Between the Land and the Sea - By Derrolyn Anderson Page 0,68

me something that day, the first time she dragged me out there... just before I blacked out. Something I haven’t told anyone.” I looked up at him as my eyes filled with involuntary tears, “I had to find out for sure... I had to know.” I dropped my head, biting down on my lip to keep it from trembling.

“Know what?”

I wrung my hands in anguish, looking for a way out, fighting the urge to run for the door.

After everything he’d done for me he had a right to know.

“She told me... she said...”

“What?” he asked again, his voice quietly insistent.

“M-my mother...” my voice was quavery, “My mother was one of them... a mermaid.” I turned away, afraid to see the look on his face. He paused for a moment, as if to let it sink in.

“How do you know she isn’t lying?” he asked gently.

“Her name,” I whispered, “She knew her name.”

I turned to look up at him fearfully, startled by the sudden tenderness in his eyes. He leaned in and wrapped his arms around me.

“No wonder you’re so beautiful,” he said, drawing me into him.

I was shaking as I laid my head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat. He was warm, and he smelled good. I concentrated on the steady rhythm and started to calm down. I could have stayed like that forever, rocking slightly with the rise and fall of his breathing, taking refuge in the circle of his arms.

A knock on the door broke us apart. Ethan patted my knee reassuringly and got up. It was Cruz, and he came in the room, eying us speculatively. I could almost hear him thinking as he looked me over. When he handed me my clothes, I thanked him and excused myself to the bathroom to change.

I emerged to find him sitting on the couch talking with Ethan about their good luck in finding me. Cruz asked me questions about what had happened overnight and I recounted the tale– most of it. Ethan caught my eye as I skipped over the mother part in my recitation. Cruz thought the spray bottle was hilarious, and his eyes flew open in horror when I told him about the other mermaid and the violent screeching fight.

“You mean there’s more than one?” he grimaced theatrically.

“Apparently the ocean is crawling with them,” I snarked back.

“Just your luck,” Cruz joked, “You really bring them out of the woodwork, don’t you?”

“Everything would have been fine if the other one hadn’t have shown up. How was I supposed to anticipate that?” I said defensively.

“You shouldn’t have gone in the first place,” his tone was uncharacteristically serious. I felt a fresh flush of guilt for putting him the whole ordeal.

“I couldn’t resist the temptation,” I said quietly, truthfully.

“That’s what she said,” Cruz flashed me an impish grin, making me laugh in spite of my guilty conscience.

When my stomach growled audibly, Cruz and I exchanged a look and laughed again.

“You must be starving!” Ethan said. I was, but I hadn’t noticed it until now.

Cruz sprang up to go, “I’m supposed to be at work, so uh... you kids have fun surfing!” He sounded just like Abby. He smirked, eyes glittering with amusement, “Seriously, mom doesn’t expect you home until later this evening. See you tonight.” He was out the door before I could even say anything.

“What do you want to eat?” Ethan asked.

“I don’t care,” I said, suddenly overcome with exhaustion, “I really can’t go anywhere right now– could you please just take me home?”

“Are you kidding?” he asked, “We’re surfing, remember?” He left the room and came back with a soft blanket. “You must be tired. Why don’t you just kick back and I’ll make you my famous grilled cheese.”

“Sounds good,” I said, nestling down on the couch, watching him as he tucked the blanket around me. I wondered why he was being so nice to me after all the lies I’d told.

I was on a small boat in a dark stormy sea when the water beneath me began to churn. I twisted around to see something coming up from the depths towards me. As it drew closer it fractured into multiple shapes. A score of mermaid heads broke the surface, surrounding me...

I started awake, breathing hard and looking around in confusion. I was on Ethan’s couch, curled up into a ball. I slowly came back to reality, hugging my knees to my chest. He walked in carrying two plates of grilled cheese sandwiches with mugs of tomato