Breathing hard, Marcus had to admit that he might have actually overplayed his hand. Ondina smiled at him a few feet away while the others looked on and roared in laughter. With another growl he lunged for the mermaid, who danced away just barely out of reach. She had been doing that for several minutes now, despite Marcus's best efforts at capturing her. With a final growl of frustration, he threw his hands into the air and returned to the grill. He flipped the burgers with a sour expression on his face as he tried to steady his breathing and slow his heart beat. Ondina casually walked up beside him and smiled at him superiorly, not breathing hard in the least. "Done already?" She asked innocently. "I was having fun."
Marcus glared at her as he began setting the burgers on a plate. "I'm so glad that you had fun." He said venomously.
"Thanks." She said brightly, walking back to the table and taking a seat.
Marcus returned his attention to the grill and began to lay new burgers onto the hot metal when the sound of footsteps alerted him to someone's approach. "Are you done gloating yet?" He asked, not bothering to look around.
"I haven't even started." Lyla said casually, leaning against the side of the house and smiling at him. "I could if you want though. I'm pretty good at bragging."
"Pass." Marcus returned his attention to the burgers. "Need something?"
"No, just wanted to see if you changed your mind about tonight." Lyla said. "About your swimming lesson."
Marcus frowned at her. "No, I can't say I have. Like I said, I'd like to figure it out by myself." He glanced to the others, who were immersed in a conversation about sea life from what he heard, and back to Lyla. "Besides, with them around it would be next to impossible."
"Maybe." Lyla agreed. "But you need to get some sort of feel for it, especially before the full moon."
"What happens on the full moon?" Marcus recalled that someone had once said that there was a significance between mermen and the moon, but he couldn't remember what was said.
"I really don't know." Lyla admitted. "It might be nothing now that the trident stone has been broken. But are you willing to take that chance?"
"Until someone gives me some evidence that something will happen to me, then yes. I absolutely am." Marcus dismissed the issue out of hand and picked up the plate of burgers, walking it back to the table. "There! Dinner is served!" He said happily, awaiting some manner of praise.
Carly, David, Cam, and Chris grabbed hamburger buns and dug in eagerly to the food. The rest of the people at the table, the merpeople, were staring at the hamburgers with relative distaste. "Where's the fish?" Mimi asked, disappointment clear in her voice.
Marcus stared at her with open-mouthed annoyance. He shut his mouth and grabbed the cooler from which Ondina had grabbed the filet and pulled it over to the table. With a surge of strength, he lifted up the heavy cooler and set it on the table. Zach looked inside interestedly and made a soft exclamation of delight as he pulled out a lobster claw from the cooler and tore into it eagerly.
"That's better." Evie remarked to Marcus. She glanced at him and saw the expression on his face, and she adopted the look of being at a dear friend's bedside. "…Nevermind."
"Ungrateful fish." Marcus muttered, taking a seat at the table and grabbing himself a hamburger. "No respect for a good burger." But even as he ate he had to admit that the raw seafood seemed much more appealing than the burger he was eating. You've gotta be joking. He moaned to himself, looking longingly down at his burger.
The dinner went well, all things considered. When the food had been finished everyone began discussing what they had been up to in Lyla's absence. When it was Marcus's turn to share he simply smiled slightly and shook his head. "I haven't been anywhere that interesting." He shrugged.
"You were at a boarding school in Switzerland." Chris protested lightly. "That seems kind of interesting to me."
"It was just a bunch of rich entitled kids throwing around their parents' money." Marcus told them. "Really, it wasn't all that great. I was only there for a couple months before I got kicked out anyways."
"How did you get kicked out anyways?" David asked. "I mean, as your employer I think I should know."
"Did you really just play that card?" Marcus asked incredulously. "Really?"
"Yes." David nodded. "I did. Now spill. Everyone else has talked about what they were up to, you have to tell us at least one story."
Marcus sighed wearily before admitting defeat. "Fine, fine." He said crossing his arms and leaning back in his seat. "So the thing about that school is, they are really strict. I mean, they basically collect all the best teachers from all over the world. But you get what you pay for I guess. Anyways, they had rules against sneaking out and I may have broken them… On multiple occasions."
"That's it?" Zach could not mask the disappointment in his voice. "You got kicked out for sneaking out of class?"
"No." Marcus said delicately. "I got kicked out for leaving the country a few times."
They stared at him in openmouthed astonishment and he smiled wickedly in response. "Sometimes it pays to have full access to your parents' private jets." He told them. It wasn't entirely true, he hadn't left the country. He had left the school, but it was only to go climbing around the mountains that surrounded the school. He had returned by night every day. "But, that's not really a big deal."
"Your parents have a private jet?" Cam demanded. "And you can fly it?"
"No." Marcus frowned at the blonde haired man. "I can't fly it. We have pilots we hire exclusively to maintain and fly them."
"So why did you come here?" Zach asked curiously. "I mean, with that kind of money you could go pretty much anywhere right?"
"Yeah, but trust me, money doesn't buy happiness." Marcus's gaze lost focus and he thought back to the last time he had seen his parents. He shook his head slightly and stared around the table. "What you guys have, this right here, I would trade for in a heartbeat."
"Well, you don't have to." Zach told him. "You're in on the secret. Like it or not, you are stuck with us. And we're stuck with you."
"Great." Ondina sighed. "Just what I wanted to hear."
Marcus's head snapped around and he glared at the blonde mermaid. "You know, I'm not exactly thrilled about having to worry about you following me around either."
"Why would anyone follow you around?" Ondina scoffed loftily, flipping her hair.
"Because I am irresistible." Marcus told her. "It's one of my many wonderful personality traits."
"Not to mention modest." Ondina shot back.
"Absolutely." Marcus nodded his head in agreement. "I mean, could you imagine if I started bragging? I would be-." His voice cut off and his expression soured, looking slowly to Ondina.
She had one hand in the air and a very amused expression on her face. "You would be amazing in every way, I'm sure." She said sweetly. She got up from the table and ran her hand across Marcus's arm before striding down to the river and diving in.
Marcus watched her disappear under the water before returning his gaze back to the others. He slowly pushed to his feet and raised a single finger. "That does not count as getting the last word." He told them menacingly. "That was not playing fair."
He left the dinner then, annoyed that he had let Ondina get the better of him. He checked his phone and looked up at the sky, unsure of where to go as his next destination. He decided to let himself wander around a bit and revel in the simple pleasure of being outside. His walk took him to the beach, and he walked along the water's edge as the sun set on the coast. He retreated several feet from the shore and sat down on the sand, stretching out his legs.
He looked out over the water and closed his eyes, enjoying the peace and the solitude. He sat like that for a long time, until an odd sound caused him to open his eyes. He frowned and tilted his head to the side, listening intently to discern what it was. With a start, he realized that it was singing. Someone was singing a song that was soft and sweet, the notes seeming to wrap around him. He wanted to hear more, desperately so. He slowly pushed himself up and staggered to the water's edge.
Into the sea, hold you close to me…
Marcus gazed out over the water, searching eagerly for the source of the divine song.
Slide 'neath the waves… down into the caves….
A distracted part of him, the part that fought at the song's hold on him, struggled desperately against his will to wade into the surf.
Kiss me my love…. Come rest in my arms…
Marcus's will thrashed wildly inside his mind as he began to lift his foot and step into the waves. The waves lapped tantalizingly close to his shoes.
Dream your dreams with me… Slide beneath the sea…
The song seemed to dig deeper into his mind with every word sung, but Marcus still fought on.
Come to me my love... Forget the land above…
If it were possible, Marcus's will would have made a massive snapping sound as it broke. He stepped into the sea and staggered forward into the water until his tail emerged. Even under the water, the song seemed to reverberate throughout his being.
Author's note: As always, thank you very much for your continued support. I doubt I would care quite as much as I do about this story without your continued thoughts. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. -Hallowed