Tangled Tides (The Sea Monster Memoirs) (30 page)

"Not coming to you sooner."

"There's nothing to forgive. You're here now, that's all that matters."

I ran my hand down her soft cheek, wishing to every god in the heavens that it could be different, that I had a long future ahead of me instead of rapidly dwindling days.

"Is that dress for me?" she asked.

I held it up against my chest. "What makes you think it's for you? Don't you think it would look good on me?"

She laughed, the light in her eyes and voice slowly returning. "I can't imagine you in a dress."

We were still laughing when she stood and dropped her robe to the floor. She raised her arms over her head while I fumbled with the dress, trying not to gawk at her beautiful, naked body. Vivid thoughts of what I wanted to do to her flashed through my mind, but I kept control of myself and slid the dress over her arms and head, pulling it down until it covered her. My hands lingered at her waist. I tugged at the fabric, pretending to smooth away invisible wrinkles.

"So, yellowish white must mean you're blushing," she said.

I felt my embarrassment intensify and her smile grew bigger. God, how I loved to see her smile; it was contagious. "We should get some sun before it's gone for the day."

"Okay."

"Shall we go up on the roof?"

"The roof?"

"When you were fifteen I checked on you and you were sitting on the roof of your house. I asked Koraline to let me know if you did it again. You did. A lot."

Bewilderment flickered in her eyes. "I did? I don't remember that."

"I want to snap my fingers and return all of your memories to you." In time, most of them would return, but I would never be able to see her that way, whole and sure of herself and her past—or future.

"Right. The memory vacuum thing. Can't Delmar just give them back to me? Isn't there a reverse switch?"

"If it were possible he would have done it already."

"Okay then, to the roof. Maybe it will trigger something."

We walked through the pool room and Yara whistled. "Fancy-schmancy."

Delmar had thought of everything. Half of the pool was inside, but the floor-to-ceiling windows let in plenty of sunlight. We had a place to rest or swim without being spotted by high-flying spies. Not that I worried about the sirens looking for Yara. They were fed up with the situation. But when Jack found out we had run off together, he would come looking for us. If Rownan couldn't shadow me, Jack might myst a rich islander into searching by plane. But we still had a day or two before Jack would find out. No need to stay cooped up until it was necessary.

I stepped out onto the pool deck and Yara followed, searching the exterior of the house.

"Are there steps or a ladder or something?"

"Or something," I confirmed, waving my hand and stirring the water in the pool.

"Oh, right. Can I try operating the water elevator?"

I glanced up. "I don't know. That's a long way to fall if you don't keep it solid."

"You don't have faith in me?"

I sighed inwardly. "Let's go over some basics first."

She cracked her fingers and shook out her hands, preparing for her first lesson in making water bridges. I didn't need to warm up my hands, but I would have them ready in case her first time wasn't perfect.

H
er first attempt was almost flawless. She hadn't noticed the gradual lean that would have eventually crashed sideways onto the patio, but when I pointed it out she straightened us quickly and took my directions without any stubbornness.

After a trip back down to get a blanket, then another to get food and drinks, she mastered it and no longer need my help.

"You were right. I do love it up here. The view is incredible." She rolled onto her stomach and rested her chin on my chest. "How come we don't get sunburned?"

"One of the perks of being mer." I lay there, one hand behind my head, the other tracing the vines on her shoulder, trying to ignore the somber sun sinking from the sky.

"I can't do it," she said. "I can't take your memories from you. You have to understand how impossible that would be for me."

I ran my fingers through her hair. "If you don't do it then the selkies will kill you."

"Not if they can't find me."

"Do you think they'll stop hunting us if that gate doesn't open? They'll kill both of us, and I wouldn't blame them at that point."

Her voice quivered. "You're all I have, Treygan. I can't lose you."

"You have friends—Pango, Delmar, Kimber. You have Lloyd."

"He's a liar. My entire life with him has been a lie."

"Who told you that?" She turned away from me, facing the setting sun. A new hallmark of copper wings had formed across her back—the hallmark of a siren. I sighed. "You drank siren blood."

"They promised to show me a way to fix all of this."

"And did they?"

"No. They lied. Just like you said they would."

I scooted forward and wrapped my arms around her. "I'm sorry. I should have been there sooner."

"It's not your fault. Everyone—my parents, the man I called my uncle, Rownan—they all lied to me. You are the one truth in my life, Treygan. You're the only soul in this world I fully trust, and you're telling me I have to help you forget me and leave me forever. How? How am I supposed to do that?"

"You have to be strong."

"You're the strong one."

"I'm strong because of you."

She leaned against me and I inhaled the sweet scent of apple blossoms. I didn't know what else to say. If the roles were reversed, I didn't know if I could do it. My job was the easy one. Yara would be left behind to suffer. I hated myself for putting her in that position.

"My—Lloyd," she said. "He's your father, isn't he? He's the gorgon turned human."

"Yes."

"I want to go see him. I want him to know that I know. I want to ask him how he could act like he loved me and then lie to me for fourteen years."

"He does love you. He stayed out of this battle. He vowed not to take sides. Rownan and I pleaded our cases and he refused us both. We're his sons, but he told us he would have nothing to do with our plans. You can trust him."

She remained quiet. I desperately wished I could hear her thoughts. "Will you go with me?" she asked.

"I'm not letting you out of my sight again until the end of this."

"Don't say that. The end. I hate the way it sounds."

I nodded. "Come on, let's give my father a chance to explain himself. He has earned it."

S
econds after we broke through the water, Lloyd stood at the back door frantically waving us into the house. "Hurry! Hurry!"

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"They've been passing by here searching for you two."

"The selkies?"

He pulled us inside the door and drew the curtains. "Selkies, merfolk, sirens. The only charmed place on the island is this house or within twenty feet of it. But if any merfolk are in the water nearby, they may have sensed you already."

Yara stared at him with her mouth agape. "Look at you. Finally decided to stop pretending you're clueless, huh? You could have protected me from all of this. You could have protected your own son!"

Uncle Lloyd looked hurt for a moment, but then glanced at the ceiling. "Yara, you and I need to talk upstairs. Treygan, you keep a lookout for anyone approaching the house."

"We can talk right here." Yara crossed her arms and sat on the couch.

Lloyd stood up straight. "Something tells me you have a few choice words for me, and I'd rather you say them in private, not in front of my son."

Yara glanced at me and I nodded. He knew Yara's temper. I didn't blame him for wanting to handle the conversation behind closed doors.

She stomped up the stairs and Lloyd followed. At first Yara's shouting was so loud I worried the sirens would be able to hear it from their nest, but after a few minutes the only sounds I heard were their footsteps on the floor above me.

I prayed she would forgive him. Soon they would need each other more than ever.

"Y
ou can't expect me to believe that!" I shook my head, trying to clear the absurdity out of my mind.

"It's the truth, kiddo," Uncle Lloyd grumbled.

"You're telling me that your failing kidneys and my mother's bad heart were the result of you keeping me away from the gorgons?"

"And your father's lungs too. Stheno and Euryale sent a clear warning. Once we became human we weren't allowed to interfere with underwater politics. We interfered, so we had to face the consequences."

I sat at the foot of the bed beside him. "How could they—how is that possible?"

"The sisters have friends in high places. Poseidon is a god. He gave us life. He can easily take it away or make us suffer."

My anger slowly drained out of me, but more questions rose to the surface. "So, if you aren't on Rownan's side, then why did you let him hang around here? You knew the selkies planned to kill me."

He walked over to my dresser and opened the top drawer. "You're too damn lovable. I knew the closer he got to you, the harder it would be for him to go through with Jack's plan." He handed me my stone necklace. "Here, you dropped this. Found it on the road between our houses. Keep it with you at all times, you hear me?"

I opened the locket and looked at the faded photo of my parents. "You and my father put the eighteen year spell on me. I get why that was bad. But what did my mother do that was so horrible? She
wanted
me to live with the gorgons."

"Where in the worlds did you get that crazy notion? She would have done anything to keep you out of that grotto."

"She hated me. Otabia let me see my birth firsthand. She wished I was never born."

He harrumphed and rubbed his hands over his stubbly chin. "Look, I don't know what Otabia showed you, but Cleo did everything in her heartbroken power to keep you safe. It was her idea to run away from here and hide you. After your father passed, she was afraid she might die too and you would have no one. Then the gorgons would find you and take you anyway. She brought you back here and had Nixie send Indrea to advise her. They met with Treygan, asked him to be your guardian, and planned your transformation perfectly. She knew it was pushing the envelope way too far. She knew it would kill her, but she did it anyway, and she made sure that enough people vowed to look after you once she passed."

I couldn't speak. I just studied my parents smiling up at me from a tiny, faded photo, and wished their love for me wasn't such a faded memory in my heart.

Uncle Lloyd cleared his throat. "I wanted to tell you, but I couldn't. If I meddled, I could have died too. You would have been left alone. You were a child. We all wanted you to have a normal childhood. As normal as it could be, given the circumstances."

"I think she's been trying to tell me something."

"Your mother?"

I nodded. "I've seen and heard her twice since I've been turned."

Uncle Lloyd glanced at the corner of the room, then back at me. "You sure it was her?"

"Who else would it be?"

He scratched at the flaky skin on his arms. He looked worse than ever. "Could have been Liora. She's checked up on you several times. I needed to know you were okay."