Fish Out of Water

Chapter 34~ Nightmares Come to Light

The moonlight finally filtered through the water, we broke through and despite the loud music and the dozens of conversations.

"No!" I heard her. Emory. The sick feeling turned my stomach and just like that, I could see her through the dark. Without a doubt in my mind the two figures a few yards away, one of them was Emory. How could I not recognize her? Even from her silhouette, when I had spent so much time looking at her, sleeping beside her, going to her fencing matches. I hauled myself out of the water and sprinted toward her.

"Emory!" I crashed into the pair, knocking them both to the ground. I grabbed the guy's wrist. I think he had been in gym class or maybe I had seen him around school, but the second his legs got covered by the water, his legs morphed together, and shiny midnight blue scales slithered over his legs.

Mermen are a little too much like dolphins., I grabbed the kid's hair and slammed my fist into his face again and again until he grabbed me by my throat and turned us around. He pressed my face into the sand and wrapped his arm around my neck.

"Dakota!" Bay and Sean shouted. The guy yanked me back into the water and all sound disappeared except for water rushing past my ears. I grabbed his arm and tried to pry myself free, but his grip was as strong as Bay's. I grabbed my fist and rammed my elbow behind me, hoping to hit something important. His grip loosened, and I tried to swim away, but he caught my arm, grabbed at me again, his finger catching in the corner of my gills. My scream escaped in bubbles and another set of arms hooked around me, and that familiar flash of red appeared.

My head burst through the surface.

"You okay?" Sean's voice was in my ear. I wriggled free and turned.

"Where were you? I left her with you."

"Knock it off." Sean snapped. "I can't breathe in water like you." I stopped squirming and Sean frowned at me. "she's your friend. If you chose to leave her alone without even asking me to keep an eye on her, that's your fault."

I nodded and put some space between us. I left her, I didn't warn her, I didn't' ask Sean to watch her. He had no reason to babysit her. There was no reason to assume they'd stick together. I went with Bay without talking to her. That was my fault. It was entirely my fault.

"Dakota." Bay surfaced, his eyes already on my gills. "How bad did he get you?"

"Not bad." I swam back toward the shore. Emory sat on the shore. Water washing over her feet as she stared out at the water until she finally noticed me.

"Where did you go?" she demanded. "You left me, why did you leave me? You didn't say anything." She grabbed my arms, her nails digging into my skin. I pulled her into my arms and pulled her close to me.

"I'm sorry." I smoothed her hair back. "I'm sorry." I stood and pulled her up with me.

Sean and Bay pulled themselves onto land a moment later. "Are you okay?" Sean and Bay asked at the same time. Emory sucked in a shaky breath and stepped out of my arms. She plastered on a smile and nodded at Sean and Bay.

"I'm fine." She said. "but, I think I'd like to go home now." There's no way they couldn't hear how stiff her words were. How fake that smile was. It was the smile she always gave to convince her mom she was okay. The smile she tried to use on me, but it had never worked on me. It looked like an imitation of the smile on a Barbie doll.

"I think that's a good idea." Sean clapped a hand onto her shoulder. "You know I make a killer hot coco."

"That sounds so good." Emory's same fake smiled stayed frozen on her lips.