Heart of Shell (The Mercrutian Chronicles Book 1) (12 page)

By the time the
school week had started, I had regained my strength. The scaling had been a quick process despite being draining, and I was better at controlling the pace of my transformation once my skin hit water. For most Mers this was the challenging part, learning to control the Mer essence within you was important.  Otherwise, the moment you hit water, it was intuitive to change- no matter where you were. That impulse needed to be mastered. Our secrets needed to be protected.

The first couple of times I had bathed I stared in awe at my tail. My mother had been amazed by the colour of my scales. She had never seen a tail like mine, which was mauve. The end of my tail was translucent with a lavender iridescent sheen and quite wispy.

Lately, when not testing myself by washing my hands or going for a bath. I had been e-mailing Coral and spending my spare time with Pearl in the school library. I had told her about the Mer incantation for water boiling that I had finally managed to interpret from the
grimoire
and we decided that the upcoming weekend we would test it out. She and Coral had been missing Rayne a lot since she had left early for college and had invited me to join them skating on Thursday night.  It would be the perfect opportunity to heat some water for cocoa after at their house and I couldn't wait.

Ondine had offered to drop us off at the lake. She and Caspian had actually finished their work a night early and were resting at home after a busy week of orders from the mid-ocean. I was surprised when my own parents had even called me to let me know they would pick me up from the Price home later on their way back from town.

As soon as we arrived at the lake, we found Murdock and Hurley there sitting down on a bench not far from the snowy shoreline. Maybe he was here to see Coral, but something about his presence had me feeling uneasy. I was tempted to ask the girls if they wanted to go somewhere else, but Ondine had already left us.  I followed Coral and Pearl to the makeshift rink bench set up and we sat down to remove our shoes. The silence of our focusing was quickly interrupted.

“
Coral.”

“
Coral.”

“
Coooorall!” Murdock spoke loudly from where he and Hurley sat.

“
WHAT!” She said, and snapped her neck to his direction.

“
Why don’t you come say hi to me?” He made a sad pouting face. When I looked at Pearl, I could tell she was thinking the same thing I was... clearly, he was playing some game.

“
What do you want Murdock?” Coral asked, her voice sounding annoyed.

“
What do you think I want?” He asked throwing a snowball in our direction which luckily fell short.

“
Nothing good.” Coral muttered under her breath.

“
I WANT MY BETROTHED TO COME HERE AND GREET ME PROPERLY.” He demanded.

“
No! Don’t speak to me that way either!”

“
No!?” He said. “Don’t you dare say no to me Coral! Get. Over. Here. Now!”

Pearl looked at me with frown, her lips thinning with displeasure. She didn’t like the way he was treating her sister either.

I looked at Coral and then sent a wave of strength to her, which helped relieved some of the tension in her shoulders.

“
Come on,” she said, “let’s skate.”

We all moved eagerly towards the middle and began swirling and twirling around, trying to mimic figure skaters. From the trees I could hear the sound of a motor rumbling and a few moments later the engine of an ATV was cut. I looked up to see Merrick removed his helmet. He was alone and walked over to meet with Murdock and Hurley who were snickering about something I had no mind to listen to.

“
Your sister sucks as a mate!” Murdock said as Merrick approached.

Merrick shook his head. “Saying stuff like that is definitely the best way to win her over too.”I smiled at him as I completed my lap and his eyes caught mine as he pushed back his dark hair from his eyes,

“
Watch this,” Murdock said.

“
Coral.”

“
Coral.”

“
Coral.”

“
COOORALL!” Murdock threw his head back as he belted her name out one last time. Behind me, a few metres back on the frozen river. Coral and Pearl skated to a stop and we all eyed him. How obnoxious! I had enough, he had only said a few things, but I was past the point of annoyed for my friend.

“
Why don’t you can it Murdock! You’re worse than a squawking seagull.”

“
What did you say to me!?” He asked shooting up from the bench and moving a few feet closer to the ice.

Merrick was behind him, and he looked like he was ready to pounce should Murdock move closer to me.

“
That’s close enough, Murdock.” Merrick said in a low growl.

“
Your little mate, Merrick, shouldn’t be talking to me like that.” He looked back at Merrick and then to me again. I rolled my eyes.

“
Leave her alone,” Coral said, she and Pearl still standing still on the ice behind me.

“
Leave her alone.” Murdock repeated in a whiny voice. “Baby, of course I’ll leave little Anya be.”

He looked from Coral to Hurley and suddenly I had that same gut wrenching feeling like on the day I had scaled. Hurley’s hand shot up and the ice beneath me gave way. The cold water was biting as it sliced into my legs and I held onto the edge. I fought the change, trying to scramble back up on the ice, but it was no use I was slipping.

“
She has no powers!” Merrick roared, pushing him out of the way. He ran towards me while Coral and Pearl tried to skate close enough without falling in, they had leaned down closer to the surface, but weakened from what Hurley had done with his powers, the gap was widening fast.

Everything was happening so quickly. I could feel both Merrick and Pearl tug at me with their powers trying to get the water to keep me up above the surface, but it wasn’t working, they were too frantic. With the strength of the current I was sucked under the ice, sinking down into the chill. Now was not the time to change, though, anyone could show up at an
y
minute . The last thing that I needed was to be seen in broad daylight with a tail. The clunky skates were weighing me down, but I fought the weight of them and began swimming to the surface. Somewhere near the opening I saw Merrick dive beneath the water and he was quickly swimming towards me. In seconds he had my arms and he pulled us down to gain momentum before quickly shooting up breaking the thick ice surface above us. His hand pushed the water up, and we jetted from the force of it behind us, onto the edge of the river where the ice was still solid. Merrick held me close to him while my teeth chattered.  His free hand wiped away my wet hair.

“
You didn’t change?” he asked me looking at my legs.

“
I tr-tri-tri-tried n-no-not tto.” I said.

Soon, everyone was gathered around us, Murdock was hanging back a few feet. Merrick's eyes, like daggers, were fixed on him.

“
You said she changed, Coral.” He confessed sounding displeased with himself.

“S
he hasn’t gotten her powers yet.” Merrick said, his arms wrapping tighter around me. “You're lucky my mate is between us otherwise both of you would be at the bottom of that lake right now.

“
That doesn’t make any sense.” Hurley said also looking ashamed.

“
I’mmm, I’mmmm one qu qu..” Merrick placed his fingers over my chattering lips to stop my explanation, his eyes were so apologetic.

“
She’s one quarter human.” He said looking at them challengingly. “What was that Hurley? What if it was your mate?”

Hurley rubbed his neck. Merrick's jaw ticked, he was angry. I'd never witnessed him this upset.

Hurley's head fell. “I'm sorry, I... I...” I raised my hand for him to stop. Obviously, he thought it would be a funny joke. Both of them did.

“Me too,” Murdock added, and I could have died from shock.

“It's not okay,” Merrick started, “not yet, but Murdock, you better get on this,” he spoke gesturing to the both of us. Murdock shook his head, snapping out of the stunned response he had and pulled up his sleeve. As his hand stretched out the water began to heat up and evaporate from us.

“
Ouch!” I winced.

“
It stings a little,” Murdock said sheepishly, but I was at least grateful he had agreed to dry us. Fifteen minutes later, when we were both dry, I slipped out of Merrick's arms and was met with hugs by both Coral and Pearl.

“
Anyone up for hot chocolate?” I asked them looking up towards the piles of wavy hair on top of my head. There was no use in being emotional right now. I was alright. Everyone was okay.

“Definitely!” Pearl and Coral said in unison.

We all decided to go back to the Price home, and before I knew it I was once again riding on the back of Merrick’s ATV. My arms were  wrapped around him, only this time there wasn’t any pain. Coral had, of course, gone with Murdock, after she had swatted him across his back a few times for teasing her that he'd be reckless. Apparently, he didn't know how to learn a lesson. And Pearl had agreed to ride with Hurley after he had made profuse promises that they would both arrive at our destination in one piece.

I had anticipated the drive to be slightly awkward between Merrick and me. He had held me in his arms, while Murdock dried us for what had probably felt a bit too long, but he hadn’t gestured for me to get out of them. A few times we had both shifted around to dry faster in certain spots, but we remained together and he didn’t push me away so I stayed neatly tucked against him. Now that we were riding back to his home, I felt connected to him, grateful for his presence. He had protected me the way he swore that he would.

We pulled into the driveway long after the others had, and I was not surprised to see they had already gone inside. Part of me wondered if he had done it on purpose. Driven slowly to give us more time together, and I wouldn’t know unless I asked him. So as I slowly removed my helmet, standing beside a still seated, Merrick, I blurted out my question.

“Just had to spend a few extra minutes alone with me, eh? Couldn’t drive just a little faster?”

His eyes looked up from his helmet, surprised, without the time to be composed. There was something else beneath the grin that broke out. I surmised it might be satisfaction.

“I haven’t the faintest idea what you mean, Miss Anya,” he replied in a way that seemed oddly softened. When he looked into my eyes there was a moment when I thought he might say how he felt and I wondered what he saw in me then. I wondered what he was thinking, if my words had incited anything from his heart.

I wanted to kiss him, to walk over and toss his helmet aside, and plant one square on his lips. I think he knew, because he watched me quickly lick my lips, with an odd look of hope.

“Guess we should go make hot chocolate then, eh?” he said in the same child-like soft voice.

I moved closer to him, the soft crunch of my jacket noisy while I hugged him.

“I'm grateful you were there to help, Merrick.” My blood rushed into my cheeks and pounded into my ears before the fear gave way to joy and comfort, and then the  wonderful feeling of his breath against my face as I pulled away from him. He wrapped his arms around my waist and holding me then, it felt right, like we were complete.

“I don’t ever want to lose you, Anya.”

I didn’t want to ruin the moment, but I had to be honest with him. We weren’t together, his words were those of a boyfriend, a love, but that was not what he wanted. I wasn’t even sure what I wanted. “Merrick, we’re not really...”

“That doesn’t matter,” he interrupted. “None of
that
does...”

“Oh?” I said, my smile waning into a firm question.

“What matters is this moment. I need you to understand, that I mean it when I say I never want to lose you. I will always do everything in my power to protect you.”

“Merrick...” I tried to protest,  to reassure him that he owed me nothing, that I understood his need for freedom because I sometimes craved it just as much.

His hand pressed firmly against mine, “I want you to remember that. No matter what else happens between us. I respect our parents’ contract. It means something to me.”

You mean something to me
was the only thing he didn’t say.

I was watching the snow melt. It had been weeks, almost a month since I had last spent time with Merrick. After all of us had gone to the Prices’ for hot chocolate; the day had been slow, relaxing like a day you spend in pyjamas with a hot cup of tea.

We’d sat down to watch a few movies, and then before I knew it the sleepiness of night had crept in and we had all gone our separate ways.

I had come home and retreated to the dark coziness of my room. A few candles lit while I read through the Mer
grimoire
that Mrs. Keller had given me. I was learning of the enchantments and runes. It was then that I realized that this book had to have been given to me for a reason, and at the time it had felt like perhaps it was to break the bond.

Maybe Merrick was right and we were wasting our time with the contract that our parents had sewn magically. I started reading, thinking that there had to be a way we could free ourselves, or at least that I could free him so that he could be what he wanted. Even in the moments we had shared together, I still felt as though he was holding something back.

Now, I was in the same spot as I had been then, perched on my window seat with my eyes glancing out of the window. Only it was bright; the white of outside stark and harsh against my eyes instead of shadowed mounds of snow. Water was dripping down off the icicles on the trees; they were clear daggers of beauty. I wondered what the spring would bring. The winter had been playful, but serious. I’d met my mate and finally scaled.
Would the spring slow my constant changes and bring about the baking heat I dreaded from the summertime; or would it be different here, calmer, with a inspiring breeze
?

Soon the flowers would be here, and even though something about the way the earth changed was hopeful, I felt uneasy about the weeks ahead. I had skipped the Valentine’s Day dance the weekend after my time with Merrick at the pond. Too much had happened in January for me to witness Gina and Merrick together on the dance floor.

Instead, I had spent February learning the charms of rocks and stones. Water gems and their properties as per the
grimoire
laying in my lap. It wasn’t all studious though. I had still been taking time to visit Mrs Keller on occasion for discussions over tea, and the chance to look at her old photo albums and hear her stories. Cookies too, despite the massive Christmas cookie exchange. There were always lots of treats for us to share together.

With some resources from some of my parent’s colleagues, I was able to decipher the older inscriptions in the book. I had slowly made a project of cataloguing pages of the information and transcripts. The old leathery pages of the book made a thick flapping sound as I turned the pages. Each sheet was slowly slicing the air.

Today, I had finally got to the page about fish bone reading. A lot of the first few pages in the book were light hearted in their magical approach. There were some beauty enchantment spells like the
Albayrous
one that Coral had attempted to complete for me, and the enchantment one that Rayne had mastered for her shampoo. These kinds of spells were lesser in their magical pull. They were the kind of thing easily passed down in oral history or in small community meetings. Then there was the water evaporation one which was the first spell requiring some actual skill. I had a small amount of luck with it, but I knew that it would take lots of time for my confidence to grow. It involved a lot of concentration, so much so, that when I had tried it a week earlier, I had only successfully evaporated one droplet. I had a huge migraine after and spent the rest of the day sleeping it off.

I flipped the book open to the fish bone readings. They were next in the book, five full pages of details followed by the letters of the moon, which was an impressive ten page spread. Yet these were only skimming the surface, I was pages and pages away from the hero page, from the time changing enchantment. I had been discouraged at first by my lack of progress with the water evaporation. For days I had thought of giving up. Until, I learned to accept that there were other things in the book that may have been better suited to my skills. As I read, I learned that bone readings weren't easy. They were better suited to Mers with empathy or kin skills like Rayne. I
t was enough to spark some hope in me.

The bones of a fish could point to different paths or choices, the magic of it would reveal things that could not been seen with the eye, or known by the person asking the question. If properly treated, they could be ground down and scattered over water after many readings and their powers seemed to wane. This kind of reading would be powerful, but needed a specific question in mind. I had to rub the fish bones with an anointed object wrapped in arrowhead plant leaves. The object was most powerful if it was a river or ocean stone. There were a few drawings of some with the right kind of minerals or textures commonly found near certain bodies of water. Then, there was an incantation to read:

Fal'rae brin diu al fae rah päer

I had to place one of the bones at the end of a cloth, or piece of paper if you wanted to keep the reading. Then pour boiling water over the bone and watch the answers spread out onto the medium.

I wanted to do the reading soon, so I devised a plan to get my supplies on the weekend. I needed some answers about Merrick and Zale and I felt like this would point me in the right direction.