Evergreen (Mer Tales, Book 2) (7 page)

:::

FIN

Friday afternoon, April 15
^th

I rolled over with a groan as the bed shifted underneath me. Pain ripped through my thigh, freezing me in place. Mom sat next to me, pressing a cold compress on my forehead.

“Fin,” she brushed my hair back, “you’re awake.”

“What happened?” My throat felt raw.

She gave my shoulder a quick squeeze.

“We barely escaped with our lives,” she said, breathlessly.

I blinked slowly as bits and pieces came to me. Dad had warned not to push the limits and I’d done just that. I pulled back the covers and took a good look at the big bandage on my thigh and the other one around my ribs. “Geez.”

“When we heard the shot, we weren’t far from shore. Dad persuaded them to drop you in the lake, but we couldn’t stop them all.”

“What? Why?”

“I think the one with the gun is mostly deaf, that’s why the song didn’t work. Luckily, he fell asleep this morning. Dad persuaded the rest to sleep so we could get away.”

I felt for my sling pack on my chest. “My—”

“I’ve got it.” She produced the pack.

I fumbled through and found the phone—my most important possession next to my life. The screen illuminated and so did over eight messages—all from Ash.

“How long have I been out? What day is it?”

“You’ve been touch and go for at least a day. It’s Friday.”

I gripped the phone. A whole day? I needed to call her now.

“And,” Mom said slowly, “you needed a vial last night so there’s only one left now.” She frowned and dangled her necklace to show proof.

I sat up and winced. “What?”

“Fin.” Mom put her hand on my chest to force me down. “I tried to hold off considering everything but you needed it to heal faster. You’d been shot in multiple places and lost a lot of blood. We didn’t have anything to take out the bullet until we got into the RV. They were trolling the lake most of the night and we couldn’t have you convert underwater accidentally and drown, could we?”

I turned my back to her, mad as hell, but mostly furious at myself. If I’d left the dog alone and headed to the water, none of this would have happened.

“It’s fine. I need to call Ash now.”

Mom touched my arm. “Don’t be mad. We had no other choice. I didn’t want to take her from you, Son.”

Take her from me? How would the conversion take her from me? Maybe allowing me to convert in the RV later, after we’d escaped was what she should have done. But they viewed converting as a sin, like all the other mers of Natatoria. This was another convenient excuse so Mom wouldn’t lose me. Why they still insisted my memories be wiped, I didn’t understand.

“You had to do what you had to do. Thanks.”

“I did.” She gripped my shoulder and forced me to look in her eyes. “I know it’s been rough, but—your memories, your love for Ash, everything would have been gone if I didn’t give you the essence.”

I laughed at the idiocy.

“Really?” I glared. “After what we’ve been through? Dad would still have to follow Natatorian law and erase my memories.”

“No.” Mom frowned, confusion settled over her face. “The conversion takes the memories, not Dad or any merman.”

“What?” My blood ripped through my veins. “That’s not what you said when we were kids.”

“I—what?”

“You said the merman erases the memories.”

Mom brought her hand to her lips in a gasp. “No, Fin, when a mer converts, they forget everything and everyone. The merman is only there to soften the amnesia.”

My mouth dropped open. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“I’m not. That’s what happens. I’m sorry I misled you—I don’t remember saying that.”

I made fists around the sheet and squeezed to stop from punching the headboard. “And Ash?”

“She’d be broken out of the bond, but,” Mom hung her head, “she’d still remember what you two shared and have feelings for you. But you wouldn’t because she’d be a stranger to you.”

“Why didn’t you mention this the other night?” I bellowed.

“I thought you knew.”

I gritted my teeth. “I told Ash the exact opposite.”

“Oh, dear.”

I laughed bitingly. “And I thought this entire time Dad put pressure on you to change when he could have changed himself.”

“Oh, Fin,” she rested her hand on mine. “I’m sure he would have, if it were that easy.”

“This is insane. I can’t believe I didn’t know.”

“I’m sorry. We should have made sure the details were clear.”

In respect to my mother, I refrained from cussing like a sailor. I’d been making life decisions based on assumptions. I fisted the pillow, still anxious to punch something.

“Then—what about Tatch?”

Mom grew stern. “Azor must be stripped of his fins in order to free her from the bond, period. And we will fight to make sure that happens.”

I looked up at the ceiling, breathing out my anger. With the pure desire to do the courageous thing, I’d almost erased the most important person in my life. This needed to be common knowledge. An accident could rip the world from someone. And Sissy and Hans did this on a regular basis? How? Why would a person want to forget everything they knew? Unless something horrible happened…

“I want to call Ash.”

“Of course.” Mom bowed her head and left the room.

I dialed and closed my eyes while it rang. She’d be in class, but I wanted to let her know I was okay. My stomach knotted when I heard her voice on the message. I’d taken a stupid risk because I was clueless.

I softened my voice not to alarm her. “Ash, it’s Fin. Sorry about last night. Things got crazy. Call me when you can.”

I hung up and dangled my legs over the edge of the bed. The door swung open from the movement of the RV. Mom folded clothes in the living area just beyond the tower of boxes. My bag wasn’t in its typical place under the desk.

“Don’t tell me.” I tried to stand, but the motion of the RV landed me on my butt. “Ugh.”

Mom looked up in surprise “No way, mister. You rest.”

I didn’t want to rest. I wanted to find my bag.

She glared after I didn’t obey right away. “If your father sees you up—I don’t want him yelling again.”

I reclined back with a roll of my eyes and stared at the ceiling, afraid to ask what happened to my bag. I scrolled through the phone. Ash’s messages haunted me. I couldn’t listen to them. A slew of text messages also caught my attention.

- Are you okay? Call me as soon as you can.

- I had this weird feeling just now. Please call when you can.

- I’m up early, call me.

- I hope you didn’t forget and took your phone underwater.

- I feel ridiculous for all the times I’ve called and texted. Sorry.

I typed back.

- I’m okay. Phone died. Sorry.

I hated lying, but I had to. If she knew otherwise, she’d freak out. I was fine. But how would I tell her the truth about conversions now? She’d never believe me. I’d look like a manipulative jerk saying I’d convert when she was the one who needed to all along. I’d have to tell her in person so she couldn’t hang up on me, but only after this all blew over.

But she’d felt something. Would I know if she was in trouble? I hoped so.

:::

ASH

Friday afternoon, April 15
^th

I bolted from Mr. Branson’s room and turned on my phone, slowing my steps as I approached the gym. Fin’s return text hit my inbox and my legs momentarily trembled.

I dialed frantically.

“Fin!” I exhaled as I fought back my tears. “I’m sorry. I just—” I gulped down the lump in my throat and tried not to sniffle as my teammates walked by me and gave funny looks.

“I’m so sorry, Ash. I forgot to charge the phone.” His scratchy voice skipped like he’d been yelling at a rock concert.

“So nothing happened?” I wiped away a tear with the back of my hand, embarrassed by my overcharged emotions.

“Nope.” His voice was peculiarly happy. “Things have been great.”

Great?
He’d never said things were great before. They needed to be horrible, like they’d been for me, especially after I hung up on him and he didn’t call back for twenty-four hours.

“Well… that’s good. I’m doing great, too.” A pang of dread stabbed me in the chest. What if he’d figured out how to stop missing me, so much that he forgot to turn on his phone this morning? Did the bond break earlier somehow and now he didn’t have feelings for me anymore? Was he still a merman?

“How are you?” he asked. “My cousin hasn’t returned, has he?”

My heart somersaulted. “No. Why?”

“Just checking.” Fin laughed, but it sounded forced. “Are you and your mom cool?”

“Um, yeah. She was upset, like always.”

I explained our misunderstanding with the knife, but his happy-go-lucky reaction didn’t reassure me. He didn’t act himself at all. Or maybe it was me—that the guilt for hiding secrets from him had worked its evil into my heart.

“You carved our initials in a tree? That’s awesome. Where?” Fin asked.

“Oh, between our properties.”

Something else I’d need to do later.

I put my ear against the gym door and listened. The coach’s whistle chirped in the background, signaling people needed to finish with their warm-up. I cracked the door. The gym was empty. But I didn’t care that I was late; I needed to figure out why Fin was acting so strange.

“You’re quiet, Ash. Are you mad at me?”

“No,” I whispered as I snuck into a stall at the back of the locker room. “I’m supposed to be in the pool working out, but I had to talk to you first.”

“Oh, well then don’t let me keep you.”

What? Keep me? My stomach rolled over. Something had changed. He’d never voluntarily get off the phone. And now he wanted to hang up. He didn’t feel the same for me anymore, that’s why I’d felt the shift in the hallway yesterday.

“I guess,” I looked at the floor, holding back a giant sob.

If he didn’t love me anymore, I didn’t know how I’d stop this horrific ache in my heart. I slid against the wall and crumpled to the ground.

“Lanski! Are you in here?” the coach called.

I swallowed hard, fighting back a near panic attack.

“Yeah, Coach? Sorry. I’ll be there in a second.”

“I’ll—I’ll let you go,” Fin said quickly. “I love you, Ash. Always remember that.”

His words smacked me across the face. Did he mean it? Or was he saying that to hold me over until he officially broke things off later? “Okay, yeah. Me, too.”

“Call me after school?”

“Sure.”

I hung up and clutched the phone to my lumbering chest. Luckily the water would hide my tears, but I was terrified at what he’d tell me later.

“I meant today, Lanski!”

I swung wide the bathroom stall door and darted for the pool, only to remember I hadn’t changed into my suit.

:::

My damp hair fell around my shoulders, making my sweatshirt wet, as I held my phone with clammy hands in my darkened bedroom. The moment I’d dreaded was here, and a vulnerable sinking feeling Fin was about to leave me hit hard again. What was I thinking putting all my hope and trust in a… fish?

He’d called three times already, though I’d said I’d call him first, but I didn’t pick up. If what I’d suspected was about to happen, I wanted to speak to him alone in the dark.

My pulse whooshed in my ears. Maybe he knew I was lying. Maybe this was a test. Should I come clean about Colin and Alaster? What if all mermen were crafty liars who liked to kiss girls and string them along? Did he ever intend to marry me?