Seaweed (12 page)

More knife-like searing. This must be what it felt like to be shot with a Taser gun, or subjected to some kind of ancient torture, like when they pulled on your legs and squeezed you in a compressor at the same time.

I heard myself wailing, tears falling off my face onto the drying rock.

“Tor!”

“Dori?”

I cried out again. “Tor? Help?”

Instead of coming to my side, Tor disappeared. I breathed deeply through my nose and out slowly through my mouth, like you see those women do on TV when they’re in labor.

Tor came back with a blanket. He lay down beside me, covering my tail. I didn’t know why he did that. It wasn’t like I was cold. Then I remembered the satellites.

Another jab of pain. I sobbed into Tor’s shoulder.

He stroked my hair. “It’ll be over soon.”

I held onto his chest hoping he was right. One last stab, less intense than the others and then it was over.

I lifted the blanket to check. The tail was gone. I had legs. I was also naked. I assumed my shorts were shredded and lying at the bottom of the ocean.

“Dori, are you all right?”

I was breathing through my lungs now, obviously, but I panted like a dog. I feared I would succumb to shock.

“I don’t know,” I said weakly.

Tor wrapped the blanket around me, taking in my tattoos, and checking out the back of my ears.

“I told you not to swim alone,” he said, but I didn’t have a chance to defend myself. Tor swooped me into his arms and climbed the rocks back to the caves.

It was in that strange moment—with Tor’s strong arms around my limp body, my hair dripping in wild, clumpy strands down my back, hanging on the best I could to his neck as he deftly climbed the rocks—that I thought I might be in love.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

More than anything else in the world I needed to make a way for him to stay. This was my only mission. Tor and I were meant for each other, I was sure of it. Who else could I share this underworld experience with? Who else could know the pain of transforming a tail into legs?

Tor gently laid me down on the cot. I locked in on his emerald eyes, wondering if he was feeling the same thing. Did he love me, too?

Dex cleared his throat, fracturing the magic of the moment. Tor and I broke our gaze and turned to him. He raised a bushy eyebrow.

“I was right,” Tor said.

Dex got busy making tea while Tor brought me a pair of his sweatpants and t-shirt. They’d be baggy but I was thankful. He pointed to the bathroom.

It was a smaller cave-like room carved out in the back of the main cave. Inside was a camper toilet and sink with water that you pumped through the system with your foot. A mirror hung from the rock face.

I couldn’t help but deeply breathe in the scent of Tor as I pulled his shirt over my head. It covered my tattoos and my butt, but wasn’t long enough to be a t-shirt dress. I pulled on the sweats and rolled them up to mid calf.

Then I looked in the mirror and groaned. Not exactly drop-dead-gorgeous happening here.

There was a brush on the narrow counter and I borrowed it, wincing as I tugged through the tangles. I pulled the loose hair out of the brush and tossed it into the garbage can before leaving the brush on the counter and returning to Tor and Dex.

Uncle Dex set a cup of hot tea on the table in front of me and I drank it gratefully. Though I’d never once felt cold the whole time I was in the ocean, now I shivered. Tor left and came back with a hoodie. At this rate, the guy wouldn’t have anything left to wear himself.

Tor wanted answers. “What happened?”

“I was sailing. It’s what I like to do when I need to think. I had everything in control, just skimming along when I was hit.”

“You were hit?”

“Yeah, Crazy Jim, can you believe it? He’s on a quest to find a mermaid and he didn’t even see my boat! Or me for that matter when I called for help.”

“So, what happened?”

“My feet got tangled up in his fishing net and I got pulled under.”

“And…”

“I would’ve drowned, if I wasn’t…this.”

Tor’s eye’s narrowed and his face grew dark. “I’m so sorry, Dori.”

“Why? It’s not your fault.”

Dex cleared his throat. “Your, uh, Crazy Jim, is looking for us?”

“Yeah, but he’s crazy. No one believes his stories.”

“He believes them. Besides, we have a policy of clearing out of any area where humans have inadvertently spotted us. We’ve already broken the rule with the first sighting.”

No. I felt panic rising.

Tor and Dex stared at each other like they were talking without using words.

We can’t wait any longer. We have to leave now.

Yes, I know, you’re right. But what about her?

What about me? And why did I know what they’re thinking. “I can hear you,” I blurted. “I know you’re not talking but I hear you, and I’m coming.”

Dex sat back with wide eyes. “She really is one of us,”

“Dori,” Tor said, running his hands through his hair. “The best thing for you to do is to just go home. Be with your family.”

“But what if I don’t want to do the best thing. What if I want to be with you?”

A soft smile formed on Tor’s face. “Believe me, there’s nothing more I want right now than to be wherever you are, but things aren’t quite…settled at home.”

“Since when is it your decision?” I folded my arms stubbornly in front of my chest. I could feel my heart beating rapidly, my mind skipping back over the part where Tor just said he wanted to be with me more than anything.

The logical part of my brain was saying that Tor was right, I should stay. Think about my family.

But my heart was anything but logical right now.

Tor’s lips tugged downward. I thought he knew me well enough to know I could be pretty stubborn. He handed me his cell phone.

“Call your mother,” he said.

I took the phone but didn’t dial. Instead I noticed for the first time how sparse the room was.

“We have to leave,” Tor said, seeing my eyes scan the place. “At least for a while.”

“Where to?”

Tor and Dex exchanged a look before Dex answered. “The world’s oceans are vast. Even though humans have managed to map large portions, they haven’t found everything there is to find.”

“And?” I prompted.

Tor jumped in. “Just like on earth, there are mountain ranges under the sea. Caves and cliffs. We’re transient sea dwellers; we’re always moving around, from place to place.”

I smiled. “Ah, like undersea gypsies. But I thought you had to stay coastal, to, you know, breathe air sometimes.”

“Only the ones like Uncle Dex and me who want to live partially on land. The others never have to surface, so they can live anywhere there are caves and mountains to hide in. Even so, we can stay underwater for weeks at a time.”

Up to now, I’d only envisioned Dex and Tor and a nuclear family. “How many of you are there, exactly?”

“More than you’d think. There are two main clans, but each clan has many pods.”

I was dumbfounded. “Tell me about the clans.”

Tor hesitated. “It’s a long story. We don’t really have time to get into it now.” He nodded to the phone. “Call your mother, and then I’ll walk you home.”

I walked up the rock steps to the outdoors, Tor on my heels. I called my mother, but I didn’t tell her about destroying the boat, or that I was on my way home. I told her I was spending the weekend with Becca on her farm after work.

Tor’s expression was grim. “What are you doing?”

“I’m going with you. I’m a mermaid now, and I want to go meet the clan.”

“Dori.” Tor grimaced. “That’s a dumb idea.”

“Why? It’s not like I’d be gone forever. You said so yourself.”

I followed Tor back into the cave. He told Dex what I’d done.

Dex cleared his throat. “It’s dangerous, Dori. Tor’s right, you should stay here and wait for us to come back.”

“What’s so dangerous about it?”

Tor and Dex stared each other down.

She’s exactly what they want. Once their spies spot her, it’ll be trouble.
Dex said.

I don’t think we can stop her. And you can’t blame her for being curious. Let’s just show her around the pod, and then I’ll bring her back myself.

I didn’t know if they’d forgotten that I could hear them, but I didn’t let on. I registered Dex’s concern and made a mental note to ask Tor later on about who
they
were and why they had spies.

One day, then you bring her back.

One day.

One day—I scoffed with my inside voice, but I’d let them think what they want for now. I smiled at my victory.

“Okay.” Tor stood and I stood, too.

Dex waved us off. “I’ll deal with the rest of this stuff and join you later.”

“What are you doing with it?” I asked.

“Uncle Dex rented a storage unit.” Tor tilted his head. “Let’s go.”

Let’s go
. This was it. Little tingling shivers shot throughout my body. I was going to some foreign place under the sea. With Tor.

All my fears melted away when Tor took my hand. Suddenly, irrationally, all was right with the world.

Down at the rocks, Tor paused. “Are you sure you’re ready for this?”

That was when I clued in that we were going to become merpeople—a mercouple—for the first time.

I nodded. Tor took off his shirt and my innards quaked.

“I don’t like to swim with clothes on,” he explained at my startled look. “It’s just not a natural feeling.”

“Well, um, I’m keeping my shirt, well, your shirt on, if you don’t mind.”

He smirked. “I can go either way. But I’ll warn you, it’s way more comfortable to transition without pants on.”

I could feel my eyes blinking madly.

“I’m taking mine off.”

“Oh, oh, all right.” I turned around, horribly embarrassed. I couldn’t believe this situation never crossed my mind. And what about me? I’d have to remove his sweatpants. I blushed with modesty. I had brothers, but even they had never seen me naked. It just wasn’t the way we did things at home.

I heard a splash, and I figured it was safe to turn around. Tor’s clothes were tucked away between the rocks. His head bobbed up and he flashed his adorable grin. “Your turn.”

“Turn around,” I instructed.

“I’ll do better than that. I’ll submerge. I’ll wait for you underneath.”

“But you can still see me underwater!” I remembered how advanced my vision was as a mermaid.

He laughed. “Fine, I’ll turn around underwater.”

I couldn’t believe how nervous I was. I slipped off the sweatpants and hoodie, stretching Tor’s t-shirt down as far as possible, even though I knew no one could see me. Except the space satellites, maybe. The thought of that freaked me out and I quickly slipped into the ocean.

I braced myself for pain, but was pleasantly surprised with nothing more than spurts of tingling, like when you sit on your foot and it falls asleep. Much like the first time. Not entirely comfortable, but bearable. My legs stiffened up and fused together, forming my tail. It happened in minutes and before I knew it I was submerged, flicking my tail around and swirling through the water. My gills immediately began functioning, not even a moment of stress with breathing.

Nothing felt more natural. I belonged in the ocean.

And then I saw Tor.

I gasped. Or at least, my mouth dropped open and bubbles came out.

His tattoos swirled in brilliant blues and purples, reflective of his tail.

His tail.

My tail.

We had tails. I still couldn’t comprehend it. Tor swam over to me, his grin wide, tiny bubbles escaping from behind his ears. His eyes were a brilliant green, and he peered into mine.

I’ve dreamed about this day.

Me too.

I didn’t have time to think about the fact that we’d just spoke to each other without talking.

He stroked strands of hair away from my face, holding on to the nape of my neck. He wrapped his tail around mine.

I thought I would die of happiness. If anything happened to float by and touch us, we’d kill it, too, I was sure.

Tor leaned in, and his lips touched mine. I shivered and quivered, but he didn’t seem to mind. His lips were warm and soft even under water. I was lost in his kisses. For this moment in time it was just me and Tor.

We swam off, diving deeper. I had no idea where we were going. Or when I’d come back.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

The tone of the water had changed to a deeper darker blue. I was aware of sounds and sensations I’d never experienced before. Sonar waves from deep-sea life, patterns in the currents, the roar of motors from boats overhead.