Fathom(37)

I was standing on the edge of the river that ran through our property in Stanley. The stick I held in my hand had snagged a long piece of river weed, and I was flinging it around in a circle to get rid of it. Ducking from the cold drops, I caught my reflection in the water and stopped. I looked gaunt and sickly. Dropping the stick, I squatted on the bank and stared, my hand flying to the side of my face in alarm.

“Morgan, you need to feed the horses.”

It was Richard, my adopted father, and real dad for all intents and purposes. He looked as he had the day I left for Vero. His smile from across the river sent chills down my spine and I froze - he was dead.

“Come on,” he said in his warm, loving voice. “Bambi eyes won’t get you out of doing your chores.”

I looked back to the water and screamed. Thayde floated within inches of my touch. His once dark blue eyes were glazed over milky white and stared into the sky. Horror washed over me.

“Let’s go, Morgan,” Dad called.

“We can’t leave Thayde here!” I cried and began to climb into the water to pull him out. Dad crossed the river and took my arm in his hand.

“We can’t do anything for him.”

“I’m not leaving him!” I yanked away and pulled at Thayde’s arm in an attempt to drag him from the chilly river. The weight from his waterlogged body was too much and I dropped his arm, falling backward into the current.

“You must come now.” Dad picked me out of the waves and threw me over his shoulder in a fireman’s lift. I began to scream for Thayde as my dad walked away from him.

A quiet singing slowly overtook my cries.



“To be with you, away from here

in an ocean blue, everything clear.

Silky warm and free within

No inhibitions, free to swim.”



In an instant, I was awake. I grabbed my aching heart and groaned; my nightmares were too lifelike. The pretty diamond sky shone through my window and I knew it was way too early to be up. Peering through the darkness, the alarm clock glared 4:42 am back in red.



“Walk to the waters that pull you in

know it taught her- it is her kin.

Bind yourself unto her

find yourself- do not deter.”



It was singing, yet it almost sounded like chanting at the same time. Nearly falling off the edge of the bed, I sat up and strained to listen to the melodic voice that danced in on the breeze from my open window.



“She is the love and the light

sent from above she will take flight.

Down to the depths of the sea

with no regrets will you follow me?”



I’d never heard anything like the hypnotic sound that drew me to the window. Rubbing my eyes, I strained to see through the tall pine trees in the direction the singing was coming and saw nothing.

Most likely it was Aletheia. Wrapping myself in my robe and slipping on my fuzzy slippers, I slinked down the stairs, praying they wouldn’t squeak. Thankfully, not even the patio door made any noise.

The voice was coming from the lake. I followed the stone steps down to the water and stopped, trying to locate the voice. It seemed to be coming from behind the huge boulders. Carefully, I climbed their pocketed sides and peeped over the top, nearly falling off in fright.

Naira was sitting on the smallest one, her legs in the water and her back to me. On her lap, lay an enormous dragon-like head of what was very clearly a magical monster: Sharlie. His body remained half submerged in the water and his eyes were closed. Naira’s hands stroked the top of his head as she sang to him.

My breath escaped, making a slight whooshing sound and the instant it did, both Sharlie and Naira looked up at me. Seconds later, Sharlie had slipped under the water making barely a noise. Naira looked longingly at the ripples he left. Not sure what to do, I climbed down and crouched next to her.

“Are you all right?” I managed to ask.

“Yes. Why were you hiding?” Her innocent voice still sounded melodic.

“I didn’t know who was singing. I didn’t want to disturb them.”

“You made him leave,”

“I’m sorry - I didn’t know what it was.”

“It was Sharlie. I don’t know if he’ll come back now.”

“What are you doing down here, Naira?” I asked, nervously eying the water’s surface. Images of Sharlie rearing out of the black waves and snapping both of us into his sharply toothed mouth filled my mind.

“I saw him swimming and wanted to touch him. So I sang to him and he came up to me.”

“He could have hurt you!”

“No,” she insisted, “he likes me.”

“You have to be very careful. What if someone saw you?”

She didn’t answer. Being around Naira made me feel a little uncomfortable at times. She sounded too grown up. In human years, she was nearly three, but in mermaid years, she was almost eleven and her vocabulary was just as developed.