Tangled Tides (The Sea Monster Memoirs) (16 page)

I pulled a book over to me and thumbed through the pages. "Here." I spun it around and slid it toward her. "Left page, second paragraph."

Yara read out loud in a voice that sounded like harp music. "The gorgon sisters longed to return to the human realm. However, the curse had sentenced them to solitude. Therefore the three united together and devised a plan.

"The sirens were summoned and offered seductive beauty and the power to control the weather if they agreed to a proposition. The sirens would seduce mortals, a give and take of body and soul, including drinking the life force from the veins of their prey. They would then return to the gorgon sisters and regurgitate the blood, allowing Stheno and Euryale to consume it. Thus they could relive the encounter as their own.

"As time passed, many selkfolk envied this system. They begged the gorgons to allow them to drink the stolen blood. Medusa refused. As a compromise, she gifted the selkfolk with the ability to share their souls by allowing another to drink directly from their veins.

"The bloodshed of the original selkfolk was horrific for several moons. Many died because they had no self-control and drained one another of all life. Once the selkfolk had their habit under control, they boasted of their superior ability.

"This did not please the merfolk. They believed they were equally entitled to pleasure as the selkfolk. The merfolk went to Medusa and requested the same gift. Medusa, still heartbroken over the loss of so many selk, refused to lose any of her mer in the same careless manner. Thus she and her sisters conjured up a new gift."

Yara cracked her neck from side-to-side and rubbed her temples. What would she think of the next part of our history? "No blood would be necessary for the mer to share themselves. Medusa and her sisters resented their inability to gaze into the eyes of another with great emotion. Thus they chose sight as the manner in which merfolk would share their souls with one another."

Yara glanced up from the page and caught me watching her, but I couldn't look away.

"Pretty gross," she murmured. "Sirens regurgitating blood and people drinking it."

"Not people, gorgons," I corrected. "Birds regurgitate. It's part of their nature."

"Still. Gross."

"Agreed."

As if defending itself, a heron spread its large wings just outside the window. Yara and I both turned to look at it.

"No offense," Yara said, "but this house is depressing without Koraline here. Can we take a break? I'm itching to be back in the water and sunshine."

That was a good sign. She should gravitate toward sunlight and water, though it baffled me that she wasn't curious about the ability to share our souls with each other. "Of course, but only floating. No swimming. Your shoulder needs to heal."

W
e walked to the stream in silence and waded in.

Yara scanned the cottages around us. "All merfolk live here on the island?"

"We all have homes here. Solis is protected from discovery by humans."

"Koraline told me that part. I didn't know if all merfolk lived here, or just some. I hardly ever see anyone else."

At least she wasn't calling us freaks anymore. "Sadly, there aren't that many of us. One hundred and twelve are here in this realm. You make one hundred and thirteen. Most spend days at a time away from here. They like to explore or interact with humans, but this is a safe haven for whenever they return."

"How many, you know, didn't make it? How many are in the Catacombs?" Splotches of red spread across her chest. Her red must mean sadness.

"Thirty-one," I answered somberly.

Her eyes widened as crimson swirls snaked across her shoulders. "I'm sorry."

How much had Rownan told her? Was Yara apologizing because she didn't know what else to say, or did she know about her parents' broken promise and blamed herself? "The actions of others sometimes affect our destiny. No one blames you."

She looked thoroughly confused.

So Rownan hadn't told her
she
was the reason for the gate closing. Good. I felt she should hear it from one of us.

"Treygan, the night you saved me, what did you do to me? Why didn't I remember you for all these years?"

How could I explain it to her? We were finally making progress. I didn't want to scare her by telling her part of me was as awful as she originally suspected. The last thing we needed was her running back to the selkies. It was bad enough she drank blood at all. If Rownan offered to let her drink from him she might not be able to resist, and then he would have the upper hand. Jack had unexplainable manipulative power over his kind. The stronger her selkie connection, the better chance Jack would have at controlling her actions too. "It's complicated."

"My entire life has been complicated. I can handle it."

"This is an exceptional level of complicated."

"Is it because you're part gorgon?"

My people never brought up this topic. They knew I hated that side of me. Many of my own kind feared my gorgon side and stayed away from me because of it. Why didn't Yara?

"If you don't tell me, I'll swim back to Eden's Hammock and ask my uncle."

Her uncle. They weren't even related. "Lloyd and you seem very close."

"He's been like a dad to me. My father died when I was four. My mom and I moved to Eden's Hammock and Lloyd sort of looked after us. I remember the first time I met him. At least, I think it was the first time." She flicked the water with her fingers. "Guess you don't want to hear about my childhood."

"No, I don't."

Her face scrunched up in a sour expression. "You don't have to be a jerk about it."

"Much of human sharing feels superficial to me. It's a lot of talking and very little listening."

With a swat of her hand she splashed water in my face. "Okay, I get it. I won't tell you any of my lame stories."

"You're not letting me finish. This is the lack of listening I'm referring to."

"Sorry. Go ahead."

"Merfolk share in a deeper way than talking—more intimate." Bonding with one of us was crucial to her siding with us, but her first experience was supposed to be with Koraline. Not me. I had to back-pedal. "But I would never ask you to share yourself that way with me."

"More intimate?"

"The mer sight you read about. Sharing your soul."

"Wait, what?" She cocked her head to the side, reminding me of the Golden Retriever Lloyd once kept as a pet.

"You can share pieces of your life with other merfolk—if you choose to. You take them into your soul and they relive a memory as you."

"You're joking."

"You just read about it. Did you think our history books were a joke?"

"I thought it meant how we communicate underwater. The eye-contact mind-speech thing."

"No. Sharing songs—memories—is very different from that."

"You're telling me that you could relive one of my memories as if you were me? Like flashback to my childhood without me having to tell you about it?"

"Without verbally telling me about it, yes. Your soul would tell the tale."

Her head jerked backward like she had been punched. "That's unbelievable."

"It's our way of sharing ourselves." The Violets' warning not to do anything without their permission rang through my conscience. "But it's extremely personal. You and I shouldn't engage in that practice."

She grabbed my hand and pulled us closer together in the stream. "Oh no, I have to try it now so I can see if you're telling the truth."

"How many times do I have to explain this to you? We can't lie."

"Sorry, I keep forgetting."

Our bodies were too close. The gentle current of the stream caused her hair and tail to brush against me several times. The sensation of bubbles under my skin returned.

"Tell me how it works," she pleaded.

"You concentrate on the memory you want to share with me, then—"

"No, you share with me first."

Alarms went off in my head. Not allowed! Not until the Triple Eighteen! "Your first time should be with Koraline."

"Koraline isn't here. And who knows how long she'll be recovering?"

I had seen the damage. Koraline might never recover. If that was the case, wouldn't I be the next logical choice for Yara to bond with? I had already started her education. She felt more comfortable with me than any other merfolk. Maybe I could use this opportunity to make her comfortable with the others and give her a glimpse of our realm at the same time. Surely, that could only help matters.

"Fine," I agreed. "You think Delmar is scary, correct?"

"I wouldn't want to meet him in a dark alley."

"Well, then. I'd like to prove otherwise. Are you ready?"

She let go of my hand and drifted backward. "I don't know. What do I have to do? And once I'm there, how do I get out of it?"

"You stare into my eyes. Most of us feel a tug in our chests. You'll feel like you're being pulled into my body, but you won't actually go anywhere. You'll see, hear and feel what I felt when I lived that moment. When I end the memory you might feel a push. Or, if you want to end the experience early, think of an object back here—in this time and space."

She glanced around. "Like what?"

"Like a particular flower, a rock, anything, and then concentrate on its details."

She studied me intensely for a moment. "Okay. I'm ready. I think. I'm sorta scared."

I tried to comfort her by smiling. The new experience would be incredible for her, and I was surprised at how happy it made me that her first time would be with me. "Don't be scared. I chose a good memory."

T
reygan and I stared at each other. My whole body tingled, even my tail and fins. For a split second silver clouds passed over his eyes. Then I felt the tug in my chest and everything went bright blue and silent.

I
was Treygan, sitting beside Delmar on the rocks of a shoreline of violet sand and gazing out at the water. My tail—Treygan's tail—was sage green, but each shining scale looked as if it was outlined in chrome. Delmar was a Yellow. His hair was blond and shorter, but he looked the same age as his present day self. A rainbow-colored sun beat down on us as our tails splashed in the surf.

"Will you be singing today?" Delmar asked with a grin.

As Treygan, I watched water sprites sparkle below the surface. "Of course. I'm your best man."

Delmar skipped a sapphire shell across the water. "You're like a brother to me, Treygan. I marry my true love today, but that doesn't mean our bond weakens."

"Kimber is first in your heart. I'm happy to step down from my post."

Delmar shook his head. "Love knows no rank. I love you and Kimber differently, but I would lay down my life for either of you in a heartbeat."

"You would lay down your life for any of our kind."

"I'd like to think that's true, but now that I have Kimber, my priorities are shifting. I would do anything to spare her from pain and suffering. Her happiness means everything to me."

I smiled, even though part of me felt sad and lonely. "All the more reason to get you to the grotto on time. Kimber already worries too much."