Mer Tales 01 - Everblue

her, she was already underwater, bleeding to death. I couldn’t let her die.”
    Tatch listened with a frown. The severity of what happened seemed to soften her, but the disappointment still remained visible on her face and rubbed acid into my conflicted soul. “So now what? Are you going to change her too?”
    “ She doesn’t remember what happened.”
    “ What do you mean?”
    “ She was unconscious. I’m hoping there’s something we can do to reverse it,” I lied, desperate to earn back her trust, knowing my promise to Ash, something I would fight with everything I had to keep, was irreversible until death.
    Tatiana exploded into cutting laughter. “Really? That’s funny. There’s no cure and you know it. Poseidon!”
    I looked down at the ground, terribly conflicted. Dad would know the best thing to do. But for now, I needed shoes.
    “ Can’t we discuss this later?” I asked, pointing to my feet.
    She looked down and grimaced. “Yeah, I guess so,” she said as she sniffled, heading down the lakeside trail towards the strip mall on the pier.
    Since she took the news so hard, I followed in silence, letting her mull things over. I had my own demons to tame. Ashlyn’s angry words wouldn’t stop echoing through my head as I walked, holding my pants with my hand. Going to her house was a bad move; I regretted ever trying to smooth things over. But more importantly, I wanted to tell her the truth.
    “ I need a belt,” I finally said.
    “ You should have told me before you volunteered to go to her house. That might have been smarter,” she said over her shoulder. “So what did she say when she saw you?”
    I sighed, still noting the hurt in her voice. “I made up a story that Colin had locked me out of the house while I was in the hot tub to explain why I was wearing board shorts. But after a few minutes, she flipped out because she’s been worried about us this entire time. Then she thought we just didn’t care about her anymore and we were ignoring her.”
    Tatch moaned. “We have to fix this. You have to fix this. I can’t just leave her there, upset without knowing what’s really going on.”
    “ Even if she was talking to me, what would I say?”
    Tatch massaged her temples. “I don’t know. This sucks.”
    “ Tell me about it.”
    As we came closer to town, I wondered how far I should walk with her. Shoeless and coatless, I stood out like the stripe on the back of a skunk. “I think I should wait here.”
    Tatch turned around. “Really?”
    “ Well—” I pointed at my feet again.
    She shrugged. “Right. Shoes and a belt?”
    “ And socks too. Oh, and a sweatshirt.”
    I watched her disappear around the corner of the local strip mall and hoped she wouldn’t be long.
    I sat on a nearby granite boulder and turned towards the lake. The sun lit up the water like diamonds as the waves lapped the beach. The air blew across my skin and made me feel alive. The difference between Natatoria and Tahoe showed how unbearable underwater living had been on my psyche. No matter what happened, living there permanently could never be an option for me, or Ash—once she, or rather if she, accepted me and we were finally able to be together.
    At the pier parking, I spotted my Jeep again, parked next to Captain Jack’s. The Empress was about to leave the pier. I could only assume they were collecting or dropping off more mermen for the search. If so, this entire lake would be crawling with mer life soon.
    If only the lake fed into a river that led to the ocean that wasn’t knee deep in places or intersected with dams. We’d have to figure another way to get across the state.
    I waited as the Jeep sat unattended—top down—begging for me to take it away from Colin’s grimy hands. If only I had the key. What’s taking Tatch so long?
    I snuck over for a closer look when Colin came out of the store and got into the driver’s side. I ducked as he pulled the Jeep out and drove past.
    What an idiot! Driving in this weather with the top down?
    My fists curled into a ball, I wanted to punch him in the face for everything. I returned to wait for Tatch and paced to keep my nerves calm.
    “ Here ya go!” Tatch threw a bag my way.
    “ Dang, what took you so long? I could have stolen the Jeep back.” I pawed through the items inside. She’d gone a little overboard: shoes, socks, a belt, pants and a jacket.
    “ The Jeep was here?” She looked over towards Captain Jack’s. “Well, no worries. I