Mer Tales 01 - Everblue

would be the rest of senior year. I slouched back in the pillows and turned my face towards the window as the tears welled up in my eyes. A knock at the door cut the dreary silence.
    “ Come in,” Mom said softly.
    Callahan walked in with a beautiful bouquet of gerbera daisies and yellow lilies. “Sorry to interrupt.” He nervously held out the arrangement, his gaze darting between my parents and me. “I heard about what happened and wanted to bring you these.”
    I wiped away the tears and tried to smile, taking the flowers from him. “They’re so lovely. Thank you.” I put them to my nose, inhaled the sweet fragrance, and swooned. No one had ever brought me flowers before.
    Realizing his arrival was poorly timed, he looked at me with questioning eyes, then shifted his weight from side to side, as if preparing to bolt out the door. “Sorry. I should have called first.”
    “ Sit, son,” Dad said and motioned to the chair next to me. “We were just leaving.”
    Mom blinked as Dad pulled her towards the door, her eyes filled with frustration. Now that the initial grief and shock had worn off, I’d have to answer to why I’d lied and left the house. “We’ll talk later.”
    Once they shut the door, I exhaled the breath I’d been holding. “Parents. They won’t stop smothering me. I’ve insisted I’m fine.”
    Callahan looked concerned. “What happened?”
    Gazing at his curious expression made me realize I’d be retelling this story for a very long time. Maybe missing some school might not be a bad thing after all. The rumor mill could drum up the tale just fine in my absence. And really, my brief story didn’t make sense with all its incongruous edges.
    “ Other than falling into the lake, I’m not sure. Someone must have saved me, I guess. All I remember is waking up here.”
    “ Weird.” Callahan squished his eyebrows together in a cute, confused way. “Did a wave knock you in?”
    “ I don’t quite remember—”
    Technically this wasn't a lie; a wave did knock me in. Just not from shore. I ached to confess to ease my battered conscience.
    “ I’m just glad you’re okay. When I found out, I freaked.”
    I played with my fingernails. He did care after all, proving my breakup theory wrong. But now I was more confused. His comment should have made my heart soar like a bird, but surprisingly it didn’t. My gaga feelings had evaporated; I no longer saw him as the most adorable boy in school that tripped up my tongue and made me blush.
    He took my hand, startling me. “So, when do you get out of here?”
    “ Tomorrow, I think.”
    He traced my knuckles with his thumb, giving me goose bumps across my arms. “If I’d been there, I would have jumped in and tried to save you. Even though you’re a better swimmer than me.”
    His confession made me grin. “Then we both would have drowned. It’s pretty cold,” I said and laughed under my breath. “Now I know what the victims of the Titanic felt like.”
    He stopped massaging my hand, and stared.
    “ Sorry,” I mumbled. “I think the drugs are messing with my head.”
    He shook his head. “I’m just glad someone saved you.”
    My lips pulled up at the corners, but not because of his concern. “So am I.”
    I had a good guess who saved me and he wasn’t of this world. Only an angel could have braved the freezing water and delivered me to safety right under the Ranger’s nose.
    My lips tingled again.

31
FIN

    The lifeless eyes of the curious sharks moseyed past the window, spelling my doom. As I sat in my cell on an uncomfortable rock, I kicked myself again for allowing Colin to trick me into confessing. If I’d only pretended I didn’t know a thing, they’d be the ones rotting in jail, not me. My life was in King Phaleon’s hands now.
    Dad, the best negotiator I knew, wouldn’t have allowed Azor to hold me, especially since I wasn’t a danger to other mers. House arrest would have been more fitting than these dingy closet-sized quarters, void of a functional bed or chair. A caged animal in a zoo.
    Azor had locked me inside and said, “Be ready to tell the truth when I come for you.” Who knew how long that would take? The light never changed, as if it were night 24/7.
    I tried my best to piece together a good defense. But all I could think about was Ashlyn. The sweet taste of her lips, the softness of her skin, the delicate shape of her body—all of it haunting me. My parents had warned me at a young age, once your