Battlefield

Chapter 9

My dreams were filled with that red-haired mermaid. It was like an out-of-body experience. I saw myself, as a newborn, being held and fed by the mermaid, saw her blue eyes sparkle as she smiled at me. The scene quickly jumped a few years ahead, to a four-year-old me playing with the mermaid. When she smiled at me, it felt so familiar. An overwhelming sense of love radiated from her as she wrapped me in a hug, holding me tight.

The mood changed as quickly as the scene did. The mermaid was sobbing as I was being led away from her, tears in my eyes. Mom gripped my hand, refusing to let go. I tried to wrench free from her grasp, tried to swim back to the mermaid, but her grip was unbreakable.

I turned my head to look back at her, the tears shining in her eyes. I love you, Nerissa, she mouthed. I choked on a sob when I opened my eyes, struggling to focus on my surroundings. I quickly got dressed and grabbed my bag, intending to go for a swim before anyone else was up.

I had only gotten a few leagues away from Aegrem when I felt a hand on my shoulder. My heart stopped as I turned around and looked into a pair of familiar dark blue eyes. The mermaid smiled at me, her mass of red hair sliding over a shoulder. She held up a finger, digging through her bag and pulling out a pad of paper and a pen, similar to the one I carried. Her hands trembled slightly as she wrote, then handed the pad to me.

Nerissa? Is... is it really you? Even her handwriting was familiar, from the way the r's were slightly curled at the edges to the way she dotted her i's with hearts. I dropped the pad, throwing my arms around her. My aunt—my mother's sister—whom I hadn't seen or spoken to in years, was floating right in front of me.

Alyssa Singh was as beautiful as I remembered, right down to the dimple that showed up on her left cheek when she smiled. She wrote something else on the pad before handing it to me. I was reaching out to grab it when she suddenly tensed, her smile fading as she listened intently to something in the distance.

I glimpsed a tail, grey with black spots, before she turned to me, fear in her gaze. One of Aegrem's guards. Swim, Nerissa! Get as far away as you can! Her signing was frantic and sloppy, but I understood her nonetheless.

Tears filled my eyes as I hugged her tightly before turning away. She gripped my hand, halting me. I turned back around in time to see her press something in my hand and kiss my cheek. Her own eyes were filled with tears as we stared at each other, neither of us wanting to be the one to break away first.

Though it pained me deeply, I turned away, my heart breaking as I swam away. My back was to her, so I didn't hear or see the mermen in Aegrem's colors approach her, both roughly grabbing an arm and dragging her away. I also couldn't hear her yelling my name, each shout punctuated by sobs at the end.

It was only when I had swum for a few minutes without stopping that I remembered to look at the pad, the note she had written. It wasn't even a note, just one word written in big letters and underlined: SWIM. The word sent bolts of fear down my spine, stealing the water from my lungs as I sobbed.

I flinched as I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around, stupidly hoping that somehow—just maybe—she had gotten away and was coming back for me. All the color drained from my face as I stared into familiar dark green eyes.

Brandon and I stared at one another, the tension between us thick and heavy. My notepad was in my hand before he even blinked. I scribbled a message and handed it to him, struggling to keep my hands by my sides. What did you do?

He grinned as he wrote his response. Took care of some loose ends. She knew too much.

I was about to swim away when a thought occurred to me. Does Naia know about her?

My hands shook when I handed him the notepad. He wrote his response, then handed it back to me. No. She thinks Alyssa died when Nepptheas was invaded.

My hands fell to my sides, and as they did, I felt something brush up against my tail as it hit the silt. I wiped the tears off my cheeks as I picked up a silver locket, no bigger than one Perle. My heart broke anew as I opened the locket and saw the picture inside.

Me, Naia, and Meri, at my 10th birthday. We all had birthday cake and goofy smiles on our faces, but it was the light behind the smiles that I focused on. For the first time in a long time, I wished we could go back to those mermaids. Being carefree and unencumbered, before Tiger Shark and Barracuda.

It was only when I closed the locket that I noticed how late it'd gotten. I groaned silently at the thought of having to swim all the way back home. I was numb as I swam home, unable to stop replaying our encounter in my mind. I could feel Jay and Meri's concerned gazes on me, but I couldn't muster up the energy to lift my head.

Jay silently put an arm around me and swam with me to our room. As soon as he closed the door, I covered my face with my hands and wept. Anger and sadness warred for control in my body. Anger at them for keeping us away from her for so long (I couldn't bring myself to call them my parents), sadness at the thought of her not being there for our childhood.

He pulled me close as we got into bed, gently wiping tears off my cheeks. Talk tomorrow? His gaze was as steady as his hands when he signed. I nodded, exhaustion tugging at me. I had barely laid my head on the pillow before my eyes closed.

Read and review!