~
We motored into the harbor, with Ethan steering the small inflatable into its berth. I’d been peeled off the buoy and made to sip water slowly, as Cruz filled me in on his own awful night. Ethan was preoccupied with piloting us back to land, and I was afraid to make eye contact, ashamed of my stupid move. I sat in mute exhaustion, resting my dizzy head on Cruz’s shoulder as he spoke. He put a reassuring arm around me.
“I’m so sorry, Cruz, I should have listened to you.” My voice sounded hoarse and raspy.
I felt horrible about implicating Cruz. He described to me how he’d been frantic, pacing on the sand for hours. He finally went to Megan’s, where they tried to figure out what to do. Cruz had lied to Abby, telling her I was spending the night at Megan’s. I felt bad about involving them, but I was grateful that Abby didn’t know. This time, I knew she would tell my father, and I would definitely be sent away for this one.
Megan and Cruz had ended up spending the night on the beach, waiting in vain for my return. They knew that Ethan lived at the harbor, and went to him at dawn for help. His father was away on a fishing trip for the weekend, but Ethan had his inflatable skiff.
They told Ethan about Lorelei, and were surprised when he believed them. Of course he would, I thought; he had seen her too. I felt terrible, because now he knew that I had been telling him lies. Lies of omission.
Megan told him about my near fatal trip to the buoy last time, and Cruz guessed that she might have taken me there again. Ethan thought he knew where they might find it, and they left the harbor in the early morning light to search for me. They were far out to sea, circling hopelessly and getting nowhere when the dolphins came and guided them. I thought about the pod we saw surfing and wondered if they were the same ones. Could Lorelei have sent them?
I dozed off and on, utterly exhausted, lulled to sleep by the droning engine. The next thing I knew Ethan was lifting me up from the boat onto a dock where Cruz held me upright and steadied me. Megan came running up, a relieved look on her face.
She gave me a big hug. “Thank God! We thought we might not get you back!”
I looked down, contrite. “You were right. I’m sorry.”
“For God’s sake, Marina, promise us you won’t have anything to do with her anymore,” said Megan sternly.
I hesitated, Lorelei may be annoyingly childlike, but now I knew she was part of my family. My voice was quiet. “I don’t know if I can.”
Megan screwed up her face in frustration. “Marina, you’ve got to drop this obsession! It’s going to get you killed!”
Ethan was standing there, arms crossed. He looked mad.
“Thank you for finding me,” I told him timidly. “You saved my life.”
“My place is up there,” he said, gesturing to a row of apartments overlooking the harbor, “You need to get out of that wetsuit.” He was right. I was uncomfortable and dirty from the buoy.
I turned to Cruz. “My clothes! Do you have my bag?”
“Sorry, I left them at home when I got the car last night,” Cruz said. “I’ll get them and bring them here. Mom thinks that Ethan picked you up from Megan’s to take you surfing.”
Megan yawned and stretched. “My mom is wondering where I disappeared to. I gotta go.”
Cruz followed Megan over to the Porsche. He stopped and turned around, dangling my purse. He must have taken it off the buoy.
“At least I got your Prada back from her!”
Megan and Cruz looked at each other and laughed. I turned to face Ethan. He was not amused.
“Come on,” he said, walking away. I trailed behind him.
Ethan’s place was on the second floor, and I followed him up the stairs on stiff legs. The front of the building was covered with a huge blooming bougainvillea, creating a wall of brilliant fuchsia. He opened the door and let me in wordlessly, avoiding eye contact.
I stood there awkwardly, feeling like I had ruined our friendship. Ethan left the room and I looked around nervously. His apartment was comfortable but spare; you could tell that no woman lived there. An overstuffed couch sat facing a big TV, and there were stacks of sports and surfing magazines. A desk in the corner held a computer and printer, piled high with mounds of papers.
He came back in the room, brusquely handing me a folded towel, sweats and a T-shirt. He pointed in the direction of the bathroom. “Give me your wetsuit and I’ll get it cleaned up for you. You need to rinse off.”
I nodded. “Thanks,” I said weakly. I stripped off my wetsuit and handed it to him through the cracked door. When I peeled off my swimsuit I could see the outline of a nasty sunburn flaming on my back. I shuddered with the chills, and got into the shower. The warm water felt like heaven, and I wanted to curl up and go to sleep right there. I rinsed out my swimsuit and hung it on the rod.
I slipped into Ethan’s clothes and looked in the mirror. My bruised face was now sporting a sunburn across the bridge of my nose and my cheeks. My lip was still swollen with a big scab where the split had closed. My wet hair was tangled and messy, and I looked comical swimming in Ethan’s too big clothes. I came out to find him sitting on the couch. He looked up and tried to suppress a smile.
“I know.” I said sheepishly. “I’m a mess.”
“Have a seat.” He gestured to the couch. I sat down, clenching my hands in my lap.
“I’m sorry,” I said, looking down.
He exhaled hard. “Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked with a twinge of annoyance in his voice.
“It’s a long story,” I said.
“I have time,” he said.
And so I started talking and it all spilled out. I told him how I saw Lorelei the day I first saw him, and felt her hand pull me up from underwater when I got hit by the sleeper wave. I told him about taking Cruz and Megan to see her and talking to her for the first time.
“They can talk?” he asked, shocked and curious.
“Yes, but I’m the only one who can. I’m the only one who understands her,”
He looked surprised, raising his eyebrows at me.
I went on to explain, “Her voice–it sounds like bells to me. But Cruz and Megan can only hear water.”
“Marina, Cruz told me that she nearly killed you,” he said gravely. “I can’t believe she dragged you all that way–and without a wetsuit? Twice!” He looked angry again.
“It’s not like that! She didn’t know!” I felt deeply protective of her, as if she needed me to defend her. “She didn’t understand why I got so cold.”
“That explains why you had no water in your lungs.” He shook his head. “You must have been freezing to death!”
“Literally,” I said, meeting his eyes. I had to look away, remembering when he asked me about it before.
“Why weren’t you afraid to go back?” he asked quietly.
I told him that Lorelei didn’t know anything about people, and that she was the one who had saved me from Shayla’s panicked death grip. I explained how she had peeled Shayla off of me, and ended up saving both of us. I told him how I’d made plans to meet with her again on that day. I went on to try and describe her childlike nature; I wanted him to understand that she was joyful and naive, lighthearted and carefree. Whatever she was, I knew that she meant me no harm.
“She’s innocent–she just doesn’t understand humans,” I was struck with the realization that I was only half human, and shivered suddenly as a cold chill passed through me.
“Are you okay?” Ethan asked.
I nodded mutely, suddenly speechless.
“Was she the girl, the one who stopped the shark?”
“I think so–she was there that day we were surfing. She saw you teaching me. I tried to ask her about it but she was being … difficult.”
“What do you mean by difficult?” he asked with raised eyebrows.
I looked at him with pained eyes. “She kept trying to show me things that she’d collected … things that were my–” my voice caught in my throat. I could see the
hairless baby doll in my mind and I squeezed my eyes shut.
“She sent the dolphins that day,” he said flatly, the truth dawning on him.
“I guess. I didn’t have a chance to ask.”
“Is that the only reason you wanted me to teach you to surf?” he asked, sounding a little hurt.
I shook my head vehemently, meeting his eyes sincerely. “No! I really wanted to try, it looked like so much fun! And it was fun! Probably the most fun thing I’ve ever done.” I dropped my gaze, a little ashamed. “But it did occur to me that I could use the board to try and find out more …”
“What happened yesterday?” he asked firmly. “Why did she leave you there?” Something in his tone demanded the truth.
I heaved a shaky breath. “After she brought me out to the buoy another one showed up.”
He looked shocked and listened intently as I described the other mermaid’s arrival and the horrible screeching fight that ensued. Their wild thrashing struggle was fresh in my mind as I tried to explain the frightening speed and power of the battling creatures. I told him how I had been left there alone, and how scary it was in the dark.
“I lost my surfboard …”
Ethan let out a long breath, shaking his head. “What I don’t–can’t–understand is why you would go off to meet her again after you nearly died because of her!”
I swallowed hard, my throat sore from the ordeal. “She told me something that day, the first time she dragged me out there, just before I blacked out. Something I haven’t told anyone.” I looked up at him as my eyes filled with involuntary tears. “I had to find out for sure. I had to know.” I dropped my head, biting down on my lip to keep it from trembling.
“Know what?”
I wrung my hands in anguish, looking for a way out, fighting the urge to run for the door. After everything he’d done for me he had a right to know.
“She told me … she said …”
“What?” he asked again, his voice quietly insistent.
“M-my mother.” My voice was quaking. “My mother was one of them–a mermaid.” I turned away, afraid to see the look on his face. He paused for a moment, as if to let it sink in.
“How do you know she isn’t lying?” he asked gently.
“Her name,” I whispered. “She knew her name.”
I turned to look up at him fearfully, startled by the sudden tenderness in his eyes. He leaned in and wrapped his arms around me.
“No wonder you’re so beautiful,” he said, drawing me into him.
I was shaking as I laid my head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat. He was warm, and he smelled good. I concentrated on the steady rhythm and started to calm down. I could have stayed like that forever, rocking slightly with the rise and fall of his breathing, taking refuge in the circle of his arms.
A knock on the door broke us apart. Ethan patted my knee reassuringly and got up. It was Cruz, and he came in the room, eying us speculatively. I could almost hear him thinking as he looked me over. When he handed me my clothes, I thanked him and excused myself to the bathroom to change.
I emerged to find him sitting on the couch talking with Ethan about their good luck in finding me. Cruz asked me questions about what had happened overnight and I recounted the tale–most of it. Ethan caught my eye as I skipped over the mother part in my recitation. Cruz thought the spray bottle was hilarious, and his eyes flew open in horror when I told him about the other mermaid and the violent screeching fight.
“You mean there’s more than one?” he grimaced theatrically.
“Apparently the ocean is crawling with them,” I snarked back.
“Just your luck,” Cruz joked. “You really bring them out of the woodwork, don’t you?”
“Everything would have been fine if the other one hadn’t have shown up. How was I supposed to anticipate that?” I said defensively.
“You shouldn’t have gone in the first place,” his tone was uncharacteristically serious. I felt a fresh flush of guilt for putting him the whole ordeal.
“I couldn’t resist the temptation,” I said quietly, truthfully.
“That’s what she said,” Cruz flashed me an impish grin, making me laugh in spite of my guilty conscience.
When my stomach growled audibly, Cruz and I exchanged a look and laughed again.
“You must be starving!” Ethan said. I was, but I hadn’t noticed it until now.
Cruz sprang up to go. “I’m supposed to be at work, so uh … you kids have fun surfing!” He sounded just like Abby. He smirked, eyes glittering with amusement. “Seriously, mom doesn’t expect you home until later this evening. See you tonight.” He was out the door before I could even say anything.
“What do you want to eat?” Ethan asked.
“I don’t care,” I said, suddenly overcome with exhaustion. “I really can’t go anywhere right now–could you please just take me home?”
“Are you kidding?” he asked with a smile. “We’re surfing, remember?” He left the room and came back with a soft blanket. “You must be tired. Why don’t you just kick back and I’ll make you my famous grilled cheese.”
“Sounds good,” I said, nestling down on the couch, watching him as he tucked the blanket around me. I wondered why he was being so nice to me after all the lies I’d told. When he left the room my eyelids grew heavy.