When Ondina finally stopped screaming at him Marcus's head and ears were ringing. The stone chamber had caused her screams to echo which only accentuated the fury in her words. The echo was slightly fortunate however as after the first string of insults registered, the rest was just white noise. Ondina's chest heaved as she caught her breath, glaring at Marcus. "Well, I said you should talk to me but I guess screaming is a start." He shrugged the shoulder he wasn't leaning on and smiled slightly at Ondina. "So did that little fit make you feel any better?"
"I'm leaving," She said, pushing off the wall and wiping at her eyes with the backs of her hand.
Marcus narrowed his eyes as he thought fast. "Yeah, go ahead, run away." He said airily, lying on his back and tucking his hands behind his head as a pillow. "It seems like that's what you do nowadays anyways.
He closed his eyelids until he was just barely able to see past his eyelashes. He glanced to where Ondina treaded water. He felt a small surge of triumph as he beheld the stricken expression on her face. "Alternatively," Marcus spoke up again. "If you are still there you could just do what I came down here for in the first time. You could talk to me."
"It's not your problem." Ondina told him. "Just leave me alone."
"No can do." Marcus said. He pointed up at the hole in the cave before placing his hand back behind his head. "Still no rope to climb out."
A few moments later he felt something soft yet firm hit him in the chest. He opened one eye and saw the rope dangling from the ceiling. He turned his head and saw Ondina lowering her hand, obviously annoyed. "There." She said, raising her chin. "Now you can leave."
"I sure can." Marcus yawned, closing his eyes again. He waited for a full minute before he opened his eyes again and grinned at Ondina. "But what I can do and what I actually do are two totally different things."
"Why do you have to be so infuriating?" Ondina snapped. Marcus could read her thoughts as clear as day from her face and her tone of voice. Who does he think he is? She was thinking right about now.
"Well I'm not the one being infuriating right now." Marcus shot back. "Do you think I want to spend all day in a cave? I could be home sleeping right now or annoying some unfortunate teacher. Instead I'm stuck in a cave with a mermaid who just spent five minutes screaming at me. And I have a headache."
"Then leave!" Ondina said.
"Nope." Marcus sat up and stared down at her. She stared back at him. This continued for about five minutes before Marcus sighed and pulled out his cell phone. He laid back down on the ground and began tapping at his screen.
"What are you doing?" Ondina demanded. She knew what a cell phone was, but the small device seemed out of place in an environment so rich with magic like the Moon Pool.
"Right now?" Marcus asked dispassionately. "Playing Tetris. If I have to wait here for you to talk, fine. But I'm not going to be bored while I wait. Thus, Tetris it is."
"No one is making you stay." Ondina said, but Marcus caught the slight inflection in her tone. It was faint, but Marcus heard the very, very slight reluctance hidden in her words. Her anger was still first and foremost however. "You can leave any time you want."
"Well I do not want." Marcus said, tapping away with his index finger. "What I want is for you to talk…. Preferably in a normal voice. The screaming was a bit much."
"You deserved it." Ondina told him.
"Oh, I'm not saying I didn't." Marcus agreed immediately. "But I would still prefer it if you didn't yell."
"I don't understand you." Ondina told him but she nonetheless had taken her spot at the opposite end of the pool and was now staring at Marcus. "But I get the feeling that if I leave here you will just find me again."
"Aw, see? You are getting to know me." Marcus laughed.
"Unfortunately."
"Now that is just wildly inappropriate." Marcus scolded.
"Says the one talking to a girl while he's on his phone!" Ondina shot back. Realizing what she had just said, she very hastily backtracked. "Not that I care. Do whatever you like."
"I was going to anyways." Marcus said, unconcerned with her permission. "But like I said, I would rather hear you talk. Which, coming from me, is a compliment. I don't usually like hearing anyone other than myself talk." It wasn't true, strictly speaking. But he would be as annoying or talkative as he had to be in order to get Ondina talking.
"I feel so honored." She said dryly, but her lips quirked up in the barest ghost of a smile.
"I'm glad." Marcus nodded vigorously. He cursed as he failed the game, locking his phone and setting it in his pocket. He glanced over at Ondina and raised an eyebrow. "Well? Feeling talkative yet?"
"Why do you care so much anyways?" Ondina demanded. She eyed him suspiciously.
"Because if you keep pushing everyone away you won't have anyone left." Marcus told her quietly. "And trust me, being alone is not all it has cracked up to be. So, if you don't want to talk to any of the others then talk to me."
They stared at one another for a long, long time. Ondina seemed to be searching his eyes for something whilst Marcus was distracted by her ocean blue eyes. "What do you want me to talk about?" She asked finally.
"I don't really care." Marcus said honestly. "But you need to talk to someone about something. Anything really."
"Give me something to talk about then." Ondina told him. She hesitantly made her way across the pool and placed her arms on the stone beside Marcus's head.
For his part Marcus laid on his side, placing his weight on one arm. "I don't know all that much about mermaids." He admitted. "Is it true what they say about a mermaid's kiss being able to save a man from drowning?"
"Curious to find out?" Ondina asked slyly.
Marcus had closed his eyes when he laid back on his side, but now they snapped open and fixed Ondina in his sights. She had a superior smile on her face, her eyes sparking with a mischievous light. He scowled at her as he instantly realized that he had just fallen victim for the same brand of sarcasm that he used. "You think you are so funny." He muttered. But he smiled inwardly. It was a small step, very small, and he had absolutely nothing to base it off of, but he thought that maybe he had just glimpsed the real Ondina. "Lucky I didn't call your bluff. More than likely your kiss would actually drown someone rather than save them."
"I'm not sure if you just insulted me." Ondina frowned at him. "Or just made a bad joke."
"I never make bad jokes." Marcus said straight-faced. "Which leaves option one."
Now it was Ondina's turn to scowl. "I don't get why the others like having you around so much."
"Well of course you wouldn't." Marcus said, waving a hand through the air. "With as much time as you have been spending with the lately you probably don't get a lot of things going on in their life."
"I've been busy." Ondina muttered, clearly unhappy with the direction that the conversation had taken.
"No, you've been separating yourself from them." Marcus corrected. "Probably because you blame yourself for what happened with Erik and the merman chamber."
For just a moment, Marcus dropped his sarcastic façade. At the same time, Ondina's surprise at Marcus's words forced her to drop the distant, boding air she had used as a shield for several weeks. The two young people looked into each other's eyes and Marcus smiled at her with genuine kindness and understanding. "It wasn't your fault." He told her quietly. "Our hearts make fools out of all of us at one time or another. You need to stop blaming yourself, Ondina."
She opened her mouth to say something, but Marcus quickly overrode her. "You had your chance to talk." He told her sternly. "Now you have to deal with me. Listen, I've only known you for about a week. Getting to know you would be nice, but it wouldn't kill me if you never spoke to me again."
Marcus paused and took a deep breath before he continued on. Ondina was watching him through wide eyes, her chin resting on her arms. "But your friends out there?" Marcus gestured vaguely to a side of the cave. "Zach, Evie, Mimi, Rita, Cam? They are all worried sick about you. None of them have ever blamed you for the merman chamber thing, and none of them ever will. The only one who can't let go of that is you. You need to forget about it. If you don't you are going to start letting your friends drift away. Go talk to them. Now." Marcus got slowly to his feet at the end of his speech. He grabbed the rope in his hands and pulled on it experimentally.
"Thank you." Was all Ondina told him before she dove under the water and disappeared out of the Moon Pool. Marcus watched her go before he began his own escape from the cave.
When he pulled himself onto the top of the cliffs he pulled the rope up behind him and smiled down at the empty cave. "You're welcome." He said to the water.