“I know,” he cupped the back of my head gently, pulling me to him. “I’ll go with you.”
“You don’t have to leave,” I answered, my voice muffled into his chest.
“I want to be with you.” He answered. “Why don’t you get ready and I’ll check out of the hotel.”
Moments later, he had left and I was re-dressing. My thoughts swirled around Naira as I pulled on a pair of white cargo pants. If it wasn’t one thing, it was another with my family – with my kind for that matter. I pulled the yellow tunic over my head and picked up the pretty box that held my new earrings, slipping them onto my ears.
You almost finished? I thought.
Not yet, hon.
I grabbed my cell phone and sat on the edge of the bed, wracking my brain. Naira would be four years old in Human years this year, but merfolk aged differently than Humans. A year to merfolk was like five years to humans. I once described it as Aragorn’s aging in the movie Lord of the Rings. Also, she was much different than the rest of us – even she knew it.
A few months ago, she began growing quickly. At the time I couldn’t understand why Mom had been so worried about it, but now, as I thought about it, if a person’s body grew overnight from being the age of four to the age of ten, not only would the pain be excruciating, but it most likely would kill the person.
No one knew how she was different from everyone else; they only knew she was different. The growth spurts were the beginning of it. She had a multi-colored tail as well – no one had that either. None of The Links before me had family. No one knew what to expect. If I was to figure this out, I’d need to summon the thoughts and teachings from the rulers before me. There had to be an answer in there somewhere.
The download was instant and I gasped as thousands of memories flooded my mind. Gripping the cover with both hands, I held on and took the roller coaster ride of my life. Intense feelings of passion, hatred, forgiveness and acceptance shook me to the core. Glimpses of memories past invaded my mind: Troen stroking the side of his girlfriend Liesa’s face, a meeting in a giant curved hall with many merpeople in attendance, blood swirling in the ocean current, witnessing the birth of a baby, the view of a fuchsia sunset across the waters, watching powers fly from an outstretched hand and annihilate a group of advancing soldiers. Sifting through the memories, I was eventually able to pick up on healing our kind.
Despite the centuries of ruling, there was hardly any information on the repercussions of The Link having siblings – just speculation. The guesses were all the same; the sibling wouldn’t survive past their fifteenth birthday. It was chalked up to being a genetic mutation. In order to ensure The Link being the only one capable of such powers, the line would automatically place a termination on further siblings. Speculation was that once they turned five, the aging process would speed up exponentially, causing the merperson to age rapidly and die.
There had to be a different answer and I delved deeper, only to come up empty-handed. I’d have to find a way to save Naira on my own. Of course, there wouldn’t be any solid facts on the situation. It had never been done before.
I opened my eyes to a very worried looking Thayde kneeling before me.
“Are you okay?” He asked, prying my hands from their death grip on the covers.
“She’s going to die unless I find a way to stop her aging.”
Thayde looked at the floor. “There isn’t any way that I’m aware of.”
“It’s not been done before.”
He shook his head. Thayde thought it was impossible, but I couldn’t believe that. Nothing is impossible. I wiped my sweaty forehead and watched him pull a tee shirt over his head. When he offered his hand, I let him pull me to my feet.
“The Maître’d will mail our things back to Vero for us.” Thayde suddenly added.
“They do that?”
“When you have money, Morgan, you can do anything.” He pulled me to him.
“You ready?” I asked.
“Yup,” he gritted his teeth.
“Here we go,”
Seconds later, The Leap threw us back to Vero Beach.
CHAPTER THREE
BACK TO VERO
Leaping had its benefits, but it wasn’t the most pleasant of experiences. Thayde and I slammed together as it threw us to Vero. We alighted on Tammer’s pretty lawn by the side of his one-of-a-kind mansion on the edge of the ocean. The pool looked like it hadn’t been used in weeks. I’d never seen Tammer cover it before.
Thayde and I made our way across the thick green grass to the sliding glass doors of the living room. The house was like walking into a morgue. Tammer’s best friend, David, and Mom’s best friend, Vitahl, greeted us somberly as we walked in. Vitahl simply pointed to my parents’ bedroom.