A Merman's Tail

Chapter 19

When I finally broke away from him to breathe I was completely arrested by the expression on his face.  I didn't know his feelings for me were as strong as they must be from how he was looking at me.

"I didn't know." I said, speaking through the bubbles that left my mouth.

He smiled then, shook his head slightly and then moved back into the reach of my arms.  He tipped his head to one side and said, "Did you never see me watching you Scott?"  At my frown, he continued.  "I've been watching you ever since I first found you floating in my Father's kingdom.  I felt something for you as soon as my lips met yours and I gave you breath.  Our time in the cavern was only the beginning.  Our summers in the cove were truly some of the best times of my life and I had to wait until you got older and I could discover if you might feel for me what I felt for you."

"But I've loved you for forever." I said, bringing him closer again and trying to kiss him this time.

"Really?" He asked with a half serious, half hopeful expression.

"Honestly!" I exclaimed.  "Ever since College I figured out it was you I wanted, not Darcy or any other girl.  But you have to go back.  You can't stay with me." I said with an unhappy look.  "You can't disappoint your father."

"Let me worry about that." He said and propelled himself into my arms again for another kiss.

When I got the hang of kissing underwater I found I rather enjoyed it.  It was odd feeling like I was drowning in his embrace but still somehow being able to breathe.  We gradually sank to the sandy floor and I ended up resting with my back on the sand while Mitch leant his elbows on my chest, looking at me intently.

"What?" I asked, wanting to know what he was thinking.

"I'm so happy you asked me to go swimming with you Scott." He said.  "When I saw you admiring my legs I thought maybe you might like me more than just a little."

"Honestly," I told him, "it was all I could do to stop myself from dragging you down into the sand then and there and kissing you breathless."

He smiled down at me, "I wish I'd been able to come sooner." He said making me think again about the rules for his time in my world.

"Are we breaking the rules?" I asked, suddenly wary of what it might mean that we were in his realm and I was breathing underwater.

"No." He assured me.

"You sure?" I asked.

"Positive." He said with a smile and then with a flick of his tail rose above me and then disappeared in a puff of sand.

"Mitch?" I said loudly, looking around for him.  But he was nowhere in sight.

I swam around in a circle, looking for him but all I saw was the approaching dark shadow.  It was the bane of every surfer's existence, a Noah.

I eyed the approaching shark with a mixture of fear and admiration.  It was easy to understand man's natural distaste for the alien looking fish.  Its teeth were a jagged jigsaw in its massive jaws and the powerful tail that kept it moving was so large and powerful I knew it was a 12footer at least.  I wondered why it didn't come directly for me when I realised that the sand Mitch had stirred around me was acting like a kind of barrier between me and the approaching Charcharodon.  I quickly stirred up more sand, waiting to see how my capacity to breathe would be compromised by the addition of the contaminant to the water.  Fortunately it did nothing to stop my ability to breathe underwater and I used the seconds I had left before the shark closed in completely to search for any potential hiding place.

I saw nothing that even remotely looked like a large enough hiding place and resigned myself to being the fish's dinner.  The huge creature swam past me and the backwash from its tail was so strong I reassessed my estimation of its size.  Definitely bigger.  Its eyes got a good look at me on the first pass and I waited for it to turn and come back for another look. 

And it did.