Swans Landing #1 - Surfacing (28 page)

“Some people on the island choose to believe that the finfolk killed the man. That they pulled him under until he drowned in revenge for what he’d done. The finfolk insist that he drowned before anyone knew he was there, that it was an accident. But things were never the same after that. A lot of finfolk went back to the water instead of dealing with the harassment from the people on the island. No one knows what has happened to them or if there are still any finfolk left other than the few of us on this island. We’ve been calling them home for years, but none have come back.” He smiled slightly. “Except for you.”

I looked down at the water as the surf pulled back into the ocean, swelling for another wave off in the distance. Hazy sunlight sparkled on the surface.

“Why doesn’t anyone outside of this island know about the finfolk?” I asked. “Why hasn’t anyone told the world that we really do exist?”

Josh gave me an amused look. “If you had never come here or found out the truth about yourself, would you have believed some crazy story about merpeople secretly living among the humans on a small island?”

He had a point. Even though I was one of them, it still seemed impossible. This one fact about myself changed everything I thought I’d ever known about the world.

“What happened to the finfolk woman in that story?” I asked. “And her child? Are they still here?”

Josh pressed his lips together. “The child is.”

I studied him. “Are
you
that child? Is that why you’re finfolk?”

He shook his head. “My mom is not the finfolk woman,” he said. “I told you, I’m finfolk on my dad’s side.”

Right, he had told me that.

I reached over for his hand, squeezing it in mine. We had both lost so much due to events beyond our control. We were both broken and so maybe it took each of us to make a whole person.

Just as Josh leaned toward me, his lips brushing against mine, footsteps crashed through the forest behind us and then a voice said, “See, Dylan? I told you she’d be here with him.”

Chapter Thirty-Two

The world dropped away when my eyes fell on Dylan standing at the edge of the forest, hurt plastered across his face as he took in the sight of Josh and me. Just behind him stood Sailor, her hands on her hips and a satisfied smirk directed my way.

“Dylan,” I managed to squeak out. My fingers were still laced with Josh’s and I seemed unable to move to pull them away. “What are you doing here?”

“It’s public land,” Dylan said. His teeth were clenched and his lips barely moved as he spoke. “I’m allowed to come here.”

A bead of sweat trickled down my back, despite the cold day. “Dylan, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for you to find out like this—”

Dylan held up one hand. “Just answer one question. How long have you been kissing both of us at the same time?”

Josh’s head snapped toward mine. I kept my gaze focused on Dylan, although I could feel both Josh’s and Sailor’s eyes boring into me as well.

“We kissed once,” I said. “It was a mistake.”

“We kissed more than once that day,” Dylan spat out. “And that night. And the next morning when you woke up in my bed.”

These last words were meant to rub venom in Josh’s face, to make him think more happened than what really did. From the tightening of his hand around mine, I could tell that it had worked.

Sailor had turned as red as the scales she grew in the water and she rounded on Dylan. “You slept with her?” she roared.

“We didn’t sleep together!” I said. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Josh’s tense body relax slightly at my words, relief written across his face.

Dylan’s expression darkened and his eyes once again flashed like they had that day he stood up to Elizabeth and her friends. The anger on his face made me shrink back, retreating to safety. I didn’t think Dylan would hurt me, but I wasn’t sure exactly what he would do.

Josh stood, brushing sand from his jeans. “Look, man, I’m sorry you’re upset, but I’m not sorry about seeing Mara.”

Dylan’s nostrils flared. “You know nothing about her. She should be with her own kind. She should be with
me
.”

“She is with her own kind,” Josh said.

Dylan’s scowl deepened. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m finfolk, too.”

Dylan’s mouth dropped open. The wind whipped his hair into a crazy frenzy, covering his eyes for a moment. When I could see them again, the doubt and confusion in his gaze was clear.

“It’s true,” I said. “Josh is finfolk. I’ve seen him change. We know more about each other than you think.”

Dylan shook his head, trying to deny the truth despite the defeat in his expression. “He
can’t
be finfolk. It’s impossible. I know all the finfolk on this island and he is not one of us.”

“Dylan,” I said gently, standing and moving toward him, “you’ve been a great friend to me, and I really care about you. But I don’t feel the same way you do. When I’m with Josh, everything makes sense. I don’t feel as lost as I do the rest of the time.”

The hurt in his eyes broke my heart. “Didn’t it mean anything to you when you kissed me?”

Sailor spun a dazed Dylan around so that he faced her. “You’re not supposed to like
her
!” she shouted at him. “You’re supposed to be my best friend.”

Dylan blinked, his expression blank. “I am. I’ve always been your best friend.”

“Best friends keep promises to each other,” Sailor went on. She spoke calmly, but I could hear the hint of fury under her voice. “What was it that you promised me, Dylan?”

His shoulders slumped. “That I would go with you to find your mom when you’re ready.”

“And I told you weeks ago I was ready,” Sailor cried. “But what did you tell me? That we couldn’t leave right now because of
her
.” She pointed an accusing finger at me. “Because you think you’re in love with her and that she’s in love with you. But she’s not. Don’t you see that now?”

“I made that promise when I was a kid,” Dylan said. “Things have changed. I don’t want to give up my life here.”

“You are so delusional!” Sailor shouted. “What is there for you here? Her? She doesn’t even love you! I’ve always been right
here
, waiting patiently for you. You have never once looked at me the way you look at her.”

So my instincts had been right. Sailor was in love with Dylan. And then I’d come along and taken him away.

“Sailor,” I said, trying to swallow the lump of pride in my throat. “I’m sorry for making you upset.”

Sailor turned her dark eyes on me. “Ever since you got here, all you’ve wanted to do was make me miserable. Dylan and Josh and my grandmother are the
only
people I have and as soon as you showed up everyone started fawning all over you. ‘Don’t tell her anything about who we really are, Sailor, it will upset her. She’s in a very delicate place right now.’” Sailor rolled her eyes. “I am tired of coddling you!”

Sailor had been
coddling
me? Had I been asleep when that happened?

“Sailor,” Josh said in a deep voice, “settle down. I don’t think Mara ever intended to hurt you personally.”

Her laugh echoed around us over the sound of the ocean and the wind in the trees. “Of course she didn’t. Because everyone thinks Mara is so sweet and naive. We should all feel sorry for her because her mom died.” Sailor shot a look of pure hatred in my direction. “Guess what, Mara? I. Don’t. Care. I’ve lost both of my parents and you don’t see me parading around looking for pity. No one has ever treated me gently because I was in a delicate place. I am
not
doing it for you!” Her nostrils flared and her eyes had a wild look in them.

“Sailor,” I said, “I’m not trying to take anything away from you and I certainly don’t expect special treatment. In fact, I like the way things have been between us. You keep things interesting around here.”

Sailor crossed her arms and glared across the sand at me.

“I never meant for you to get hurt,” I said. “I hadn’t even thought about how what was going on between Dylan and me or even Josh and me would hurt you.”

Sailor tilted her head to one side, her expression changing to something mischievous. “You’re
so
curious about everything around here. Would you like to know what happened to my parents, Mara?”

“Um,” I said, looking Dylan and Josh and then back at her. “Okay, if that’s what you want to talk about.”

“My dad died, before I was born,” Sailor said. “My mom was never the same after his death—or so I’ve heard. I don’t remember her because when I was only a couple months old, she decided to go to the water, leaving me behind. Grandma wouldn’t let her take me with her. My mama had the choice to stay or go, but she chose to abandon me. Isn’t that nice? A mother abandoning her own baby?”

I watched Sailor closely, trying to figure out where she was going with this. She had kept information about her parents so closely guarded until now.

“Can you guess how my dad died, Mara?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know.”

She leaned forward slightly and whispered, “
He drowned.
”

I processed this information, trying to make sense of why it mattered now. Sailor’s dad had drowned. Just like the man in Josh’s story.

“Sailor,” Josh said, his voice cracking a little as he spoke, “let’s all go home and talk calmly.”

But she ignored him and went on, pacing back and forth across the sand in front of Dylan, whose eyes were also locked on her. “You see, my dad wasn’t finfolk—not fully anyway. His grandmother had been finfolk and he had always been obsessed with them. He wasn’t able to change, even though he wanted to. But he could still feel the pull of the ocean and that’s how he met my mom. That’s why he couldn’t stay away from her, because he felt something inside call him toward her.”

Sailor paused. “Do you want to know a secret, Mara?” A smile spread slowly across her face. “My dad? He was Josh’s dad too.”

The final piece of the puzzle clicked into place. My eyes flew toward Josh, who stood rigid and flushed, his throat twitching as he swallowed.

It was his father. His father had been the one obsessed with the finfolk, he had told me that himself.

His father had fallen in love with the finfolk woman and had an affair.

His father had drowned.

And Sailor had been the child born out of that affair.

Dylan’s face echoed the shockwaves I felt exploding through me. But then his expression turned into anger and he grabbed Sailor by the arm, snatching her roughly toward him. “
You
knew he was finfolk all along?” he asked, pointing at Josh. “You knew he was your brother and you never said a word to me?”

The day I’d seen them here at Pirate’s Cove together, Josh hadn’t been comforting his crying girlfriend—he’d been comforting his crying sister.

“I made her promise not to tell anyone,” Josh said, coming to Sailor’s defense. “She didn’t tell you because of me. She’s helped me learn how to be finfolk. If you want to be angry with someone, blame me.”

Dylan let go of her arm and took a step back. He looked between the three of us, his eyes accusing and full of hurt. “You all knew,” he said quietly. “I guess I’m the only idiot walking around here, thinking that the girl I’m kissing might be in love with me and not some other guy who is secretly finfolk too. I’ll bet you’ve all had a good laugh at my expense, huh?”

“Dylan,” I said, starting toward him.

He stepped back again, holding his hands up to shield himself from us. “Don’t touch me.”

“Let’s go to the water, Dylan, like we planned,” Sailor cooed to him, stepping forward. “We don’t need either of them. Let’s go search for my mom and all the other finfolk who have left here for a better life.”

Dylan’s shoulders shook slightly, either from anger or sobs, I couldn’t be sure. “I am not going anywhere with any of you,” he practically shouted. “I want you all to stay away from me.”

Sailor looked as if he had slapped her. “But—”

He spun on his heel, disappearing back into the trees before she could say another word.

Chapter Thirty-Three

The three of us stared at the trees where he had vanished for several long moments in silence. The wind whipped my hair into my face, wiping away the tears that fell down my cheeks.

Then Sailor rounded on me, charging across the sand.

“This is all your fault!” She crashed into me before I had a chance to brace myself for the impact, knocking me backward onto the beach. She straddled my stomach, pulling at my hair and pushing my head down into the earth.

I tried to fight back, but Sailor was a dizzying tornado of limbs and claws. Just as I started to get my bearings, she was lifted from my body, kicking and punching into the air.