Forever(24)

“That’s impossible! She’s four!” Her gravelly voice betrayed how tired she’d become.

“Not in limbo. She’s twenty five in there and he’s in love with her.”

My parents’ silence spoke volumes. Love was a huge matter for merpeople – they regarded it with the upmost respect.

“What’s his name?” Tammer’s curt voice broke the quiet.

“Paul David.”

“She’s in love with an angel?” Mom’s face displayed several emotions: confusion, anger, sadness. It was too much for her to bear.

“Naira is choosing to stay in limbo so she can be with him. It’s the only time they will have together. When he takes her to heaven, they will be apart. As this is the only time they’ll have together, she chose him.” I stole a glance at Thayde knowing if the decision were mine to make, it would have been the same. A slight smile tugged at the corner of his lips. He felt as I did.

Mom sank into the couch and pulled her legs under her pale pink skirt. Her tank top slowly melted from pink to white as it neared her neck. She looked like a wilted flower. Tammer plopped down next to her and dragged her hand from her crossed arms. Desperation filled her eyes and she leaned into him.

“What are we going to do?” She whispered to him.

“What we can.” He whispered back.

“She’s just a baby,”

Tammer didn’t answer. Instead, he held her hand to the side of his face and closed his eyes.

Not able to take it anymore, I turned and left, taking Thayde with me. Watching my parents suffer was too much. I knew how much Naira’s impending death was hurting me. Trying to understand what they were experiencing was incomprehensible.

Thayde laid his arm across my shoulder and pulled me into his chest as we ambled toward the gazebo. We stopped as we reached the edge of the fence and stared out to sea. Seagulls hovered on the breeze, calling to each other and diving down through the sea-green waves gathering fish. The wind chopped at the water, causing it to spit and spray.

Thayde rubbed my arm. “Babe, you’ve got to control your emotions.”

“This isn’t me,” I replied.

“Yes, it is. You’re anxious. You’re tied to the elements now, like Tammer.” Placing a kiss on my head, he breathed me in and sighed. “You don’t even know how powerful you are, Morgan.”

I didn’t answer. Thayde had a lot of confidence in me. Experiencing the past year had taught me much and I knew anything and everything would come to me, but my impatience often overruled. I needed to focus. Pulling from Thayde, I lost myself briefly in his beautiful eyes.

“Thayde, I need to be alone for a while,” I began and he raised an eyebrow. “I need to focus. It’s nothing against you,”

He smiled, catching me off guard. “I understand,” he raised my hand to his mouth. “I need a swim.”

I barely felt his lips touch my skin before he had pulled away. Quick as a barracuda, he was undressed and within moments, he dove into the seawater, phasing as his feet disappeared beneath the surface. Like a professional diver, the splash he caused was barely a ripple. I could only dream of one day being as agile in the water as he.

Tracing his pathway to the water, I sat on the top step and crossed my legs. The waves lapped two steps below me, spraying my face with a fine mist. The urge to swim rushed through me like a freight train, but I held back and closed my eyes.

Focus. Breathe.

I felt my world around me – sensing the air, tasting the salt on my lips, hearing my parents whisper to each other in the living room. Bubbles popped on the surface of the ocean, the whisper of air flowed over an eagle’s feathers, the sizzle of the sun baked freshly laid pavement. With my senses hyperactive, I allowed my orb to circle me and relished the feeling of being able to know everything that was going on for miles around me.

A few houses across from our estate, a man and woman were discussing having a baby. It was their first and despite the fact they had tried for nearly a year, nothing was deterring them. Two doors down, a lady was talking to her cat. I giggled as the image of his whiskers pushing forward in response to her scratching him under the chin came to mind. She was baby-talking, calling him “Georgie Porgie”. In the hospital, only three miles away, a man was given the news that his heart bypass was a success. Relief swept over me as I experienced his emotions. Inside a small, dank apartment, a high school girl was being tempted with her first puff of meth. No, I projected into her mind and watched as she ran from the room.

Vero Beach was buzzing with activity and as quickly as I tuned it in, I tuned it out. I had too much to think about and saving the souls of Vero would have to wait until later. But what more could I do for Naira? I wracked my mind, trying, yet again to remember through thousands of years if there was anything else I could do. There was nothing – nothing but a memory of a hallway. Tall white columns rising out of the seabed reaching gracefully toward each other and joining at the ceiling, creating a beautiful circular room. A single row carved from mother of pearl wrapped around the columns and from behind the row, sat the Elders. Their long beards flowed like anemone tentacles in the water. They stared at me, their eyes questioning.