Water (19 page)

I continued to watch absently as the pairs of Oceanids slid effortlessly around the tree, their bodies intertwined in an intricate dance in which they almost touched each other. As the music swelled to a crescendo each dancer leapt into the air, their clothing swirling around them so it seemed as if they were drifting in space before landing in absolute precision to the last note of the music.

“Are you ready?” Merrick asked. He was standing already, his hand extended to me.

“No!” I squeaked, horrified at the idea of making a fool of myself in front of everyone.

“Trust me,” he invited, pulling me to my feet.

He took my hand, swaying gently as the music came alive again. Each note held nuances of sound I’d never heard before, each sung instrument easily identifiable and perfectly harmonised with its fellows. I could hear properly for the first time.

I gazed around me in awe as the colours came abruptly to life. Each Oceanid glowed, a halo of exquisite colour surrounding them. Rainbows danced off the water falling down the side of the cliff, and the tree blossomed in shades of green I’d never seen before.

I closed my eyes to block out the distraction of the rainbows of light my eyes could see bouncing around the cavern, swirling upwards, so like pictures of the northern lights I’d seen.

A sensation very like vertigo made me gasp, my eyes springing open, as Merrick swirled me around him, following me as we went, never letting go of my hand, but keeping our bodies just out of reach of each other.

I didn’t have time to register any sensory distractions after that because it felt like the whole world was spinning and the only thing that made sense was his face. His eyes sparkled as we moved, his mouth curled into a delighted smile.

I can’t remember whether I stumbled or tripped, but I was suddenly cradled in his arms as he continued to swirl and dip to the music.

As the last notes echoed off the cave walls, he tossed me into the air, leaping after me. We seemed to hang there for an age before I fell, rather inelegantly, and he landed catching me in time to stop me from hitting the ground.

I stood awkwardly, dizzy and breathless clutching at his hand. His eyes fiery, he slowly and persistently pulled me gently toward him, stepping backwards in a slower dreamier version of the dance we’d just completed.

He twirled me a few times and then entwined his fingers through mine, pulling me closer to him, his other hand resting on my hip, swaying my body in time to the music which had changed to a slow and lazy tempo.

Captured in the intensity of his gaze I moved with him as if in a dream, unable to look away from the fire in his eyes.

He slowed, falling out of the rhythm of the music and draping our entwined hands around his neck, resting his forehead against mine and curving my body to his.

I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t think and nothing else mattered except the heat of his skin against mine, and his breath fanning my face.

Sabrina broke the spell by bouncing over and grabbing my hand, pulling me away from Merrick, reminding me that we weren’t alone, but surrounded by dozens of Oceanids. “Come on,” she urged, “Taika’s about to start.”

Merrick settled beside me, a smile playing on his lips, his back straight and his chin high.

“What are you looking so pleased about?” I whispered to him, enjoying the mischievous way he’d nudged Sabrina out of the way to sit beside me again, taking my hand and interlacing our fingers pointedly.

“I really enjoyed that dance,” he informed me, glancing down at me with a naughty grin. “And now everyone here knows our intentions.”

“They do?” I asked surprised, glancing around the circle, and noticing for the first time how many of them were throwing glances in our direction. Some of the expressions were amused and approving, others angry.

“And what are our intentions?” I asked him, keeping my tone light and playful, but genuinely curious.

He grinned down at me, delight and tenderness shining in his eyes. “To be together,” he told me simply.

I smiled shyly at him, thrilling in the simple complexity of what he was so sure of, because it was exactly what I wanted.

I was still smiling at him when I went blind. I knew my eyes were open, because I was stretching them as wide as they would go, but all I could see was a deep midnight blue.

A strange warbling whistle rumbled around me, building in intensity and then ebbing away.

I was shaking I was so afraid.

I jumped as something brushed across my arms, and then my legs, silky soft and wet.

The sound began again, closer this time. It surrounded me, plunging me into an agony of previously unheard decibels, which seemed to be intensified to unbearable proportions by Merrick’s hand locked in a vice-like grip around mine.

He wouldn’t let go of me, and my eardrums were going to burst.

My terrified, confused brain dredged up a reflex reaction where I found the soft flesh between Merrick’s thumb and other fingers. The double contact with him intensified the sound exponentially, and I thought I’d faint from the sheer volume of it.

I clamped down on his thumb with all my might, wrenching my hand away from him when his grip relaxed a little.

Instantly normality returned.

I took a deep shuddering breath before an even greater dread filled my every pore.

All of the Oceanids sat ramrod-straight, eyes stretched wide, as Taika walked methodically from one to the other, stopping briefly behind them and bending over them, her face creased in concentration.

A silvery mist-like substance trailed from her, touching each Oceanid. I shuddered away from it as it swirled around me, horrified.

Merrick had been right; she was using the “magic shows” to collect spinal fluid from the Oceanids which she then dripped into her mouth, her eyes closed in ecstasy as the clear fluid dribbled between her puckered upturned lips.

All of this only took a few seconds to process, and the next thought that hit me was what would happen if she found me watching her.

Almost as if she could read my mind, she straightened suddenly from where she’d been bent over one of Miengu, who had crept out of the shadows to join the show. Her back was to me giving me a few precious seconds to decide what to do.

There was no way I could leave the circle before she noticed, I wasn’t sure I could fake the same thoughtless mask that was mirrored on each of the other Oceanids’ faces. It left me with only one other choice.

Lunging at Merrick’s hand, my stomach dropped in dizzying nausea as the sightless cacophony of sound assaulted my senses. The pain intensified to unbearable, and I wished I’d pass out just to get away from it. And then suddenly with a vicious jolt that rattled my teeth, it was gone.

I opened my eyes to find all the Oceanids lying flat on their backs, their legs still crossed in front of them.

I was the only conscious one, which freaked me out completely. I turned to Merrick, and my stomach dropped sickeningly. He was pale, his eyes stretched open and unmoving and I couldn’t see any breath lifting his chest.

It was Brent all over again.

The first thought that went through my head as I desperately searched for signs of life was that I’d never told him how much he meant to me. I’d never told him that he was the only person who’d ever really understood me, the only person I looked forward to seeing, even if we’d only been apart for a few minutes.

It didn’t seem possible to feel so strongly about someone after such a short time, but as my hands fluttered uselessly over his deathly still body, dozens of memories from the whirlwind of events that had taken place in the past few days sharpened the pain that filled my heart with dread until I finally recognised it.

I’d unwittingly fallen in love with him. And now it was too late. Something had happened and he and everyone else in the cave was dead.

I stroked the hair from Merrick’s face, tracing the outline of his eye, cupping his cheek, and softly kissing his still warm lips.

A strange low keening filled the cavern, chilling in its sorrow. I didn’t realise it was coming from me, until Sabrina stirred from where she’d been lying beside Merrick.

I gasped as I saw her move, her eyelids fluttering open as she looked around her, bewildered.

Slowly the Oceanids woke, their murmured confusion amplified when they discovered Taika, still holding a phial of spinal fluid, crumpled behind the Miengu she’d been sampling.

The confusion turned to fury as they realised what they were looking at. The Miengu scooped up her still form, throwing her roughly over one of their shoulders and climbing angrily up the side of the wall and out of sight.

I watched the whole scene in distracted confusion, still sickeningly worried about Merrick.

I hadn’t noticed Sabrina leave until she returned with Maya in tow, the little Oceanid looked ill again, her shoulders hunched as if she were in pain or very cold, but she didn’t hesitate in kneeling beside Merrick and placing her hands on his chest.

“What’s wrong with him?” I whispered, very afraid of her answer as all of the other Oceanids had now recovered and were milling around in confusion.

“I’m not sure,” she replied. “He’s unconscious, but everything else is working fine. What happened to us?” she asked no one in particular.

“We were all knocked unconscious,” Sabrina answered her, “only for a few moments.”

Cold fear trickled up my spine at her words. I hadn’t been affected at all.

“It must have been something Taika did,” Sabrina continued.

“Can I speak to her?” asked Maya.

Sabrina shook her head. “No, I don’t think Taika will be back,” she replied, looking at the exit of the cave. “Ever”

Maya nodded. “OK.” She looked at me and smiled encouragingly. “Shall we try to wake him?”

I nodded, trembling.

We both closed our eyes as I tried to imagine Merrick vital and whole again, but I was so afraid I’d lost him that all I could picture was Brent, unmoving in death.

Maya squeezed my hand and my eyes sprang open.

“Stop,” she told me gently, “this talent works both ways. If you can’t see him healthy in your mind’s eye, rather don’t work on him.”

“Sorry,” I whispered, moving away from him.

She placed her hands on either side of his head and closed her eyes. I was shocked to watch her skin pale and her hair lose colour and shine in the few moments she spent with Merrick.

She released him, panting and shaking as she did so.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, “that’s all I’ve got available to help him.”

I hugged her now frail-looking shoulders. “Thank you,” I said, smiling as Merrick’s eyes fluttered open.

Merrick popped his head into the aven I was sitting in, interrupting the croaking voice of the old man who’d been telling me how he’d rescued his entire pod by carrying them all to safety, going again and again into the poison to get them all out.

“Ahh, this one is a good one,” he croaked, pointing a shaking hand at Merrick. “Although I’ve never seen him quite so excited to see anyone before.” He patted my hand, leaning over to me conspiratorially. “He likes you very much, my dear, in fact like is a little too weak a word, he…”

“Thank you, Livius, I’ll take it from here,” laughed Merrick, taking my hand, and leading me outside of the cave.

“How are you feeling today?” I asked him, searching his face for any sign of whatever had ailed him the night before.

“Great!” he replied. “Slight headache,” he admitted when he saw my sceptical glare, “but otherwise great.”

We’d slept in separate avens the night before, as I’d insisted that he have his own hammock for the night.

Sabrina’s aven was just as comfortable, but I’d slept badly, waking every hour or so with a fright and plagued by vague and mistily elusive nightmares.

When we reached the fever tree, I stopped him to wrap my arms around his waist, tears threatening in my eyes as I listened relieved to the steady beating of his heart.

He laughed, squeezing me closer to him as he did so.

“You OK?” he asked me, releasing one of his arms and tenderly tucking a wayward strand of hair back into place.

I nodded, smiling at him. “I am now.”

He grinned as I pulled away from him.

“Merrick, I want to figure out what else I can do,” I told him seriously.

He cocked his head to one side.

“No,” he replied, his face enigmatic.

“No?”

“I have a better idea, a more important idea I think.” He helped me to climb the rock face that exited the cave, turning in the opposite direction from where we’d left the cave the day before, walking into the darkness.

I edged my way up the path after him, bumping into him in the darkness.

He took my hand and pulled me in front of him.

“Let’s swim,” he said, a smile in his voice.

I shuddered a little at the thought. The last time he’d suggested this I’d nearly drowned again.

“Together,” he amended.

Sabrina had taught me to wrap the pale green robe I wore today, informing me that if she ever saw me treat the fabric with the disrespect of winding it into shorts again, she would personally hunt me down.

“This pool is instantly deep,” he said before releasing me and diving in a perfect arc into the centre of the pool. I sat and edged into the water, fascinated by the texture of my robe against my skin. It swirled eagerly, glowing faintly as soon as it touched the water, before settling around my legs snugly.

Merrick met me in the centre, pulling me into his arms before flipping us around into the now faintly lit gloom.

Breathing with him, we sped through the dark water, spiralling as we went. Rock squeezed in on us, narrowing the water channel and pushing the current ever faster.

A short while later we surfaced in cool water and fresh air, surrounded by moss-covered rocks, and an auburn tumble of tree roots as they soaked up the water.

A series of miniature waterfalls bubbled crystal-clear water over smooth rocks at one end of the pool, occasionally washing dried leaves or bits of bark with it. At the other end of the pool, the river resumed the frantic pace of a newly formed stream, rushing its way energetically to the sea.

Merrick and I climbed out of the pool, our clothing drying instantly as if the cloth that had so loved the water moments ago was suddenly tired of it, releasing it in a torrent. Merrick smoothed his hair away from his face, twisting it in his hands before flicking it over his shoulder as he led me into the forest.

We walked in silence for a while, the soft pad of our moccasined feet the only human sound to break the excited murmur of the waking forest around us.

The valley drew to a close, before merging through a narrow cliff-lined passageway onto a narrow mountain ridge.

As I gazed in awe at the beautiful patchwork view, it occurred to me that I had no idea where we were. If Josh, Luke and I wanted to leave, we would have a tough time finding our way home. With Merrick’s hand encasing mine though, the thought seemed almost bizarre. Why would I ever want to leave him, and the beauty of the mountains? The idea shocked me, because for the first time I realised that the idea of staying with him for much longer than the planned five days had somehow permeated my initial horror at the idea.

And then the image of my mother’s face popped into my mind. Her golden hair was fluffed around her in its normal disobedient way. She was smiling at me, her green eyes still holding the hint of sadness that had been an ever-present reminder of Brent’s death for the last three years.

How could I abandon her? How could I leave her to face a life completely alone? With the divorce recently finalised, Dad was bound to move on. But would she?

I struggled to picture my mother coping alone in Johannesburg. Coming home to an empty house, eating dinner alone, watching TV alone…

If only I could say goodbye to her, just spend a few weeks making sure she would be OK, then all of this would be so much easier.

And then the threat the Miengu and every other hostile Oceanid posed pushed its way into my wavering conviction. If it meant keeping my mother alive, then I would leave her. I just wished I had more time, a bubble of frustration forming at Dad’s protective behaviour. If he’d introduced me to my heritage sooner, if he’d allowed the Oceanids to train me…

But I knew why he hadn’t. Brent’s death had changed me, made me into a shadow of my previous self, and it was only now that I’d been forced into this strange new exciting world, that I was beginning to rediscover who I was. I didn’t think I would have coped with this any earlier.

Remembering how I’d felt in the last summer holidays, how alienated and small and helpless, I doubted I would have been able to cope with any of the things I’d experienced or seen so far.

Merrick squeezed my hand companionably, forcing me to focus on why I was out of time.

How could I leave the Oceanids I’d met, even for six months, while I tried to say goodbye to my mother and my life? They needed my help right now. I didn’t know how I could help them yet, but I knew I would. There was no way I could go back to being the teenager I’d been when we started the trip. No way I wanted to go back to being that person.

I was happy with the Oceanids, happier than I’d been in over three years.

I’d made girl-friends, Sabrina, Maya, Undine, and found mentors in Nanami, Talita and Livius, not to mention the dozens of others I’d met and really wanted to get to know better.

I watched the muscles bunch in Merrick’s back as he pulled himself over a boulder before turning to help me up.

And then there was Merrick. Wonderful, kind, gorgeous Merrick. How could I leave him? How could I deny the love that squeezed my heart, almost painfully every time I looked at him? How could I survive even a day without him?

I frowned, trying to catch the kernel of the idea that the “gardening” discussion had sparked the night before, determined to develop a plan that would help me to save the Oceanids and my family.

“Merrick.” He turned and smiled at me briefly before continuing to walk along the faint path we’d been following. “What did you think about the story Llyr told us last night, the one about the king and his daughter?”

Merrick shrugged. “It’s not an unusual tactic for us,” he replied.

I was surprised. “What do you mean?”

“Well, you’ve seen paintings and heard about mermaids’ ability to lure sailors into the sea with their beauty and their singing?”

I had seen paintings exactly like that.

“Most of the time the Oceanids use the power of suggestion and persuasion. It’s not a sport I personally engage in but it has been a sort of revenge that Oceanids have taken over the years.”

“If Oceanids are so good at manipulating humans to do as they wish, why haven’t they changed human behaviour?”

“It only works on humans that are in direct contact with the Oceanids and even then only very weak humans are easily influenced. Take Luke and Josh for instance, Indra is not having nearly as much fun as Aerowen, because Josh is a much stronger character than Luke.”

“It still looks like it’s pretty easy for Oceanids to affect humans though,” I replied.

He shook his head. “The reason it’s so tough is because we don’t think the same way humans do. We’re wired differently, what motivates us and drives us and angers us is so different from the way humans think, that attempts at influencing human thought have mostly gone astray.”

“Then how is it working with Josh and Luke?”

“What Aerowen and Indra are doing is very specific and quite finite in terms of time and motives and it’s only with two people.”

“So inspiring humans to stop using fossil fuel and finding different ways of eliminating pollution is too complex?”

He nodded. “Yes, the use of oil to drive industry is very deep seated, it’s across many different nations and used for a myriad of different things. Your reaction to the idea of stopping the use of fossil fuels was that you thought you’d have to go back to the dark ages. Other people react similarly. Intermingled with that is the added issue of money. Oil, or rather the ownership of oil, makes certain countries very rich. Money is not something humans let go of easily.”

“And pollution?”

“That’s an interesting issue too. Most humans, once they’re educated about it – which is a completely different discussion altogether – don’t like the idea of killing the animals in the ocean. The problem is that they can’t link the death of the sea to how they live their own lives. Anything that takes more time, or is an inconvenience, is set aside. Changing the way people think about rubbish is just as difficult as changing their use of oil. It’s something they’ve done their whole lives, something their parents have done. There is sort of a pollution heritage that is infinitely difficult to break.”

We rounded the side of a valley. I’d been so involved in thinking through what he was telling me that I walked into his back, not noticing that he’d stopped, probably because he moved so quietly. My hands flew instinctively up to his back, shielding my face from the unexpected obstacle he created.

His skin was smooth and warm beneath my palms, my senses coming instantly, alive at the contact. I kept one hand on his back as I ducked beneath his arm to stand next to him, relishing how he pulled me protectively into his side, tucking a stray tendril of my hair behind my ear as he did so.

“What is it?”

“Sabine’s kingdom,” he replied, turning his face upward and gazing out over the valley. I followed his gaze, searching for any sort of familiar shape.

“Are we going to carry on walking?” I asked.

He shook his head, his hair still a little damp from the morning’s swim, flicking tiny droplets of water around him in a haze.

“Is this it?” I asked incredulous, seeing only trees and moth-eaten rock face.

He chuckled and nodded.

I gazed at the unremarkable valley. Below where we were standing water glinted between the leaves of massive trees.

“Uh, what is supposed to be here, Merrick?” I asked, feeling a little lost.

“Sabine’s tribe built a complex society here,” he replied. “Her ingenuity meant that they could live in the sun, protected from prying eyes, unlike us.”

I kept quiet, still struggling to see the ruins he spoke of.

“Could you point out what’s left?” I asked. “I can’t see it.”

He pulled me around until I was standing in front of him facing the valley. One hand cupped around my cheek as he directed my gaze, while the other pointed to specific details.

His whispered voice in my ear and the unexpected sharpening of my senses was utterly delicious. I struggled to concentrate on what he was showing me as I marvelled at the vivid colours and detail of the forest.

I was amazed at how much of Sabine’s Kingdom remained. A spiral of stairs cleverly carved into the natural shape of the cliff face. The entrance to the “great hall” as Merrick called it, marked by two tall green-skinned fever trees, and some carefully placed rocks, which he informed me were delicately carved into pictures depicting the species history.

Set into the cliff face, and only visible at specific angles, the landings of dozens of avens, a shift to the left or the right would turn what had been an obviously man-made structure into a natural-looking rocky outcrop, boulder or contour of the cliff.

He led me to an overhang, and we sat dangling our legs over the edge as he continued to point out bits and pieces of the ruins.

“How many people lived here?” I asked.

He shrugged. “I’m not sure. It was a very long time ago from what I’ve seen, though at least ten thousand.”

I tried to imagine a community of ten thousand people living in this valley.

“It doesn’t look big enough to house that many of them,” I replied, gazing down the length of the valley.

“It wasn’t,” he replied. “The other valleys we’ve walked through today are all part of the same community. Sabine and Pelagius were smart enough to split up opposing factions. This valley was reserved for the families of all of the human women who came with Sabine when she jumped into the pool.”

“I didn’t know the tension between different groupings of your kind went back that far.”

He laughed, and shook his head. “There is always division. Sabine and Pelagius dealt with it by creating physical separation of the groups, Talita…” He smiled. “Well, Talita tries to placate them as best she can – not always successfully.”

“When are the violent ones looking to attack?” I asked, a tremor of nervousness running through me.

He frowned worriedly. “There hasn’t been a specific date or timing so far, but I think your appearance and the information Maya shared with them last night is going to rapidly speed up any plans they might have.”