World of Aluvia 2 (28 page)

Flopping into Mina’s bed basket, Phoebe remembered the first time they’d met. Tristan had been at the shore the very next time she had gone to the beach after the rescue. She’d hobbled into the water, hoping the sea would ease the pain in her knee. She’d yelped when he popped above the surface, but his easy smile brought one to her face in return. Then Mina appeared, twinkling eyes peeking from behind Tristan. For all her light-hearted ways, Mina was the one who’d taken charge of Phoebe’s healing.

Mina forced Phoebe to keep moving her knee even when it hurt. Tristan might have let it slide, hating to see her in pain, but Mina had no pity. She’d say, “Bend it again, Phoebe. You’ve got to use it, or you’ll always limp.”

And then Mina would goad Phoebe until she did it. Without Mina, she might never have fully healed.

Now it was Phoebe’s turn to do the helping, but she was running out of time. Pulling herself from the bed, so defeated her skin didn’t even glow, Phoebe ached in the general area where her knee should be, at the bend of her tail fin. As if the human parts of her were buried, not gone forever. Panic flared at even the phantom memory of the pain. Her hand spasmed around the comb, the spiny ridges pressing into her skin, reminding her of the present moment. She wasn’t that girl anymore. She was here.

She tried to slow her breathing, still her panic, lock down all her bad memories that hissed and slithered from their dark corners when they scented fear rising. But her throat tightened despite herself.

She was here for Mina, she reminded herself. To find Mina. Failure was not an option
. Focus, Phoebe, Focus.

Phoebe willed herself to relax. She needed to be fully present to get this job done. Things were different now.
She
was different now. Maybe she could finally let go of those memories.

Settling into her mission, she squeezed the comb again, picturing Mina’s dark locks and sweet smile. Phoebe held her breath and imagined sending her magic into the ocean, a magnet seeking Mina.

Nothing.

No spark of Mina’s vivacity touched Phoebe. Despite the strong presence of the merfolk in her mind, Mina wasn’t among them. And Phoebe had no idea where the mermaid was.

Phoebe bit off a yell of frustration and threw the comb across the room. It somersaulted lazily through the water, far less satisfying than a crash against her wall on land. She screamed again, tugging at her hair. Why couldn’t she
find
Mina? The meeting would begin soon, and without a known destination and firm plan, no one could help with a rescue even if she convinced them to. What good was sensing all the merfolk if she couldn’t use the power to help her friend?

But wait. Maybe, if she could get away from all the merfolk clogging up her newly awoken senses, she could locate Mina more effectively. It was easier to find a tiny flame amid darkness than in blinding sunlight.

She needed to swim away from the village. Not far. Just a little bit. As Odessa’s “guest,” Phoebe thought it would be prudent to let Odessa know. She didn’t want any misunderstandings. As much as Phoebe hated to approach the mermaid, there was no time to waste.

Phoebe found the elder in her study room of the cliff apartment. Odessa looked up from shuffling through piles of shimmering opalescent shells with strange rune carvings on them, an expectant look upon her face. Phoebe didn’t think this mermaid was used to accepting failure, on anyone’s part.

“I’m sorry to intrude, milady.” The honorific for Tristan’s mother still tripped awkwardly over Phoebe’s tongue, but she didn’t want to offend. Especially not now, asking for something the other mermaid might not want to allow.

Phoebe continued, “I need to be alone to find where Mina is. I’ll swim only as far as I need to in order to sense her.”

“I can understand your need for space, but you cannot go alone.”

“Milady, I promise you, I can handle a short swim away.”

“And if you get taken, Mina would be lost to us forever. I won’t risk my daughter because of your pride. Tristan will be your guard.”

Phoebe’s breath hitched.

Not Tristan!

ust hearing Tristan’s name hurt. Phoebe couldn’t forget his look of shock at their last touch, knowing he must finally fear her ability to control his emotions, his behavior. He’d said the sensations they shared were all ‘so much’―she’d clearly been unable to contain her powers. And then he didn’t reach for her, even when terribly upset. Now he might not even believe that he ever truly cared for her on his own, yet he had to keep working with her for the sake of his sister and family. The situation was just too painful.

“Milady, a guard is not necessary,” she said, just as a much subdued Tristan approached them, fiddling with his clam knife. He’d obviously heard Phoebe’s refusal of his company. His face was paler than usual, except for the flush along his cheekbones.

He glided to Phoebe’s side, offering her a little shrug without a word.

“I just need to get a bit farther away from all the merfolk to listen for Mina. I won’t be in any danger,” she insisted. Anger bubbled up. She was trying her best, and they weren’t helping.

Maybe if she just stayed focused on the immediate crisis, they could get through this. She couldn’t even begin to think what she’d do when this was all over and done.

“Tristan has a special tie to Mina, too, as siblings, twins no less. Whatever has got your tail in a twist, I suggest you fix it. I think you will find his presence familiar enough to not distract you from seeking Mina. I believe, in fact, the link they share will most likely boost your power.”

There was no arguing with Odessa. Her lips were smashed to a line. There was a darkness to her eyes that had nothing to do with magic and everything to do with grief.

“Fine,” Phoebe said.

Phoebe and Tristan swam off in silence, leaving Odessa gazing after them with a face like stone.

The sun must have been setting above. Phoebe could detect subtle differences of light levels in the water. Her new, improved vision also allowed her to see far into the distance. Such magical clarity disconcerted her. How could the merfolk ever rest in this underwater world if their sharp vision rarely dimmed?

They swam to an old garden of some kind along the last edges of the village. Sea cucumbers and tubers trailed over a few half-hearted stakes. At the center was a boulder with a seat worn away like a cupped hand.

“Sit there,” he said. “I’ll be at the edge of the garden, close enough to keep watch, but hopefully not close enough to bother you.”

The words stung. “Tristan, you don’t
bother
me.” She hadn’t meant to hurt his feelings.

“That’s not what I meant.”

The two stared for a long moment. Then Tristan backed away and took up his post, little clam knife at the ready.

Phoebe tried to focus, but all she could sense was Tristan. He wove through her mind, images flickering, nerves jangling.

“This isn’t going to work,” she said. She slapped the rock beside her. “Why can’t I feel her?”

Tristan sighed and floated over. They sat in silence for a long moment.

“What am I going to do?” she whispered.

Looking down and tracing patterns on the rock, he said, “You need to reach unity with the ocean.”

He was so close, his presence warm like the sun against her skin, but so far away in all the ways that mattered. How ironic to have so many of her dreams realized only to lose the one that had become most important to her. His refusal to even look at her snapped her patience.

“I don’t suppose it would involve
connecting through a hug and a kiss
?” she said sharply.

He flinched. “Phoebe, I should never have―”

“Well you did, didn’t you? And now what? I’m truly stuck as a mermaid and not acceptable to you? Or are you really afraid I’m manipulating you, like everyone else?” Anguish cut off her tirade. She could feel more from the others than she could from him. His presence was clear, but his emotions were guarded as if behind locked doors. Why? Was he fighting harder to keep her out of his heart and mind?

He looked stricken.

“No! No, of course that’s not it. I… I just don’t want you to think I kissed you because of your powers,” he stammered, flushing pink. His glow faded to a dim light.

She stared at him. His eyes remained trained on the sea floor, and his green hair floated over his shoulders like a cloak.

“You mean you don’t regret kissing me?” Phoebe couldn’t keep herself from asking.

He swallowed hard. His gaze finally met hers, and he touched her hair. “I’ve never regretted anything less―or more.”

She pushed herself away from him with a cry, but he rushed after her.

“You must understand, Phoebe. My mother would never allow me to court you, even if you remain here. She’d be too afraid of you; she doesn’t like to share her power. You deserve better anyway. We need to find you a way back to being human. It would be selfish of me to seek you as a bondmate and keep you here forever.”

Now she knew: even a broken heart was not enough to produce a mer-tear.

“Why do I have to go home?” she said. “Even if I could, which I don’t think I can, it’s never called to me like the sea does. Sierra understands. She told me so. Here I can at least help.”

“Here, you could die!”

“I almost died there, too. Or don’t you remember?”

The memories pierced her, and this time she let them. The swollen knee that kept her from running. The bruises along her arms, the whip marks on her back. Worse, the feeling that her life would never be hers again. All her hopes had been destroyed in one fell swoop. No magic, not for her. Her sister hadn’t come in time, was maybe even dead. Stunned, Phoebe hadn’t even put up a fight when they took her. For those few dark days, she believed she would be a slave, apart from her sister forever.

But here, for the first time, those memories didn’t reach so deep. Phoebe studied the delicate merfolk tattoos that danced along her skin. Miraculous. She was no longer that scared girl. Those men could never reach her. Here, she belonged to the first thing she ever loved besides her sister: the sea.

“Don’t you see?” Phoebe whispered, placing her hand on his chest. She let everything she felt for him shine from her eyes, no holding back. “This is where my heart really is.”

She looked up, and her jaw dropped at the wild intensity on his face. He looked almost wounded, torn between the most outstanding grief and the most ecstatic joy.

With a small gasp, he pulled her in his arms and held her. He buried his face in her hair. The new warmth she felt twice before spiraled through them both, connecting them closer than ever.

“
You
are my heart, Phoebe Quinn. Always,” he murmured in her ear.

At last.
Relief and happiness sketched a song in her mind. Blue lightning flowed between them and filled the water with its power. In her mind’s eye, the light of her magic coiled into the currents in the ocean, its powerful light spiraling out, seeking like reaching fingers.

Then Phoebe froze as her vision exploded in blue light, followed by a series of images. Mina’s hands tied. Mina in a pen shrinking away from a taunting wraith. And Mina looking out from far inside a deep trench, in a stone building with an intricate carving of a dragon-headed beast with tentacles.