Evergreen (Mer Tales, Book 2) (20 page)

:::

ASH

Thursday evening, April 21
^st

The fresh air outside of the club felt amazing. I sucked in a bunch of cool sips, trying to slow down my feet and my heart rate.

“Stop pulling me.” I yanked my spaghetti arm from my captor.

“We have to keep going,” Callahan said. “Where’s your car?”

I laughed. Like I could drive. “Georgia drove.” My teeth felt like boulders in my mouth. “That’s a funny word, Georgia. Who would name their kid after a state. Geor-r-r-r-gia.”

Somehow my feet kept moving. Around me, the dreamy mass of faces and sparkles lessened as we separated ourselves from the swarm of kids.

Shannon appeared at my side and giggled. “Hey, there you are, birthday girl.”

I threw my arms around her neck. “Where have you been? I love you, man.”

“Who’s driving?” Callahan asked.

“Georgia. Where is she?” Chrissi turned to face the club.

“I don’t see her,” Michele said.

I giggled. “Geor-r-r-gia.”

“Shhh.” Callahan brushed my hair off my forehead. “I’ll drive you home.”

“Crap. Maybe they caught her,” Shannon said, her voice further away. “Wait. I don’t see any cops, do you?”

Callahan gripped me tighter. We were moving again. “Tell Georgia I’m taking Ash home, okay?”

“Yeah,” a male voice I didn’t recognize said in the distance. “Let’s go inside.”

Our feet crunched against the gravel and sounded super loud. “What happened?” I asked.

“Don’t worry about it. Let’s get you home.”

I heard a car door open and my body lifted, weightless. Silence surrounded me once he closed me inside the truck. The smell of old leather encased me.

“Hmmm.” I leaned over, falling horizontal on the seat.

The world spun haphazardly and my stomach lurched. I burped. The door opened.

“Oh, no you don’t.”

My body lifted upright and Callahan snuggled in next to me. His arm appeared on my shoulder as the engine started. “What did you drink?”

I giggled. “Just a sip of Goldshl-l-l-l-ager.”

“I think you had more than a sip. We need to get you sober before I take you home.”

Nope. Just a sip. “Okay.” My head floated around on a tilt-a-whirl. Maybe mermaid princesses didn’t handle alcohol very well. I’d have to ask Fin.

He turned onto the frontage road parallel with the lake. The moon bounced off the water, sending sparkles of rainbow light everywhere.

“My boyfriend is a fish,” I said.

“Your what?”

“Boyfriend. He came out of the water and rescued me from drowning. Isn’t that sweet?”

“I think you’ve had way more than a sip, my dear.”

I closed my eyes and leaned into Callahan’s warm shoulder. With him, I didn’t care about Colin, or anything. Here I could run away and just be.

“Colin’s a fish too. He thinks I’m a princess. They want to kidnap me and take me to Natatoria. Na-ta-to-ria… say it.”

Callahan laughed again. “You’ve got quite an imagination. You should be a writer.”

I snorted. “Never. Do you know how many words a book is? Like a bazillion.”

We pulled up to the beach area next to my house and I sighed. I didn’t want to leave yet.

“How’re you feeling?”

Twin Callahan’s floated in a circle. “Good. Real good.”

I leaned into his chest again. He pulled me tight into his side, then massaged my shoulder, then my arm. His fingers wove into my hair.

“I love your red hair. It’s so soft.” He kissed my forehead.

I opened my eyes and looked off into the water. A long ripple moved across the surface. Then a head popped up.

“See.” I pointed to the lake. “Mer-r-men.”

Callahan didn’t look. He was more interested in me. His hands molded under my chin as he brought my lips to his. I closed my eyes and let myself go when a dry heave hit me.

“I think I’m going to be sick.”

Fast as lightning, he had me outside of the truck. I bent over and let go of my sushi as he held my hair. The fog surrounding my head instantly lifted.

“This is so embarrassing.” My cheeks flushed. “Sorry.”

“Here, drink this.” Callahan handed me a bottle of water.

I took a grateful swig and wondered how I’d ended up at the lake with Callahan to begin with. Did Georgia know I’d left the club? I felt my pocket for my phone. Georgia would be worried.

Over Callahan’s shoulder, a silhouette of a man waded in the surf just off shore.

I gasped and walked forward, “Fin?”

“Huh?” Callahan swiveled around.

“Fin?” the merman said, then laughed. Colin.

Another head popped up next to his—Colin’s dad, Alaster.

“No,” I whispered.

The song came from Alaster’s mouth and Callahan robotically moved toward the water.

“No!” I screamed and tugged on his arm. He shrugged me off with ease.

I looked to Alaster in desperation. “What are you doing?”

“If you don’t come with us, sweetie, we’ll have your friend drown himself.” Alaster motioned me forward with his finger.

“No!” Tears poured down my face as Callahan began to walk into the water. “Okay! Okay, whatever you want.”

Alaster stopped singing and Callahan stood knee deep in the lake.

“Let’s go, Ashlyn,” Alaster said. “You agreed.”

“But I’m not a mermaid.”

He laughed, a deep scary rumble. “Not yet.”

I stood solid, my feet at the edge of the lake. “But it’s freezing.” Haunting flashbacks of the icy water when I fell in hit me.

“If you don’t come to us, we’ll drown him. Three, two, one—”

“Okay!” I stepped forward. Knives hit my skin. I sucked the air between my teeth as I took a few more steps. Once the water hit my armpits, Colin grabbed me.

Heat from his body helped against the bitter chill. My teeth chattered. “I’m h-h-here. Let h-h-h-him go.”

Alaster laughed, then sang again. Callahan turned around and headed for his truck.

“You ready?” Colin whispered in my ear.

“For what?”

He laughed. “Hold your breath.”

I sucked in a gasp as he yanked me underwater and sped through the current. After a minute, my lungs ached. Princess or not, suddenly I had a feeling they weren’t taking me to Natatoria.

I was the one to be drowned.

:::

FIN

Thursday evening, April 21
^st

Before opening my eyes, I inhaled. I’d know this clean, snowy water blindfolded—home. My head throbbed and redness tinged the water; I’d survived, barely. I reached out for Galadriel. Only the current touched my fingertips.

“Galadriel?”

The opened passenger door led out into the dark lake without any sign of her or her suitcase. Though the shoreline spanned 72 miles, I knew I’d find her eventually.

I uncurled my fin from the wreckage and swam through the door. The car rested on the lake floor maybe ten-feet below the surface. An array of lights lit the water above me. Anxious to get away before divers showed up, I whipped my tail back and forth to loosen the glass embedded in my scales and surveyed the surroundings. I could have sworn we’d fallen from a cliff, but we’d only jettisoned off the highway a few feet into the bay by Cave Rock, the favorite hang out of the notorious Tahoe Tessie.

My spine cracked as bones relocated and started to heal. Within a few days, no evidence of the crash would show. My head, still groggy, wouldn’t clear. Galadriel had poisoned me again in the taxi. But why?

I floated through the soft water toward Emerald Bay. The night was young and Ash would still be awake; I had to look up at her window and see. If I could draw attention to the water, maybe she’d come outside. Knowing her, she’d quite possibly dive in to meet me.

Down below, sixteen hundred feet to be exact, the secret entrance to Natatoria loomed in the dark. Just a few weeks ago Dad had blown the cave to smithereens. I dove deeper, tempted to check to see if the mers had actually reopened the gate like Badger had said. I had to be careful. According to my brief phone call with Lucy, my annoying cousin Colin was snooping around the lake. After I pummeled his face for trying to take my girl, I’d send him through the gate and arrange another accidental collapse of the tunnel. The less interference from other mers the better.

I swam up to our beach. To my disappointment, the Lanski house was dark. I watched her window. Were they out? Or was she safe, sleeping in her bed? After a few minutes, boredom and responsibility set in. Galadriel couldn’t be left unattended, but first I’d take a peak and see what my cousin and uncle had been up to. I cringed thinking of the destruction last time. Good to see the house was still standing.

I swam slowly toward the tunnel leading to the hatch.

:::

ASH

Thursday evening, April 21
^st

Colin and I surfaced through a hole into a dark cave. I coughed water out of my lungs as he slithered us across a slick surface to another body of water. The change in temperature set my skin on fire.

“It’s hot!” I struggled, but Colin had a firm grip on my arm. He clapped two times and the lights magically came on. We were in an indoor pool. A bridge spanned the length above us and a TV hung in the corner. Stairs led up to a closed door. Was this Fin’s basement?

My hip kept bumping into the spikes on his sides, tearing at the fabric of my dress. “Ouch.”

“Quit struggling.”

Alaster popped through the hole and slid into the pool like an oversized slug. “It’s about time you started cooperating, Princess.”

“I’m not a princess!”

Colin flipped me around and pulled up my dress, revealing my lacy underwear. “Yup, here’s the mark just as I remember it.”

“Hey!” I slapped his hand and yanked the stretchy fabric down.

Both men laughed.

“She won’t be that feisty for long,” Alaster said to Colin. “You know what to do. I’ll be back by morning with the essence. Pack whatever you want to take with you.”

“Sure, Dad,” Colin nodded, a proud smile on his face.

“Good job, Son.” He clapped Colin on the shoulder before he disappeared down the hole.

My skin quickly adjusted to the tepid pool water and I began to shiver. “I can’t stay in here. I’m going to get sick.”

Colin rolled his eyes and scanned the deck. I hoped it was for a towel. Instead, he found a rope and tied my wrists before he hoisted me out and sat me on the pool ledge. The chilly air sent a shiver up my spine.

“I need a towel.”

“Quit complaining, will you? And why’d you think I was Fin? Are you expecting him?” he asked.

I looked down. “You look like him, that’s all.”

Colin laughed as I continued to shiver. He finally slid out of the pool and threw a towel over my shoulders.

I wrapped up best I could and watched in wonder at his long tail as it swished back and forth. Two spiked pectoral fins protruding from the sides—the ones that had been poking me earlier—and a larger one jutted from his back. His tail fin wasn’t flat like what I imagined a mermaids tail would look like, but shark-like: vertical with a razor sharp on the tip.

“What’s wrong with your tail?”

Colin frowned and studied his backside. “Nothing.”

“But your fin is sideways.”

He howled in laughter. “I’m not a mermaid, Princess. I’m built for power and speed.” He dove under and swam in a swift circle to show how functional his tail was.

I smirked and huddled under the towel, finally warm. If I could distract him, I could run up the stairs on my left and escape.

“So,” he swam over to me, noting I wasn’t impressed, “we can do this the hard way or the easy way.”

I cocked my head to the side. “Or you can let me go.”

He laughed. All evidence where Callahan had punched him had healed. If I weren’t tied, I’d hit him again just to piss him off.

“You’re coming with us, so stop begging. When Dad brings the essence, you’ll be a mermaid once again.”

“Again?” I gulped. “Are you insane?”

“You’re the lost princess and my ticket out of mediocrity.”

“Right.” I struggled against the rope. My wrists rubbed raw under the tight hemp fibers.

“Okay, so… since I can’t sing to you, why don’t you make this easy and kiss me?” He puckered his lips.

“Kiss you?” I pushed him with my foot. “Heck, no!”

His face hardened as he flipped his tail, mumbling things under his breath. After a few uncomfortable minutes, he turned to me.

“I don’t understand why you don’t like me. I mean, I’m witty and attractive. When we first met, you were putty in my hands, and then something changed.”

“Seriously?” I couldn’t help my sarcastic laughter. “Maybe this might be a clue.” I held up my bound wrists. “And the fact you’ve been nothing but a jerk after that.”

“Careful, Princess. I don’t need your permission to kiss you.” He smirked.

“A forced promise is equivalent to rape where I come from.”

“I’m not trying to force you, and how do you know about the promising anyway?”

I hid my bound hands under the towel. The Band-Aid on my ring finger barely hung on at this point.

He swam over, creating a large wave of water that drenched me. I tried to move away. He ripped the sopping towel off of me and found the promising tattoo.

“NO!” He pulled hard on my hand and thrust his face in front of mine. “Who is it? Who?”

I gulped down my fear. “Don’t hurt me,” I said as I turned my cheek.

He gritted his teeth and forced my face to look at him. My heart thumped hard, vibrating my entire body. If I told him, he’d go after Fin. I pushed my lips into a thin line.

Colin’s eyes narrowed. “Fin.” Below the water, large spikes spread from his side fins, sharp and dangerous looking. “Poseidon, I’m going to kill him.”

Colin submerged and darted across the pool. I pulled my feet out of the water and scooted backward. I looked behind me. Here was my chance to escape.

A hand reached up and grabbed my ankle. “Where do you think you’re going, Princess?”

I tried to kick myself free. “It won’t work, whatever you do. I’m promised and stop calling me princess.”

“I’ll hunt Fin down and de-fin him to release the bond,” he said through clenched teeth. “He can’t have you and take everything I deserve. You’re mine.”

He jettisoned his body out of the water and slid us in one fluid motion across the slick cement to the stairs.

“But he’s your cousin.”

“Shhh,” he said and wrung his hands. “I can’t think with you talking.”

“But Fin’s in Flor—I mean Maine.”

“My father isn’t going to hear a word of this. As far as he’s concerned, we’re promised. This mark is mine. And if you say a word, I’ll do something drastic. Do you hear me?”

My throat hitched as his face flashed with hateful rage.

Inside I screamed. Why didn’t I tell Fin the truth? That Colin and his uncle were here stalking me? This whole time I’d thought they only wanted to know where the Heltons were, but that wasn’t the case. They’d been looking for the lost princess, Galadriel. Colin wanted to become promised to her to elevate his position in the mer society—but now that they thought it was me, he’d change me into a mermaid, and claim me for his wife without revocation. I’d be trapped in Natatoria like Tatchi. Fin wouldn’t know. I had to convince Colin otherwise.

“Your song didn’t work because I’m promised. Don’t you see? It has nothing to do with royal blood. But I know where the lost princess is—the one you’re looking for.”

He stopped for a second, his eyes clouding over in confusion. “What?”

“She’s with the Heltons—in Maine.”

“But you have the mark.”

“It’s only a birthmark,” I said, pleading. “Please… let me go.”

“I can’t!” He yelled and leaned up against the wall, thumping his head against the cement bricks. “Don’t you understand? That mark says you’re royalty and I have to become promised to you, otherwise my dad really will kill me.”

Pity filled my heart. This wasn’t his plan after all, but something his dad forced him to do. We were trapped together. Maybe I could use this to my advantage for my escape.

I leaned over and took his hand with mine. “Then let’s pretend.”

He wrinkled his brow. “Pretend?”

“We’ll pretend we’re promised and then later, you can take me to Fin and I’ll set you up with the real princess.”

He laughed as something dark crossed his face. “That’s all good and convenient for you and Fin, but I don’t believe you. You’re the princess that’s missing and you’ll be mine.” He grabbed my chin and pulled me forward. “I can still kiss you. Maybe you won’t be entirely promised to me at first, but it’ll make you want me, and no one in Natatoria will know any different.”

I struggled against his grip, braced for his lips to touch mine. Fin never told me what would happen if another merman kissed me. Would our bond break? Would I be promised to them both? Colin said I’d want for him. The thought made my skin crawl.

There was no escape now.

“Touch her and die!”

Colin swiveled backward, mouth agape. “What the heck?”

A mirage of Fin hoisting himself out of the porthole filled the blur in my tear laden eyes.

Colin yelled and charged Fin. “She’s mine!”

They collided and tumbled into the pool, creating a giant tidal wave. I struggled to my knees. My eye caught a row of harpoon-like javelins lined against the wall. I crawled to my feet and ran the length of the room to them. I rested the rope against the blade and sawed carefully. Threads began to fray. Once they snapped, I removed the heavy javelin and held it over my head, ready to whack Colin on the head.

I couldn’t see a thing in the churning wall of water. Then Fin erupted with his arm around Colin’s neck. “You miserable parasite!” Fin’s bicep flexed. “Why are you here with Ash? Answer me!”

Colin grunted as his eyes bulged.

“Stop!” I didn’t want Colin’s death on our consciences.

Fin clenched his jaw, then finally released him in a fit of frustration and threw him to the other side of the pool. “You big coward.”

My eyes met Fin’s and I couldn’t breathe. He was here, finally. I dropped the javelin and lunged for the pool edge, diving in.

Warm hands took ahold of my cheeks, bringing my face to the surface. Our lips crashed together and our hands hungrily gripped one another’s faces and bodies. He whisked me to the opposite end from where Colin sulked, and wrapped me up in his glowing warm arms as he whispered sweet apologies for being late, kissing away my tears.

“I’m sorry—I’m so sorry. I’m here. Nothing will harm you again. Did he hurt you?”

I sobbed and hugged his neck harder as he tried to inspect me.

“Tell me you’re all right.”

“I’m all right,” I choked out. “I’m perfect.”

He breathed out a huge sigh and hugged me tighter, kissing my forehead and temple. “I will never let you out of my sight again. Ever.”

“Come on,” I said impatiently. “We need to go before your uncle returns.”

“My uncle is here?” We charged for the porthole, but Alaster sat on the edge.

“Look who’s finally home.” His hand rested on a thin cord feeding up to the ceiling.

A mesh of heavy ropes fell onto our heads and tiny barbs hooked into my skin.

Fin’s eyes rolled back. He sunk down, pulling my body and face under the surface with him. With the little strength I had, I managed to lift my lips above the surface. Through the net, I gasped for air and searched for Alaster. He sat on the pool deck like a big seal, yelling something I couldn’t make out. The water swooshed around my ears making listening impossible. Alaster pointed to us, then slapped Colin across the face. I cringed.

Hidden in the rafters above us, nets hung in various places. Silver barbs protruded around the edges and glinted in the light. Booby traps. My hands tingled, unable to lift the net off of our heads. My ears rang as I fought to keep my eyes open.

Colin dove into the water next to me, drowning my face with water. He removed the net and slung my limp body over his shoulder and onto the deck. My eyes fluttered open, paralysis encasing my body. Alaster appeared before me.

He forced my mouth opened. The thick, sweet liquid slid down my throat. I choked and tried to focus on his face. He laughed before he pushed me back into the pool with his hand. I sunk slowly down to the bottom, my arms numb at my side. Something yanked Fin out of the water next to me. I was alone.

Bubbles escaped from my mouth as the two blurry figures hovered on the edge watching me die—Alaster and Colin. What happened to the princess theory? Were they going to turn Fin in instead? The burn to breathe kept building until I couldn’t wait anymore. This would be it. My dying breath. Finally, I sucked in a lungful of water.