“I knew one day you’d ask me this. We fell in love when we were fifteen. I met him when my family attended a council meeting. Once every ten years, the elders from the heads of the families meet. We were both with our fathers. We found out later that our families had always intended us to be together. The minute we met, we were inseparable. He’s the love of my life.”
I winced, thinking of Dad. She must have read my mind.
“Not that I didn’t love your father, Morgandy, but there’s a difference between loving someone and being in love with someone. Your father was a sweet and kind human who took care of me when I was in trouble. He knew nothing about merfolk. I stayed with him for as long as I could, but I desperately missed Tammer. I had to go back to him.”
“Yeah,” I said, blandly. Don’t get me wrong, I really liked Tammer but it was hard to hear Mom talk about Dad that way.
It was about that time Tammer got back. His face scowled and he paced back and forth as he told us that he’d gone to the Dartmoth house and demanded to speak to Akin and his father, Limus. They refused to see him until Tammer had threatened to bring on a thunderstorm the likes of which they’d never seen and tear apart their house.
Tammer demanded Akin admit what he had done. Of course Akin had refused, stating that I was a lying little Halfling. This greatly offended Tammer but before he could bring the rain, Limus dissolved the situation by saying that while he didn’t believe Akin had done anything wrong, he would order Akin to stay away from me and forced him to apologize to Tammer for calling me a Halfling. With that, they’d turned on their heels and left Tammer standing in their driveway.
“Akin shouldn’t go against his father’s wishes,” Tammer said, “but Morgan, if he ever threatens you or comes near you again, you have my full permission to set him on fire.”
That actually sounded hilarious and I laughed. No, I didn’t feel a hundred percent better about the fact that Akin had threatened me or touched me inappropriately, but to hear Tammer speak those words seemed funny.
Mom and Tammer told me they would teach me to swim properly in the ocean in the last few days before school began. We’d begin just off the house and swim the channels between the small islands that surrounded the main island. After deciding to begin in the morning, we all said goodnight and went to bed.
The water was too cold. I stood on the edge of the steps leading into the water, a towel shrink-wrapped around my shoulders. I’d been standing there for a good ten minutes. Mom and Tammer were laughing at me a few feet away, their heads bobbing up and down in the water as they were pushed gently about by the waves.
“It’s not that bad!” Tammer laughed. “Just jump in and get it over with!”
I shook my head.
“Come on, honey!” Mom was near hysterics. “Even Naira didn’t take this long!”
This was fine for them; they were used to it. I, on the other hand, preferred the warmth of the bathtub. I stepped down a step and gasped. Yes, yes, this was going wonderfully! Not. Who in their right mind did this?
“Morgan, just get it over with!” Tammer started to swim closer to me.
“Shut up!” I joked back. This was going to suck. Throwing the towel behind me, I adjusted my bikini top and took a breath. “Crap!” I yelled and jumped in.
“Ha ha,” I groaned in sarcasm. They were laughing underwater! Ignoring them, I phased and ran a hand over my lap, feeling in awe of myself. My tail was such a pretty color and it was incredible to see it instead of my legs. When I flexed what would have been my thigh muscle, my tail flexed and the golden scales turned slightly orange in the light.
“We are going to swim out to one of the islands today. It should be really fun!” Mom handed me my bikini bottoms and I slid them over my shoulder like a purse. With Tammer by my side, I followed Mom out into the ocean blue.
The ocean floor dropped steeply and soon we were swimming about twenty feet down with a good thirty feet still below us. Following the channels between the islands, we made our way toward open sea.
What made me stop from screaming and scrambling for the surface was the fact that I could actually see all around me. I think if it had been completely dark, so I wasn’t able to see the bottom, I couldn’t have done it. Large fish darted about in the shoals and the seaweed drifted up toward us, as if beckoning us to swim deeper. A boat sped over the top of us and Tammer frowned.
“They’re speeding. This is a twenty-five knot area. They’re going to kill another manatee at this rate. Where’s the patrol when you need them?”
“Tammer, just leave it alone,” Mom called over her shoulder. “Patrol will get them in due time. Let’s just focus on showing Morgandy about.”