Mer Tales 01 - Everblue

can I visit my son?”
    “ Mag—excuse me—Mrs. Helton, not until after the trial next week.”
    The withering glance of my torn mother ate at the lining of my stomach. How could I have been so careless? Colin tricked me into revealing what happened and I fell for it—hook, line, and sinker. By blaming me, Alaster completely avoided a reprimand. Without Dad’s help to smooth matters behind the scenes, I doubted I’d get a fair trial. I could kiss Tahoe goodbye for my future now.
    Azor made me go behind the curtain and phase first.
    “ Sorry,” Tatiana said, once she exited the porthole behind us. She and Mom floated, clinging to one another, in the current under the eve of the porch. “What were you doing out there anyway?”
    “ Nothing,” —besides promising myself to the girl of my dreams, risking the family’s livelihood and putting everyone in jeopardy— “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
    “ Better not have been nothing. I just flirted with Azor. Ugh.”
    I withheld a nervous laugh. “Something personal. I’ll tell you later.”
    “ Oh-kay,” she said disparagingly.
    If we had more time, she might have pulled out the truth. “Take care of Mom. Who knows how this will turn out.”
    “ It’ll be fine. I’m going to see you before the trial somehow.”
    Our eyes met. “Don’t you dare do anything rash.”
    “ We’ll see.”
    “ Finley, let’s go,” Azor said, noticing I’d stalled.
    Azor and I crossed the bluff and the girls disappeared out of view, leaving me with my guilt. I had no idea what the punishment would be for leaving without permission. If Alaster or Colin testified, it would be my word against theirs, considering they had no proof. Maybe I could mention the fact that they weren’t monitoring the gate. There was no way I was going to take the fall for everything.
    As we swam closer, I noticed a few changes to his grandiose living quarters—more gilded surfaces and additional spires. The magnificent coral garden stood out, rumored to be directly from Fiji to accent his statue of a bare-chested mermaid—a custom he wanted reinstated.
    A new room protruded off to the side, which he bragged he had built specifically for his hunting trophies. But in the back, behind a barnacle - encrusted stone fence loomed the ravenous creatures no one ever wanted to contend with—great white sharks.
    From the Pacific Ocean, the sharks swam in and out of the Pacific gate as they pleased, only allowed in one small corner of Natatoria and blocked by floor-to-ceiling rock spires so they couldn’t have a feasting frenzy on the mers. The windows of the jail cells off the back of his house were within this gated area.
    No one had ever escaped and lived to tell about it. I was trapped until Azor let me out.

30

ASH

    My eyelids slowly opened, registering my surroundings. The clock on the wall said it was only one in the afternoon, but it felt later. Mom and a male’s voice spoke outside the doorway, probably Dr. Peet. From the anxiety in her pitch, I figured my condition had worsened. I turned up the volume of the TV with the remote and flipped through the lowly thirteen channels. My choices were Bonanza , soap operas, Let’s Make A Deal, or daytime reality TV.
    Before I’d fallen asleep from the pain meds thirty minutes ago, the nurse said my white blood cell count was higher than they liked and they wanted to monitor me for infection. I wasn’t sure if that meant here, or at home.
    My dream fluttered back into my mind. A huge hourglass protruded out in the middle of our dining room table. Within the sand, bits and pieces of blue wood were showing through. Only I knew what was underneath. I struggled to move the gigantic thing out of sight of my inquisitive family—without success. Once more grains fell away, The Sea Star would show everyone what I’d done today.
    My attention jerked to an interruption on the TV; warning of unusual activity in Emerald Bay.
    “ . . . mysterious waves over six-feet tall accosted the shore shortly after eleven thirty this morning, damaging small boats in the harbor. Seismologists say there wasn’t any activity on the fault line, leaving them baffled as to how the occurrence happened. Locals blame Tessie for the disturbance, others the full moon. Officials are asking, until further notice, for extreme care to be taken near the water until divers can determine the cause.”
    I wanted to laugh until I heard, “In other news, a local high school