Submerged: The Mer Chronicles

The Warning

 Chapter 6- The Warning

I grasped the shipwrecked coin in my hand the entire time during my swim back to land. The thin gold cut into my palm, but I didn’t mind. It was a constant reminder of what I had to protect. Staring at the engraving of a snake crisscrossing through a skull on the backside of the coin, I wondered what it could mean. Maybe the symbol was a clue. The necklace was lightweight, but the responsibility was huge. 

The last Atlas coin hung around my neck and with it the future of the Sireneans. Saatchi and Nikko, my childhood memories, all of it depended on me keeping the coin safe. I couldn’t let Calvin’s family get the coin. Ever. The possibility made me feel sick. It wasn’t just the Sireneans that depended on me; my own future now depended on finding out just who or what I was. But I didn’t have the slightest clue about how to begin figuring that out.

 The shoreline was growing closer, and as I began to surface, pink and orange light fell in soft columns through the water from the sunrise. I was officially 18 and my time was ticking.

When I came above the water, the sunlight hurt my eyes. They were too sensitive and accustomed to seeing in the dark ocean. Squinting, I scanned the shoreline. Sitting off in the distance was a familiar shape, hunched slightly in his blue-checkered shirt, with white wispy hair blowing in the morning breeze. It was Gramps.

I pulled myself out of the water, my arm markings sinking down and becoming the bright blue curved lines once again. I took a deep breath, adjusting to the air and the feel of wind on my skin. My eyesight began to dull, returning to normal, and I approached Gramps. Next to him was a pink towel. The same one he always had for me to dry off with when I returned from the ocean.

“Learn anything good?” He held out the towel for me and I grabbed it, beginning to wring out my hair.

“You could say that.” I paused. “They saved me you know... when I was little.”

He grunted. “That they did.” His blue eyes looked misty, like he was remembering some long ago scene. “Quite a surprise when they found me.” Gramps chuckled a little. “Wantin’ me to raise a baby. Don’t think I did too bad a job. Did I?” 

“You did great,” I said softly, wanting him to say more. This was the most he had ever said about the Sireneans without me pushing him. “Did you know them? Before me?” 

“You and your endless questions will be the death of me, Kova. C’mon. Let’s get goin’." 

“But don’t you wanna know what else they told me?” I nudged him softly, as we began to walk back towards the house, knowing that deep down he was always curious about the Sireneans.

“Go on then.”

“Well I got the stolen coin back.” I pulled out the coin and showed him, feeling proud to have it back. 

He raised an eyebrow and shook his head. “Looks like it found its way to you.” 

I laughed a little. “Something like that. The Sireneans said the coin holds a secret about who I am. I just have to figure out what it means.”

Then I saw it, a look that I had never seen cross Gramps’ face. It was fear. Worry lines etched across his forehead and he looked down, grasping his hands behind his back, like he was trying to compose himself. “Be careful, Kova.” He rubbed his arms, where I knew his white faded markings were. “What you are can be ... dangerous.”

“What does that mean?” I turned to him, wanting him to slow down, but he kept moving. “Do you know what I am?”

I was met with silence.