In the meantime, I need to yell at the boys. Blue’s pool at the house is so barren. Literally a normal swimming pool, just saline instead of chlorine. Blue deserves better, and as his friends, they should have realized this.
Suddenly, Blue is pressed up to the glass again. He smiles at me and points up to the top of the pool. Does he want to go already? There is no need. We have a few more hours at least.
He points again. More insistently this time. Fine. I get the message.
I race back up the stairs and find Blue already bobbing his head above the water.
“Come in!” he exclaims as soon as he sees me.
“What?” I laugh nervously. “You’ve seen me swim.”
He grins, eyes twinkling with mischief. “Do you trust me?”
I shake my head at him, but quickly undress. I sit on the edge and dangle my feet into the water. It is delightfully warm. But I’m not sure I’m brave enough to jump in. This is nothing like a swimming pool. It’s very deep and the sides are glass and most of the top is covered, with only this small portion open for access.
Blue drifts right up to me. A very naughty expression crosses his face, and then his hand is grabbing my ankle, and he is yanking me in. I snatch in a gasp of air before I’m submerged.
He releases my ankle. His arms wrap around me, pulling me close to him in a tight embrace. Soft, soft lips brush over my own. He is kissing me. Blue is kissing me. My arms twine around his neck and I kiss him back.
He zings and sparkles. It is a kiss like no other. And that’s nothing to do with it being underwater. It doesn’t feel like our first kiss. It feels like coming home.
Dimly I’m aware that we are slowly sinking, down and down. While turning gently. It’s like a dance. We kiss and kiss.
My feet touch sand, and my eyes fly open. We are all the way at the bottom of the tank. It’s an awfully long way to any oxygen. I cling onto Blue in panic. But he smiles at me serenely.
He takes a deep breath of water and points at my chest encouragingly. No. Surely not? He can’t mean what I think he means. Does that kiss mean I can now breathe underwater? Does being the mate of a siren give me that power?
My lungs are protesting now. I can’t hold this breath any longer. I stare into Blue’s eyes. He will not let me drown. If this goes wrong, he’ll get me to the surface. I know he will.
Oh my god. I can’t believe I’m about to do this.
My mouth opens and bubbles fly out. Warm water slides in and…it’s fine. My lungs stutter through a few breaths. It feels strange. But fine. I can breathe underwater.
I do a little excited dance. Blue laughs.
Then he takes my hand and shows me his world.
Chapter seventeen
Blue
This bundle of books in my arms feels ridiculous. Sammy, with his boundless kindness, gifted me something truly wondrous. Perfect and thoughtful and incredible. A fragment of the ocean, shimmering with untold beauty. A taste of home. It was as though he’d handed me a miracle. And here I stand, clutching a stack of children’s books, ready to knock on his door. It really is a pathetic offering in comparison.
The sound of his laughter, a pure, unrestrained melody of joy, reaches my ears. The corners of my mouth tug upwards. There’s something infectious about Sammy’s laughter, the way it fills the space and spills over into your own heart, making it impossible not to smile.
I knock softly.
“Come in,” comes his cheerful invitation.
I push the door open to find him sprawled on his bed, his hair a tousled mess, eyes crinkled in amusement as he scrolls on his phone.
“What’s so funny?” I ask, curiosity piqued.
Sammy looks up, his eyes twinkling with mirth. “A video of a donkey playing with a rubber chicken,” he says, his voice bubbling with laughter.
He replays the video, angling the screen so I can see. Sammy’s laughter, a mix of snorts and giggles, is so delightfully absurd that I can’t helpbut chuckle along.
I place the books on his bedside table and slide on to the bed next to him, feeling the mattress dip under our combined weight. Sammy, ever the sweetheart, turns off his phone and nestles it amongst his blankets, his attention now fully on me. He looks at the books, his head tilted slightly in curiosity.
