Into the Triangle (2 page)

Above him, the rain fell in torrents and the storm seemed to only grow worse in ferocity, kicking up the waves until they towered over him, crashing down so hard it felt like he was being hit by a truck each time he was struck by the powerful surge. A quick glance around showed no sight of the plane, and Gabe spared a quick moment of thought for the probably dead pilot before turning to focus on his own unlikely survival.

Gasping for breath, he forced his arms and legs to move, trying desperately to keep his head above the waves. The water made his clothes heavy and cumbersome, the jeans and t-shirt dragging him down. Gabe wasted precious time stripping them off until he was completely naked and free of constraints in the water. He knew it was dangerous to be naked in the ocean for too long; even if the water felt warm now, soon it would start to be too cold for him to handle. Taking off his clothes would most likely do more harm than good in the end, but he was determined to give himself any chance he could to survive.

If I can just get to the island
…

He'd always been a strong swimmer, but the storm and his own unknown injuries kept him from staying up, and he found himself going under time and again, choking on salt water. The idiotic thought that if he managed to make it out of this situation alive, he would have to thank his mother for all the swimming lessons at the local Y hit him. But before he truly could focus on the inane idea, Gabe found himself being pulled back under by a heavy undertow.

He was tumbling and thrashing, flowing and crashing, helpless to fight his way back up to the surface. Deeper and deeper he was pulled, until only the darkness of the water surrounded him.

Gabe forced himself to keep kicking, to keep his salt-irritated eyes trained upward toward the top of the water and the storm raging overhead.
If I can just get back up there, I can make it
… But already he could feel his lungs burning from the lack of fresh air, and his arms and legs ached from the exertion. Still Gabe tried, refusing to sink into the briny depths without a fight. He could feel the cold seeping in as his adrenaline waned, and he suspected hypothermia was setting in.

A pale, naked ghost of a man, he drifted down, no longer fighting the pull of the water on his body.

Gabe felt his body relax, the fight going out of him. Oddly enough, he smiled as he closed his eyes and accepted his fate. It was strangely peaceful here, his mind finally muted of all its troubling thoughts as his oxygen-starved brain began to shut down.

His only regret was he would die without ever knowing what true love felt like. Because whatever it was he'd had with his ex could never be considered anything but lies masquerading as affection. Releasing the last breath from his nose in a flurry of bubbles, Gabe resigned himself to his fate.

Maybe I'll have better luck next time around
…

The sensation of something large and scaly brushing against his legs made Gabe's eyes slowly open. What he expected to see he didn't know—perhaps a shark or some other deep sea monster coming to feast upon his body once he died?

The last thing Gabe ever expected to open his eyes and see as he died was a man, floating in the water only inches away from him.

Long hair the color of fresh, green algae drifted around a chiseled masculine face, and eyes the color of the storm clouds raging above the surface stared at him in curiosity. Gabe returned the look, along with one of appreciation.
For a dying hallucination, this isn't bad at all
. There seemed to be a dark mark on the man's forehead; it took Gabe's muddled mind a long moment to see through the murky water that it was a pearl.

A thumbnail-sized, rare black pearl.

Gabe let his eyes drift down from that strange jewelry adornment and over the man's face again. Beautiful high cheekbones offset the slim patrician nose and lush full lips that begged to be nibbled on. His eyes dropped lower and he couldn't stop himself from admiring the hard, muscled chest and shoulders, not to mention the smooth expanse of pale skin the color of moonlight available to his gaze. Slowly, in a daze, his eyes drifted further, over the dusky nipples, across the rippling expanse of a six-pack abdomen, and down past the man's bellybutton to his…

Eyes widening, Gabe took in the beautiful blue and green fish-like tail where the man's cock, legs, and feet should have been, before he looked back up at the handsome face.

Raising one green brow, the merman seemed to be waiting for some sort of reaction from him, but Gabe couldn't muster up anything exciting. His limbs felt increasingly heavy, his mind sluggish, his lungs burned, and Gabe could see shadows encroaching from the corner of his eyes. So instead, he did the only thing he could do without too much effort.

He smiled.

The merman seemed surprised then Gabe received a blinding smile in return.

Before he had a chance to admire it, however, strong arms wrapped around his waist and Gabe found his naked body pressed flush against the merman's. The feeling of those smooth scales sent tinges of sensation through his cold and numb skin, which seemed to please the merman if his smug look was anything to go by. He'd hardly gotten to enjoy the sensation when surprisingly warm lips pressed against his own, demanding entrance.

Too hazy to remember why opening his mouth underwater would be a bad idea, Gabe yielded to the pressure against his lips and was rewarded by a rush of pure oxygen flooding his lungs. Gabe nearly choked as the burning sensation in his chest faded and it took him a moment to realize the merman was actually breathing for him.

With the influx of air came the realization he was actually wrapped in a strange creature's arms and Gabe pulled back in alarm.

The merman simple smiled at him again.

Keeping one arm around Gabe's waist as if unwilling to release him, the merman reached up with his other hand and pressed a fingertip to Gabe's forehead, at the spot above his nose and between his eyes at the center.

There was a searing flash of pain, like being electrocuted, centering on his forehead then spreading throughout his body all the way to his toes.

Gabe let out a muted scream in a burst of bubbles right before he lost consciousness and everything went black.

Chapter 2

Something was poking him.

Gabe groaned and tried to shift away, only to find he was having trouble moving his arms and legs. His was cold and wet, and gritty from… sand? His mind felt dazed, his face covered in grit and grime, and for the life of him he couldn't remember where he was or how he had gotten there.

Probably would help if I opened my eyes.
Gabe attempted to force his eyelids to move but they were too heavy.
Maybe I'll just lie here for another minute or two…

Just as the thought crossed his mind, a large rush of cold water suddenly crashed over him, shocking in its intensity. At the same time, he was poked on his side again, harder than before.

Jerking upright, Gabe flailed away from the waves hitting him, looking around wildly. The sand shifted underneath him, and Gabe scrambled to his feet. The moment he stood upright, a bright spot of pain bloomed on his forehead, dropping him back to one knee.

"Son-of-a-bitch!" Slapping a hand over his forehead, Gabe felt around the area where the pain was coming from. He froze when his fingers encountered a hard, round object imbedded right where his 'third-eye' would be located. The skin surrounding it was puffy and swollen, aching to the touch. "What the fuck is this?"

"It's a pearl."

Gabe jumped at the sound of the deep, pleasant voice coming from close by. Looking up, he found himself staring up at a young man standing over him, a medium-sized stick in his left hand.
So that was what poked me
.

The man's dark brown hair hung stick-straight to just below his chin, despite the humidity and saltwater in the air. He couldn't have been much older than Gabe, perhaps even the same age. He was short, and his stocky build and perfect all-over tan lent him an air of power that otherwise might have been missing. His cool, blue eyes watched Gabe with curiosity, and his handsome face didn't reveal his thoughts or emotions. He wore only a simple loincloth that covered all of his important bits, leaving his chest, arms, and legs bare, except for moccasin-type sandals on his feet.

He reminded Gabe of an island version of Tarzan, both wild and tamed at the same time.

"Who-who are you?" Gabe asked, voice wobbling as he looked around, fingers still covering his forehead. His eyes widened as he finally glanced past the stranger, and his head whipped back and forth when he tried to take in exactly what he was seeing. Standing up on legs that felt like jelly, Gabe took a step back from the man standing in front of him. "W-where the hell am I?"

Miles and miles of pristine, white beaches stretched out on either side of him, as far as Gabe could see. Before him, the ocean was a wide expanse of pure, turquoise blue that seemed to fade into the sky where it met the horizon. No other land was visible to the eye. A quick glance behind him showed what appeared to be a tropical forest of some kind a few feet up the beach. The lush trees and bright-colored flowers were stunning, but even their beauty couldn't distract Gabe from his growing panic.

"Where am I? How did I get here? What's going on?" Gabe blurted. He looked about frantically before turning back toward the young man, watching him with a peculiar look on his face. "Who are you?" His voice had become more and more strident with each question until he was practically shrieking by the last one.

The young man raised a brow, seemingly unfazed by Gabe's panic. "You may call me Aaron. To answer your question, this is Bimini Island." He looked Gabe up and down. "Who are you?"

"I… Gabriel. My name is Gabriel Overton." Gabe frowned. "Bimini? I-I think I remember heading to the Bahamas and Bimini Island… before the plane…"

Aaron leaned forward. "Plane?" he asked eagerly. His indifference faded and his blue eyes shone with what appeared to be a mixture of cautious hope and fear. "You came on a plane? Where is it?"

Gabe looked back out over the ocean, heart caught in his throat as memories assailed him.

The plane jolting
…
the instruments failing
…
the pilot yelling out in fear
…
thick fog fading away to dark, turbulent ocean
… "It crashed during the storm."
Water dragging him down
…
lungs burning
…
pulled down deeper and deeper
…
sea green hair and storm gray eyes watching him
…
a kiss
…
pain
…
then only darkness
.

Gabe shivered. He couldn't remember everything and the things he did remember made no sense to him.
I was drowning and the lack of oxygen made me hallucinate
.

That had to be the explanation; it was the only thing that made sense.

There's no way I actually saw a mermaid… or well, merman
.

Still, those dark eyes haunted him. Just thinking about the amazing and inconceivable encounter caused and echo of heat from the pearl on his forehead.

Gabe winced and forced himself to focus back on the situation at hand. "I-I don't think the pilot made it out of the plane in time."

Aaron's face closed down again, becoming an expressionless mask once again. "Probably not. The Triangle doesn't let anyone in that it doesn't want to." He sighed and shook his head. "And the same goes for getting out."

Gabe frowned, reaching up to rub his fingers over his aching forehead again. "The Triangle? Is-is that where I am? This whole thing doesn't make any sense…"

Aaron snorted and crossed his arms over his chest. "Let me guess. You were just flying along, and a storm seemed to blow in out of nowhere. The instruments quit working and the next thing you know, a strange fog rolls in, blocking the view, and you crashed."

Gabe's mouth gaped open then snapped shut after a moment. "Yes, that's exactly what happened. How did you know?" He took a hesitant step closer to the other man. "Did you crash land here too?"

Aaron shook his head. "No, I slipped though the veil on a ship. The
USS Cyclops
sank to the bottom of the ocean; three hundred and eight people died. I'm the only one who survived."

"Veil?" Gabe asked. He didn't understand what this strange man was talking about. It felt like he was only getting bits and pieces of the puzzle, and nothing was fitting where it was supposed to. The situation only served to make his head hurt worse.

"Yeah, you know, the veil between the outside world and this one," Aaron said, waving an arm to encompass the island and the beach where they stood. "Ships and planes cross through the Triangle all the time, but very rarely do they pass through the veil. Unfortunately, once you're here, you can't get back out." He turned to stare out over the ocean, seeing something only he could see.

Gabe's eyes widened as the implication of what the other man was saying sank in. "Are you saying I'm stuck here?" he asked in shock.

Aaron glanced over at him, studying him for a long moment before his eyes focused in on where Gabe's fingers were covering his forehead. "Maybe, maybe not."