Beyond the Sea (31 page)

Sunday came and passed without hearing a word from Peter. The realization that their relationship was over cut into Melia deeper and deeper as each hour went on. Melia didn’t want to go to school Monday. She wanted to run away to the ocean. She told Jamie that she needed to find Actassi and make sure the kappas were back in the depths of the ocean. Jamie tried to persuade her but agreed someone had to keep a leash on the kappas. When she took her seat in chemistry, she was surprised to see that Peter wasn’t at school either.

Melia swam with fury. Deeper and deeper, farther out than she had gone in months. Finally she slowed. Her body was sore and she was so tired. She had only gotten a few hours of sleep on and off since Friday night. She let herself sink to the ocean floor and fall asleep.

When she woke up, it was afternoon. She turned and swam back to her house only because she promised Jamie she’d call her after school. She let the tide bring her to the shore, the feeling of defeat starting to settle in. Peter left her. Kappas were on the loose. She couldn’t find any merrows. It was out of her character to wallow in self pity, and Melia was mad at herself for it. Feeling sorry for yourself wasn’t going to do anything but make you feel worse.

“Melia,” a voice came from the sand.

“Peter?” she called hopefully, swimming now. She saw him, standing a few feet from the water. “Peter!” she cried, changing into human form so fast she stumbled and fell in the sand. Peter rushed over to help her. That’s when she noticed the knife in his hand. She recoiled, thinking he was going to kill her.

“No!” he shouted and tossed the knife behind him. “I was afraid those-those things might come back.”

“Oh.” Melia diverted her eyes to the ground. “I’m sorry for lying to you.”

“No, I’m sorry I acted like a jerk and ran off.”

“You had every right to. And I don’t blame you if you hate me.”

“Melia.” Peter took her hand. Melia didn’t move; she kept her eyes focused on the sand, feeling ashamed. “Melia,” he repeated. “Look at me.” She cast her eyes quickly to his then down again. Peter softly laughed. “Look.” He cupped her face and tilted it up. “I’m sorry.”

“I forgive you even though you have nothing to be sorry for,” she whispered. Tears filled her eyes.

“Yes, I hurt you. I never wanted to hurt you.” Peter hugged her, becoming rather aware that she was only wearing a bikini top. He sat on the wet sand and pulled her into his lap. He kissed her. “I shouldn’t have left like that. It was just…a lot to take in.”

“I’m sorry,” Melia whispered again, unable to keep the quiver from her voice. “You can leave if you want. Coming back was more than enough.”

“Why would I leave?”

“Because you know what I am.”

“Melia,” Peter said her name passionately. “I love
who
you are, not
what
you are.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I
 
promise. It shouldn’t have taken me that long to figure out. But I do.”

“Good. Because I love you too.”

“Can you do something for me?” Peter asked.

“Anything.” Melia looked into his eyes.

“Show me.”

“What?”

“Show me again.”

Melia looked at the ocean. “A-are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Can we go into the water?”

Peter nodded. He kicked off his shoes and took his phone, keys, and wallet out of his pocket. They went into water up to their knees. Melia sat down and tugged on Peter’s hand. He sat too, putting Melia in between his legs.

“Are you sure?” she asked again. Peter nodded. “Ok.” Melia closed her eyes and changed. For a moment, Peter just stared. Then he slowly moved his hands from around her waist, running his fingers over the rigid rim of scales on her waist that divided her skin from her tail.

“You’re beautiful,” he whispered.
 

Melia put her arms around Peter. “Is this really happening?” she asked. His eyes were the exact same shade as the sky above. “I’m scared I’m going to wake up.”

“Not a dream,” he told her.

“I love you, Peter.”

“I love you too.” He kissed her. “Can we get out of the water now? The, uh, salt water kind of burns.”

Melia didn’t understand at first until Peter reminded her of the kappa claw marks. Hand in hand, they walked into the house. Melia ran upstairs, washed the sand from her body and got dressed in a pink and black sundress. Peter had changed into dry clothes as well. He was in the hall near the dining room, looking at VanBurren family pictures.

“Your mom and Ed, are they like you?”

Melia shook her head. “Just my mom. Well, kind of.”

“What do you mean?”

“My mom’s an Oceanid, which is why I can shift back and forth from human to merrow form.”

“Merrow?”

“Yea, ‘mermaid’ isn’t the correct term. My father, my real father that is, was a merrow. My parent’s marriage was arranged so the merrows and Oceanids could share territory. Even after my father died, we stayed in the ocean. Lana and I liked it better, but my mom never did. Since Oceanids can walk on land, some of them prefer it to water.”

“And your mom does?”

“Yes. She hates living in the ocean.”

“Oh,” Peter said, feeling far away. This was the weirdest conversation he’d ever had. “And Ed knows?”

“Yes. He did from the start. He fell into the water and my mom saved him.” She turned to Peter “I should have done that. From the start. It would have been easier.”

“But I didn’t fall into water.”

“Remember that night? The first night we really ever talked?”

Peter thought. “Yea. It was storming. We met on the beach and—wait, that was you?”

Melia nodded.

“I knew something pulled me to shore. I knew it. I thought I was stupid for thinking it, now I know I was stupid for not. It was too weird, how you just showed up. I didn’t want to think it could be true.” Peter smiled. “Thanks for saving my life.”

Melia smiled back. “Well, you owe me.”

Peter slipped his fingers through hers. “Who else knows?”

“Charles. Jamie. She told Lacey but I don’t think she believed her.”

“Why do you live here? I mean, if I could live in the ocean, I would.”

Melia pulled away from Peter and walked to the window. She gazed longingly at the ocean. “My mom got married not long before Lana died. We both tried living in New York with them, but it was awful. Lana hated it more than me. So we came back. And then Lana got murdered. My mom said she needed me with her, that she couldn’t stand losing another daughter and begged me to live on land. I agreed, of course, but I don’t really get it. She says she needs me, but she barely ever sees me.”

“Do you hate living here?”

“At first, I did. It was interesting, to say the least. There was so much to do and so much to learn. Merrows like simple things. We don’t worry about materialistic things like humans do. There isn’t as much death and violence. Merrows wouldn’t let others go hungry or go without. There are no drugs under the sea.” She turned to find Peter looking down. “But there are certain things that make land bearable.”

“Like what?”

“Food.” She smiled. “I never had popcorn or ice cream or cheese before. I tried bringing popcorn to Lana once. I didn’t know it pretty much melted when it got wet.” She and Peter laughed. “Electricity. It’s so complex. I like movies, though at first they scared me. And flowers. I watered mine with ocean water before. I didn’t know the salt killed them.” She took a step closer to Peter. “But there are two things that I really enjoy. These two things have by far helped the most in liking living on land.”

Peter put his hands on her waist. “And what are they?”

“Jamie and you.”

“I was hoping you’d say that.”

“Jamie is amazing. She’s kind and caring and accepted me from the start. And you, Peter. When I’m with you, everything,” she put her hand over her heart, “feels whole.” They kissed. Keeping his face just inches from hers, Peter whispered,

“If you had a choice, to stay here or go back, what would you choose?”

Melia looked into his beautiful blue eyes. “Here, with you.”

 
Peter smiled and kissed her again, locking her in an embrace. “You never lied, you know.”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“You said you lied to me about who you are. You never did. You just didn’t tell me.”

“Oh, well, that’s the same, isn’t it?”

Peter shook his head. “Let’s just move on. Pretend you just told me and I didn’t run away.”

“That works for me.” She hugged him tighter. “Did you ever think I acted really weird?”

“Yes,” he said with a laugh. “But I never would have guessed you were a, a…”

“Merrow.”

“Merrow,” he repeated. An alarm on his phone beeped. Breaking apart from Melia he said, “Want to come over? My parents think I’m home sick.” He silenced his phone. “I need to go before they get home.”

“Of course. I think you need a nurse to take care of you,” she said with a coy smile.

Melia texted Jamie and Charles on the way, telling them that everything was better than ok. She enjoyed playing nurse for Peter, tucking him into bed and taking care of his every need. She helped Mrs. Anderson make dinner and watched
Tarzan
with Ava after they ate. She left after the movie ended, on the pretense that Peter needed to get plenty of rest and feel better. She stopped by Jamie’s to fully explain everything. Melia was exultant, smiling the whole way home. She did her homework in a happy daze, showered and quickly fell asleep, sleeping soundly for the first time in days.

-Chapter 13-

Melia and Peter were glued to each other at school on Tuesday. Arms constantly locked around one another, they were reminded twice by a teacher to ‘stay at an arm’s length apart’.

“What’s with them?” Elle asked Jamie as she watched the make out session that was taking place between Melia and Peter.

Jamie shrugged and worked to keep her face neutral. “Just happy to see each other, I guess.”

Elle continued to ogle. “They are too pretty. It makes me sick.”

Zack sighed. “Tell me about it.” Enviously, he watched Peter’s hands move over Melia’s body. “Oh,” he pointed, “look at Janet. I think she’s going to explode.”

From across the courtyard, Jamie could sense Janet’s red hot anger. She was beyond jealous. She was taking it very personally, as if Peter kissed Melia again and again just to make her angry. And she was hurt. Hurt because Peter never showed that much passion with her, hurt that he was able to get over her so fast when she was still not over him. And she’d do anything to get him back. Partly because she wanted him, and partly because she didn’t want anyone else to have him. She had him first. He was hers.

Whoa. Jamie shook her head. That was a lot of information to absorb in one glance. She felt dizzy.

“You alright?” Jeff asked.

“Uh, yea.” She smiled, blinking several times and shaking her hands to rid herself of the negative energy. She looked at Jeff, Janet out of her line of sight, and still sensed a blob of red shifting and growing. Jamie felt the urge to scream. She closed her eyes; she was not going to let Janet Williams get the best of her. “Tired, that’s all.”

Melia and Peter stopped for air. Peter ran his hands through Melia’s hair. Jamie watched as Barnet Kalicky asked them to pose for a picture. He was the chief photographer for the school newspaper as well as the year book. That was no doubt the ‘cutest couple’ shot he was seeking. Melia had a short, white sundress on and Peter wore a white polo shirt. Total coincidence, of course, but it would look planned in the photograph.

The red blob exploded. Bits of green and black burned like glowing embers of hate. Jamie jumped up.

“Uh, see you in class,” she mumbled and scuttled off, arriving to chemistry class before anyone else. They had a lab to do today; Jamie helped Mr. Thomson set up the chemicals, feeling like a loser for being there so early. But it got her mind off Janet, for a while at least. Since Peter was still forced to be lab partners with Janet, Jamie kept nervously glancing over at her, worried she might dump the bottle of HCl on Peter’s lap or something.

“Why are you so jumpy?” Melia asked her, halfway through the class.

“I’ll explain later. You-know-who is super angry at you.”

Melia followed Jamie’s eyes to Janet. “Oh. I’m not surprised.”

“I’m getting a bad feeling, Melia. Like she’s plotting something.”

“Really?”

“Yea,” Jamie whispered and bit her lip. “But I can’t tell what. I sensed that from her awhile ago and it turned out to be nothing.” She turned her attention back to the lab. “Crap. How much of this do we add again?” She held up a beaker full of some sort of clear liquid, the name she couldn’t recall.

“One and a half milliliters,” Melia responded without having to consult her book. “And then a drop of the blue stuff.”

“Are you going to Tae Bo tonight?” Jamie asked as she measured out the chemicals.