Marcel pulled me close to him as we slowed. We came to a stop and poked our heads out of the water. The sun was peaking up out of the ocean horizon, dark blue sky surrounding it as white clouds crossed over. What a sight! I felt an odd feeling rush through me. It was like déjà vu, like I had done this before.

  “Listen,” he whispered in my ear causing it to tickle and send more tingling sensations through my body. “At this time in the morning you can hear the Greek oceanids singing praise for the coming day.”

  I looked at him, surprised to hear such a statement. “What are oceanids?” I whispered.

  “They are the three thousand daughters of Titans Oceanus and Tethys and are patronesses of individual ponds, lakes, streams, rivers, rain clouds, flowers, and pastures. There is a little secret most don’t know about. Every dawn they hide in the clouds over the ocean and sing.” His eyes closed and he seemed to be listening very carefully.

  I looked up at the clouds drifting over the sun and searched. I wasn’t sure because looking into the sun can cause one’s minds to play tricks, but I thought I saw some women in Greek robes move out of the clouds and then back in. Taking in a breath, I closed my eyes and listened. At first I didn’t hear anything, but the gentle rock and flow of the ocean, but then, I started to hear the faintest sounds. The more I tapped into the frequency, the better I could hear it. I heard words in another language at such a high pitch that it made my body quake. “Whoa!” I whispered, shocked by the miraculous songs. On that sound frequency the energy was so powerful I could barely stand it. I feared my body would shatter. But I felt this inner pull that was euphoric like I wanted to connect, but wasn’t at that level.

  Before the song overwhelmed me completely, he pulled me under the water. I was released. “Thank you,” I said breathing heavy. “That was out of this world.”

  “You better believe it,” he grinned wryly, holding my back with one hand. “You could never have heard the oceanids as a mere human. Only mers and certain other sea creatures have that privilege.”

  I was speechless. Just that alone made it worth it to be a mer. He leaned in toward me and I wondered if maybe he was going to kiss me. Butterflies flapped in my stomach. The anticipation was so great. I wanted to feel his soft lips on mine once again, but this time I so yearned for it to be his move. But, to my dismay, he didn’t kiss me, but only brushed away some loose strands of my hair out of my face.

  “Come on,” he said, pulling me down suddenly by the hand.

  “Whoa,” I said, as bubbles rushed past us.

  “The oceanids are usually kind, but they have been known to get testy at times,” he said as he edged me onward.

  I know I shouldn’t have been, but I was disappointed. He smelled so sensual up that close. Everything from his perfectly formed chest and washboard stomach to his velvety voice had my body going wild inside. I bet every girl felt that way around Marcel, but I just wished he felt something more for me than the others.

  I tried to ignore my frustration. Hand in hand, we swam above the ocean floor through rock archways, cutting around high reaching sea trees of varying colors through schools of saltwater guppies, twisting over on our backs as their iridescent bodies rushed over us. What a feeling!

  My ears were so in tune that I heard a giant clam open its shell. Its pale pink tongue looked like a bed to lie in, but I wouldn’t risk getting trapped inside. The sea plants of many colors and shapes swayed side to side with the natural rhythms of the deep blue sea.

  We swam down the backside of a mountain and continued to descend as the water grew darker and darker. It was much colder. My body started to tremble from nerves. It was spooky in the dark, but I appreciated holding Marcel’s hand. A sting ray with its long flappy wings swam past us. I gripped Marcel’s hand and pulled my body against his side, causing my fear to turn to something else altogether.

  “It’s true they are dangerous,” he said chuckling, “but they usually only attack mers in self-defense. Most often they keep to the warmer waters and hang out under the sand on the ocean floor. I’m not sure what this one is up to.”

  The thing was huge. Like a daredevil, he pulled me under it and away, causing me to nearly faint. “Oh, my! That was close,” I mumbled as I looked back watching it glide away.

  He was still chuckling. “Believe me—I’m much more dangerous than that goofball.”

  I assumed he was teasing, but I wasn’t sure as I searched his enigmatic face. “Why weren’t you at the Trident Court’s get-together last night?” I asked as we continued to swim downward through the dark water.

  Amusement seemed to dance on his lips like he had a private joke playing in his mind. “I was called away on business. Some overseas mergers, but that wasn’t the highlight…” He was smirking now.

  “What?” I asked trying to figure out what he was going to say.

  “The Trident Court hired one of my companies to design a house for you and your school. We have a special team that will build it very soon.”

  My chest tightened. “What’s the house like?” I was sad that I wouldn’t be sharing the same home with Marcel. I wondered if I would ever see him again once we left the island and started our new lives.

  “You’ll see,” he teased, squeezing my hand just enough to increase the electrical current I was already feeling before.

  We came to the bottom of the mountain and the ground leveled out. The ocean floor was dark and rocky there with little plants growing out of the cracks. I noticed a lot of sea crabs. There were some purple sea urchins, orange starfish, and phosphorescent sea anemones along the rocks and crevices. A shoal of pale colored fish wove around some tall branchy out growths that looked a bit like purple barren trees with tiny white dots speckling their surfaces.

  I could see what looked like rolling yellow hills with orange pastures in the distance. Beyond that seemed to be a village. There were lots of tents of varying colors and makeshift houses. Whatever kind of creatures lived there were likely more primitive than the Ancients.

  “This is the hamlet of my friends, the Miengu,” Marcel said in his lyrical voice.

  “What are Miengu?” I asked looking ahead at the village.

  “A nomadic group, they are water spirits originally from Africa. They are healers and serve as links between the spiritual domain and the physical domain.”

  I rolled my eyes, not really knowing what he meant exactly.

  “You’ll see,” he grinned crookedly. “I want you to meet my friend Jengu Wata. We’re just going to get some medicine for one of the Ancients and then leave.”

  I was curious about the creature he was going to introduce me to, but I felt disappointed because the plan wasn’t what I expected. It didn’t seem like what he implied at the start of our adventure.

  We swam over the rolling yellow hills of sea trees in bloom and leafy vines with bulbous lights before coming to an orange pasture of sea grass where white horse-like creatures with smooth seal skin, big webbed feet and sky blue sea plant-like manes and tails were grazing. The water animals looked mean when they looked up at us with flared nostrils and pale blue eyes. The leader of them reared up at us.

  My heart rate sped up as I looked down the monster’s nostrils. Holy crap. That beast was huge.

  “Hey, there, boy,” Marcel said in a calming voice. I felt his hand tense as he blocked me with his body from the creature. Looking over his strong shoulder, I saw the horse blow bubbles out of his nostrils and shake his head like he was somewhat pacified.

  Marcel looked away from the horse to me. “They know me once they hear my voice. Their eyes are blind, but men have to be careful especially on land because they can shape-shift into beautiful deadly women and lure them to their deaths. Sometimes they keep the form of beautiful horses and when people climb on their backs they adhere to their sticky, deathly skin. They ride into the ocean only to be devoured.”

  My body shuddered as we kicked past. “What are those animals called?” I asked, looking back over my shoulder, seeing that they had resumed grazing on the orange sea grass, but the leader was scuffing at the ground, gazing vacantly in our direction. I got the feeling he might charge at us any second.

  “Kelpies. The Miengu use them as guards and as labor horses. They smuggled them in from the rivers and lochs of Scotland and Ireland.” He looked at my blood drawn face and smiled teasingly. “Don’t be afraid. They only attack mers if they pose a threat or if they catch them on land.”

  That didn’t make me feel any better because what if I unintentionally did something that caused them to react. Maybe I already had. They could devour me.

  The ocean seemed like a beautiful, yet uncertain world. I had so much to learn. I didn’t want to learn the hard way.

  “Don’t worry.” He grinned darkly. “They won’t eat all of you. They always leave over the heart and liver.”

  My eyebrows knitted together. “Oh, thanks,” I responded sarcastically, hoping we didn’t have to swim back the way we came.

  We swam up to the edge of the village before a green tent beside a makeshift shell house. Suddenly, a humongous dark man with a green fish tail, long wooly black hair, and gapped teeth jumped out.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “OOOGOO BOOGOO!” The monstrous dark fish-man yelled, pounding his broad human chest.

  I fainted right there in front of the green tent beside the makeshift shell house.

  The next thing I knew, I woke up in a big black kettle pot in warm water with the humongous man stirring my body in the liquid. He was staring at me with a big gap toothed smile.

  Holy moly! Was this monster cooking me alive? I started screaming at the top of my lungs and trying to climb out of the pot.

  He kept pushing me down with his monstrous hands. “Keep put. You almost done.”

  Oh, damn. I was dinner!

  Marcel rushed into the dimly lit room. “It’s okay, Jewel,” he tried to reassure me. His gorgeous face was flushed. “This is my friend Jengu Wata. He is a healer and this liquid will help you with the fainting spells you’ve been having.”

  My eyes were wide with panic as Jengu Wata held his hand on my head chanting in some foreign language I didn’t understand. He grabbed some sea plants from a burlap type bag on the table beside him and started shaking them on my head while continuing with the chanting.

  “I feel better,” I stammered, wanting desperately to get out.

  “Okay, you done,” Jengu Wata said in his deep, gravelly voice. “Drink.” He handed me a vile of something.

  I looked at Marcel questioningly.

  He nodded. “Just drink it, Jewel. It will help you.” His face was a bit pale and still flushed in the cheeks.

  I swallowed the bitter liquid in the vial, choking it down.

  “You do good,” Jengu Wata said flicking his huge tail propelling himself back a few feet so I would have room to climb out of the pot. “The curse is broken.”

  Curse? What the hell was he talking about? “Is this why you brought me here?” I asked Marcel as I tried to get out of the kettle unsuccessfully, slipping down the side and falling back in.

  “I had to get you here somehow,” he sighed. “And I didn’t think you would come willingly.” He touched his lower stomach. “Use your suctions.” He lifted the flap of skin below his sexy belly button.

  “Those?” I asked with surprise.

  He nodded and smirked. “Press them against the side and grab the edge of the kettle.”

  I lifted my flap of skin just above the edge of my bikini and pressed myself up against the warm kettle grabbing ahold of the outer edge of the black stone rim. “Whoa!” I yelled as the suctions started moving and edging me up the side. Awkwardly I fell out of the kettle. By miracle, I did not burn my webbed feet on the water fire below.

  I frowned because I was still thinking about the curse. But then, I suddenly felt stronger than I ever had. Dang. What did that Jengu Wata do? I looked over at him and he was organizing bottles and vials of various sizes and shapes along one of the walls of the tent, his green fishtail swishing back and forth as he worked.

  Man those were some dreadlocks, long and wild. And his arm and shoulder muscles were so big and solid. He had plants tied in his hair making him look even more rugged and crazy.

  I was touched and quite surprised that Marcel would try to help me out like that by bringing me to his friend. “Why did Jengu Wata say that the curse is broken?”

  Blood rushed to Marcel’s face. He started pacing, looking at the floor and then to me. Jengu Wata kept his back to us, but I noticed his back muscles tighten. They weren’t telling me something.

  “Come on,” I insisted. “What is it?”

  Marcel came over to me and took my hands causing that electrical current inside of me to go wild again. “When I first met you on the yacht…” He paused, his breathing kicking in.

  “Go on,” I encouraged.

  Taking in a deep breath, he looked me in the eyes. “Remember how I fainted?”

  I nodded, feeling anxious.

  “Well…” His face started to pale now as he seemed to search for the right words. He took a step back, dropping my hands.

  Oh, no whatever he was going to tell me wasn’t good.

  “My life was a certain way. Everything was just as it should be.” Now he was pacing again.

  “I don’t understand,” I said, the fine hairs on my neck standing on end.

  “I cursed you—okay?” He said angrily. “I cursed you to faint at the sight of me.”

  I shook my head. “I don’t understand.” My voice was faint.

  Jengu Mata turned around and looked me in the eyes. “His curse not fully work. Sometimes you faint, sometimes you don’t. You not always faint when you see him—you faint when you see me.” He laughed, rolling his big brown eyes. “You the girl in his dreams. The boy out of control. You stay away. You curse lifted. You okay now.”

  My head was whirling. “So let me get this straight.” I looked at Marcel who had his back to me with his head down and his hands pressed up over his head against the wall. “That’s not it. You put some sort of spell on me to make me faint because you were angry because you fainted when you saw me?”

  “Yeah, that’s it,” he mumbled with his head still down. “I told you I’m bad for you Jewel. Listen to Jengu Mata—stay away from me. You’re better now.”

  “No,” I said, emotion lifting in my voice. “Maybe I don’t want to stay away from you. I’m not afraid of you.”

  He turned around and held me firmly by the shoulders. “Jewel, it’s not a choice. You have to. The Ancients will kill you if they figure out what is going on inside of me. This has to stop now before it’s too late.” At that he swam out of the tent at full speed.

  Jengu Mata took my shoulder to caution me back, but I brushed him off and took off swimming as fast as I could toward Marcel. Even if he was looking out for my safety, I didn’t want him to leave me. I couldn’t be away from him. This uncontrollable energy inside of me was pulling me to him. I saw him ahead of me. We were approaching the field of the kelpies fast. My heart raced. Those animals could kill us. I was so close to catching up to Marcel that my outreached fingers grazed his toes.

  But once we entered the field, he dove down and jumped onto the sticky back of one of the white horse-like creatures. Oh no! That was a deadly animal. What would it do to him? He didn’t care. All that mattered to Marcel was that he kept away from me. My heart squeezed. He would sacrifice himself just to keep me safe.

  But I was out of my mind. At once, I dove down and rushed onto the back of the same kelpie. My legs stuck firmly to the cold surface. But I grabbed onto Marcel’s hips tightly just above where his knife was fastened in the holster to his pants.

  His head twisted around. “Jewel! You’re crazy.” The huge kelpie reared up and raced onward through the dark ocean, blowing air in bubbles out of its nostrils.

  “I don’t care,” I said, breathing heavy.

  He took my face into his hands and kissed my lips ever so sensually. “You should care,” he murmured through our kisses. And then, he ran his finger over my lips and shook his head slightly side to side. “Jewel Razzen, what are we doing?” He leaned in and kissed me again, his eyes closing as his lips brushed mine as soft as a feather.

  The moment was all that mattered to me now. Just one moment in his embrace was better than eternity without him. He was all I could ever want.

  “I don’t know what is going to happen to us once the kelpie reaches the shore,” he said in his liquid voice. “It might devour us on the sand.” He ran his fingers through his hair and looked ahead. The water was lighter and bluer in color now.

  I felt the panic growing inside of me as we passed the pink coral reef. We were not far now from the shore. Soon we might die. The kelpie could eat us alive.

  Marcel turned back around and ran his hands over my head, brushing down my hair. “Tear your legs off the kelpie—just rip away the skin and run. Ignore your pain.”

  My eyes were wide with terror. “I can’t do that,” I whispered.

  “Yes, you can, Jewel.” He took my head in his hands. “Do that for me. Promise me you will Jewel.”

  I nodded, knowing I had to give him that chance to save me. It would hurt him worse if I stayed and tried to save him. I could tell that Marcel was the type that needed to fight and protect. Without that chance, life would be death for him.

  A hint of a smile lit in his eyes. “Good, Jewel,” he whispered. “I will fight the animal off, but you must run like hell for the jungle. Meet me at the waterfalls.”

  The ocean floor was rising up. We were coming close. I grabbed onto his shoulders. “I don’t know where the falls are.”

  “North of the tree house.” He leaned in and kissed me long and hard as the kelpie rushed up onto the bright, sunny shore.

  At once, I sucked in a deep breath. Horrified, my body tensed as I tried to jerk myself to the side of the kelpie and rip my skin off of its back. But nothing I did loosened the sticky grip. Suddenly, I dropped from its back just like it had released me somehow all at once. My skin was intact. From the ground, I looked up at the kelpie and saw it transforming into a woman. Its body was twisting up and forming voluptuous curves. Holy crap!