Deep Blue (The Mermaid Chronicles Book 1) (10 page)

             
"This is stupid, Dad," David said, hanging an ornament on the artificial tree as Alice looked for music on the radio and her parents attempted to take pictures. It was December now, and David was out of school. It was a little late for their tradition of putting up the tree, but the season had crept up on them. The holiday was different when occurring amidst the heat, grilling on the barbies.

"This isn't Christmas-like at all! I mean, there's no snow...there's not even rain! Or clouds. It's sunny and hot outside!" David continued.

             
"I think it's a great Christmas: no shoveling and I can still go swimming," Alice said. Truthfully, it was much more difficult to go swimming, considering the beaches were growing a little crowded. 

             
"You two are ridiculous. It never snowed in Portland for Christmas." Sarah put in while trying to get a picture of the two kids together.

             
"Welcome to the tropics, kids," Ron said coming in from getting the mail. Alice returned to helping David with the ornaments. "Hey, Aly, you have something here."

             
"What?"

             
"Looks like an invitation of some sort." Her mom walked over first.

             
"The Caraway mansion! When did you meet the Caraway boys?" her mother asked.

             
“Finn?” Alice stepped over the boxes full of Christmas decorations in their cramped living room. With both parents looking over her shoulder, she opened the invitation.

             
"It’s addressed to you and a guest," her mother said. She eyed Alice, looking for some reaction. Alice didn't always react, but she figured her daughter might have told her she had met one of the Caraways.

             
"Live band...wow," said her father.

             
"It’s just a Christmas party," Alice shrugged.

             
"A Christmas party, at a mansion, on a private beach," her mother's eyes looked misty.

             
"That's not fair!" David said. "Why Aly and not us?"

             
"I dunno, must be really exclusive," Ron replied.

             
"They probably want a younger crowd," said Sarah, sounding mildly disappointed. “I mean, the Caraways are pretty young, and they have a huge mansion all to themselves.” Alice choked down a grunt before it came out. The Caraways were rarely alone. With their private beach and large mansion, they frequently housed several members of the mer community whenever they chose to stay on land overnight. 

             
"I'm young!" David said.

             
"How'd you meet the Caraways?" Ron asked curiously, ignoring David.

             
"We've run into each other once or twice. I didn't think much of it."

             
"Apparently they did," her mother said. Alice wasn't about to tell them that it was probably a party where he invited the local merfolk. Because then they'd have a conversation something to the tune of:
so, mom, who in our history was a mermaid? Because somehow I'm one, too
.

             
"Our daughter, friends with a millionaire!" her dad said, patting Alice on the back. She didn't say that “friend” was probably the last thing she would call either Finn or Tommy.

             
"I probably won't even go. It's in a week…right on Christmas day? I should probably spend that night with you."

             
"Oh, no you don't, honey. You don't get invited to a fancy formal dress party by a millionaire and not go. I'll even buy you a dress! You don't have anything formal enough for a mansion." Alice rolled her eyes at her mother’s obvious excitement.

             
"Please, Mom, don't buy my dress."

             
"Honey! There's nowhere in town to get a fancy dress. You'd have to go to the city."

             
"If, and I mean
if
I'm going, I'll figure out a way to get to town, mother. Anyway, I have to go. I told Adam I'd go sailing with him today," she said, throwing the invitation at the kitchen counter. Her mother smiled at Ron knowingly. Alice had been spending a fair amount of time sailing with Adam. Of course, Alice wasn't necessarily always spending that time with Adam, but it was a good excuse when she went on long swimming excursions.

             
"What about the ornaments?" David cried.

             
"I thought we were done, little brother?"

             
"I guess we are," he said grudgingly.

             
"I'll catch you all later."

             
Alice all but ran down the road. She couldn't wait. The water this time of year felt great. No one was down on the beach just now. There were some people surfing, but it didn't matter, no one was watching her. As she ran for the shore, she was reminded of her grandma, cheering her on more than anyone at the competitions. She hadn't told her parents the whole truth. When she did meet Adam, she frequently swam to him. Unless, of course, the beach was crowded, then she did bum a ride from him. This time, Adam had left an hour or so ago and was already a couple miles out to sea, but Alice would catch up soon enough.

             
Alice twirled and danced among the life in the water. It was divine; she could tell why the people were out on surfboards. Perhaps the reason their little beach was so empty was because most people went to nicer beaches. The local beach wasn't that great because the shore was fairly rocky, but it didn't stop everyone. Alice had to be more careful that she wasn't seen in daylight.

Still, the ocean was perfect. The fish and other creatures of the deep were around her and the water was heaven. It didn't take her long to swim out past the surfers toward a boat. She knew it was Adam's, so she wasn't afraid. She arced out of the water, making sure to splash the captain in his summer turtleneck. Alice was wearing her green bikini top. She bobbed to the surface.

             
"I knew it was you. More questions?" he asked.

             
"Just one," she yelled up.

             
"Which means somewhere around ten. You coming up?"

             
Alice thought about it a moment. It would be easier than screaming up at him, though she didn’t really want to leave the water. "If you've got a towel and some pants."

             
"I might have something around here somewhere, it’s not like I do this all the time now or anything." He smiled. His smile still unnerved her, but less than before. She and Adam had developed a tentative friendship over the past couple of months. She was trying very hard to be human again, and Adam was trying to get over the fact that she wasn’t human. It wasn’t an ideal situation, but it was sort of working, for now. 

Minutes later, Alice found herself on deck. The towel was draped over her shoulders and she wore an old pair of Adam’s sweatpants, with a hole in one knee. He quickly offered her a beer and she took it. It was hard for him to be around her without something to do.

             
"So, what question you got for me?" Adam asked. He lounged back in the booth, watching her carefully. He felt if he played things too quickly, she would slip through his fingers like an eel, but the soft smiles that lit up her green eyes were something he lived for.

             
"Could my family be transforms?"

             
He stared at her, "Why would you ask that?"

             
"I'm just curious."

             
"Your brother probably is, and one of your parents probably carries the gene. But how could you even think of that?"

             
"Could I ever tell any of them about this?" She said gesturing at the ocean, the stupid smile that she always carried after swimming painted on her face, the one that lit her green eyes the way nothing else did.

             
"What? Hanging out on a boat belonging to the local doctor without your own pants? Swimming two miles in the ocean, without taking a breath, mind you, to intercept my boat? I knew you weren't only going to ask one question." He tried to play it off sarcastically, but part of him liked that he could share this with her. Even though she was a mer now, once upon a time she had been human. He liked to flatter himself that this was why she came to him.

             
"You know what I mean," she said frowning.

             
He lost the sarcastic smile on his own face. "No, you can’t tell them. Not unless you got approval from a clan leader."

             
"A clan leader? We have clan leaders now?"

             
"Of course you do,"

             
"Why did I not know this?"

“You never seemed interested in their politics before, and you do seem pretty adept at avoiding them…especially your suitors…” he stifled a laugh; she frowned in his general direction.

“Who are the leaders?”
             
"Who do you think, genius?"

             
"Finn. Finn's the leader."

             
"No, his grandmother is. But when she does finally pass, he will be the next clan leader."

             
“So I’m supposed to ask Mr.-smarty-pants-stay-off-my-island jerk?”

             
“Stop, stop, stop. Let’s just back up a second. What are you looking for? Hasn’t your family suffered enough without knowing all this? I mean, do you know the consequences of what you’re asking?”

             
She stared at him in response, waiting for him to tell her.

             
“Alice, this is your burden to carry, you can’t…”

             
“I can’t bring my brother into this? I can never really get close to my family again? I can’t ever have the sibling I remember?”

             
Adam sighed. “I didn’t say that, it’s just… Alice…the consequence
if
Brassila did say yes, and that’s a big if, mind you…”

             
“So I can’t go to the asshole.”

             
“Until Brassila dies it has to be her.” He looked off at the ocean, “Wits are something she hasn’t lost.”

             
“Alice,” he turned back to her, took her hands in his. She flinched but accepted it. She had been getting better at that, and better at not shocking him every time he did it. “You’d be risking his life. If it turned out your brother didn’t have the gene… he would be killed. They can’t have someone knowing their secrets. As for your parents, it’s likely one of them is and one is not a recessive mer. There’s really no way to tell. Either way, if you share the secret to someone who cannot become a mer, they will not live.” She looked straight at him with those clear green eyes and he found it hard to return her gaze. He couldn’t be sure she understood what he was saying.

             
“My brother.”

             
He released her hands gently. “Could you live with his blood on your hands?”

             
She looked off into the distance, at the ocean, and he watched that faded smile crawl across her face. She was beneath those waves again in her head. It irritated him a little that she had a place he couldn’t follow.

             
“You can’t know what’s down there.”

             
“Your father said you two were very close.” Her smile brightened just a little.

             
“I miss him. I feel like I’m lying to him every day when I go home.”

             
“But,”

             
“I could never. I want to share this all with him,” she turned back to Adam, “You can’t begin to imagine.” He sighed. When she talked like that, she was one of them.

             
“Alice,” he reached for her again. This time she jerked away.

             
"What about this party?" she asked. He sighed. He was used to this; sometimes she would be on one topic and then suddenly another. When she got too deep into something emotionally, she would quickly turn tail and disappear into her mind to finish her arguments with herself, and by herself. He watched as she let the current reflexively run across her fingers. She liked to do that when she got lost in her head.

             
"You can’t get out of
the fish party
, I’m afraid. You’re the transform, so you are number one on the priority list. They will miss you if you are not there."