Nevermor (35 page)

He led her into
a darkened tunnel within the rocks.  When she stepped inside, Wren could more
than
hear
the mermaids’ lovely song.  She could feel it in her body, in
her bones.  It resonated inside her skin, her mind, making her feel a brilliant
euphoria.  She was moving toward the song – the feeling – even though she was
not going toward the water.  She closed her eyes, letting him guide her as she
walked, and she didn’t stop until she was aware of his solid form in front of
her.

“Open your
eyes,” he instructed.

The first thing
she saw was his face near hers, and she might have been caught only on his eyes
if she hadn’t seen the glimmer behind him.  The walls were jeweled, sparking
with many colors.  There were windows of clear quartz that were letting light
in from the water, and she could see the shadows of the mermaids passing,
curling gracefully through the blue.

It was the most
wonderful thing she had seen of this world so far.  Maybe it was the way the
song relaxed her, but she was speechless.

“Look out
through the window,” he urged, guiding her closer to it.

She did as he
instructed, and she noticed that she could see the bottom of the lagoon, lit up
by the crystals.  There were large bubbles floating through the water, swirling
with rainbows of color – each one like a small galaxy.

“What are they?”
she asked.

“Those are the
dreams,” he said.  “They wind up here after they drift in from the sea. 
Sometimes I look at them and let them stay.  They become part of the world.”

She was
intrigued by that.  So he
could
make the world what he wanted, and yet
sometimes the ideas were not his own.

“I thought you
might like it,” he said, able to see the appreciation on her face.  He left the
window then and sat down on a pad of some spongy surface that Wren didn’t
recognize, but when she sat down beside him, she was surprised that it was soft
like a cushion.

Rifter took out
his flute and began to recreate a few notes of the mermaid song.  A few of the
fishtailed ladies came to the quartz window to peer in at him, but when they
saw Wren, they hissed and swam away.

“They don’t seem
to like me much,” she commented.  “You were right.”

“I guess they’re
just jealous,” Rifter said, observing the way they retreated.

Wren’s face lit
up to hear him say that.  “Really?  Of what?”

“Well, you’re
much prettier than they are,” he said coyly.  The way he looked at her sent her
heart reeling.

As quickly as
her jealousy had begun to roar, it faded.  She realized that he hadn’t brought
her here to look at the gleaming bodies of the mermaids.  He had only wanted to
amaze her – to be here with her.

The way he was
looking at her now was just as he had studied her before.  She was sure that he
wanted to kiss her.  He looked into her eyes and then examined her lips,
desiring them.  She wanted to tell him that it was alright, but she didn’t want
to ruin the moment – and then it was over before she was ready.

Rifter seemed to
snap out of his trace, catching himself in how he was gazing at her.  He smiled
a little to brush it off and then looked back at his flute.

Wren might have
expected to feel defeat, but she couldn’t let that be the end of it this time. 
He had come close once before, but she wouldn’t lose the moment again.

“Rifter,” she
said, drawing him back before she could think it through.

When he looked
at her, she blushed, unsure of what she had really wanted to say, but then she
felt that she had to be bold.  He was so clueless about her sometimes that she
had to consider that he was oblivious to what she wanted.

“Why won’t you
kiss me?” she asked, and a tremor of fear passed through her body.  Perhaps he
would tell her that he’d never even thought of kissing her, but she was sure
that wasn’t true.

He looked
bemused for just a moment, and then he gave an apologetic shrug.

“I don’t know
what that is,” he told her.

Wren felt
herself blushing furiously.  She almost told him to forget it.  She didn’t want
to say it, but she also supposed that if she didn’t tell him what a kiss was,
she would never get one from him.

She did so want
him to kiss her.

“Well,” she
started, trying to think of the best – and least embarrassing – way to put it. 
“When you feel affectionate toward someone, it’s often acceptable to put your
lips against their lips and to, well,
kiss
them.”

She shrugged,
looking for his reaction even though she wasn’t sure she would see one, but he
responded immediately.

“
Ohh
, is
that what it is?” he asked, but she saw the way his mouth mocked her when he
smiled, and her eyes grew wide in embarrassment.

“You’re messing
with me!” she cried, giving him a shove as he laughed.  The nerve of him,
making her say it!  She put her nose in the air and turned away – but she
couldn’t quite hide her smile.

“Come on, I was
just having a bit of fun with you,” he said, trying to put his arm around her. 
He wanted her to look at him, but she twisted away, intent on being cross.

“Do you want to
know the truth?” he asked.

“No, I’m angry
with you,” she replied.  He didn’t give up, just as she hoped he wouldn’t.  In
an instant, he had touched her shoulders and turned her around, shaking her out
of her false anger.

“I’ve thought of
kissing you,” he confessed, “but I felt you might think it was strange.”

“What?  Why?”
she asked with a nervous laugh.

“You think
everything else I do is strange.”

Wren supposed
she couldn’t fault him for thinking that.  She had been shocked to horror by
some of the things he had done – had scolded them all for their practices. 
This, she felt, was different.

“I thought
everyone understood kisses,” she said.

He
was looking at her that way again, deep into her eyes as before.  His arm was
around her, keeping her close.  She looked back, her sweet mouth ready for a
taste of him.

He reached out, brushing her cheek with his fingertips, and she
was caught.  He leaned in, tilting his head as his nose touched hers, and her
heart pulsed with more anticipation than she'd ever felt.  His warm breath was
against her lips–

– and then he froze.  Wren opened her eyes fully to see that his
had widened, and he was still as a statue.  He had forgotten about the kiss.

"What is it?" she asked, keeping her voice low, as if
she would startle him.

"The song stopped," he said, turning his head to look
through the quartz window.  As he said it, she realized it as well.  The
mermaid song had halted and all was quiet around them.  She wondered why, but
assumed Rifter must have known.

"Something's out there," he said.  A shiver rolled
through her, but not like the pleasant ones she'd felt previously.  "Stay
here.  I'm going to have a look."

He rose and began to move past her, but she stood after him,
reaching out to grip his arm as if she could hold him back.

"
Rifter…"

"You'll be safe here," he assured her.  "I'll be
back."

She let him leave her, watching until he had rounded the jeweled
corner.  She let her eyes shift over to the window again, seeing that the water
beyond had grown darker.

What has happened out there?  Where did the mermaids go?

She knew she should do as he'd said and keep herself hidden, but
her curiosity had been stirred.  She didn't want to be left alone here when she
didn't know what was going on out there.  Wren had already seen several of the
monsters this world had to offer.  She felt she could handle seeing
this
.

 Quietly, she followed after him, needing to know what had made
her lose her kiss.  She peeked around the corner cautiously, and made it just
in time to see him flying across the lagoon to the other side where it opened
up toward the sea.

Wren saw nothing – no sort of disturbance.  There was not a
mermaid in sight, but she couldn't see any reason why they might have fled. 
Rifter was on the other side, climbing up the rocks to peer over the barrier.  Whatever
he was looking for must've been out on the open water.

She wanted to see it too, but the way around was long and
treacherous.  She didn’t think she would make it.

Wren stood there, trying to make a decision, but found that there
was really no choice.  She had to go back into the grotto to wait for him, as
he’d said.

She turned, but a disturbance in the water caught her attention. 
Peering around, fearing the splash, she saw that there was a lovely face
watching her from beyond the edge.

Wren made the mistake of looking into the mermaid’s eyes.  Just as
with Rifter, she was caught by a powerful force, but this one was supernatural,
wrapping her in a spell.  It was not because of her attraction, but something
in the creature's eyes that was soothing to her.

She forgot everything she had been meaning to do.

The
mermaid opened her mouth and a long, clear note flowed out.  It was like a
sweet perfume or a gentle promise.  As soon as that sound hit her ears, Wren
lost control of herself.  Her feet moved without her permission, closer to the
edge where the beautiful fish was waiting.  Wren couldn't stop herself –
couldn't think to try.  She continued along, her eyes affixed, until the
mermaid leapt up, grabbed her by the hand and pulled her down beneath the cold
water.

1

Rifter hoisted
himself up over the rocks that surrounded the lagoon, protecting it from harsh
waves.  There, he could see the endless water beyond, black in the night.  It
was not the waves he wished to study, however.  Something was there, and it had
frightened the mermaids to silence.

He was not
surprised to see a boat meandering over the whitecaps.  It was a smaller vessel
– not quite the ship that he’d dreaded.  It was lit up with lanterns along the
edges, and he didn’t have to wonder why.  Either the men aboard were fishing,
which was unlikely, or they were looking for something.

Luckily for
Rifter, the water carried their voices to him easily.  He didn’t have to get
close to hear their conversation.

“Do you see
anything?” one man asked.

“No, I don’
think she’s there,” another rough voice said.

“We’d be able to
see her from here, wouldn’t we?”

“She’s not
here.  Let’s get outta here and look somewheres else.  I don’t want no mermaid
puttin’ me in a trance.”

She?
  Rifter knew
the answer now.  He knew why they were here and why they had been on the beach
before.  There was only one thing that these men would be searching for so
diligently other than him, and it was no woman.

The pirates were
stirring because they were looking for the ship. 
The Desdemona
.  Why
would they be looking for it here?  Hadn’t his enemy sailed away in it?

If he was back,
I’d know
. 
Rifter was sure of that, and he would not back down from it.  There must have
been another reason.

Rifter had just determined
to get closer – to do away with the men as they stood on the deck – but turned
when he heard a violent splash in the lagoon.  If he hadn’t seen anything, he
likely would not have given it much attention, but there was an ounce of white
in the water, a wilting flower that disappeared beneath the surface.  He knew
what it was.

Wren!

Had she fallen
in?  He’d told her to stay in the cave!

This is what you
said should happen, isn’t it.  You wanted to protect her. 
Was that a good
reason for her to have misfortune?  Had he made this happen because it was what
he wanted?

He didn’t think
on it much more than that.  Rifter dove directly into the water, plunging down,
hoping that he could find her.

2

There wasn’t
much breath in her lungs as Wren sank beneath the water.  The immediate rush of
the cold liquid had woken her from her trance, and now she struggled to get
away, but the mermaid held onto her wrist tightly, pulling her into the depths.

Wren tried not
to let her precious air escape her, but she was aware of the tiny bubbles that
slipped past her lips as she panicked.  She should have been paying better
attention.  She should have stayed in place like Rifter had told her to.  It
was too late now.

Would he notice
that she was gone before she ran out of air?  He was so close, and yet perhaps
he wouldn’t know to save her.  She opened her eyes, watching the dreams float
past her in their protective sheaths, wondering if any of them were hers.

Other mermaids
began to gather, watching the spectacle – laughing at her.  They found it
amusing that she would die without air.  How could they have been so malicious?