I nodded as I phased and pulled my bikini bottoms onto my arm. Thayde’s dark blue eyes watched me, a slight smile upon his face. Since fully receiving The Blessing, my aura as well as my tail had turned from gold to a deep burgundy red. It was a shock to me the first time I phased in McCall, Idaho, and made the discovery. Everyone but Aletheia, of course, was amazed at the change.
“I don’t know how I’m going to get used to seeing you with a red tail instead of gold.” Thayde shook his head, his short black hair waving to and fro in the water.
“Don’t you like it?” I asked, pretending to be hurt.
“Of course I like it! I’m just not used to it.” He kissed my hand. “You’re beautiful to me no matter what you look like.”
“Even if I got mange?” I asked.
“Mange?”
“Yes, what if I got mange and my hair fell out in clumps?”
He grinned and pulled me with him as he began to swim. “Yes, even if you got mange and went bald.”
We moved with the flow of the current, dipping down along the sandy ocean floor and out of the path of a sea turtle.
“I swam this way earlier,” Thayde began, “there were quite a few sharks on the edge of the reef, but they weren’t interested in me. There are some caves in the reef and along the drop off. I’d like to check them out while we’re here.”
“Let’s see as much as we can,” I was eager to experience the exotic new world under the water with him. He squeezed my hand.
“I was hoping you’d say that.”
Though the small, uninhabited islands were close, we took our time swimming. Like tourists, we pointed at every object and brightly colored fish. They hovered around the reef like butterflies dancing about a flower.
Swimming in Moorea was not like swimming in Idaho’s Payette Lake. Beside it being as warm as a bath, the place was a tourist trap and we had to be wary of scuba divers. Fortunately, my senses had grown so aware of everything around me, I was able to feel them before we could see the divers. It kept us well out of range. Knowing I had the power to erase their memories should one happen to discover us, kept me at peace. Nothing was impossible for me and it was a very comfortable feeling. Being the ruler of your species definitely had its good points.
I released Thayde’s hand and let my eyes wander along his back’s perfect V. His muscles flexed as his tail propelled him through the water. His blue scales glinted in the sun as he swam, the dynamic shades of blue standing out. Merpeople’s tails were not as scaly as most Humans would think. Rather, they reminded me of the skin of the rainbow trout my father and I used to fish for in Idaho. Sure, we had scales, but they weren’t like a dragon’s scales. They were finer, more close together – prettier.
Watching Thayde swim was like experiencing a professional ballet performance for the first time; it took my breath away. Far more graceful than I, tiny bubbles flowed over his muscles as the water cut over his body. The water darkened as we descended and I could barely make out the scars littering his torso and arms. The sunlight filtered through, dancing off his back, making it difficult to see anything but how beautiful he was.
I reached down, closing my hand over Thayde’s shoulder, pulling myself onto his back, and wrapped my arms over the top of his shoulders. He pulled me along with him. Though he was not yet fully recovered from the effects of The Shadow, he was close. His body and health weren’t a hundred percent, but after a few more days, he would be back to normal. Tammer had been right – being on our honeymoon had been good for us.
Mom said Thayde would be virtually indestructible now and I was relieved. The last thing I wanted was Thayde to be hurt again, let alone killed. I didn’t think I could survive if Thayde died. Thinking about death wasn’t something that prevailed in my mind as it once did and I pushed the thought away. Things had changed for the better. I could get used to living like this.
“What are you thinking about?” Thayde twisted underneath me, wrapping himself around me like seaweed. He touched his nose to mine, holding me close. Though we could read each other’s thoughts, we didn’t do it all the time – it would be too much of an invasion of privacy.
“Just how perfect things are,” I answered.
“Mmmm…” he mumbled, lightly touching his lips to mine. “What else?”
“How I don’t have to worry about you anymore.”
“Worry about me?”
“Yeah, now that you’re Superman,”
That made him laugh. “Superman, huh? Is that your nickname for me?”
“It might be,” my voice was coy. “Do you have one for me?”