Linda Gayle (3 page)

“Hey…guys?” Okay, this time, one did rub against her hip. The skin was smooth and cool, like…a banana peel. Tentatively, she reached out. The dolphin arched against her hands, his reaction immediate. He did a barrel roll then went on circling. “Nice dolphin. Nice fishy. Oh, shit, I mean, nice mammal…” Oh boy, that shore was looking farther away. Of course, there were also the stories of dolphins rescuing humans. Damn, she really should have spent more time reading up on dolphin facts than reading fantasy stories about them.

The slightly larger and darker of the two slowed and rolled so she could see his shiny, black eye on the side of his head. His flipper came out of the water, and he opened his mouth to display the rows of sharp, white teeth. Hopefully that was meant to be a smile. He exposed his white belly to her, inches from her hand where she waved it back and forth in the water to keep herself afloat.

“Hey, you…” Okay. Maybe they were just überfriendly, used to tourists and swimmers. This dude seemed harmless enough. She reached out and touched his tummy. A shudder rippled visibly through the animal, but he didn’t seem to object to her contact. This was kind of neat. Feeling braver, Lyric rubbed the silky, smooth skin between his front flippers. He felt like rubber, but rubber encasing a ton of muscle. Almost slate gray on top, fading to pinkish white on his belly, this dolphin had to be close to fourteen feet long, way bigger than she’d expected. Fine lines covered his topside, probably scars, maybe from shark encounters. She’d heard they often fought off sharks. His dorsal fin had a nick missing from it. He’d seen some action, this one, but his eyes were kind. Funny, she could almost sense he was as curious about her as she was about him. As she ran her hand up his flipper and gave it a little shake, she smiled. “Okay, as long as I know you’re not going to eat me, I guess we can be friends.”

With a loud, sea-scented exhale, the dolphin rolled and dived, and the other one took his place. Only slightly smaller and a paler gray, this dolphin seemed even more eager for her touch, bowing up beneath her hand like a cat, coming back again and again to be petted. Lyric laughed. “You guys are adorable. What are your names? Are you Moana and Rahiti? I’ve heard so much about you.”

Whether it was the mention of their names or the sound of her voice, something set them off, and they both raced away from her then leapt out of the water in perfect tandem. Diamonds of water sprayed from them, and the splash when they landed swept Lyric back a few feet and washed a salty mouthful over her face. She sputtered, and when she opened her eyes, both dolphins were back, circling her. They were absolutely gorgeous. Sadly, though, between the water gagging her and the ache in her legs, she knew it was time to head back—just when things were getting good! Hopefully the dolphins would be here tomorrow as well, and she could spend more time with them. Maybe bring a life preserver or something so she wouldn’t wear herself out.

She held out her hands, and the two graceful creatures slid themselves up under her palms. Amazing. They not only tolerated being touched, they seemed to really want it. “Rahiti, Moana, I’d love to spend the whole day out here with you, but I have to head in. I haven’t done this much swimming since high school. But I’ll come back tomorrow, okay?” After she’d asked Henri a million questions. She wanted to learn everything she could about these two.

Lyric waited for the bigger dolphin to pass before she took the first stroke toward shore—but the smaller one was there, blocking her. She tried again and was blocked again. She licked her salty, sunburned lips and went back to treading water.
Okay, don’t panic. They don’t mean any harm.
She tried moving shoreward again. This time, the smaller dolphin gently head-butted her with his snout—in the wrong direction, toward the reef and the stronger waves and the deeper water. Distracted, Lyric sank and swallowed some water. Coughing, she struggled against a rising tide of fear when the sleek skin of one of the dolphins stroked the backs of her thighs. Damn it, they were close, too close, and moving faster, their bodies overlapping each other as they circled her, turning her against her will.

The water closed over her head just after she gulped a breath. Blind and thrashing, she fought her way to the surface, churning now with the dolphins’ movement. Hurriedly, she jerked her mask over her face to protect her eyes from the stinging salt. The instinct to yell for help swamped her, but what good would it do? She’d stupidly come out here alone, stupidly thinking she’d make buddies with two huge, wild animals that apparently wanted to drown her, and now she was stupidly going to die.

A sharp pricking stung her right ankle and startled a yelp from her. Oh crap, one of them had her leg in its mouth. Panic swamped her. “Help!” Her scream ended in a watery gurgle as the dolphin dragged her under. The sea doused her in smothering silence, save her heartbeat.

As quickly as it had grabbed her, the dolphin let her go about ten feet below the surface. Lyric opened her eyes, saw the flash of the darker dolphin passing her, then focused on the surface and began to kick. Suddenly, something on her shoulder stopped her—a heavy weight, like a…a hand. Lungs burning, heart racing, Lyric stared wildly at the impossible. Long, brown fingers curled around her right shoulder. Which were attached to a hand. Then a wrist…then a tattooed arm. That belonged to a serious-looking man whose black hair floated around his head like thunderous cloud.

She opened her mouth to scream.

* * * *

Before the woman could suck seawater into her lungs, Rahiti gripped her arm and futilely kicked for the surface. His legs felt so weak, not at all like he remembered. Fortunately, the woman was in even more of a hurry to reach the top, and she dragged him up with her. When his head popped up into the sunlight, he took a deep breath of air through now-human nostrils. Ah! The glory of it filled him so strongly, he nearly forgot the girl in his arms who was trying desperately to peel his fingers from her arm and swim away.

“Let me go! Help!”

For a moment, he could only stare at her. A woman.
Their
woman. Her skin felt warm and smooth beneath his hand—yes, hand! He held on tighter. Her hair fell over his wrist. And she smelled like the ocean but also of female. Very agitated female. He expelled his breath suddenly, almost forgetting how to breathe as a man.

“Your name,” he whispered. Unused for so long, his voice croaked. She’d stopped struggling and now just treaded water along with him, trembling, her lips turning blue from what must be shock. “Your name, woman,” he said again, more strongly this time.

“Lyric.” He could see her teeth chattering. “Lyric Deponte. And who the hell are you?”

A man who wants to smile and sing and know you and love you…
Would this last? Would he turn back into a dolphin should she look away? His heart bursting with too many emotions to name, he said, “I am Rahiti.”

She snorted skeptically. “I thought that was the dolphin.”

“I am…was the dolphin. And that”—he nodded toward his friend, who swam past them—“is Moana.”

“Him I know. You…” Her wide eyes—green eyes shot through with gold—took him in, gaze trailing over his face, his chest. She bit her lower lip and shook her head. “This is impossible.”

Moana bumped him, coming to pause beside them. His poor friend—why had he not changed? Taking Lyric’s hand, he placed it on Moana’s side. “Look at him. See him. He is also a man. You’re the one, the one to save us.”

She snatched her hand away and pushed back from him, paddling as she spoke. “Look, I don’t know what the hell is going on or what you’re doing out here with your pet fish, but I’m going in.”

Moana flipped and disappeared in a dive, his abrupt movements clearly displaying his despair. “Moana!” No. If she left them, Moana would be trapped in that body forever, and Rahiti might change back if she rejected him. He swam after her, but his limbs refused to obey his commands the way his dolphin tail had. His clumsy splashing got him nowhere, and the water closed over his head. Despite thrashing his disobedient arms and kicking with his weak legs, Rahiti sank. He tried to call for Moana, but he’d lost the connection to the dolphin’s mind when he changed, and the woman would probably be glad to see him drown.

So, after all this time and so much effort, this was how it would end. Perhaps this was how the god had always intended.

As he surrendered to the inevitable, Rahiti stopped struggling and let his body sink into the depths. He watched the sunlight dappling his arms and torso. He refused to mourn. At least he’d die a man, a warrior. He would accept his fate. He closed his eyes and thanked Kanaloa for allowing him to enter paradise in his true form. Then he begged the great god to spare Moana. When he thought of his friend, a terrible sadness lanced through him. Moana, who had stayed by his side since the dawn of this curse, who had cheered him through his darkest days, who had convinced him not to lose hope.

He asked Kanaloa for one last thing—that he and Moana would be together in the next life.

As for the woman, he begged that she would forget she’d ever seen them.

Just as his toes touched the cool bottom, someone took hold of one of his hands floating above his head. Lyric! The most beautiful sight he’d ever seen. Her strong hand gripped his, and she began to kick, pulling him up. His body was so weak he could barely aid in her rescue effort, but Rahiti did what he could. Just when he thought his inadequate human lungs would explode, their heads cleared the waves. Now he held on to her with a death grip.

“It’s not far to shallower water,” she said, gusting through clenched teeth with her efforts. “Whoever you are, I can’t just let you drown. Crazy dolphin-man,” she muttered, then looped her arm around his chest and pulled him along, swimming on her back. Rescuing him. How humiliating. Rahiti’s warrior soul cringed at the idea of a woman saving him, but then again, as much as he was willing to accept his death, he’d be glad to accept life as well.

He tried to kick to help, but she gasped out between breaths, “Just lie still. It’s easier that way. Let me do the work. What the… Are you…are you
naked
?” Her voice rose to a squeak at the end, and Rahiti rolled his eyes.

“Dolphins usually are,” he replied. If Moana saw him now, he’d never stop laughing. Where had Moana gone? “My friend,” he said. How strange his voice sounded, deeper than he remembered, but at least he knew Lyric’s language. He and Moana had spent much of their time learning human speech and culture by studying tourists, sailors, and fishermen. Their agile minds needed to stay busy, and they’d always hoped it would serve them when this moment finally arrived. “The other dolphin—did you see him?”

“He’s right over there, following us. To your left.”

Thank you, Kanaloa
. He’d returned. However, even as he watched Moana gliding beside them a man’s-length away, he recognized his friend’s sadness. He didn’t swim with his usual exuberance, and he didn’t meet Rahiti’s gaze when he surfaced. Why hadn’t he changed as well? Lyric was the key. She had to accept them both.

“Here.” She slowed, her grip loosening until he could turn to face her. “I think… Yeah, I can touch bottom. Which means you can, too.” She pulled them a little more toward shore before releasing him, and he found he could steady himself chest-deep in the gently rolling waves. He held on to her upper arms more for balance than to make sure she didn’t get away again, but that thought crossed his mind as well. Hostile suspicion filled her gaze. “Okay,” she said, “now that you’re safe, explain how you got out there without me seeing you.”

“But you
were
seeing me,” he said, daring to stroke his fingers over her arms beneath the water. She still trembled, and her lips were the shade of the sky at twilight. She couldn’t stay in the water much longer. “I was the dolphin. You have broken the curse and turned me back into a man. You knew our names.”

She shook her head. “So…you guys are supposed to be the cursed warriors who fought over the same girl?”

“Yes! You know the legend. Kanaloa has brought us together at last, after—”

Her dry laughter and raised hand cut him off. “Okay, I get it. Henri and you are in on some kind of joke. Or Nina set this up to get me out of my funk. Wow, some people just don’t know when to quit.” She turned and started half hopping and half swimming toward the shore. “Look, buddy, you did a great job, you and your trick dolphins, but you can go home now.” When he caught up with her, she glared at him. “Your near drowning was pretty convincing, too, I gotta say. What are you, one of the trainers at the dolphin center or some kind of local entertainment?”

She spoke so fast, he could only understand half of what she said. He didn’t know what a dolphin center was, but clearly she thought he and Moana were not who he claimed. Moana still swam a distance away, undoubtedly counting on Rahiti to fix things. Right now, just keeping up with the girl as she walked faster in the shallower water was all he could manage. Curse his feeble legs.

“Wait!” he pleaded. “I can prove to you that we are who I say.”

Her beautiful green eyes flashed over her shoulder, but she didn’t stop walking. “Yeah? How?”

Yes, how? Good question. He waved toward Moana. “I beg you, if you will just go under the water as you did before and look at Moana, he will turn into a man. His true form will be revealed. The god has promised.”

“Copacabana?”

Rahiti furrowed his brow. Then he touched his brow with his fingertips to feel the wrinkled skin. Just to be able to do such a small thing was a miracle. It gave him the strength to say, “I don’t know what that means, but I do know that if you weren’t the god’s chosen, I would not be standing here in front of you as a man.”