Authors: Naomi Fraser
Suddenly, I’m thrust into the
air, and then skating at the top of a massive wave, water filling my ears as I
tumble in the grip of a huge swell. The crest sweeps me up and I’m caught like
a rag doll. Up is down and down is up. For long minutes, I have no idea what
I’m hurtling toward, but I’m too tired and sore to do anything about it. I hope
I’m close enough to the shore and Lakyn.
My tail presses against the sandy
bottom, but I can’t even manage to use my arms to pull myself up on the shore.
Ribbons of flesh hang from my arms, the shallows turning blood-red around me.
They’re gone. The sirens are
gone. I fall face down into the bloody water. They can’t come back for anyone
else.
Hands grip my upper shoulders and
someone drags me up the sand with a huge grunt. I see brown loafers, a crochet
blanket and wheelchair stirrups. Metal creaks. Joey.
“Hang in there, Ellie.” He bends
out of his chair, and I think he’s going to fall out, but he keeps pulling.
“I’ve got you.”
My stomach slides across the
abrasive wet sand before I plop face first and granules crunch between my
teeth. I’m no longer wearing my black dress, but at least I have a bra on, and
the dagger blade sticks out from beneath my strap.
“Let’s roll you over,” he says on
a shaky breath. “Your throat . . . can you breathe?”
He pushes my body and bones and
muscles ache. Then I’m on my back, looking up at green leaves contrasting
against a darkening sky. The sweet hush of the sea breeze drifts across my
skin, but it makes the cuts all over my body sting like hell. Pools of blood
soak into the sand. I can hear him shouting into his mobile phone. I guess Owen
and Patrick didn’t make it in time.
A thick blockage stops air from
getting into my lungs and then seawater and blood spews from my mouth. Shudders
wrack my body. A hollow crunch of bone penetrates the air. I cry out, but no
sound emerges. I am completely spent; drained. The earrings leak fire in tiny
ribbons across my skin, heating my cheeks and allowing me to slip away.
“Ellie, stay with me,” Joey
shouts.
A grumble to my left makes me
turn my head slowly, every muscle in my neck taut with strain.
Lakyn faces me, his lashes
flickering. Then his lips quiver, part, and he sucks in a long, loud gasp of
air. His lids fly up and his blue eyes drink me in. “Ellie.” He smiles, his
expression creamy with contentment. His hand reaches out and slips into mine.
A sob breaks through my pain and
my heart swells. He’s alive.
“Ellie,” he whispers. “Stay with
me. Don’t cry.”
Pain transforms into nothingness,
and I let myself go to dream and drift away. The light is bright like they say,
but more of a starburst than a tunnel.
I cringe against the brilliance,
unable to lift my hand to shield my eyes. A silhouette stands by my feet at the
shoreline. I blink, and then blink again, not believing what I’m seeing. It’s
not an angel, but a man. I try to get a closer look at his face but can’t
because of the brightness behind him.
Joey stammers. I can’t make out
what’s he’s saying.
“Uncle,” Lakyn whispers. “You’re
here.”
“Eloise,” a deep voice booms, the
tremor all encompassing, the way I think of God’s. “Thank you for saving my
nephew.” A cold, gentle hand touches my torn tail fin and then Lakyn’s body.
“This will hurt. I cannot help that. Scream if you want.”
His bright aura shows an outline
of his body. He mutters words, and the heat, oh, I’m burning alive. I open my
mouth and, finally, sound emerges. Skin tears, sears, moulds, reforms. A
strange roar fills my ears, and a blaze runs up and down my body, then the
gashes itch and knit along my arms.
Lakyn grips my hand. His face
contorts from what his uncle is doing to him. My scream feels like it will
never end.
“Your tail now,” the man says
softly. “I have never seen these colours before. Get ready.”
Two short words and my back bows
off the sand. I release Lakyn’s hand; my arms spread wide and I let loose with
a wild scream. My body—what body—disappears into tiny molecules, and then
shifts into another realm where the man has a tail and works fast. The web of
my tail fin knits and then the pain disappears.
I collapse back onto the sand and
pat my chest. I’m here. There are no scales on my hips and I’m wearing my
underwear, but the bottom is ripped out from growing a tail. I touch my throat,
so thankful it’s healed. The contrast between intense pain and none at all is
sublime.
Heavenly.
Joey’s crochet blanket drifts over
me, covering my body. I lift my hands slowly and tuck the corners under my
arms, wrapping the blanket around myself.
“You should be fine, and yes,
you’re all there. Sorry about the pain.” Regret colours his deep, wise voice,
and he turns to his nephew.
“Lakyn, come back when you are
ready.
We need to talk, investigate the incident with the sirens. But
you are now both,” his head turns to me for a moment, “finfolk and human.”
“How did you know to come here?”
Lakyn asks with a shaky voice.
“She opened up a portal in front
of the palace with your directions, no doubt. There was blood magic in the sea.
Our blood.
The whirlpool stopped me, so I travelled
along a different route.” He hesitates and stares at Lakyn. “I’m sorry for
doubting you.”
Lakyn nods, silent.
His uncle walks toward the water,
feet splashing in the shallows, until his head disappears beneath the surface.
A tremor shakes the ground, and the light winks out. Noise finally intrudes.
Joey talks about having no reception on his phone and wheels away, giving us
some privacy.
“It’s my uncle’s magic,” Lakyn
says. “The light aura would’ve killed anyone who tried to cross it without his
permission. I’ve never seen him with legs before.” A hint of uncertainty
touches Lakyn’s eyes. “Are the sirens gone?”
“Yes.”
“We made it, Ellie. We did it.”
His lips quirk in an irresistible grin that lights up his face.
“You opened up a portal and used blood magic. You saved my life. That means you
breathed finfolk into me.”
He knows I read his books.
Jumped in to save him.
Busted.
I
lean back, suppressing a laugh. “Ralph gave your books to me. I was going to
tell you, but you told me not to talk about it. I thought I needed all the help
I could get to stop the sirens. Without the books I never would have figured
out that it was your bloodline that saved my life.”
He stands up in one fluid move
and then gently lifts me to my feet. He leans in, his eyes as soft as a caress
and my heart turns over. His fingers trail against my arms, the gesture light
yet oddly protective.
His gaze suddenly drops to my
lips. When he lifts his eyes back up to mine, his teeth press into his full
bottom lip and he cocks his head to the side. Long fingers brush a wayward
white curl behind my ear. His fingers stroke my cheek, trailing lower until his
strong hands settle around my waist.
I steady myself against his wide
shoulders, my heart pounding. The sand cups my feet, and I feel tethered to the
ground, but an urgent longing beats inside me, ripples of unbearable excitement
stirring deep within my heart.
His head lowers.
I stand on tiptoes.
The honk of a car horn along the
sandy path signals company. He
freezes,
his lips an
inch away from mine. The Hyundai takes the corner too fast and speeds toward
us, then stops at a grassy patch beneath a casuarina tree.
“They’re here. Hold that
thought,” Lakyn whispers, his breath hot against my ear.
Really.
My gaze flicks up to his.
Heat simmers in his blue eyes. “I
look forward to it.”
THE END
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NAOMI FRASER IS an avid reader
who is in constant contact with her muse. She manages her writing life
alongside being a mother and takes inspiration from anything life can throw her
way. She lives in sunny Queensland, Australia, with her family.