“Yeah,” I spat again we walked in silence. Tammer waited at the gazebo. He shook Kenneth’s hand and asked him to meet him in the house.
Alone, Tammer looked me up and down.
“I’m so sorry, Morgan.”
I looked past him to the ocean. “I’m going to go for a swim.”
“Not without me to protect you,” he began to take his shirt off, but I held up a hand.
“I need to be alone.”
“But the heads of household will be here with their attendants. If you were to run into one of them who is angry with you,”
“If Thayde is dead,” I stumbled over the words, “I don’t care.”
The ocean waves beat heavily against the steps.
“What do you mean you don’t care?” Dread crept into his voice. “You are The Link – you have to care!”
My body fought the urge to throw up again. “I have to go,” I whispered, and turning from him, walked to the steps and fell into the water.
Phasing was instantaneous and I swam in a daze to the edge of the boundary Tammer had once set for me. I hung in the water, pure hopelessness filling my being until the feelings overpowered me. How could Flynn do this? Betray me? After everything I entrusted to him? To bite my Thayde – to do the very thing to him that he was going to do to Gavran was unforgivable. Thayde hadn’t even been prepared to fight him and his attempt to dislodge Flynn had been futile. And I had just stood there, unable to foresee Flynn’s actions or motivation.
Desperate, I tried to lock onto Thayde, to see if I could locate him but there was nothingness; a void that once was. Thayde was dead, just as the dreams I used to have warned me. The terror, grief and shame I knew would come with his loss hit me like a freight train. I had done nothing to stop Flynn from killing him. I tipped my head back and screamed. My cries echoed about me more powerful than a dolphin’s cry.
“Sssteady there,” a snakelike voice hissed. Twelve feet away, a sea creature bowed and when righting itself, I was able to see what it was.
It was an Akamatta – half woman and half snake. Known as the serpent spirit, they were the sirens of Japan’s seas.
Thick black hair wound around her body, covering her green scaly skin and naked chest. Her hands clawed the water as she hovered, keeping herself upright.
“Might I come clossser?” She asked, her voice heady.
I found myself agreeing and she twisted in the water, tunneling toward me. Just before crashing into me, she untwisted, her hair fanning around her like a poodle skirt. She was beautiful, but terrifying.
“My name is Aika,” she bowed, her bright red eyes looking through me. “I come with information you may need.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Because we do not want this war. It jeopardizes our way of life. Should Herra rule, we will ceassse to be.”
The current brought her closer and I held up a hand.
“I have a meeting in a few minutes,”
“Yesss, I know. The heads of the mer-families.”
“How do you know this?”
Her eyes glowed. “The four you deposed informed Herra.”
Silence filled our conversation and I regarded her warily. “Has she intercepted any of them traveling here?”
Nodding, Aika pursed her lips. “Not to kill, but to recruit. You will have an enemy among you. Be very careful who you trussst. You should know: when the fight draws near our home, we will fight by your ssside.”
“Thank you,” I said. “I appreciate you telling me this.”
She turned to go. I stared at the sandy floor a hundred feet below me.
“You will not be fighting in your condition, will you?”
My skin crawled. I looked up at her, suspended ten feet away. “My condition? What do you mean?”
“You are with child,”
Her words hit me like a ton of bricks. My face must have mirrored it because she too, looked surprised.
“I shall not speak a word of it.” She whispered and twisted away.
With child? Impossible! Thayde and I hadn’t made the decision to have a baby. I ran my hand over my stomach, trying to feel life within me. There was no way I could be pregnant. I closed my eyes, scanning my torso and stopped the instant I saw her: Leigh, no bigger than a walnut, lay cocooned within my womb.
Fear coursed through my veins. How could this be possible? Thayde had said I couldn’t become pregnant unless we both agreed to it. Mermaids chose when to have children! They weren’t at the mercy of ovulation like humans!
Flying through my memories, I recalled the conversation I had with Thayde on our honeymoon: “Merpeople don’t have children until they both decide they are ready and want them. It’s a choice they make. When we are both ready to make a baby, we’ll start the process.”