I'm out of my seat in a second, using my grip on the window sill to push myself backwards. My mind is reeling. I might not have known him very long, but Lukianos is the only merperson I know, if merperson is even the correct term. Regardless, I'm alone in this giant ocean with very limited knowledge on my new lifestyle.
And there's a sea witch somewhere right outside this ship.
With a flick of my tail, I push myself into a darkened corner, farthest from the window and the door to the passageway. My heart is racing now and I can't think clearly.
How did this happen? Lukianos was so sure that he'd be fine, so sure that he could defeat the sea witch. If I had gone with him, I might have been able to help by distracting the sea witch. We could have set a trap for her, using me as bait. Or we could have stayed together in this shipwreck and waited out the sea witch under the protective dome he put up.
Anything would have been better than this. Waiting in limbo to see if the sea witch comes for me, all the while feeling the pain of losing my only companion.
Suddenly, I can hear the sound of someone or something approaching. It's a sound I still haven't figured out how to describe, like water is being displaced and it causing ripples to be sent outwards- the swimming equivalent of footsteps. While swimming next to Lukianos, it was a natural sound, but while hiding from a sea witch there's a much more terrifying aspect to it.
It must be the sea witch approaching. Maybe she saw the golden dome and thought Lukianos was hiding something valuable in here or maybe she is just swimming by. I try to hold my breath in anticipation as the sound gets closer to the ship, but I no longer breathe out of my mouth so closing it doesn't stop my gills from working. This somehow makes me more panicky.
Whoever is outside is headed straight for the ship, approaching the side where Lukianos and I entered. I look around desperately for some kind of weapon and my eyes land on a desk leg that's been broken from the rest of the desk and is lying on the floor a few feet in front of me. Right in from of the doorway.
I'm debating whether or not to risk the displacement of water I'll cause if I make a grab for the leg, when I hear the muted thud of something touching the wood of the ship. The thing outside is now making its way inside. And another swish of water tells me it's headed down the passageway towards me. That decides it.
I dart forward, grab the leg and swing it upwards at the intruder, just as they cross the threshold. The leg strikes the intruder under the chin and the force of it sends the intruder back out the doorway and me against the floor of the ship.
I hear a grunt of indignation and look up to see Lukianos rubbing his chin gently.
I push off the floor and propel myself at him, knocking him back a few feet as I tackle him in a hug. Just for the record's sake, this is my first underwater hug and I didn't realize just how easily you can move someone underwater. Without gravity to hold us in place, we dart down the passageway and hit the closed door on the side opposite the room we were just in.
I'm probably choking him with my shoulder, but I don't really care at the moment.
"You're alive, you're alive, you're alive," I chant at full volume. He places a hand on the small of my back, returning the hug. The moment his skin touches mine, I realize two things. One, I've got a practical stranger pinned to the wall as I cling to his neck, fluttering my fins occasionally to keep myself pressed against him. Two, my shirt is not as in-tact as I had assumed before this moment, judging by the large amount of skin-on-skin contact I'm feeling. I'm half naked and all I care about is the fact that this strange man is safe. I lean back and let my hands rest on his shoulders, so I can look him in the eye as I whisper, "You're alive."
"You sound surprised. I told you I'd be okay," he reminds me gently. His eyes scan my face for a few seconds before they meet mine again. "Are you alright?"
"The dome... I thought you were dead," I whisper. I feel the prickling feeling of tears coming on, so I squeeze my eyes shut and rest my forehead on his shoulder. "The golden dome that you put up. You said that it would stay up as long as you were alive to power it. I sat by the window watching it; it was my only way to know if you were okay. As long as it stayed up, you were safe and that meant I was safe and everything would be fine, because we could keep on swimming, like nothing ever happened. I sat and watched it. And it went down. It went down and I thought you were dead. Thought I was all alone in this ship, in this ocean, in this new life," I don't know what I'm feeling most. Anger, fear, and melancholy all war inside of me to claim the spot light, but instead of one winning, they build each other up and tear me down. I'm a mess of emotions and my voice is choked. I'm clinging to him again- my fingernails digging into his back, trying to get him closer. Trying to get close to anyone, to feel comfort, to stop the pain of so many emotions crying out at once. My breath hitches, "I didn't know what to do. And if you were dead that meant the sea witch was still out there. And I heard you swimming toward the ship, but I didn't know it was you, I thought it was the sea witch and I didn't know what to do, because if you couldn't beat her and you're a fucking god, for crying out loud, then how was I supposed to survive? I'm nothing special. It's like you said, I'm useless against her; I don't have any powers. How could I protect myself? I was all alone."
Luke's hand, which was rubbing circles on my back, is suddenly cupping the back of my head. His other arm wraps around my waist and I can feel the cool metal of the trident where it brushes my side. He holds me tight to him.
I can't feel the wetness of tears streaming down my face, but all the other signs of crying are there. My breaths come out as sobs; it's actually a little painful to feel my gills stuttering open and closed, irregularly. I can feel my nostrils flaring and a small headache coming on.
But I eventually start to calm down. And then I also start to get embarrassed. I very carefully loosen my hold on his back, worried that I've broken skin with my fingernails. I let my arms go limp and the muscles ache with exertion.
Lukianos must feel me releasing my hold. He moves his hand away from my head and I start to lean back, but he doesn't let me get far. His arm is still around my waist and the hand that cradled my head now rests between my shoulder blades, keeping me close.
"I am so sorry, astéri mou," he breathes, dipping his head forward to catch my eyes. He looks at me so intently that I can't look away, even though I'm embarrassed of such a huge display of emotion in front of this stranger. I inhale slowly, closing my eyes for a moment to compose myself, as best I can. "I am sorry that you had to go through that fear and pain. And I am sorry that I am the one who caused it. I knew you were upset about being locked in this shipwreck. I only meant to set you free by releasing the spell. I didn't intend to do you harm. I will do everything I can to make this up to, Carter mou."
The hand on my back slides up to my head and he pulls me gently forward, until his lips press softly on my forehead. My eyes flutter shut again and for a moment, we stay like that. Then he pulls back and I raise my head. His hand holds my head so I'm eye level with him and his eyes can search mine, but he must be satisfied with what he finds in them, because he releases his hold on me.
Without his comforting words, I'm embarrassed again. I swim backwards slowly, putting a few feet of space between us and mutter, "I'm sorry for all….that."
"You don't need to apologize, Carter mou," he insists. He starts swimming towards me to close the gap, but I flick the fins on the end of my tail slightly to float backwards a bit more. "Ah, you're learning," he points out, smiling ruefully.
"I tried to distract myself while you were gone. Only lasted about five minutes," I explain, shrugging one shoulder, but still refraining from more than a few seconds of eye contact with him at a time.
He makes a humming sound, almost like clearing his throat, "Well. Nicely done. And don't fret about emotions, Carter. My distant uncle knew a land-dweller, once, who was turned into a merman. Apparently, merfolk have much stronger emotions than humans. It'll be a shock at first and probably hard to keep control of, but eventually, it'll be as natural as before. You'll love deeper, commit longer, rage more righteously. Everything will be heightened, stronger than before. But I'll help you learn to adapt to this new lifestyle," he smiles. "You don't have to do it alone."
"Thank you, Lukianos," I say with force, locking eyes with him meaningfully. "For everything."
He gives me a once over and then winks, "It's been my pleasure, astéri mou."
"About that," I start talking to distract from my blush, but I am genuinely curious. "What language is that? What does it mean? And 'Carter mow,' you said that, too."
He chuckles and his eyes twinkle when he says, "Carter mou. Not mow. Mou. Hear the difference?"
"No, that's the same thing. Carter mow," I insist.
Lukianos laughs again, "Come on, we need to keep going. This detour has taken long enough. We have far to go."
And with that, he swims past me and out of the porthole.
"Lukianos," I say as a complaint, swimming to try to catch up with him. "You totally ignored my question."
He's faster than me and keeps up a steady pace so that he's just barely ahead of me. I groan in frustration. He looks over his shoulder at me for a second. Then he slows, so I can reach his side. My tail muscles and new gills welcome the slower pace.
"You're right and I apologize. I will answer your question," he looks regretful. Well, serves him right. I've been through hell and high waters today, no pun intended, and he's going around talking about me in a different language and won't even tell me which one it is or what he's saying. "Greek."
I shake my head to clear my thoughts, "What?"
"Greek," he repeats. I stay quiet for a few seconds just starring at him in confusion. "You asked me what language I'm speaking, I'm speaking Greek. I am descended from a Greek god after all. And my grandmother was a Greek mortal."
I groan in frustration. "What about the other questions, the more important questions? Like, what were you saying in Greek?"
"How was I supposed to know that was more important to you?" He teases. "You'll never be able to keep up with me if you waste all your energy asking questions. It's my turn, now, anyway."
"Your turn?"
"Hey! No more questions from you, I just told you that it's my turn," is his playful interjection. "Were you upset when you thought I was dead, because you were worried about your safety? About the sea witch coming to get you?"
"Yes," I answer honestly. He turns his eyes from me and speeds up, closing off from me. I try my hardest to keep up, so he'll hear me, "But not only because of that. I was worried about you. I was watching that dome with such intensity, because it was my only way of knowing if you were okay. And when it went down, it felt like my entire world got flipped on its head, for the second time in one day. I didn't know what to think or feel. I didn't know what to do. Only after I heard someone outside, did I think of the danger I could be in." He slows down, but doesn't look at me, yet. We're swimming at a much slower pace now, slower than we've gone before, but my heart is racing.
I can't believe I was so forward with a man- merman- I met less than 24 hours ago. That reminds me.
"What time is it?" I blurt out, glancing at my broken watch and then upwards, as if I could see the sky even though we must be hundreds of feet below the surface. Maybe thousands.
When I look back down, Lukianos is no longer by my side. I stop swimming and look backwards. He's floating a few feet back, looking at me in confusion. I swim slowly back towards him.
"Do we not need to sleep?" I ask, following that train of thought.
"I must admit, I am very confused," Luke responds, glowering at the sandy ocean floor below us, like it had all the answers and just wouldn't give them to him. "You wish to know the time. And you wish to sleep."
He doesn't pose them as questions, but as deductions he's drawn from my words which he now demands an explanation of. His god-complex is showing.
"I was just trying to estimate how long it's been since the storm, my shipwreck, and meeting you. And then that made me think of how late it was when we first started swimming and that had to have been hours ago. So I was curious to what time it was now. It must be late, but I'm not tired. Do mermaids not need to sleep?" I ask again, half-showing how I arrived at my question and half-repeating in search of the answer.
"Yes, but not as much as humans. We live by the cycle of the moon and the sea, not the sun and the earth," he explains. He floats closer to me and gently grabs my right elbow. He taps my watch with the trident. Both glow golden for just a moment and then the hands of the watch dart around the face until the time reads 2:17. Sunset in the summer in California must be around 8 or 8:30. We couldn't have sat on that beach for more than a half hour after the sunset. Had I really been a mermaid for 6 hours?
"Wow, thanks," I breathe. I look up and am trapped in the magical gold that rings his eyes. "How do you do that?"
"Fix watches?" He asks, narrowing his eyes in confusion. "You just saw, I used the trident."
"No, your eyes," I explain, swimming a bit closer to watch as the gold flakes disappear. "The gold. Is it on purpose?"
"I don't know what you mean, my eyes are green," he responds, sounding more confused by the moment.
"Oh, I know that," I playfully smack his chest. "The magic stuff. Whenever you do magic, your eyes get this golden ring around the edges of the green. Except when you put up the dome, then your eyes went completely golden. Well, I guess what I mean is there was no green. You still had pupils, but the irises were golden. Hasn't anyone ever told you?"
He shakes his head, "No one's seen me use magic before."
"Wait, what? How? How has no one seen you use magic before?" I start to slowly swim backwards, questioning if he's actually told me the truth. Wouldn't a god be using magic frequently, to help their people or fight sea witches or do godly things, like curse a land with a drought? And after all, I've only known him for- how long? Not long enough. "Did you steal that trident or something?"
"What? No! Don't be preposterous," he thunders, narrowing his eyes at me like I'm some kind of traitor. "This was made for me by my grandfather's hand. It's a gift from a god. I don't use it around just anybody. Magic is sacred and it is intimate. I trained with Poseidon's voice as a guidance; there in spirit, but not in body. I didn't have any need to use magic in Atlantica, where ancient spells and runes, plus scours of guards protect the waters around the palace. I was sent to find that sea witch, my first test of strength and my first need to use my powers and I've been hunting her for many months. To be honest, I have lost track of the time. But it's no matter anymore. You. You helped me find her."
I open my mouth to respond, but can't form any words; he sounds so reverent. It snaps back closed. I repeat the action twice and he chuckles quietly.
"That's a lot to process," I finally get out, blinking at a spot in the distance just over his shoulder. "But I know one thing, I didn't do anything to help find a sea witch."
"Don't you see? Astéri mou…my star," he translates, closing the distance. My eyes flit to his, taken aback by his words. "You have led me to her. I was lost and weary of travel. I had come so far from home and I longed for familiar seas and familiar faces. I was distraught, because I had failed and would have to return home without completing my mission. But then I saw something bright above me, glinting on the surface. I thought it was a star and was excited. The only benefit to my travels that I had found thus far were the new heavens. So many different stars shining brightly in the different skies. I love the stars. The one thing I envy land-dwellers for is their constant access to stars. Yet, you build these triangles you call roofs to block them from your sight," he rolls his eyes and looks irritated for a moment, but then he grabs my elbow like he did just a minute ago to fix my watch.
My heart is racing again, my blood pumping in my ears. His eyes still locked on mine, Lukianos slowly trails his fingers down my arm until they land on my watch. He looks down at it and my eyes follow. His pointer finger traces a circle around the face of the clock, once. Twice. He taps it a few times.
"The star I saw? It was you. A reflection from your watch. The stars aren't just beautiful, Carter, they trace maps across the sky, depict all kinds of stories and speak of prophesies to come," he says softly. I look up to find his eyes already on mine. "You are my star, Carter mou. You led me straight to you. Without the detour of saving you and teaching you to swim, I would have been long gone, before the witch came out of hiding. I never would have completed my quest. And we never would have had the chance to begin our story. There is a prophecy in the stars, that reads as so: 'A star will bring forth the flame in the light bearer and the light bearer will bring forth unity to the seas.' You are the star. And I am the light bearer, as I was named after a saint of light, Lucian. Together, we'll unite the seven seas and bring about peace for our people and the creatures of the sea."
