☽Ⓛ❈Ⓒ☾

The sharks circling me, suddenly stop.

Relief washes over me as the fins swim away, until only one remains.

Fear grips me once more, a cold hand grips my wrist under the water.

In the inky black sea, I can't see a thing. I can only feel a hand around my wrist. A distinctively human hand.

There's someone under the water with these sharks.

The hand tugs sharply, and I'm dragged under.

I hold my breath instinctively and shut my eyes to protect them from the burn of the salt.

I'm yanked to the left suddenly and I worry I'll get whiplash.

At incredible speed, I'm dragged through the water. Even with my eyes closed, I know that I'm being pulled along at an inhuman speed.

The water rushes past my face as I'm pulled. I don't even have to swim, something or someone, does it for me.

Suddenly, we stop and two hands grip my shoulders. I'm pushed above water and I gasp, inhaling a deep breath.

No sooner have I taken a breath, then I'm dragged under the water and being dragged once more.

When I come up again, I inhale the air and wait hesitantly to be hauled under, but nothing happens.

I open my eyes and wipe the salty drops from my face.

Kicking my legs, I do a full turn in the water, studying my surroundings.

I'm in a cave. A dark cave.

The moon provides enough light that I can see a ledge in front of me. With great difficulty, I kick my legs and climb up onto it. The rocks scrape at my legs, but I'm just grateful to be out of the water.

As if on cue, my fears return with the sight of a huge fin, with a smaller one behind it.

Too pointy to be a dolphins', a shark's fin has that famous shape that sets your heart beating faster.

It seems too big to be real, but what would I know about sharks?

My eyes widen as the unthinkable happens. The fins disappear underwater and the head of a man breaks through the surface. Slowly, more of him is revealed. A wet, muscular chest, shimmering in places as though made of scales.

He is beautiful.

Make-your-breath-catch-in-your-throat, make-your-heart-beat-faster, make-you-stare-like-you're-frozen kind of beautiful.

His coal black hair falls to his waist in damp waves. Water drips down his face and glides down his muscled chest.

His stormy grey eyes gaze intently at me. His lips are full, but are slightly parted to reveal pointy teeth that look sharper than any sharks'.

On his neck, are the telltale folds of gills.

Pistris.

This creature, bobbing in the water in front of me, is what Billy and Mike were so afraid of.

This is who they sacrificed me to.

'Marlie.'

For a moment, I'm so startled that the creature has spoken, I don't even realise what it has said. I replay the word in my head.

It knows my name.

I stare at him, completely dumbfounded.

He swims closer, making me scoot back in surprise. He frowns at the action and moves back a little in the water, giving me some space.

'I am Neo.'

His voice is gravelly, like the crashing of waves, mixed with a watery quality that makes me think I'm hearing it underwater.

I still can't find it in me to speak.

The creature- Neo- swims up to the ledge. He places his large hands on it, revealing the webbing between his fingers.

He pulls himself up and I shuffle back, my eyes locked onto his body.

From the waist up, he is a slightly-fishy man. From the waist down, he is pure fish. Or rather, shark.

His tail is thick and covered in grey scales, the kind that a shark has rather than a fish. Rougher, more pointy.

I swallow hard as I see the fins. Protruding from his back is the enormous fin I saw in the water. A smaller version is on his tail.

He lifts himself on the ledge and twists around, sitting down on it. He moves back, pulling his full tail out of the water. It must be nearly two metres long.

The caudal (tail) fin is split into two points. He is designed to cut through water like warm butter.

He presses one of his big hands to his tail and his skin starts to glow a faint blue.

I can't look away. I'm hooked as I watch his entire body dry before my eyes. His scales dry and drop from his body, leaving skin in its wake.

In under a minute, a man without gills, without fins, without webbing or a tail or pointy teeth, sits before me.

A human-looking male.

He reaches his hand into the water and pulls out what looks like a mass of dark green slime. I realise pretty quickly that it is seaweed, sliding over his fingers.

He places the pile over his -oh, sweet Lord!

My cheeks warm and I quickly look away.

Something tells me he's going to need more than a handful of seaweed to cover that sea snake.

When he has covered himself, I return my gaze back to him. He takes a strand of the kelp from his lap and ties his long black hair up in a bun on his head. He looks oddly sexy with a man-bun.

He reaches towards me, slowly. I don't flinch because he gives me plenty of time to get away. He gently places his hand on my thigh.

His skin glows pale blue again and warmth radiates out from his touch. I gasp as the water starts magically drying from my body.

Even my plaited hair dries out.

My dress becomes opaque again, no longer soaked and see-through. My body warms up and I stop shivering.

Neo pulls back, looking pleased with himself.

'W-what...what are you?' I manage to find my voice long enough to ask the question that is burning in my mind.

His lips twitch as he resists a smile.

'Humans give us many names; balaena, cetus, siren, water nymphs. Pistris is the common one for this island, but the most common one of all? Mermaids.'

I don't really know why I asked. It is obvious what he is. We were taught what he is at school.

A better question would be...

'What do you want with me?'

At that question, Neo doesn't try and hide his smile. His teeth are revealed, now straight and blunt like mine, not pointy.

'You are mea lux, Marlie. My light, my fated one.'

I swallow hard at his admission.

'Your what?'

Neo looks at me thoughtfully. 'Do you know that you're not fully human?'

That is news to me.

'Pardon?' I ask, choking on air.

'Your great-grandfather was like me. Your great-grandmother was his fated mate. He chose to live the rest of his life on land when he met her. They had your grandmother, I believe you called her Nana.'

I stare at him, trying to make sense of his words.

Nana was the daughter of a human and a mermaid?

'Which means you have Pistris blood running through your veins. That makes you not quite human, which also means you are able to be a fated one to a merman. Me.'

Neo is quiet for a moment, letting his words sink in.

I'm not fully human.

'Is that why sharks- I mean, your kind- are drawn to me? When I was thirteen, I went into the water and all these sharks-'

'I remember that day well.'

My eyes nearly bug out of my skull. 'You were there?'

'I knew the second you entered the water. I swam as fast as I could. I was fifteen at the time and couldn't believe that my fated one was in my waters.'

My mouth drops open in shock.

'That was you in the water? But there were so many fins...'

Neo nods. 'My friends knew you were mea lux, they were trying to help me keep you in the water. But your Nana, she knew of my kind and chased us away. She was right to do so. You were too young for me to claim.'

There is a silent 'but now' at the end of his sentence.

'But I'm not now?' I voice his silent implication aloud.

Neo nods. 'You are eighteen. You are old enough.'

'So, all these years...'

'I have been waiting for you to return. I knew you would, eventually. The non-human side of you can't resist the bond between us.'

I always thought I was so connected to this island because of my Nana. Apparently, something else was drawing me to it, too.

'The two men that threw me off the cliff earlier, they were angry at me for being here because they said I attracted your kind to the island.'

Neo's jaw clenches. 'I didn't kill that man, Mike,' Neo says the word with venom. 'Because he was the reason I got you back, but I wanted to. I will deal with him at a later time.'

He leans back on his hands, looking completely relaxed in the cave.

'I knew the moment you were back, I felt our connection get stronger. I swam around the island, trying to get a glimpse of you. I'll confess, I watched you sunbathe and take your meals on your Nana's balcony. I can't believe how beautiful you've become. You were lovely before, but now, you're like a siren.'

My cheeks warm at the compliment. I don't know what to say.

'Thank you,' I mumble, at a loss for anything else.

'Do you want me to take you back to your house? This must have been quite a shock for you,' he offers.

I do want to go home. I want to get into bed and sleep on this and come at it tomorrow, when I've had some time.

But going home means going back in the water.

My eyes travel to the black waves, lolling in and out of the cave. Neo follows my gaze and his stormy grey eyes soften.

'Tonight, my friends were keeping you near again. They have gone now that I've got you, it will only be me and you in the water, I swear it.'

I swallow hard and nod.

I want to go home, I can't stay in this cave all night.

Neo slides gracefully into the water. He transforms before me, his fin growing out of his back. His skin loses it's matte-ness and becomes shimmery with scales.

He holds out his hand to me, his nails pointed and fingers webbed. He's an entirely different person when he looks like this.

The only thing that is the same are his eyes. They might be more slitted and almond-shaped, but the colour remains the same and he still looks at me with adoration.

I slowly slip my hand into his. He holds me steady as I shuffle to the edge and place my feet into the water.

Like before, it's not cold, nor warm either. It's tepid.

'Ready?' Neo asks gently.

I nod and he grasps my arms. He lifts me up so that my butt doesn't scrape on the rock, and he lowers me into the water.

I instantly kick my feet back and forth, treading water to keep me afloat.

Neo bobs in front of me. 'If you want, I can swim you back in a different way, without going under. It will be slightly slower, though,' he suggests.

'Um, yes, please,' I readily agree.

I don't care how fast or slow we get back, I don't want to be dragged, blind and useless, through the water again.

Neo turns around, facing his back to me.

'Hold on tightly to my fin,' he says.

I do as he commands and grip his fin. He dives under the water, leaving only the tip of his fin and my hand out of it. His tail swishes next to me and he swims forwards.

With my hand on his fin, I move with him.

We exit the cave and enter the open sea. He swims through the waves, taking me with him as I hold on for dear life.

It takes about fifteen minutes, but he swims much faster than I ever could. He remains submerged the whole time, breathing through his gills.

Relief fills me as Nana's house comes into view. Neo takes me right up to the foot of the stairs, where he straightens up and breaks the surface.

'Sleep tight, mea lux. I will see you tomorrow. If you want to see me, step into the water and I shall know.'

I open my mouth to say goodnight, but his tail is already disappearing underwater with a splash.

I drag myself up the steps, my dress hanging heavily from my body, soaked and dripping water onto the wooden boards.

I find the key from the lockbox and let myself in. I look down and notice the puddle I am rapidly forming on the floor.

I should really have got him to do his magic-dry thing before he left.

⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆✥⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆