Tidal Whispers (8 page)

Her stomach twisted, snapping her to awareness, pleading with her to keep hope alive.

She sniffled.

One more dive, she thought. Just one more dive. The sea is plentiful, there has to be more for me down there. I feel it. I know it.

“Just one more dive.” She inhaled, exhaling slowly.

• • •

The warm temperature flux invigorated Harmon, but the change in pressure made him realize he was in uncharted waters. His sights and sonar remained locked on the pearl and its erratic pattern. Every time his fingertips threatened to make contact, the pearl would glow brighter and zip forward.

Curses bubbled from his mouth. He wasn’t a soldier who relished in giving chase, not without a plan, but there was no logic to the pearl’s movements—too many unpredictable variables to a blind pursuit.

The push and pull of the ocean meant dry land was close. Too close for any Mer’s comfort.

Prosb’o’s guards followed closely. They twirled and struck out, nipping and zapping Harmon with high voltage. Harmon flexed and flapped his fin, slapping one of Prosb’o’s guards into the other, tangling their assault.

He gained distance from them, hoping the brighter waters would hamper their chase. The pearl moved faster until it rocketed ahead, leaving Harmon behind in its jetstream. The tiny cloud on the sea floor showed him where the pearl touched down, directly beside some sort of small, man-made trap.

Harmon’s gaze climbed up the bright shafts of light beaming through the water, and his heart fisted in his chest. A four limbed shadow floated on the surface. A human, he thought. He was much closer to land than he expected.

Without warning, the ocean around him throbbed in rhythm with his racing heart. The surrounding waters blurred, his vision tunneled until his focus pinpointed the pearl so tiny in the distance. Harmon swore he heard the most beautiful song in the water, another heart, pulsing in tandem with his own. For one lonely beat, he believed in the legend of the Pearl of Pau’maa.

A sploosh on the surface shattered the moment.

The human, a female, began her descent, legs tight together, arms forward, long black hair streaming behind. Her body flexed and folded like a Mer as she drilled down to the bottom of the ocean.

Harmon’s dorsal fin fluttered in response to the way she moved. An intense heat crept up his spine and burned across his face. When he realized she was aiming straight for his mother’s heirloom, he snapped to and smoothed his stimulated scales.

Despite the surprise of his initial arousal, he wouldn’t let her, a human, claim the pearl.

• • •

Miki’s fingertips touched down on the ocean floor, the soft silt marking her moment of impact. She curled her knees in to weigh and balance herself while her nimble fingers located the trap. When she pulled it from the sand, Miki released a little shout, spewing precious air bubbles.

A large lobster had taken the bait, and Miki smiled in earnest for the first time in many moons. Her stomach cheered, rumbling victoriously while her mind raced with places to hide and eat her catch.

She had learned how to take care of herself, but Miki hated how hunger had changed her people, how the Inito’s power over trading and supply had corrupted manners or custom of any kind. If anyone spotted her fire they’d happily beat her down to take for themselves.

She hugged the trap to her chest before securing the tether to her ankle. Stalling the urge to breathe, she nestled her feet down on the seafloor, preparing to push up for the surface. Her foot flinched when she stepped on something hard, smooth and large. Her toes nudged it free, and when Miki looked down, her lips parted.

The biggest pearl she had ever seen.

If it could even be called a pearl, she thought.

It glowed bright, as if a tiny sun opened its eye to illuminate the bottom of the ocean and ignite a fever of new possibilities in her heart.

She released the trap, letting it float and tug on the tether around her ankle so she could reach down and claim the gem. Miki brushed the remaining sand away, her fingers barely able to wrap around it, but the pearl curved perfectly into her palm as if she were meant to hold it. Bending her knees, she kicked off, steady in her ascent, fingers firmly around her treasure, bubbles from her nose gliding past the smile on her face.

Expecting to breach the surface she opened her mouth and spewed her last remnants of air. Something hand-like wrapped around her ankle and jerked down. Miki swallowed salty ocean and choked on a scream. Arms thrashing for the surface, she kicked, her foot connecting with whatever grabbed her from the deep.

Limbs chopping and hacking at the water, desperate to keep from drowning, she drew in a breath without air.

• • •

Harmon rubbed the pain from his cheek where the human female’s foot connected with his face.

I should have surfaced with her, he thought, instead of scaring the air out of her with my touch.

His sensitive thoughts blanked to white when a powerful sting hit his tail.

Spinning, he snarled at Prosb’o’s guards. One of them lunged and struck, trying to coil itself around his arm.

A second swam for the female and clamped onto the trap dangling from her leg. Its body zigzagged, dragging her under, down to the bottom with great speed.

Harmon’s heart clutched at the shock in the girl’s face, watching her sweep past him, the deep waters swallowing her as her arms reached for the sun. The pearl’s love light shot white beams through her clenched fingers, igniting something primal in Harmon’s blood. He roared and lashed out, defying the shocks and bites in the water.

Seizing Prosb’o’s protector with both hands, Harmon gritted his teeth, growling as he battled past the electric pain skipping through his veins. In one powerful flex, Harmon twisted and the slithering spine snapped and crackled. He released it, and the long, lifeless body floated away.

Turning his attention to the pearl’s fading light, Harmon plunged for the depths.

• • •

Miki’s will to survive engaged. Reaching down, she drew the blade from her thigh and slashed through the tether, letting the giant beast take the lobster instead of her. She kicked hard for the surface, her thoughts pumping the word ‘air’ with frantic demand.

• • •

Harmon kept his eyes on the girl while his sonar traced the threat spiraling up behind her—too far away to help.

Prosb’o’s sentinel struck out and nipped her on her shoulder.

She recoiled, bubbles exploding from her mouth before she lunged to her left.

Charging in, Harmon snatched Prosb’o’s guard, preparing to mangle the life from it but realized the girl had already done so. The blade in her hand gutted her sleek attacker with a soldier’s finesse, the tangy taste of blood blossoming in the water.

Harmon smiled, but the moment evaporated as he studied her face. Her eyes were white, the color rolled back. Her fingers relaxed, and the Pearl of Pau’maa floated away from her grasp. Harmon seized it and gathered her lithe body into his arms. Murmuring prayers to the water gods, he called on all his power to swim for the surface, begging it wouldn’t be too late.

• • •

Miki woke, coughing and purging saltwater. Strong arms held her tight to a hard chest. Wide palms rubbed up her back, helping push the water from her lungs. The saltwater scalded her aching shoulder, and she would have sworn the stranger sucked at the wound.

Not Taigo, she thought. The Inito’s oldest son was too wiry, and his way of comforting too harsh. Her throat burned. She tried to speak and coughed again.

“Shh.” The man’s voice near her ear gentled her movements. “You were gone from this world for a few moments. You’ve only now returned. An electric sting wounded you, but you are safe, so please be still. Let me and the ocean tend to you.”

Relief filled his voice. Miki let her eye lids lower halfway. Her cheek slid down to rest on his shoulder while her fingers weakly toyed with the white-blonde hair curling at his nape.

Like the color of the beach, she thought. Nobody on the island had such hair.

Her brow furrowed. His skin wasn’t flesh like she’d seen before, either. It was smooth but dappled with fine scales—the color of human skin. Her dangling toes reached, touching the muscular twitch of a fish tail. She glanced down.

The clear water exposed everything. The body of a man from the belly button up, and instead of legs below, the most beautiful fish tail swaying back and forth, keeping him afloat.

I’m hallucinating, Miki thought. The shock and pressure must be playing with my mind, because I’d take an oath before the gods that a merman fought a giant eel and is now holding me.

Her thoughts reeled with myths and legends spun from some of the older divers, their breath heavy with island rum, claiming to have seen exotic women with fish tails for feet. Miki suspected the liquor influenced their memories. Their tales stayed with her, though, their spiced words saturating her mind with dreams of swimming freely with a fin instead of toes. Miki gasped, finding strength to wrench free from the stranger. Panting as she treaded water, she barely managed to put an arm’s-length of ocean between his bulging shoulders and herself.

This is no dream, she thought, fighting panic.

Trying to orient herself, she scanned for landmarks in the distance.

So much ocean, she thought, and strange rows of stained blue buoys.

She spotted a familiar dark blur on the horizon and exhaled. The island peaks were there, smaller than her thumbnail but within sight. Her relief turned to fear when she realized the hilly stagger pattern was different.

I’m on the Inito side of the island, she thought. The dangerous side.

Her attention focused again on the light-haired stranger. He quietly treaded water, studying her as she did him. An overwhelming sense of safety filled her with his presence. Perhaps the way he had tended to her or the way his eyes expressed concern did it. He had given her space when she needed it and had been gentle when she never asked. That sort of kindness clutched at her heart.

This is real, she thought, I’m alone in the open ocean with a merman.

Exhaustion weighed her down, and Miki didn’t object when the merman swam forward and grabbed her by the waist.

“You’re in shock,” he said, his sky blue eyes staring so intensely.

“Shock,” she murmured, “yes.” The fine scales on his bare shoulders glistened in the sun. I
am
in shock, she thought. Shocked to see the stories are true.

Her hands slid down to outline where a man’s hips would normally be, and her gaze lowered from his to confirm her findings. The transition from skin to fin was flawless. The flesh-toned scales on his torso graduated to silver as they interlocked their way down past his lower back to the length of his tail. He flicked his wide fin, and she smiled. Her fingers slowly caressed inward from his hips, below his navel when his hands clasped around her wrists.

“Careful.” He smiled and turned his head slightly to hide the curious blush streaking up his face. “My phallus may not be visible now, but Mer’s are built as your men are. We are quite sensitive to direct contact. And when in the presence of our match, our scales part to release our—”

“I see.” Miki’s face heated as if sunburned.

She averted her eyes from his front bulge and brought her fingertips up from the water, reaching to touch his bruised cheek and trace the squiggle of a scar on his temple. Her smile widened when he closed his eyes and let her explore the contours of his face.

So much like a man, she thought, tracing his nose, following the curve of his lips. Her discovery continued under his chin, skimming his throat, his gills quivering at her touch.

“You saved me,” she whispered, thinking of the cloud of eel’s blood that had surrounded her.

“No.” He opened his eyes and grinned. “You saved yourself. I only squeezed water from your body and pushed air into your lungs.”

She licked her lips, tasting where his mouth had pressed to hers.

“What is your name?” They both asked simultaneously, both chuckling.

He went silent.

“Miki.” She relaxed in the comfort of his arms.

“I am Harmon.” He raised his forearm, showing off his military mark. “A soldier in His Majesty’s 7th Infantry.”

Miki’s eyes widened. His Majesty? A soldier? 7th Infantry? He’s not the only merman? How many were there, she wondered, excited. Her thoughts traveled to her aching ankle, and her glare turned accusingly to Harmon.

“Wait. Who are you at war with?” When he hesitated to answer, her blood quickened. Miki tried to push away, but Harmon held her close. She struggled against him, pounding his broad chest. “Have you and your fellow soldiers been drowning my friends, holding them under by their ankles? Is your infantry sinking our supply ships?”

“No,” Harmon said. “This area in uncharted to our command pods. Your people have made no destructive impact on my kind. Our quarrel is with the far eastern ridge, with those dumping their poisonous refuse into the current and over fishing the territory, depleting our food supplies.”

“Oh, Harmon, I’m sorry.” Miki’s anger dissipated. “Your people are starving, too?” Her stomach painfully reminded her of its emptiness.

“We were.” Harmon unfurled her fingers and brought the tip of each one to his lips.

We’re both fighting to save our own people, she thought.

His tenderness sent little sparks through the veins in her arm, charging her heart. She licked her lips again, claiming another sample of him. Exhaling slowly, she tried to regulate her shortness of breath and settle the tremor in her fingers.

Her empty palm brought up a memory. “I lost it,” she said, frowning.

“This?” Harmon placed his mother’s pearl in Miki’s hand. He closed her fingers over it.

“Yes.” Miki’s chest heaved with unexpected emotion. “What’s happening?” The gem throbbed in her hand with every beat of her heart. Faces and fin patterns pulsed in her mind, and she fought to catch her breath. “This is yours, isn’t it?” She searched for understanding in his eyes. “It’s special, somehow.”

“It is special,” Harmon whispered.