My father hated humans. I remember him talking about it when I was little. But, of course, I never thought much of it. Anyway, my father died in an explosion. He blew up a fishing boat, killing a lot of humans.” Melia closed her eyes, remembering that day. “I don’t know how I could have been so stupid. I don’t know why I didn’t see the connection before. If Nerina hadn’t escaped, I…I don’t know.” She turned back to her friends.

“Melia,” Peter spoke softly. “What are you getting at?”

“Vaianu wants to fulfill the arrangement so he can finish what my father started.
Our
fathers started, really. He wants me by his side because he thinks I will be able to get merrows and Oceanids to join his cause. That’s why my father made the deal. He was a murderer and he wanted me to carry out his vendetta.”

A heavy silence hung in the air. Finally, Jamie spoke.

“I think you’d make a horrible serial killer.”

Melia laughed softly, “Thanks.”

Jamie smiled in return. “So does that change anything? I thought we decided to wait it out, since Vaianu won’t wait for you forever.”

“I can’t just do nothing.”

Peter jumped up. “Melia,” he started.

She held up her hand. “Peter, Nerina barely made it. She said that Vaianu took the Oceanids hostage. They killed someone. And Vaianu’s not going to stop at that.”

Peter put his fingers through hers. “It’s dangerous, Melia. You said it yourself: Vaianu wants you. He will do anything to take you. You’re not going into the water.”

“Peter,” she cried, standing. She tightened her grip on his hand. “What choice do I have? I need to talk to him. I need to at least try.”

“I agree with Peter,” Jamie chimed in. “It’s like walking into a trap.”

Melia motioned to Nerina. “I can’t sit here and let people I know get killed. Could you?”

Jamie and Peter fell silent. Nerina put the iPad down and edged over. “What have you decided?” she asked Melia in Mermish.

Melia sighed. “Nothing yet,” she replied, speaking the same language. “They don’t want me going after Vaianu.”

“Neither do I.” Nerina pressed her lips together. “It’s risky, but we have to, don’t we?”

“Yes,” Melia said passionately. She knew Peter and Jamie were wondering what she was saying by the looks they gave her. She turned to them. “Nerina doesn’t want me to go after Vaianu either, but she agrees that it’s the only choice I have.”

Nerina stood. “What about Actassi? I’m sure you could find him faster than the others can,” she suggested.

“What did she say?” Peter asked.

Melia translated, “She said I could find Actassi. I could track him faster than the Oceanids can.”

“If others are looking for him, then maybe you should wait,” Peter insisted.

Melia shook her head. “Oceanids aren’t strong swimmers. And they can’t sense auras like I can.”

“Auras?” Peter raised an eyebrow.

“Energy fields,” Jamie explained. “Every living thing has one.” She turned to Melia. “Why can you sense them?” Irrelevant question, and she regretted asking it once the words slipped past her lips.

“It’s a merrow thing,” Melia told her. She gasped, suddenly remembering something Vaianu said. Everyone startled, waiting for her to expatiate. “I am so stupid! It’s something Vaianu said, about me being half merrow and half Oceanid. He said that I have all the qualities of both worlds and that I’d make a great ruler. How did I not see it?” She put her head in her hands and recapped what she had just said to Nerina in Mermish.

Peter put his arms around her, not caring that they weren’t alone. “It’ll be ok. I don’t know how, but it will. We will figure this out together.”

Melia leaned into his embrace. “Thanks, Peter. Ego elya sinua.”

“What does that mean?”

“I love you.”

“Oh. Ego elya sinua, too.”

-Chapter 15-

“Promise me,” Nyneve pressed. “Promise me you won’t go into the water.”

“I won’t, Mom,” Melia lied. She stared intently at the floor. “I’m not marrying him. I don’t want to. And the only way to avoid it is to stay on land.” She met her mother’s eyes. “You were right. I need to just stay away.”

Nyneve hugged her daughter. “I am so, so sorry.”

“It’s ok, Mom. I forgive you.”

Nyneve choked back a sob and released Melia. She apologized some more, rambled about how it really was all for the best and excused herself to shower and rest after the long plane ride. Edward put an arm around Melia’s shoulders.

“That was very big of you,” he told her.

Melia nodded, returning the half-hug. “She didn’t mean to hurt me. You know how she is. Things that make sense to her don’t to us.”

Edward agreed. “We both love you very much, Melia. I don’t want to see you hurt, either.”

“Did you know?”