Escaping the Tide Read online

  Escaping the Tide

  The Triton Series

  © 2016 Melinda Craig

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  Contents

  No Solutions

  Another Life

  Guardian

  Reunion

  Watchful Eye

  The Move

  No Solutions

  Myra had been our guest for three days now. She was a shamble of emotions, and I half wondered if she would ever have her sanity intact. One thing was certain, even after the torture she endured, she could keep herself together when her daughter was near. Lauren seemed to be the only one that kept her fully calm. Yet, that wasn’t enough to show stable behavior.

  I shook my head in frustration and walked towards my study. It was an atrocity what was happening to our kind. I knew it would only continue. Our existence had been doomed upon the first discovery.

  Sighing, I picked through the books looking for something, anything that would shed light on the recent attack. We were safe for now. I looked out the bay window around the porch to the lake. The water called to me; its pull was something I knew every moment I was away. I longed for a late night swim but now was not the time. We had set a curfew, and strict orders to no longer take trips to the lake, not until we had more information on Myra’s recent attack. Not even I could break this rule, not unless I wanted everyone to throw caution to the wind. Instead, I had everyone take a shift. We took turns in the water, being cautious and never spending too much time in one place.

  This was precisely why we didn’t mix. Breeding with humans caused our gifts to be unstable in our offspring, worse yet; they could end up like Myra if something ever happened to “us,” the parents. Myra was, of course, adopted. It was the only plausible reason she hadn’t known…what was incomprehensible still, was that she had not shifted in water until that afternoon. The afternoon she took her daughter to the beach and thought she had drowned.

  I shook my head in frustration. How many half breeds were out there? We have a team designated to finding them, of course, not all could be found. It was pure stubbornness and stupidity on the parent’s part, not logging into the database confirming you had a half breed. We had a system for a reason. Still, people ignored it.

  It was hard enough to protect my pod and every day it was only getting harder. Myra posed a threat, but she was my responsibility. I also needed to know any information she had in that shambled mind of hers. If only I could put the pieces together. How had they known she was a half breed? Did they see her, track her? How had she been away from deep water for so long? And mostly, what did she see when captured?

  Eventually, I would get some answers, and answers were the only way I would find a solution to save my own.

  Another Life

  I had been here three days and still couldn’t wrap my mind around all of…this. I studied my room, looking at the intricate carvings on the dresser and bed. Even the window frame had them. The carvings portrayed the moon and its phases, along with the stars and a vast ocean. The amount of detail that someone had put into these pictures was incredible. Every wood surface had them.

  There were symbols as well, perhaps a long ago forgotten language, but I couldn’t figure out what they meant other than the beauty that they added to the furniture. It was all beautiful, like anything else in the Mer world. Silk, blue sheets lined my bed, and a matching ocean colored quilt lay on top of them. I had a white canopy above my headboard, adding to the room’s tranquil atmosphere. Gazing out my open window, I took a moment to breathe it all in again.

  I could close my eyes and feel the breeze across my face, hear it moving the canopy in its gentle current. The smell that carried on the wind was heavenly; it was a mixture of water from the lake and fresh wet earth in the morning.

  I pushed my feet into the soft rug beneath my bed and stretched deeply. My muscles were still getting used to the adjustment of human to Mer and back again. Changing form was easy for the Mer, but it hadn’t been for me. All of this was still foreign.

  If I stared at the lake too long, I would begin to ache. My muscles still wanted to stretch and breathe. I was born for the sea, not just a lake. Well, that’s what Nathaniel had told me in one of our brief discussions on Mer life.

  I was pretty sure that Nathaniel was the one in charge. No one had outright declared him the “leader,” but it was all told in the body language and how everyone listened to him. He treated me like china. Very careful, and with gentle questions meant to probe my memory. I rubbed my head trying to ease the headache that was coming on. Every time I thought about what happened, I got a pounding headache. If I took something, I might be lucky enough to prevent the ache from turning into an all familiar migraine.

  I knew I was a bit of a mess. I still couldn’t rationalize everything told to me, but at the same time, I didn’t care enough to try to make sense out of it. What mattered was that Lauren was alive. My baby girl was alive and well. I would be spending another surreal afternoon with her.

  I wanted more time with my daughter, the one I had grieved so deeply for in what I thought was her death, but Nathaniel thought it best to spend afternoons only. He told me it wouldn’t be good for Lauren to see me unstable, and while I was healing, I needed to learn the culture and rationalize the past events.

  Nathaniel insists that acceptance is a huge part of keeping your mind from going insane. I guess he would know; he always dealt with the half breeds and making sure they could adjust to the Mer way of life.

  Half breed…that was another thing I had to come to terms with. It was what he told me I was. I couldn’t pretend that it all didn’t feel odd, because it did. I still felt like I was in a haze at moments, dreaming and that I would wake up and realize all of this was a fragment of my fragile mind.

  I opened the wardrobe to pull out fresh clothes. I’d need something light and airy. Today was a swimming day, and Nathaniel would want me to practice my transformation. Dresses in every color were stocked in my size, most meant for the beach or a warm day. I would have style and comfort in these, not that it mattered to me.

  I had a sneaking suspicion that Alexis kept my wardrobe full, although I had no idea how she pulled it off without me knowing. I reached for a white knee length dress. It was soft and simple with a flowing skirt. I hung it by the adjoined bathroom in my room, shaking my head as I passed the cast iron tub, trying to remind myself that all of this was still real.

  I heard a knock and looked up to see Alexis in the doorframe. I smiled and waved her in. She was becoming a close friend, even in just a few days. I owed her my life and hoped one day I could return the favor.

  Alexis always carried a commanding presence wherever she was. In her human form, her height towered over most men I knew. But her height wasn’t the only thing that drew attention. She was unnaturally beautiful, or maybe it was natural for a Mer person, I couldn’t say since Alexis was the only adult Mer woman I had met. Her hair always appeared to have a light breeze moving through the strands. She had sharp angular features, and her eyes were a shade of violet that matched her tail when transformed.

  Alexis looked at the open window and smiled. She walked up to its frame and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. With her eyes still closed and her face tilted towards the sun, she spoke.

  “Good Morning Myra, you look like you slept well today. A healthy breeze does us all some goo
d.” She nodded towards the open window.

  Grabbing a rubber band, I pulled my brown hair into a loose braid and smiled back at her.

  “It was the first night I slept without nightmares,” I said.

  I walked towards a silver tray on my desk and grabbed a slice of orange, popping it into my mouth. It tasted heavenly. I must have missed breakfast again. Otherwise, the tray wouldn’t be in my room. Time felt unreal to me on most days, all except for my afternoons, the ones I spent with Lauren.

  I walked to my bed and sat on the edge, facing the window where Alexis stood. It was odd. Being here and seeing all of this. It was eerie even. Alexis peered back at me, a quizzical look on her face.

  I would find myself missing huge blocks of time throughout the day and not realize it until Alexis brought up food. I knew it was something that they watched. Alexis had told me that my mind had gone through almost too much and needed time to heal.

  Well, my mind seemed to take the time right from me, but I didn’t complain. I always had my afternoons with Lauren, and none of those hours were missing. I spent the mornings wishing them away so I could have time with my daughter and then when it got here, it went by all too quickly.

  Alexis walked over to the bed and handed me a cup of coffee from the tray. I knew there was sympathy in those violet eyes, even if I partially resented being treated so carefully. Not for the first time, I wondered if I was crazy, they certainly felt the need to keep an eye on everything I did.

  “You lost track of time again, didn’t you?” Alexis said.

  She placed her hand on my shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

  “Does it matter? I’m not sure it does, as long as I can see Lauren and have those hours, then I will be fine.” I said.

  “You need to live in reality, Myra. Your mind is still healing, but pretending that the now, the present hours that you’re not with Lauren aren’t important, will do more harm than good.”

  I smiled at her to give her hope; she deserved that after finding and reuniting me with my daughter. I knew the truth though. The truth was, it didn’t matter how much time I lost track of, as long as the time with my daughter remained.

  Guardian

  Although Myra had made some progress with her mental state of health, I had hoped she would be further along. Some strides were better than none. The day I rescued her, my heart ached. She was so lost, and yet, she kept speaking her daughter’s name.

  Nathaniel had called her a lost cause, but I begged him to give her time. He would have preferred to put her gently out of her misery, stating she would never get her full sanity back. That’s what our people did. We ended the lives of those who weren’t mentally capable of keeping our secret. I couldn’t do it. I knew her daughter. I made a promise to bring her mother home and help. I aimed to keep that promise.

  Nathaniel would say I was acting on my human side. I didn’t care. Myra deserved some time with her daughter. I had hoped that would help her find herself again. Thinking back to the conversation I had with Nathaniel, I wondered if he had been right.

  “Alexis, she won’t be the same. Look at her! She’s out of her mind. Whatever they did to Myra, has taken a toll. It’s cruel to let her live like this. Give her the mercy we give all those who undergo the same torture. A few drops of the Garian dew will put her out of her misery. She will feel like she’s going to sleep, nothing more.”

  “I can’t. Lauren deserves to know her mother is still alive. It’s not right to destroy this chance. After all that’s happened, how could you not let her try? I know you mean well, but I have a feeling about this. I’m rarely wrong; even you have to admit my intuition is pretty solid.” I pleaded.

  He looked at me shaking his head. I watched him pace from one bookshelf to the other. Nathaniel was my brother, and he always went out of his way to protect the pod and me. Sometimes his method of protecting the greater good did little for situations like this. He could be so cold-hearted. I knew his behavior was out of an effort to keep us safe, but still, my heart couldn’t bear this.

  I felt a pull towards Myra and Lauren. There was an unexplainable strength about them both when they were together. Surely, Nathaniel could see that as a benefit to the pod.

  Following the rules blindly and looking at them as black and white, rarely was the answer. Nathaniel should know this too, but mercy was hard for him. He was practical, which we needed in a leader, but a little humanity would have helped him in more than one situation. Humanity was what he lacked most. I didn’t want this to be another situation that I looked back on and wondered if I could have helped the outcome. I suppose that’s what I was for, to remind him of our human half.

  “Alexis, why do you have to be so difficult? Stop and think without your emotions, please.” Nathaniel said.

  It was obvious he wanted to put up a fight on this one. I looked at him trying to find a trace of something, a small touch of sympathy. There was none. I stormed over to his desk, rummaging through the drawer for a picture I knew he still had. I felt the worn wood frame underneath a pile of paperwork and yanked it out, flinging the photo in front of his face. If this did not bend him, nothing would.

  “Remember this?” I pushed the frame closer to his face, he turned his head, an angry crease lining his brows. “Nathaniel, look at it! This is our mother; you remember what happened to her? We always wondered if someone had given her a chance, how our lives would have been.”

  “It’s not the same Alexis. You and I both know this. She knew what she was. Her mind wasn’t as far gone, she wasn’t a half breed, and she was more capable than most. Still, with all those odds, she accepted the gift of a merciful death. You know why? Because she knew the memory loss would continue. She wanted to go while she still had some dignity left. Of course, we wanted her to stay, but that’s because we were children. We aren’t children anymore.”

  Nathaniel pulled the picture frame from my hands and walked back to his desk, tucking it deep within the drawer.

  “Myra has all the same signs of the half breeds that went mad. How do you expect me to ignore that?” He said.

  “Nathaniel, it’s different. They didn’t have children. I’ve already seen her with Lauren, and it’s an immediate improvement. I’m telling you, something inside me says she can make it. Why can’t you try? There are so few of us left; why waste a chance to save one of us?” I pleaded.

  “Exactly! There are only a few of us, and because she poses a threat, the few that are sane will be in danger. You know this. Lauren is doing fine. She was young enough to accept our reality when you found her. She adapted. Myra will never adapt. She spent her life with human parents who didn’t know our culture or the truth. She’s spent her life thinking our people were make-believe. An adult mind can’t handle the truth, even less if the mind is captured and tortured. Do I need to remind you of Callen?”

  Every part of me went rigid with shame at that name. With as much strength as I could gather, I slapped Nathaniel. He staggered back from the blow. I knew it would leave a bruise. If there was one topic I thought I could count on him to not bring up, it was Callen.

  “Don’t drag Callen’s name into this, especially you. You have no right. The older you get, the crueler you become, Nathaniel.”

  I shook my head from the memory of it all and focused on forgetting the last conversation I had with my brother. That conversation had ended with him giving me three months, three months to see if Myra could adapt. For Lauren’s sake, I wanted it to be enough. Myra would not turn out like Callen. I would make certain of that.

  Reunion

  “Mom!”

  I turned around to catch my daughter in open arms, swinging her in a circle. I smiled and gave her another hug before putting her down.

  “Look at you! Stand up straight, let me see. Ah, there it is, I think you’ve grown another inch.” I said.

  A happy laugh filled my ears as Lauren, batted my arm and insisted I was wrong.

&
nbsp; “Mom, stop being silly. No one can grow an inch overnight. Besides, look at my sandals! They have a little bitty heel on them. That’s why I seem taller. Aren’t they pretty? Gabriella gave them to me. She and I are the same size.” Lauren said proudly.

  “So I see sweetheart. You and Gabriella are becoming fast friends aren’t you?”

  “Not fast—BEST friends mom!”

  “What did you two do today?” I said, grabbing Lauren’s hand as we walked.

  “We swam! I practiced changing into my tail, and Gabby says I’m fast. She told me I do it better than her but, I think she might have been telling a fib. Best friends are allowed to do that if it makes you feel better.”

  I smiled down at my little Lauren. She was so full of life and had accepted this world as though it was nothing out of the ordinary. I wished I could be there for her more. I reached down and smoothed an unruly hair out of her eye.

  “Hmm, I see. Well, it sounds like she’s a good friend darling. I have picnic plans for us today. Think you can carry the basket?” I said, knowing she would.

  “Duh! I’m seven not five.”

  With an elaborate sigh, Lauren grasped the picnic basket and lifted it. She flung a triumphant smile over her shoulder, and I couldn’t help but laugh at her stubborn determination. She had adapted well to this life; I needed to do all I could to fit in beside her.

  Watchful Eye

  I watched Myra walk to the beach with Lauren. The little girl was practically dragging the picnic basket behind her and glared at her mother’s hand reaching out to help. To anyone on the outside looking in, it would seem like a typical mother-daughter afternoon. I knew better. I could see the anxious outlines of worry in Myra’s face. She always moved her hands nervously too. She had yet to relax, not even around her daughter.

  My sister deserved some credit. She had made a few improvements on Myra with her adaptability, but Myra was nowhere near what she needed to be. She had to be constantly watched, especially with her daughter. I couldn’t assume the madness wouldn’t take Myra at any moment. She had been kept and tortured for a week. A lot could happen to the mind in a week.