Seven
BRETT WRIGHT
Thefibers felt like veins as my thumb ran across the kelp. I envisioned slicing one of them with my nail and green blood oozing out, clogging the water. My gaze traveled to the blue paths under my wrist’s skin. Would that work? Could a demon bleed out? If there was a place it could happen, the bottom of the ocean would be the best bet.
Looking up, the illumination captivated me. Where the kelp had been bound, light seeped through in long striations, giving the ceiling of the hut a stained-glass effect. Golden light cutting through fractures of kelp cast green prisms over the sand. It was beautiful. Almost peaceful. I’m sure at any other time, it would be the most tranquil place on the planet, but for right now, “almost peaceful” was as good as it was gonna get. Somehow, the diffused light from the kelp made the space inside even brighter than in the openness of the meadow. It was like a light was on inside, except not harsh. More like a hundred candles glowing and flickering.
The hut really was marvelous. Somehow they had made it so only a few strands of kelp were in the open space in the hut, making it look like twisting pillars towering scores of feet above my head.
I wondered about the other huts, if they were similar to mine. Only a few huts were in the circle. Maybe ten to twelve. I hadn’t counted. Unless there were only twelve mers, I was skeptical each one got their own hut. Again, despite Zef’s affirmation that I was a mer, the solitary feeling of my space seemed to say otherwise. I was certain it marked me as special, however. Special like the village idiot. Village demon. Village faggot.
I was willing to bet Therin had been planning on having me live with him. Well, imagine that. Only had a dad for a minute and was already having daddy issues. Maybe we were a real family after all. I’d spent my whole life daydreaming about having a dad. Here we go.
Despair washed over me again. For a moment I considered rushing out of the kelp and darting for the surface again. Screw the signs.
I’d already been through this. I’d done the whole coming out process. Done the family rejection thing. Left the church. Successfully completed the moving out, getting settled on my own. Managed to build my own life. Even took that extra step and reunited with Grandma. The gay life cycle. Check. Got an A-plus. Well, maybe a B, since I couldn’t hack the gay relationship thing. Still, walked the stage, shook the hands, got the diploma. I passed! Of course, that was before all the pieces crumbled around my feet. That’s right, Dad. Feet. Not a motherfucking tail!
Did I really have to do it all again? Could I even do it again? At least before, we’d all been the same species, or thought we were. Here, I didn’t even know how to get into their houses, let alone build a relationship.
This should be my miracle. I was more mer than anything else, it was true. This should be where I belonged. My body was the most at home here. Being in the sea felt right. It was right. It had to be. And maybe being in the sea was right, but what wasn’t right was thinking I needed to be with the mers. I hadn’t managed to be successful with my grandparents. Wasn’t able to cut it with the witches. The only place I’d ever fit was with Sonia, and now she was the same species that was hunting me. Why should this be any different just because I was under the water? Maybe I was supposed to exist on my own. Not on land like I’d been thinking before, not building a home in some new city. Maybe I was supposed to find my own cavern at the very bottom of the ocean, in its deepest depths, and spend the rest of eternity in a state of endless theoretical frozen suspension.
Was I truly going to go through this again? Did my childhood desire to have a father supersede the need of being fully who I am, not hiding any longer? Maybe San Diego really could work. I could simply return to land and rebuild a new life with my grandmother. I’d gotten her back, finally. I couldn’t just leave her.
Land. San Diego. Home. Filled with vampires. Dead best friends. Witches. Finn. Right, how did I keep forgetting?
No, this was better. I was where I needed to be. I could feel it in my blood. This was home. I belonged in the sea. Maybe it would turn out that I didn’t belong with the mers, but I had to try. Even if some part of myself was sacrificed in the process.
A flickering piece of seaweed, out of my periphery, caught my attention. It fluttered back and forth, swiftly flitting up and down. It took a moment before I noticed a slender hand at the base of the weed, waving it like a flag. I watched the motioning hand for a second, waiting for it to do something else. It didn’t, just kept waving the kelp around. It paused, then started again.
Cautiously, I swam toward the streamer, stretched out my hand, and parted the seaweed by the intruding arm. A young, pretty face was on the other side, and bright seafoam eyes met mine through the opening. I stared at the girl, unsure what was happening.
After a few silent heartbeats, a timid voice floated into my brain.“Would it be all right if I joined you in your dwelling?”
Unable to form an intelligible sentence, I nodded.
Her other hand slipped in beside the hand that had been waving the seaweed and stretched the opening to accommodate her body. She swam in, and the “doorway” closed behind her. Nimbly, she wafted to the sand, her hand weaving a strand of kelp around her forearm, her pale lavender tail curling beneath her as she settled into a reclining position. Her honey-blonde hair rested at the top of her shoulders in the absence of a current. Stupidly, I noticed the length and was surprised her hair was relatively short. The others I had seen had several feet of hair flowing behind them. I guessed some mers cut their hair. Leave it to a gay to notice hairstyles before anything else. Of course, part of that may have been due to the absence of anything to partially cover her small breasts and petal-pink nipples. A sense of trepidation overtook me as I envisioned the queen sending this lovely mermaid to turn me into a straight boy. Unintentionally, I found myself against the opposite side of the hut, the kelp tickling my ass. Damn it! I’d forgotten I was naked. Twenty-three and my first time being alone and naked with a girl. I bet Grandpa was smiling down on me from Heaven. Maybe not…
The mermaid tilted her head, a look of concern creasing her forehead.“Am I distressing you? I can leave if you need it to be so.”
“Did your ruler send you?”
She hesitated.“Ruler?”
“Your queen. Uh, Syleen. Did she send you?”
She shook her head, her blonde tresses swirling gently around her face.“No. I have not had conference with Syleen this day.”
That was a good sign.“Okay.”What was I supposed to say to this girl? Thinking about all the other things I’d said wrong today, I decided that nothing was the safest choice.
After a few moments, she smiled, a sweet, genuine smile that made the beautiful hut even more lovely. I felt a rush of comfort, as I imagined Sonia’s face superimposed over the mermaid’s features. Sonia, how she’d been before.“I thought I would come welcome you to the family.”She reached up and delicately swiped away a lock of hair that had come to rest over her eyes.“That, and I hoped to satisfy my curiosity of the human that had arrived.”
Human. I never would have thought how wonderful it would be to be called human. Even if it wasn’t overly accurate, it was nice to hear. I didn’t correct her.
“You are the most beautiful creature I have ever seen.”Both her expression and her tone testified to her pure sincerity. She wasn’t flirting—if mers even flirted, which I doubted. She was just stating a fact. Like she was admiring a sunset or some other natural occurrence.
“Thank you.”I was used to being complimented about my looks, ever since I was a little kid. The witches had been the ones to inform me of the source of my good looks. Demon parentage. Being fallen angels, they were the most beautiful of all humanlike creations. Beauty was one of the attributes their offspring inherited, often used as a way for others to identify demon heritage.“It’s only because of my demon blood.”Way to go, dumb shit. Good way to burn bridges right off.
She nodded thoughtfully.“Yes, I heard you are a mix of species.”
