Bluehour (A Watermagic Novel) (25 page)

At once, I struggled with all my might. I
must have thrown her off guard because I broke free. In a rush, I
ran down the beach. My breath was rapid and my heart pounded in my
chest.

But in no time she caught up to me and
grabbed me forcefully by the waist and threw me over her shoulder.
I was shocked by her strength. I hardly had time to struggle before
she ran with me into the ocean and dove under the waves.

We were moving deep fast. I gave up my
struggles. My adrenaline was rushing, but I could breathe easily in
her grasp. Once I gave in, she let me swim beside her, only our
hands connected.

“Stay with me, Grace. You are safe.”

I had no choice but to succumb now. We were
too deep. If I let go of her hand, I would drown. And if I was
released from her grasp for too long, my body would be crushed from
the impact of the depths.

The water was black around us. I could not
see anything. When I lagged behind, losing my momentum, Brigitte
pulled at my hand gently.

“You ok?” she asked in her musical voice.

“I’m afraid to swim too fast for fear of the
dark.”

“I’ll fix that,” she responded softly. I
could tell she was more comfortable in the ocean than on land.
Though the tension of our circumstances was still present, her
voice resonated more gently. “We’re almost at the ocean floor.”

I tried to push myself ahead with my free
hand held out before me like a blind person. One of my many fears
was that I would bump into a predatory sea creature or smash into
something hard like a coral reef or a huge boulder.

Suddenly the ocean floor lit up. Brigitte’s
hand was held out before her directing light ahead as we swam. Now
the plant life glowed in many vibrant colors as it had with
Laurent. A school of dull gray fish swam into the light exuding
from Brigitte’s hand. The entire school turned bright blue, orange,
and yellow. They were beautiful.

We were moving faster now, but the scenery
was magnificent. I saw purple seahorses, a huge open clam, coral,
sponges, sea snails, and so many fish of varying sizes and shapes.
A part of me wanted to stop and explore, but I knew my life was in
danger and the sooner we made our way back to Erma and Willy’s
place, the safer we would be.

Then all at once, Brigitte stopped. “Shhhh,”
she whispered. Her grasp tightened, squeezing my fingers.

The light from her free hand disappeared and
the ocean became completely black. We floated in the still water.
My heart was pounding so hard that probably every sea creature
could hear it. I got the feeling that she was listening for
something.

Minutes passed. I felt the water moving in
wave-like motions overhead.

“Tiger sharks,” she whispered. “There are
hundreds of them ahead. There’s a ship transporting cattle. They
discarded a dead cow into the ocean.”

“Shark food,” I whispered.

“They are in frenzy. They want more.” She put
her hand on my racing heart.

I screamed at her touch and flinched away,
not expecting it.

She pulled me closer to her. “Slow your heart
rate. They can hear it and they want more mammalian blood.”

My voice was barely audible. “How the heck do
I do that?” I held perfectly still.

“Think of something peaceful,” she whispered.
And then, at once, she pulled me down to the surface of the ocean
floor. I felt the mud mush between my toes.

She was doing something in the darkness. It
was all happening so fast. I think she was digging into the ground.
Suddenly, she pushed me into a hole.

I fell hard onto a squishy surface.

“Be perfectly still and silent,” she
ordered.

My free hand and torso fumbled around against
a muddy, sandy wall. All the while, Brigitte kept a firm grasp on
my hand that was raised now above my head and out of the hole where
she was on the level floor. It felt like she pushed the earth all
once. Suddenly, the walls collapsed into me and I was completely
buried alive.

I was terrified out of my mind. I could
hardly move. But I could breath or rather I could exchange oxygen
and carbon dioxide, receiving the life force necessary for
survival. Brigitte held just the tips of three of my fingers now
that stretched out of the grave.

I couldn’t hear anything. I couldn’t see
anything. Just black. And silence. As natural survival instinct, I
tried in desperation to make my way out, but I was completely
trapped. All I could do was surrender. I felt Brigitte squeeze my
fingertips in reassurance.

My mind was spinning. I couldn’t believe the
circumstances. The feeling of mud and sand completely covering me,
filling my nostrils and my mouth as I tried to speak was torture. I
kept my eyes closed the entire time, but granules of sand and dirt
got inside anyway. It hurt something awful. If I lived to escape
this horror, I hoped I wasn’t blinded. I felt like I was going to
go out of my mind.

An hour must have passed like this.
Claustrophobia was nearly overwhelming me. I thought the terror
would never end. I just kept reminding myself of the hundreds of
sharks overhead that wanted to tear me apart and devour me. And
that recognition that I was better off gave me strength in my
bleakest thoughts.

But my strongest saving grace was when
Brigitte would squeeze my fingers, reminding me that I was alive. A
rush of hope shot through my body. She was still there. The sharks
would eventually leave and she would dig me out.

Just at that thought, I felt her hand
suddenly jerk away from my fingers. We weren’t connected
anymore!

What had happened? Did a shark tear her away?
Was she fighting them off as an attempt to save my life? Or had
they overtaken her?

I couldn’t breathe. All thoughts of anything
other than survival vanished. Now that we weren’t attached, I
wasn’t receiving oxygen. My lungs tightened. The veins in my body
burned. An intense pain grew rapidly in my chest. It felt like my
insides were bursting apart. Oh, God, help me.

Just as I thought I was about to pass out,
Brigitte grabbed my fingers. Instantly I could breathe. The pain
slowly began to lessen. Oxygen was circulating through my body.

She was frantically digging me out. Relief
rushed over me. My head was uncovered now. I choked out mud and
sand. I blew dirt out of my nostrils. I wiped my eyes with my
hands. The water rinsed them clean. They felt better, but I had no
idea if I could see. The water was still pitch black.

There was a flash of light coming from behind
her as she dug the dirt away from my body. I could see! But the mer
digging me out of my grave wasn’t Brigitte. It was Sabine!

1. Ocean Roar
   

Sabine lit up the ocean with her hand. My
heart was pounding fast against my chest at the horror of
acknowledging her presence. I saw her long red hair fanned out in
the water beside me. Up close, her face was as beautiful as a
porcelain doll.

“Hello Grace,” she snapped in annoyance. Her
leg brushed up against mine as she squeezed my hand too tight.
“Never fear; the sharks have swum away.”

At once, four other female mers and three
male mers swam up behind her. Like Laurent’s school, all these mers
were stunning with long flowing hair and perfect physiques.
Everything was happening fast. I looked around for Brigitte. She
was tied up to a coral reef with seaweed. Her mouth was gagged, but
her eyes were wide with shock.

Suddenly, there was a thunderous roar. It
resonated from deep within Brigitte’s body and vibrated out of her
throat and through her pores. Rocks started to roll and bounce
along the ocean floor. The gag couldn’t hold back the pitch of
Brigitte’s vocals. It was amazing how someone so delicate looking
could make such a noise. The sound waves were causing the ocean to
shake. The movement became more rapid by the second.

In the rush, Sabine held her hand up and
brought it back down in haste, slashing my arm with her sharp black
fingernails. The sound vibrations threw her back. But blood gushed
from my wound. And now that Sabine wasn’t holding my hand, I could
not breathe.

The ocean movement became violent. To my
surprise the coral reef came crashing down over Brigitte. Though I
couldn’t see her now, the thunderous roar continued to grow in
volume.

My blood flowed through the water. I looked
at Sabine and her school. Their faces stretched into horrific
creatures, their eyes turning a demonic pale blue as Brigitte’s had
back at the hotel. Their teeth elongated and became raiser
sharp.

The sights were spinning around me now. I
could hardly think what to do. The lack of oxygen was overtaking
me. I felt a hand grab onto me. Suddenly, I could breathe. I turned
to look.

It was Laurent! But his eyes were the same
pale blue. His face was elongated and his teeth were as sharp as
incisors. “Grace!” His voice was music in my ears. I knew he
wouldn’t kill me.

But before he could say anything else,
Brigitte grabbed onto his waist and threw him away from me. I
couldn’t breathe again. My eardrums pounded in my head. I tried to
swim away, but the water was too rough.

Brigitte’s roar muffled out most sounds.
Sabine and her school came at me. A large boulder flung into them,
temporarily throwing the school back. They rolled in somersaults in
the current. Laurent came at them with a spear.

My heart nearly broke. I knew he could not
fight Sabine’s entire school even with a weapon. The pain was
strangling me.

Just as I felt my lungs were going to explode
out of my chest, Brigitte took my hand and flung me back. I was
able to rejuvenate at the brief touch. But as I looked to the side,
I saw the most surprising sight.

A herd of seals came rushing at us. The seals
cut Laurent off just as he went for Sabine with a spear. They
knocked him to the side and he slammed into a boulder.

Brigitte quieted and the ocean stilled.

“I love you, Sabine!” The declaration sounded
through the ocean. “He’s not worth it. Come away with me.” I didn’t
know who said that. I sensed it came from one of the seals. But how
could that be possible? I must have been hallucinating.

Sabine’s face transformed back. She took her
head into her hands and cried. And all at once, she swam away with
her school and the herd of seals surrounding them.

Laurent took my hand. “Hold still,” he
whispered. He placed a small glowing stone against my cut. Rapidly,
my arm healed right before my face. Relief came over me as I looked
to him and saw his electric blue eyes gaze into mine.

He pulled me up against his chest. I felt as
if our hearts were beating as one. Our lips touched and I was in
heaven. The kiss was everything I ever dreamed it would be—soft and
sensual. But it was over almost just as it started. I knew that if
the kiss lasted too long, I would undergo the painful mer
transformation and give up my existence as a human being. I wanted
that; I did. Anything to be with Laurent.

But Brigitte swam close to us and smiled
affectionately as we turned to her. “Let’s go home,” she sang a
little too loudly.

Our eyes widened as the ocean shook briefly
with the vibration of her unexpected intensity. We all burst out
laughing. And then everything was calm.

The End

(to be continued in book 2 of the Watermagic
Novels)

Thank you for reading the first book of
Brighton Hill’s Water Magic Novels. If you enjoyed it, check out
Bluedawn (A Blue Myth Novel). It is interrelated to Bluehour. Here
is a sample:

A Blue Myth Novel

Brighton Hill

~ Dreamspot Publishing, Inc ~

1.

“Do you really need all this stuff?” I said
to my mom as I hung up her evening dresses in the motorhome
closet.

Dad was carrying in her gigantic makeup box.
“What would Josette Bellerose do without her fancy adornments?” He
teased.

“All right, enough guys,” she warned light
heartedly from the kitchen. She was great at concealing her French
accent. Most of the time, she sounded very American. “At least I’m
not bringing that rhinestone studded bathing suit I wore last time
we camped at the beach.”

“What’s this?” Dad asked as he picked up a
silver chain with shells and sea stones.

“That’s for my waist.” She peaked around the
kitchen divider at Dad who was standing next to her vanity
table.

“Oooh, sassy,” he chuckled as he walked over
to her and clasped the ornamentations just above her hips.

She brushed her long golden hair out of her
pretty face as she giggled at his touch the way some teenage girls
at my high school acted when they had a new boyfriend. Her hands
threaded around his big, hulking body.

“Okay, no public displays of affection
please.” I rolled my eyes wondering if I would ever find the kind
of love they had. Most boys I found annoying, pimply, and shallow.
And the few times that I was interested in a guy, he wasn’t
interested in me.

I think I was the only almost
eighteen-year-old alive who had never even kissed a boy. If only I
had been blessed with thick, luxurious golden hair and stunning
looks like Mom, but instead I was plain with straggly brown locks
like Dad that tangled up in the wind.

The coastal drive from our Orange County home
to Carlsbad was relatively short. We stopped once at a rest spot to
check a rattling sound on the car we were towing behind the
motorhome and to buy candy bars. Most of the travels were
relatively uneventful. During the duration of the ride, I mostly
stared out the window watching the ocean and palm trees whiz
by.

But on the freeway, Mom sang the whole time
which always put me in a sort of hypnotic state making the trip
pass quicker. Dad and I joined in occasionally too. As a family, we
were geeky in that way. Though Mom had a beautiful voice, Dad and I
were severely lacking in the musical department. I was just glad
none of my friends were with us to see how goofy we were.