“It’s a surprise,” he said and pushed off backwards. In a flash, he had phased and was waiting for me. Throwing his swim trunks onto the steps, he ducked below the water and flipped his tail at me, splashing water all over my legs.
“That won’t work.” I stuck my tongue out at him and he grinned. “I can phase too, you know.” I jumped in, watching his face as I phased. He seemed taken aback.
“You have gold fins?”
“I like it,” I said, worried that he suddenly thought less of me.
“I like it too, it’s just that it’s not…” he trailed off.
“White?”
“Yes.”
“Yeah, that shocked Mom and Tammer too.”
“Halflings don’t have gold tails.” He reached out and touched the smaller fins that circled the top of my tail, just below my waist. They moved gracefully with the current.
“You’re beautiful,” he said and placed his hand in the small of my back, pulling me toward him. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I hugged him carefully.
“I’m okay - not a hundred percent, but I’ll be there soon.”
One of his hands slid up my back to my neck and the other held softly around my waist.
“I love you,” he said and placed his lips on mine, letting them stay open slightly. I lost myself again in his kiss. It was as if there was no one else on earth, but us. I pulled back, staying centimeters from him and purposely looked into his eyes.
“I love you more,” I said and he beamed.
“Nuh-uh!”
“Ya-huh!” I argued and he quickly kissed me.
“We’d better get going.”
The salty water closed over our heads as we dove and swam side by side. It was still taking me a while to get used to the heaviness of breathing underwater, but it didn’t slow me down. Today, the water was extraordinarily clear. We could see at least a hundred feet in front of us.
He led me farther out to sea than Mom or Tammer had, pointing out all the coral reefs and downed ships. I told him the ships made me nervous and he advised me not to go in them until I was more experienced.
“Don’t ever underestimate the sea,” he warned. “The minute you do, she’ll rise up against you.”
Very soon, the bottom of the ocean was no longer visible. We swam over the top of some black-tipped reef sharks and Thayde noticed my hesitation.
“You don’t have to worry at all about them. They don’t bother us.”
“Is there anything I need to worry about?” I asked, still keeping an eye on the sharks.
“Yes, other merfolk. Humans and their nets and boats. The propellers have been known to kill a few of us every once in a while. You have to pay attention.”
I didn’t know how far we had swum until we surfaced. Land was a small sliver in the distance.
“How could we have possibly come this far?” I asked.
“We swim fast,” he said, wiping his face with his hand. “Are you ok?”
“Just a little nervous,” I admitted and he took my hand.
“You’re with me. Nothing bad will happen.”
I nodded and looked down into the depths.
“Morgan,” Thayde reassured, “you’ll be all right.”
“Where are you taking me?” I asked, changing the subject.
“We have to go down now,” he said, watching me pretend to be okay.
Down? I could feel panic start to rise in my throat.
“I want to show you something special.” He turned away from me and patted his shoulders. “Come on. Hang on to me. Don’t be afraid.”
Hesitantly, I placed a hand on each of his strong shoulders, holding my breath and silently noting this might be my last day alive.
“Here we go,” and slowly, so as not to scare me, we went under. He straightened into a dive and swam straight down, with me attached to him like a tick. I wanted to close my eyes, but they felt as if they were propped open with toothpicks. A school of tiny silver fish flew past us. As we dove deeper, the temperature dropped. When I looked behind us, I could no longer see the light from the surface.
“We’re almost there, Morgan,” he said. “It’s the most special place I know of. I hope you’ll like it.”
I didn’t say a word as my breath was taken at the sudden emergence of an enormous whale shark. It ignored us and lazily swam past. I clung more tightly to Thayde’s shoulders.
Then, in the distance, I saw the glow of lights. This piqued my curiosity and I looked over Thayde’s shoulder to get a better view. As we drew closer, the lights grew stronger and Thayde slowed. We had reached the bottom of the ocean and were in a vast chasm. The walls of the chasm formed a giant U and before us lay a beautiful white city.