Page 23 of Beneath the Surface

Kannon fought to keep his eyes from crossing. “Oh, my.”

Brett grabbed Brooke by the hand. “That’s our cue to hit the water. Come on, Brooke.”

Giggling, Brooke let Brett drag her off. “Don’t do anything we wouldn’t do!” she yelled over her shoulder at them.

Kannon’s gaze never left Nisha’s mouth, but he did grin at Brooke’s words. “Right.”

Nisha let go of Kannon’s fingers, but held his hand still. He tugged gently on Kannon’s arm. “Come here.”

Kannon got up and moved onto Nisha’s lap. In the distance he heard a splash as Brooke and Brett made it to the water. “It’s just us now.”

“I didn’t think they’d ever leave.” Nisha slipped his other hand around the back of Kannon’s neck and urged him closer. “I have a sudden, pressing need to see if you taste like s’mores.”

“Well, I think you should find out, don’t you?” Not waiting, Kannon pressed his lips to Nisha’s.

Nisha had his hands down Kannon’s shorts when a sharp yell caught his attention. He glanced up and looked around, trying to pinpoint where the sound came from.

“Nisha, did you hear that?”

“I—”

The yell came again. The full moon provided plenty of light, and out in the water Kannon could see something thrashing. “What the…? Is that—” Dread filled him. That sounded like Brett. “Nisha…?”

“Shit!”

The fear in Nisha’s voice left him cold. Something was going on out there in the water, and Brett and Brooke were in the middle of it. He scrambled off Nisha’s lap.

“Stay here!”

Standing, he watched Nisha sprint toward the water.Stay here? But, but...His knuckles turned white from clutching the back of the Adirondack chair. Part of him demanded he follow Nisha into the water. The other part of him was cemented firmly on land.

As he stood there arguing with his body about what to do, a shrill trilling sound came from the water. The sound scraped across his nerves, and every hair on his body stood up.What is that?Never in his life had he heard such a noise. It vaguely reminded him of nails on a chalkboard.

He shivered in the warm tropical night air. More sounds—more frightening sounds—came from the water. He couldn’t see very well, even with the moonlight shining down. All he could hear was splashing, odd noises, grunting… then a feminine scream of anger and fear.

His stomach roiled. The only reason Brooke would scream that way was if Brett was in trouble. Every thought about safety flew from his head. That was his best friend out there, and damned if he was going to stand there on the beach like some helpless maiden.

He raced toward the water, determined to help, even as his mind recoiled in fear. He hit the water running and dove in. Surfacing, he swam hard, thankful he worked out in his pool at home every day, and made a beeline toward the thrashing.

Even with his heart pounding in his head, and the roar of the ocean in his ears, he could hear screams… and what sounded like growls. He couldn’t think of any possible explanation of why whatever was out there in the water wouldgrowl. He drew closer and dove under the water.

All the thrashing made it hard to see, but it looked like someone was trapped in a net. Bubbles from the struggles enveloped whatever it was. Then he caught a flash of a long tail.Oh God, oh God, not again.

For a split second, he debated surfacing and heading back toward the shore. Not that would do any good. He knew Fate just dropkicked his ass right there in the ocean. He prayed it was a dolphin and not what he thought—of course, it could also be a shark.

At this point he didn’t know which would be worse. He surfaced, dragged in a couple lungfuls of air, and went back down. What greeted him was straight out of a nightmare. It was Brett, tangled in the net, fighting to get free.

That was scary. But what terrified him was the person next to the net. Brooke no longer had legs. What he saw was a long, iridescent bluish green tail that shimmered in place of legs.Shut the front door.She tore relentlessly at the net, and her desperation was obvious. Kannon shoved his fear side and swam closer.

Brett would drown if they didn’t get him free.

As he drew near, Brooke suddenly turned to face him, her teeth bared.Well, that’s not normal. Right, like a tail is. Blue hair floated around her head. The shocked, surprised look on her face was almost worth his fear.

Brooke blinked at him, and her look changed to sadness, but that was gone immediately and replaced by fear. That terrified Kannon even more. Kannon pointed at Brett, and then pointed up, signaling they needed to get Brett to the surface.

Brooke shook her head and pointed at him, then back the way he came. Kannon gaped at her. Was she trying to get him to leave? Surely she understood Brett was not like her and couldn’t breathe underwater.

Kannon pointed to the surface again, motioning frantically they needed to get Brett to the surface. Again she shook her head no and pointed at him, her motions more frantic than his, if possible. What was she trying to tell him? Why wasn’t she trying to help?

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