The Turning Tides (Marina's Tales) (42 page)

He looked
troubled, “I have to work today… And Dad and Abby expect us for dinner.”

“I can be back in plenty of time. I’ll be fine, you don’t need to come.”

He looked serious, “Yes– yes I do…I really want to. Can you
go
with me to just one quick job first?” I hesitated, but he looked so worried I caved
in
immediately.

“Okay,” I nodded, thinking about how I had mistakenly blamed myself for his driven nature
,
“Sure.” He sprang up to go get dressed.

It wasn’t too much later that we were pulling up to a lonely, rocky stretch of coastline in Ethan’s truck. “There’s no way anyone followed us,” he said, climbing up to scan the surroundings from the truck bed. He tossed his bag out and hopped down lightly, stripping off his clothes and climbing into his wetsuit.

He looked up to see me watching, “Well?”

“Oh,” I hurried to change, starting with surprise when he came sneaking up behind me.

“You look like you could use a little help there,” he said, taking me by the waist.

“Uhm… That’s not really very helpful,” I gasped, as he started kissing my shoulder, working up to my ear. He slowly zipped me up, and I turned to kiss him, seriously considering stripping off my wetsuit and heading straight back home.

A cool rush of salty air blew over us, bringing me back to reality. I pulled away
with determination
, and we each took our boards and headed for the sea. I started to think about calling Lorelei to me; visualizing her face, imagining speaking to her. We picked our way through a shoreline strewn with boulders, paddling out to wait in a kelp bed. Black and white seabirds that looked like tiny penguins dove underwater as we approached them.

“
Lorelei?
”
I called, “
Please come to me
.”

Ethan sat up on his board, watching me while I focused on the waving strands of kelp. All at once a dozen heads popped up from the depths. A band of curious otters had heard what sounded like a mermaid, but most of them disappeared with a splash when they saw me and Ethan.

“
Wait!
” I called out to the bold few that hung back to observe us, “
Have you seen Lorelei?
”

They circled us, angrily chirping and hissing in alarm, but try as I might I couldn’t understand them.

“
What’s going on?
” Ethan asked, his head on a swivel.

“I don’t know, I’ve never seen them act like this!”

“
Marina!
” Lorelei burst forth, smiling as bright as the sunny day she emerged into. A dozen otters surfaced
alongside her,
surrounding her with a chattering mob.

“
Do
not
worry
,” she told them, “
It is not a trick
.
”

“
Lorelei!
” I smiled with relief
, kn
o
w
ing that Nixie had given her the message,
“
How are you doing?
”

“
Doing what?
” she asked innocently.

I laughed, “
How is Nixie…
Is she alright
?
”

She swam up to my board, her eyes glued to Ethan.

“
Don’t worry
… Remember
my good person
? He knows Nixie…he helped her too
.”

“
I know
.” She turned to me, “
Do you want to go wave riding?
”

“
I want to see Nixie. I need
–”

A sea otter slithered under her chin, chirping something in her ear. Easily distracted, she started rolling in the slippery kelp with the
family of
otters. Her presence had restored their playful nature, and they started jumping onto our surfboards, sitting up to get a different vantage point, and diving onto one another’s heads. Ethan
was charmed, and he met my eyes
with a grin.

“
Lorelei!
I want to know how Nixie is. Can you please take us to see her?
”

“
Will
we go wave riding
with Nixie
?
” she asked, eyes sparkling with excitement at the prospect.

“
Yes, yes.
S
how us Nixie please!
”

She patted the heads of a few otters, swimming over to position herself between our surfboards. Ethan watched as her sparkling hand reached up and took hold of his board. He caught my eye, a question in his.

“
Hold on tight,
” I told him. “
Here we go
.”

This time, Ethan was prepared, and he went prone on his board. He smiled at me through the spray, putting his faith completely in us as Lorelei swam
our boards
swiftly into the open ocean. The water grew rough and choppy,
and
before too long we had arrived at the rugged and remote island chain I knew to be Nerissa’s home range.

Lorelei submerged, ducking under the blue-green sea to find Nerissa and Nixie. Ethan looked around wide eyes, taking it all in. The only other time he’d been out here it was dark, and in the bright light of daytime, the area was spectacular in an entirely different way.

“I’ve seen pictures of this place, but I never thought I’d be out here!”

Sharp
,
rocky
ridges abruptly pierced the ocean’s surface,
creating
a raw, untouched wilderness of craggy peaks and arches. Thousands upon thousands of nesting seabirds encrusted every possible foothold, filling the air with a noisy cacophony of screeching cries. A
small
pebbled
beach hosted a colony of harbor seals, eyeing us nervously as we bobbed in the relatively
calm waters
.

Three heads burst into the bright sunshine, and my heart leapt with relief, “Nixie!”

Her tinkling laugh filled the air, and she swam over to embrace me, nearly knocking me off my board and into the water.

“
Sister! I wanted you to come, and you came!
”

I smiled and sighed, finally convinced it was really over. Just as I had hoped, the resilience that Nerissa had shown was shared by her child. Nixie seemed happy
, the same
as she ever was. If her brush with captivity had scarred her in any way, it didn’t show.

I hat
ed to bring it up, but I had to,
“
Did you tell all the sisters about the boats and the tricks they use?
”

“
Yes Marina
,” the three of them chimed in at once.

“
We had a council meeting!
” Nixie said excitedly, “
I saw many sisters!
”

“
They will not trick us again
,” Nerissa added solemnly.

Almost as soon as the mermaids arrived, the harbor seals dove into the water, surrounding us with an army of bobbing heads. Playful and relaxed, they behaved like larger versions of the sea otters we’d seen earlier. Ethan and I struggled to stay upright when a couple of the bolder ones tried to haul up on our surfboards.

“
Could
we go surfing now
?
” I asked.

“
I know a place!
” Nerissa trilled, and within a few moments we had been towed out to the north side of the island chain.

“Check out that break!” Ethan said in awe.
“I wonder why
nobody boats out to surf here.”

Fifteen foot waves were surging every few minutes,
beautifully formed and frighteningly large. I watched them
peeling majest
ically from one side to another, and
excitement started building in the pit of my stomach.

“These are prime great white feeding grounds,” I told him
.
“Very dangerous waters.”

He looked
wide eyed
at the mysterious depths,
smiling back up at me,
“I guess I came with the right group
then
.”

We took turns getting towed out on wave after spectacular wave, surfing with wild abandon. When we got tired, I asked Lorelei to take us back to the quiet cove, where Ethan and I sat up on our boards, taking in the view and resting. Lorelei started to play with the seals again.

Nixie seemed particularly curious about Ethan, circling around him repeatedly to get a view from every angle. I could see she was making him nervous.

“What’s she doing?” he asked me.

“She’s curious about you,” I told him. A little
too
curious, I thought. She seemed drawn to him, and it occurred to me that she might be imprinting on humans. Maybe bringing Ethan around her was a mistake.

“
Nixie
,” I warned her, “
Not all people are as nice as this one
.”

“
I know
, Marina
,” she rolled her eyes sarcastically, exactly like a snarky little mermaid version of Cruz. She flipped her tail in the air before going back to play with the seals.

“
Oh!
” Nerissa suddenly exclaimed, “
I have something!
” Her eyes flew open wide, and she
disappeared underwater, her fin slapping the surface as she dove. After a few minutes she returned, flopping a soggy leather bag onto my board.

“What is it?” Ethan asked.

“It’s my purse.” I held it up, barely recognizing it.

“
Pu
r
rse
.
” Nerissa repeated.

“How did she get it?” Ethan asked.

“
Paul
threw it over the cliff,” I said,
looking inside
it.
Given the mermaid’s obsession with the detritus of human civilization, it made perfect sense that she would have retrieved it.

“Better check your wallet,” Ethan muttered, tongue in cheek, “I hear they can’t be trusted.”

“They are kinda light fingered,” I replied with a laugh.

Nerissa remembered something else, “
Oh!
” She dove again, coming back up waving a gun around. Ethan’s eyes flew open, and he reeled back.

“It’s okay,” I told him, “It’s empty.”

I took the gun from her and popped out the clip. Sure enough, it was bullet-less, just as Paul had rendered it; I remembered the look on his face when I tried to shoot him. How odd it was to think that being shot would have been a kinder fate than the one he met just a few hours later.

If he’d
only
left me alone, he’d still be alive.

“Is that your gun?” Ethan asked.

“Yeah,” I said
morosely, “I thought it would make me safe… A lot of good it did though.” It occurred to me that the gun was symbolic of my stubborn insistence on self-reliance; a positive trait that I somehow always managed to take too far. I drew back my arm and flung the gun as far as I could throw it.

“I guess I never really needed it,” I said.

I opened the purse and pulled out the ruined Taser, handing it to Lorelei
,
“
For your collection
.”

She held it up like it was a precious object, turning it around in her hand. When I pulled out my sodden wallet I smiled up at Ethan.

“At least I have my driver’s license back.”

I took the ammunition clips out of my purse, and emptied the bullets one by one. We watched them twisting and twirling as they tumbled down into the clouded depths.

Ethan maneuvered his board closer to me, taking my hand and squeezing it
sympathetically, “So, you’re not going to be packing heat anymore.”

I smiled, leaning towards him, “Only for you… only for you.”
We met each other halfway
for a soft kiss on the gently rolling sea.

I felt the prickly sensation of being watched, and withdrew from Ethan to see
all
three mermaids staring
at us
. Nerissa came close, taking my hand and inspecting my sparkling engagement ring. Lorelei swam up to join her, laughing with delight as she held up her hand to capture the beams of light bouncing from the facets.

Nixie watched them, nodding wisely, “
That’s for scraping things
.”