World of Aluvia 2 (21 page)

He didn’t seem to notice when Phoebe shrank at the mention of her foe’s name and continued, “So, since they will do nothing but sit on their fins all day, twisting their hands in useless concern, my mother has whispered to me that we must act. Because I have shown skill in teaching young seawees to master the little magics we have now, such as sending moonglow through our skin, she thinks I will be able to guide you into your own powers as a proper merfolk.”

His voice stumbled a bit on the word ‘merfolk.’ Had he even winced? He hid his feelings well, but she’d known him a long time. He was definitely disturbed. Phoebe hoped that her new form was not too distressing to him. It wasn’t every day that your close friend changed shape. It had been shocking to see Micah change from faun to human and back again, and that was a much smaller change.

He was staring at his own clenched fists. If being with her was too difficult for him, she’d learn from someone else. “Are you willing to be my teacher? I don’t wish to cause you any hardships.” Her voice was softer than she’d intended.

Tristan looked up at her suddenly, face half-hidden by his hair. His eyelashes were a dark fringe shadowing those deep green eyes. He smiled, a charming lopsided grin that demanded a smile in response.

“Time spent with you, Phoebe Quinn, is never a hardship. Believe it.”

His words―that voice―sent goosebumps along Phoebe’s arms. His response vibrated with intensity, rich with deeper meaning. His serious tone didn’t match the light-hearted, friendly smile. Which was the truth of his feelings?

She took a deep breath, focusing on their shared goal. Learn to control her magic. Right. “If learning to be better at what I can do will help, I’m all for it.”

Tristan met her eyes, green to brown. He gripped her hands, and Phoebe was flooded with sudden warmth. “We will be in dangerous waters. I couldn’t bear to lose you, Phoebe.”

She pulled a hand free and touched his cheek. “You won’t lose me. I promise. I come from pretty tough stock.”

She smiled, and he reluctantly grinned back.

“Are you sure you’re willing to stay?” he whispered.

“Absolutely.”

“Then let’s begin. First step: learning to be a mermaid.”

ristan took Phoebe by the hand and pulled her along to an area of the ocean she’d never been in before, farther away from shore but closer to the surface than the mer-village. The trip was difficult for Phoebe; she kept feeling like someone had glued her legs together as a practical joke. Her movements were jerky and unnatural, not to mention slow. They finally reached a spot he declared acceptable for training.

“First of all, we must do something about your fin technique,” he said with a small smile.

Phoebe flushed as red as her hair. “I’m swimming wrong?”

She was moving through the water, wasn’t she? She scowled.

He laughed. “Not wrong. Just not efficient. It’s the same as when you could swim before, but I taught you how to best move through the water with your human body, remember?”

How could she forget the hours spent in the water, laughing and pulling herself along until her muscles burned? The sea was the one place where the heavy sense of shame and grief from Bentwood’s prison disappeared, washed away by the salty water. Any child living on the coast learned to survive in the water. Tristan had taught her how to thrive in it.

“So?”

“So.” He shook his head at her. “You’re being stubborn. This involves logic. Swimming with two legs is quite different than swimming with one tail. There are stories―myths―of merfolk who were land walkers, able to live in both worlds. I believe that once upon a time, magic was sufficient for such a feat. Their legs always returned to fins when in the water. If they could learn to walk on legs, you can learn to swim with a fin.”

Phoebe’s heart leapt at the thought of Tristan on land. He could see her home! He could see Sierra’s fairy hatch and sit by the fire and have hot chocolate. She could barely imagine what that would be like, but if she was truly going to be a mermaid now, she supposed it no longer mattered.

She squared her shoulders. “Fine, show me how.”

“First, you should be able to sense the center of gravity inside you, can you not? It’s a heavy place that keeps us from floating to the surface like humans do, and your new body will automatically shrink or expand this part to change your buoyancy, to help you rise and lower in the water without the effort of swimming. It’s as automatic as breathing and happens in here.” He pointed to his stomach, right where his scales met the flesh of his torso.

Phoebe nodded, relieved to have the strange sensation explained.

“Now, look at how I move my body. We don’t move side to side like a fish. We are more like the dolphins, moving our bodies up and down in a wave pattern that allows us quite a lot of speed. Watch.” He lifted one finger to indicate she should stay put. Her hair swirled around her head, and she twisted it into a loose bun at the base of her neck so she wouldn’t miss a thing.

He looked over his shoulder at her and then swam in exaggerated movements so she could see exactly what he was doing with his torso and tail. Up, down, up, down. She realized his body didn’t roll from side to side at all the way hers did when she kicked her feet. The steady motion of his tail moving up and down pushed him quickly and efficiently through the water, and he didn’t use his arms at all. She had still been trying to use the strokes he had taught her as a human. She realized now that her tail alone was so powerful that her upper body needed to stay straight to steer, like a rudder.

“I see!” she called out, a glimmer of eagerness sparking through her. How fast could she go once she mastered this?

He waved her onward, signaling her to swim to him. Properly.

Her tongue sticking out slightly from her intense concentration, Phoebe closed her eyes and allowed herself to focus on her body in the water. The salt levels added a different buoyancy in this form than in her human body, and when she flexed her tail, the swoosh of water against the fin sent her zooming in a fast jet. She squealed and stuck her hands out, as if she could stop herself, but of course, she cut through the currents easily.

“If you want to stop, point your tail toward the ground and flick your fin in the opposite direction, sort of like how rowers of boats drag their oars against the current to slow down.”

She tried this and managed to flip herself upside down twice before mastering how to stop. They spent most of the afternoon practicing proper swim techniques, until she could swim, stop, and spin without flailing. She was getting much smoother.

“I’m really doing it!” Phoebe beamed.

Tristan looked pleased as well, and he tugged on her hair that had escaped once again from her attempt to contain it. “You’re working very hard. Even my mother should have no complaints.”

“I imagine she could find something.” Phoebe rolled her eyes, and Tristan laughed, the deep rolling laugh she loved.

“Now, let’s try to see if you can call me again on purpose. I can feel your presence. Do you feel mine?’

She stared at him, uncertainty replacing her small sense of victory.

He sighed. “I can handle it, Phoebe. Your worries are stamped on your face. You’ve called me twice, but both times were by accident. You’ve got to get this under conscious control.”

“So I, what? Call you like a lost dog?” The words sounded harsher than she meant. It also evoked the wrong image.

He flinched, and she bit her lip. “I didn’t mean―”

“I know, I know. Look, just try to close to your eyes and ask me to come to you. In your heart or with your words. I’ll swim over there to the reef. If I feel compelled to come to you, you’ll know you’ve done it.”

Tristan swam far enough away that his expression was indiscernible even with her new, magically improved water vision. He was serious about this. She felt ridiculous. What if she called him and he didn’t come? Worse, what if he did? She would hate for anyone to have that kind of control over her. What if her call really was stronger now? He would most certainly fear her, then, like the mer-elders did. And maybe he’d be correct to.

“Your waiting does us no good, Phoebe,” he called.

With a start and a flash of guilt, Phoebe closed her eyes. The thrumming of her heart distracted her, along with the slow swish of the currents over her skin. Concentrating, she pictured Tristan in her mind: tender smile, gentle eyes, tousled green hair, older now than when they had first met but still her friend. Still someone she cared for. She focused on that caring for a moment, allowing everything else to fade away, and whispered his name, so softly she knew not even his excellent hearing would catch it. He’d have to feel the magical call.

“Tristan.” The name barely slid over her lips. “Tristan, come to me.” She waited but heard nothing, felt nothing. She opened her eyes just a crack, enough to see him still over by the coral, several lengths away.

“Keep trying,” he encouraged.

She squeezed her eyes shut again and flipped onto her back in the currents to help relax her whole body. She kept her eyes closed to concentrate better.

“Tristan,” she said, a little stronger. She thought of the times they had played in the surf, of the gifts he had left, of his rescuing her from Bentwood and now Donovan, too. She would miss Tristan terribly. Calling her emotions a secret crush really didn’t do them justice. She loved him, always as a friend, but also as so much more. She thought the words, “I love you, Tristan,” but couldn’t say the words out loud. She never could. Then a hand touched hers, and she gasped.

Her eyes flashed open, and Tristan’s face was right in front of hers. There was no twinkling smile now. His face was utterly serious.

“I heard you,” he said.

He heard that she loved him?
Panic surged through her until he said, “Not with my ears. Somehow I heard you call my name here.”

He tapped his chest, just over his heart. They stared at each other for a timeless moment before he backed up. “You are more powerful than you realize, I think. This is good for our people.”

But not for us,
Phoebe thought.

He cleared his throat. “Soon, we will have to defend ourselves. The wraiths will not let us be, Baleros will surely come after us, and we cannot just swim away and abandon our city again. None of our people will pick up edged weapons. It goes against our ancient culture. But the blue light you have called has worked like a weapon, sending the wraith away, twice, without true harm. This is part of what the ancient merfolk could do; my mother has shown me in the historians’ records. They also knew how to build shields of magic around their city to keep it safe. We need to learn how you use the magic like they did.”

“I don’t know how!”

“We’ll learn together.” He took her hand and ran his thumb over and over against the back of her hand. Phoebe didn’t even think he was aware he was doing it. It wasn’t like Tristan to touch her so casually. It was not how mer-culture worked. Maybe she
had
charmed him. He’d never allowed them to be so close before.

Uncertain, she backed up, breaking their linked hands. She tried to keep her voice casual. They still had to work together, and she didn’t want to allow them to begin something between them that could not last. If he were under her power, she’d have to keep her true feelings to herself. To do otherwise was unkindness. “So, how do I do this?”