Breathless (23 page)

“Take me with you,” I whispered.

He stiffened.

“I don’t care if I can’t come back to the surface. I don’t want to come back.”

Luna twisted around in her seat, smirking at us. “Yes, Bastin,” she said, her voice sugary sweet. “Why don’t you take your human under?”

His jaw flexed. “You know what happens to humans underwater, Luna. Edith doesn’t know what she’s asking.” He looked at me. “The life of a human underwater is unbearable. The ocean would curve your spine and pale your skin. Your eyes turn milky and you would lose your sight. Not to mention that you would be unable to talk.” He squeezed my hand. “I would never do that to you. I’d die first.”

We arrived at the resort midday. After Morgan checked us in, we took a shuttle to Disney. We bought ice cream, which both the mers liked so much we had to go back for more. After coming across a girl dressed like a mermaid, I explained the movie and both Bastin and Luna had a good laugh over it.

“As if such thing as a sea witch could exist.” Luna snorted. But after spotting a tiara for sale in a gift shop, she persuaded Morgan to buy it for her and spent the next hour skipping around the park, announcing to anyone who would listen that she was a mermaid princess. Luckily, no one seemed to think that we were anything more than a group of teens goofing off.

When we reached Future Land, Morgan insisted we al ride Space Mountain. Despite my warnings, the mers agreed. Bastin sat in front of me and didn’t make a sound or take his hands off the lap bar the entire ride. After exiting the coaster, his legs wobbled and he didn’t respond to his name, which I cal ed several times. He took a step forward and staggered. Immediately, I darted under his arm and let him lean against me.

Worried, I asked, “Are you al right?” It wasn’t like we could take him to the first aid station. And who knew what the effects of a rol ercoaster would be on a mer?

He shook his head but remained silent.

Morgan appeared a moment later, bracing Luna the same way I held Bastin. We shot each other worried glances as we led them through the exit. Outside, Bastin straightened himself and held a hand in front of me, stopping me in my tracks. He looked at Luna and they exchanged nods.

“We’ve decided to do that again,” Bastin said.

“What?” I asked. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea—you can barely walk.”

He shook his head. “Again.”

“Again,” Luna repeated.

I sighed and Morgan shrugged. We led them back through the line and back on the coaster. This time, instead of their previous white-knuckled silence, both Bastin and Luna waved their arms in the air, whooping the entire ride. The four of us were a mess of giggles by the time we stumbled from the coaster.

“Again!” Bastin and Luna shouted in unison.

So we rode again . . . and again. Five times, in fact, before I could feel the ground moving under my feet even when I was standing stil . “Guys, I think I’m going to sit this next one out,” I said. My knees jiggled beneath me, and this time it was Bastin who held out his arms to support me.

Luna frowned. “You’re weak. Bastin’s right not to take you underwater. You’d never make it.”

Was that the reason why? Because I was weak?

Before I could react, Morgan tugged on Luna’s arm. “Come on. I’l ride some more with you.”

Luna nodded. “This one,” she told me, “I like. She’s stronger. She’s got what it takes.”

Morgan beamed.

Bastin waved her away. “Go on then.” He looked at me. “I’l sit with you, Edith.”

I leaned into him. The night was beginning to creep into the edges of the sky, like ink soaking into a sheet of blue paper. The air was sweet, fil ed with the smel s of sugar cones and lemonade. Together, we weaved through the clusters of people that had formed along the walkways in anticipation of a parade. I wished I could be one of them—here to relax and have fun with their families. Not like me, on a stolen vacation with someone I could never have.

I slipped my hand from his arm and wound my fingers through his—so deceptively human. He had arms to hold me, fingers to touch, and yet . . .

I blew out a breath.

Bastin led me to a park bench and we sat. “You’re upset,” he said.

I took my time before answering, biting on my lip until I had the trembling under control. “I just wish I could have fun like everyone around me. I’ve been trying . . . so hard, but . . . every time I see a couple, smiling at each other, happy, I can’t help but be reminded that we’l never have that.”

Bastin said nothing, only ran his thumbs across my knuckles, an action I could barely feel through the aching of my heart. Final y, as if he’d digested what I’d said, he nodded. “We both knew this was going to end at some point. It just happened sooner than we thought.” He kissed the top of my head and leaned his cheek against it. The muscles in his jaw flexed against my scalp as he ground his teeth.

“I guess,” I said, “it’s better this way. Each time I see you it makes it that much harder to leave. If we spent any more time together, it just might kil me.”

“If there was a way, Edith . . .”

Just then, a bril iant spider-web of blue and red streaked across the sky in a thundering boom.

Bastin jumped on top of me, pushing me into the bench’s wooden planks.

“Bastin!” My cry was muffled by his shoulder which pressed against my face. “It’s okay.”

“What do you mean it’s okay?” He didn’t move and I became aware of more than a few people craning their necks to look at the spectacle we made.

“It’s only fireworks.”

Slowly, he climbed off me and I could breathe again. “Fireworks? This isn’t another one of your wars?”

I tried not to laugh as I rubbed my aching jaw. “No one is fighting. This is . . . just a show.”

“Just a show,” he repeated. I felt his muscles loosen beside me. “There’s no danger?”

I shrugged. “I wouldn’t say that. Apparently, there’s a crazy merman on the loose, flattening unsuspecting girls onto benches.”

He laughed and then threw his arms around me. We stayed that way, watching the fire burn across the sky in pops and sizzles. With the castle in the background, the night felt like a fairytale—only this story would have no happy-ever-after. But we could have a happily-for-the-moment. I made a silent promise to myself that for the rest of the weekend I’d stop counting each second lost and focus on the ones I stil held.

Bastin brushed his lips against my neck. “Remember when I asked you how I would know if I loved you?”

I nodded, my tongue suddenly thick in my throat.

“I figured it out—I do.”

Time stopped. The world stopped. My lungs stopped. My heart stopped.

Al because Bastin loved me. And I said nothing in return. Bastin didn’t seem to notice as he went back to gazing at the sky. It wasn’t that I didn’t love him—I just didn’t have the ability to speak. He’d left me breathless.

“You’ve shown me so much,” he whispered to the night sky. “I understand things now, why humans pair up the way they do. Why they touch. Why they mate. It al makes sense now. My kind are taught to hate humans because of their pol ution. I understand that. But we aren’t taught about al the good things your species is capable of. I original y came to you to understand more about humans. The other tribes are putting pressure on us to join them in their quest to destroy the land. But I won’t let that happen. Even if every other human were a parasite, if only for you, Edith, I wil fight to keep your home safe.”

I felt the first of many tears slide down my cheek. What could I say to someone who’d pledged to save the world for no other reason than I existed? I looked around at the crowd. The mil ing people were too focused on the sky to notice a pair of seemingly-normal teenagers perched on a bench. With shaking fingers, I reached toward his face and removed the sunglasses. The endless eyes stared back at me. The eyes that I’d wanted so badly to fal into and drown. It wasn’t until that moment that I realized that I already had.

“What are you doing?” Bastin asked.

I put my hands to either side of his face. “I’m drinking this moment in so I can carry it inside of me forever. They may tear us apart but they can never take you out of my heart.”

His arms were around me in an instant. Staring into his eyes, I ran my fingers over his face, memorizing each inch of his skin and the way it felt to have his chest rise and fal against my own. I was desperate to take it al in, so later, when I was alone, I could remember and be sure it wasn’t al a beautiful dream.

Bastin kissed me under the rain of fireworks. We kissed and clung to each other as if the world real y was under attack and we wanted to die in each others’ arms. We kissed until the climatic boom of the grand finale ended and, in the silence, someone cleared their throat.

We pul ed apart and Bastin scrambled for his sunglasses.

“That’s disgusting.” Luna stood in front of us with her teeth bared. “Why must you suck on each other like that? Especial y when I might stumble upon the scene with a ful stomach?”

Morgan laughed. “I think it’s adorable.”

Luna made a gagging noise.

Bastin stood and held out his hand to help me up. “Someday, Luna, you wil understand. Al of our kind wil .”

She folded her arms across her chest. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means that Edith has taught me how to love. “

“Love sounds like another human disease. I told you they were contagious. If you spread it to our people—”

“I hope I do. We’ve been wrong about them.”

Luna opened her mouth to respond but Bastin silenced her with a wave of his hand. “Why do you think these humans invited us here? Why are they sharing al of this with us?”

She looked confused. “I don’t know . . .”

“Has Morgan asked you for anything?” he asked.

“No.”

“Has Edith?”

“No”

“And haven’t they given us disguises? Made sure we ate? Given us shelter?”

She took a step back as if preparing herself for a dark truth. “What are they after?”

“Nothing,” Bastin said. “It’s just what they do. Humans share, they love, they
feel
. Don’t you feel
anything,
Luna?”

Luna opened her mouth—but no words came out. Instead, she turned around and walked in the direction of the rol ercoaster, grumbling about human diseases the entire way.

Bastin stood behind me munching on a handful of fries as I balanced the cardboard tray of sodas in one hand and rooted through my pocket for the room key with my other. We’d left Morgan and Luna at the condo while we walked the two blocks to McDonald’s. I was nervous leaving Morgan alone with Luna while Bastin and I retrieved dinner. Having been attacked by Luna myself, I didn’t trust her not to fil et my best friend while I was gone. What I hadn’t expected when I inserted the key and turned the doorknob, however, was Morgan and the mermaid standing on the balcony with their arms around each other.

I froze as wave after wave of shock rippled through me. Bastin, stil focused on the fries, bumped into my back which rocked me on my heels and sloshed the soda noisily inside of the cups.

Morgan and Luna glanced in our direction. Morgan quickly dropped her arms from Luna’s waist and her cheeks burned several shades of crimson. Luna merely looked bored.

This wasn’t good. Luna was vicious, bloodthirsty, and dangerous. Not exactly the qualities you’d want to see in the person your best friend is caught . . . um, kissing? Was that what they’d been doing?

“Final y,” Luna said with the same amount of emotion in her voice as if we’d caught her brushing her hair. She walked inside the room, stepped around me without so much as a glance in my direction, and took the bag of food from Bastin. “I’m famished.” She perched herself on the foot of a bed and began rummaging through the fries and nuggets as if nothing had happened. Morgan, meanwhile, made a point of avoiding my gaze.

I turned to Bastin. “Give us a second, wil you?” Before he could answer, I thrust the drink carrier into his arms, marched out onto the balcony, and closed the door behind me. This was a tricky situation and I was conscious of keeping the panic I felt about Luna and Morgan’s evolving relationship from showing on my face. I folded my arms across my chest in what I’d hoped was a casual stance and attempted a weak smile. “Sooo . . . What’s going on with you and Luna?”

Morgan grinned lazily and balanced on her toes so she could bend over the rail of our two story condo. “I don’t real y know.” She stared at me, her face upside-down and growing redder by the minute as more blood rushed into her head. “But I like her . . . a lot.”

That’s what I was afraid of. I gripped the rail beside her and immediately let go when rusty flakes of paint chipped under my palms. “You know she almost ripped my throat out, right? With only her fingernails.” After wiping my hands on my jeans, I pointed to my injured shoulder.

“I know.” Morgan stood with a sigh. “But she feels bad about that.”

I arched an eyebrow.

“I think.”

“Uh-huh.”

Morgan flopped down on plastic lawn chair. “Is there a point to this interrogation, Smal s?”

I sat in the chair next to her and scooted it close enough that our knees touched. “I just . . .” But my throat tightened and I had to swal ow before I could continue. “I’ve never had a best friend before.” I looked down at my hands, clasped tightly on my lap. “And I don’t want to see you get hurt.” The way I was hurting. Bastin’s declaration of love stil clung to me, making me ache with longing.

“Aw, Smal s!” Morgan moved from her chair and into mine, making room by bumping me over with her hip. She threw an arm around me and squeezed. “You’re my best friend, too, you know.” Her voice hitched in her throat, and her eyes brimmed with unshed tears. “But you don’t have to worry about me. I’m tough.”

I made a face. “Luna’s tougher.”

Morgan’s smile melted away leaving her expression serious. “She told me she was fond of me today.”