The Island Curse

To Be Human

"Yeah, how about no," Kieran huffed, stretching his long legs to keep up with me as I skipped down the hill.

"Why not? I think we're in the perfect position to make a deal."

Kieran grabbed my hand and pulled me to a stop. I stifled a smile when he shifted his grip so he could thread our fingers together.

"Agnes only makes deals that benefit her."

"And this would benefit her. I don't want to be a mermaid any more than she wants me to be one. It's a win win for everyone."

"You don't wonder what it would be like, just a little bit?"

He stepped closer to me as he spoke, his warm breath fanning across my face, but as he finished talking, his head turned toward the sea. Hazel eyes roamed over the churning waters with intense longing.

"My life is on land."

Kieran looked at me, the longing morphing to something else, and he ran the knuckles of his free hand down my cheek. The light touch sent a thrill through me.

"I sometimes think about your tail," he said. The remark should've sounded crazy. Should've made me step away from him, but I inched closer, mesmerized. And honestly, curious.

"What do you think it looks like?"

He touched my hair, twirling a still damp curl around his finger. "Sometimes I think it'll look like Niamh's. There are drawings of her in the City Hall. Her tail was like heated copper, flashes of bronze swirling with black, and her fins were streaked with glittering gold."

I could see it. Could almost imagine it moving behind me as I swam through the water, moving faster than I'd ever imagined. He pulled his hand from mine, and the image faded as disappointment overtook me. But when I felt where it settled, my breath hitched.

Kieran's fingers inched beneath my shirt, their tips warm against my stomach, and I could sense the hesitation in his touch. The question. When I didn't flinch or push him away, he grew more confident.

"Mermen only have scales on their tails, but mermaids have them along their stomachs, down their arms, and," he swallowed hard, his fingers shaking as he traced swirls across my abdomen, "beneath their breasts."

He stopped just below my bra. The pressure from his touch increased- the heat between our skin almost unbearable. With a tortured sigh, he started to withdraw, but I closed my hand over his, trapping him beneath my shirt.

"You said sometimes." I didn't recognize my own voice. It was raw and needy. "What else do you imagine?"

All the green in his eyes darkened, making the tawny flecks of brown and gold glow. He broke free of my grasp and snaked the hand around to my back, his palm flattening against the dip of my spine. With a gentle tug, the space between us disappeared.

"Isla," he whispered, his lips inching closer.

My body took over, and I pushed up on my toes. He was moving too slow, and I wanted to taste him. That brief moment in the car had not been enough.

"Please don't meet with Agnes."

Eyelids that were slowly drifting close snapped back up, and I ripped myself from his arms. "Is that what that was? A distraction?"

He scrubbed his hand through his hair, and I tried not to think about how handsome he looked with his curls askew. "No, and yes. Agnes isn't the answer. She's going to want more than you'll give."

"I want to be a human girl. That's it."

"But that's not it. You're not a human girl. You're made for the ocean, same as me."

"But I'm not, am I? You can come and go as you please, but I'll never walk on land again. Never sit in this field after a rainstorm or watch the sunset from that hill."

"I saw your face while I described your tail. You may not want to admit it because you're scared, but you want to know what it's like. Something inside of you is waking up to your other half. I saw the desire."

I punched him in the chest. Which did nothing but make him roll his eyes as I shook out the stinging pain radiating down my arm.

"You stupid jerk," I shouted. "The desire you saw had nothing to do with a fish tail."

My admission left him stuttering, and I started to pace. Couldn't anyone just do what I asked of them without trying to manipulate me for their own plans? How stupid could I be? Falling for it over and over and over again. But a quiet voice whispered, you know it's more than that.

"I'll take you to see her," he said, tugging at his hair again, "but you're not to agree to anything. This is just to put some ideas on the table. Understood?"

"What did you think I was going to do? Sign up for the first thing she offered. 'Sure thing, Agnes. Where would you like me to sign the contract? Oh, in blood? Why not?' I'm not a complete idiot."

"Sometimes, I wonder," he grumbled.

"Ha, ha. Let's go," I said, walking in the direction of Shipwreck Cove.

"We have somewhere else we have to stop first. We need to get Tara."

I recoiled. "She hates me, and I fail to understand how she's necessary."

Kieran's expression softened. "She doesn't hate you. She's just worried about her brother."

"Fine. I know girls, but we'll go with that if it'll make you happy. I still don't understand why she has to come along."

"Because we've got to go into the cave, and if things go south, someone has to be able to get us out of there."

"Can't you just swim us out of there?" My voice went high with panic as memories of near drowning made me tremble.

Kieran looked at the ground, his shoulders turning in. "I can't."

"I don't understand."

"I don't have a tail, Isla. I didn't bargain with Lorelei."

Al's words came back to me. "I'm no Green. I won't survive."

"Would your tail be green?"

"Just like my da's," he said, sorrow brimming in his expression. "But I made it through the change. I might as well be human."