Breathless (24 page)

I blinked, too shocked to respond. If it were any other person, I would have said that was no big deal. But from what I had gathered from Bastin and Luna herself, for Luna to tel someone she was fond of them would have been like anyone else pledging their undying love.

“Whoah,” I final y said.

Morgan nodded. “I know.” The tone of her voice matched the somber look on her face. “And that’s what I real y like about her. Luna doesn’t play head games. She’l tel you exactly how she feels. It’s a nice change.” Morgan leaned her head back on the chair and looked at me. “But I get why you’re worried. I know Luna’s dangerous. And I know she’s selfish, but . . .” She shrugged helplessly. “It’s not like you get to choose who you fal in love with, right?”

She had me there. Because if it were up to me, I sure wouldn’t have picked a mermaid prince to fal in love with. I’d bet a member of the chess team would be a much less complicated boyfriend. Heck, any boy as long as he was human would be a less complicated boyfriend. I sighed and leaned my head on Morgan’s shoulder. “We’re so screwed up,” I said.

“Yup,” she agreed and rested her cheek on my head.

Just then, the sliding glass door opened and Bastin leaned against the doorframe. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but if you girls don’t come back inside, I can’t guarantee the safety of your French fries. Luna’s been circling me like a shark for the last ten minutes, and I don’t think I can fend her off any longer.”

Morgan and I looked at each other and laughed. “We better go in,” I said.

“Yeah.” Morgan shoved me to my feet. “Besides, what are you doing outside with me anyway? This is the last night you get to spend with your boy-boy.”

Bastin held out his hand and I slipped mine inside his. I started to fol ow him inside the condo, but hesitated at the door. “It’s my last night to spend with you, too. And you
are
my best friend.”

Morgan smiled. “Then let’s do it right.” She jumped to her feet and rubbed her hands together. “First one to the remote gets to pick the movie.”

“Oh God.” I turned and shoved Bastin inside. “Move! Or we’l be stuck watching a zombie movie.”

Bastin frowned. “Zombie?”

Before I could respond, Morgan barreled past me, laughing maniacal y. She reached for the remote on the nightstand between the two beds but I jumped on her back before she could grasp it. We col apsed on the floor in a giggling heap only to have Bastin snatch the remote, flip through the channels, and settle on a car show.

Morgan looked at me and groaned. “That’s what you get, Smal s, for teaching him how to use the remote.” She sat next to Luna, who was exactly where we’d left her, perched on the end of the bed and devouring the last of the French fries.

“Oh wel .” I smiled and shrugged. While shows about cars certainly didn’t interest me, I didn’t care what was on TV. I climbed onto the other bed and snuggled close to Bastin, resting my head on his chest. His arm wrapped around me as his thumb traced slow lines down my arm.

I sighed. It was the closest to pure happiness I’d ever been, and yet I couldn’t enjoy it. As much as I tried not to, my eyes were drawn to the alarm clock on the nightstand. Because Bastin had told me he loved me, and each minute that passed brought me closer to the moment I’d have to say goodbye.

Morgan cut the engine and we coasted the rest of the way down the block until she parked in front of my house. Three sets of eyes turned to me.

“I’l be al right,” I told them. I just hoped they didn’t notice the way my fingers trembled as I unfastened my seatbelt. It was early Sunday morning, two days after I was supposed to be on a bus bound for California. I swal owed but had difficulty pushing past the tightness of my throat.

“Edith.” Bastin stared at his hands clasped in his lap. “I wish—”

“I know.” I couldn’t bear to hear the words, like knives, that would cut me to bits. “It doesn’t change anything. I’m glad we had our time together.” I sucked in a deep breath. “And now I have to deal with the consequences.”

He licked his lips and nodded. “Maybe . . . maybe everything wil work out.”

“Luna.” Morgan reached across the seat and snatched Luna’s wrist. “The sun is rising. Don’t you think it would be a good time to take a walk?”

Luna wrinkled her nose. “Are you kidding me? I’ve been walking on these cursed feet for two days. Al I want to do is get back into the ocean.”

Morgan sighed. “Just come with me, okay? They need a moment.”

Luna cursed under her breath as she undid her seatbelt and slid out of the car. “Just because he’s the prince I’m expected to keep enduring this torture?”

Morgan grabbed her hand and pul ed her down the street.

Alone with Bastin, I reached across the seat, removing his sunglasses and pul ing off the wig. I wanted see him for who he was one last time.

He exhaled loudly and blinked his impossibly fast blink. “So this is it.”

I nodded, unable to speak for fear of losing hold of the scream just on the edge of my tongue.

“I knew it would hurt,” he continued. “I’ve
always
known it would hurt. I just never imagined how bad the pain would be . . . I feel like I can’t breathe.”

A tear trailed down my cheek and I quickly crushed it with the back of my hand.

Bastin reached out and traced his thumb along the length of my jaw. “I can’t believe this is the last time I get to talk to you—to touch you.” His voice broke and he looked away.

“It doesn’t have to be,” I offered.

His head whirled around so fast that the flashing silver left me dizzy. “Yes it does. I would never take you under. Don’t you understand? You would be in hel . You would be in constant pain. You would . . . hate me.”

I shook my head. “No, Bastin. I would never hate you.”

A sad smile twisted his lips. “Words are easy, Edith. But they can’t predict the future.”

I didn’t say anything for a moment. My last attempt to convince him to take me under had failed. But like I’d said only seconds ago, I could never hate him. “Bastin?”

He waited.

“Wil you hold me? Just for a moment?”

No sooner had the words left my lips than his arms were around me. I pressed my face against his chest, making a damp mess of his T-shirt with the tears that bled from my eyes. This was it. Inside Sir would be waiting for me—probably with that damned suitcase in hand—ready to rip me away from the only person who’d ever made me happy.

Bastin leaned back and held my face between his hands. “Look at me. I want to memorize every detail.”

I stared into the black pools of his eyes. “I won’t forget you, Bastin. Ever.”

His lips brushed mine, much softer than I would have preferred. As if the time we had was so fragile that even something as delicate as a kiss could shatter it.

And then, as I pul ed away, it did. I could feel the end deep inside my bones, cracking through the marrow. It was time to face Sir. For too long I’d feared this moment. After years of watching my every move, I was too exhausted to continue on. So, whatever the ending, I was ready. “I have to go.”

Bastin knotted a hand in my hair, as if he would hold me in place, then, slowly, his fingers released their hold and slipped away. “I know.”

There was nothing left to say. The pressure building in my chest threatened to burst through. When my brother died, I’d lost al feeling inside. And when I met Bastin, he’d brought it al back. And now I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt such pain—not when Luna’s fingernails ripped through my shoulder, not Sir’s constant threats, not even my mom’s vacant stares—nothing had ever hurt so much as climbing out of Morgan’s car.

“Edith.”

I stopped on the sidewalk but couldn’t bring myself to turn around. If I saw his face, even a glance, it might be the thread that unraveled me.

“Yes?”

“You’l keep the stone I gave you, right? Something to remember me by?”

“Of course.” I thought it funny that the entire time I’d wore my anklet around Bastin, he hadn’t realized how close I real y kept it. “I promise.”

“Good.” His voice fel further behind me like the fragments of a dream upon waking.

Miraculously, my feet marched forward. Despite the fact that I knew I would never see Bastin again, despite the fact I knew I was walking toward my doom, they kept moving me forward. One step at a time—each one bringing me closer to the end—until it was right in front of me in the form of a dew-covered doorknob under my fingers.

It was unlocked.

I’d forgotten my key in my room during my escape, so at least this way I would be saved from the humiliation of having to knock. It felt better to embrace the end by walking into it. Not so much if I’d have to wait at the door for it to come and get me.

Sir sat in his recliner, exactly where I thought he’d be. He’d probably been sitting there the entire time I’d been gone, poised and ready. Posture was everything to the sergeant. He appeared to be sleeping, but when the door clicked shut behind me, his eyes snapped open.

“Ed.” His voice was gruff from sleep.

Outside, the sports car growled to life and tore down the street, taking my heart with it. Which, in a way, was a good thing. Now that I was cold from the inside out I could do this—I could face him. Having just lost everything, there was nothing Sir could take. Just the way I wanted it.

The sergeant rose from the recliner. We stared at each other. His eyes narrowed, and his gaze intensified as we engaged in a silent staring contest. After a minute of non-blinking silence, he spoke, “Get your bag. Since you can’t be trusted to ride a bus, I’m taking you myself.”

So that was it. I knew it would come to this, but stil , I couldn’t help but be surprised how easy it was for him. He could announce his intent to send me away with the same emotionless voice he used to order coffee.

Even so, I didn’t flinch. If he’d expected tears or cries of protest then he was going to be disappointed. Instead, I marched past him to my room and grabbed the suitcase that’d been waiting for my return. Before I left, I took a moment to glance around my bedroom. There would be no pink wal s where I was going, no Dog of the Day, or homemade chicken noodle soup.

While my life crumbled around me, I couldn’t help but wonder what Bastin was doing. He was probably back in the ocean, already a world away.

I grabbed the suitcase handle but hesitated, surprised by the weight. Unzipping a corner, I peeked inside to find that it had been repacked to fit every piece of clothing I owned, al folded into impossibly smal squares and vacuum-sealed in plastic bags. It was as if I was going away and never coming back. The realization punched a hole through what tattered bits remained of my heart.
I wasn’t coming back
. That was what he’d intended al along.

Angrily, I zipped the suitcase shut and hoisted it off the bed. I was almost out the door when I heard it—a faint tapping against the sliding glass door.

My heart jumped, pumping blood at a rate so fast that my fingers tingled. Hope bloomed like a field of dandelions in my chest. Bastin had come for me after al ! He must have changed his mind and decided to take me with him.

In a second, everything had changed. Now, instead of suffering through years of torturous hel , it looked like I was going to get my happily-ever-after. I dropped the suitcase, then raced to the sliding glass door. I could barely contain my squeal of joy as I flung the door open where a merman waited for me on the deck.

Only it wasn’t Bastin.

Sea shel s of various sizes were woven into his braided green hair. His grin was no more reassuring than the hundreds of shark teeth dangling from his necklace. With the same superhuman speed Bastin possessed, the mer yanked me from my room and placed a clammy hand over my mouth.

I never had a chance to scream.

The strange mer smel ed like Luna—only the blood on his breath was stronger. “Hel o, little sandpiper.” His voice was like a jagged rock scratched along a mirror.

Every instinct I had screamed at me to run, and fast. I tried digging my heels into the ground, but my efforts did little to slow him as he pul ed me into the trees behind my house and onto the same path Bastin and I traveled so many times.

He was taking me to the bayou.

And, with his claw-like grip on my mouth and stomach, I was wil ing to bet his intentions were less than friendly.

My pulse thundered in my head as my heart hammered against my rib. If this mer wanted to kil me, I wasn’t going to let him do it without a fight. I twisted inside his arms, thrashing and kicking, but he only tightened his grip. I even bit his hand but instead of letting go, he laughed. “The little bird thinks it can peck a shark, eh?”

I kicked harder, making contact with his shin, only he didn’t seem to notice.

Up ahead, I could see the water sparkling through the trees. My mind reeled. What could the mer possibly want with me? Bastin said the other tribes didn’t bother with humans unless they wanted slaves—even then they only hunted at sea. It didn’t make sense. This mer was obviously looking for me. The only question was, why?

It wasn’t until he pushed me onto the dock that he final y released his hand from my mouth. Even then, the taste of fish remained ripe on my lips. I stared at the water, unable to see what lay beneath. “W-what do you want from me?”

“From
you
?” He laughed, a cackling sound, nothing like the melody of Bastin’s. “Trust me, little sandpiper, there is nothing you have that I would ever want.” He sneered, showing his repulsion as the idea. “Look at you.”

I could feel the revulsion in his gaze as his eyed fol owed the lines of my body.

“You’re scrawny, even for a human. Weak. Your spine would snap the second you reached the bottom of the ocean, and then what good would you be? I have no idea what that plankton-brained Aridonian prince sees in you.”

So there it was. The mer wanted nothing with me. He wanted Bastin.

“You belong to a warring tribe, don’t you?”

He jerked me against him so hard that my check landed against his chest. From there, I could feel his heart beat erratical y beneath his slimy skin.