Mer Tales 01 - Everblue

it.”
    “ Not for long,” I said with a wink and left her to return to the boat.
    Earlier while rowing, I’d noticed the jagged metal piece she’d probably torn her leg upon when she fell into the water. With a quick flick of my arm, I made a matching gash.
    “ What are you doing?” she shrieked at the sight of my blood spilling onto the dock.
    “ Just trust me.”
    Horror crossed her face as I came back to her and held my arm over her cut. The blood seeped into her wound, absorbing like a sponge. I’d never witnessed a mer’s blood heal human injuries before, so I wasn’t sure if I was doing it right. Miraculously, the skin around the injury began to glow and change from a nasty red to a tender pink––the color of new skin. The trickle of blood slowly stopped as my own gash healed before our eyes, turning into a matching scar.
    “ Now I have a token to remember that day as well,” I said and touched our scars together.
    She looked up at me with innocence sparkling from her eyes. “What are you?”
    I smiled and covered her lips with mine. “Yours.”
    She laughed and hugged my neck again.
    I swooped her up into my arms and carried her to the house like I’d wanted to do the first time I’d seen her.

52
ASH

    I showered quickly, afraid when I got out Fin would be gone, the whole thing a dream. The water trickled over the pink scar, tickling the new skin. I laughed, my insides filled with unexplainable richness. While hurrying to brush through my wet unruly hair, I heard a knock at the door.
    “ Ashlyn?” Mom asked, apprehension looming in her voice.
    I opened the door, letting the steam escape. Her face brightened as she scanned my fresh appearance—my first shower in almost a week.
    “ Why didn’t you call and tell me you had company for dinner?”
    “ I’m sorry,” I shrugged. “He just got here. Would it be all right if he stayed?”
    From down the hall I could hear Gran, Lucy, and Dad talking to Fin about the explosion on the lake. His presence made me giddy inside and I bit back my grin.
    “ Of course. I’m glad to see you’re feeling better.”
    I smiled, probably for the first time since the accident and a tear glossed the corner of her eye. “Yeah, Mom. I’m feeling a hundred times better.”
    From nowhere, she wrapped her arms around me and sniffled in my ear. I rubbed her back, trying to soothe away all the grief I’d caused her the past few days.
    She let go and composed herself. “Well, hurry up. I’m almost done reheating the lasagna.”
    I closed the door and counted my blessings for a moment. Though it brought me Fin, what I did tortured my parents. I’d worried them needlessly and took everyone on such a crazy rollercoaster of emotions with me. I’d never do it again. I couldn’t watch them suffer like that. Somehow, I needed to make it up to them.
    A quick blow dry and a little makeup to cover the grey smudges under my eyes made a world of difference. When I walked around the corner without a limp, everyone gasped. The fact that Fin was here, hit me again, his gorgeous face melting my knees. His smile, a ray of sunshine after a storm.
    “ Man, I’m gone a few weeks and miss all the crazy stuff happening on the lake,” he said with a wink.
    “ Totally,” I said with nervous laughter.
    Everyone’s relief-filled giggles cleansed our living room now that I’d returned back to my old self. He patted the couch cushions and I joined him, feeling his warm thigh next to mine. As the conversation continued, I kept staring at him, marveling that he was here. All the questions I thought of in the shower tumbled in my brain: How did he escape the blast? Where did the bad mermen take him? How did he get away? Where was Tatchi? How did the whole mermaid thing work anyway?
    But even if my family wasn’t engaging him with their own theories of the explosion, including an attempt to bring Tessie to the surface, I knew once we were alone, I wouldn’t be able to ask him mine. My lips would be busy kissing his instead.
    And as if he knew I needed reassurance, his hand wove delicately with mine and my heart raced even more. How I could be so miserable one minute and elated the next, escaped me. But I didn’t want him to ever leave. His presence blanketed all my fears I’d suffered from since the accident.
    Dinner went smoothly and once the sun started to set, Fin grew nervous and asked if we could go outside. Mom shooed us out, insisting she’d do the dishes. We walked