Page 25 of Tempting Triton
“Hold your breath!” I do not think, I just grab her hand and swish with my mighty tail towards the surface as quickly as I can with her in tow. I do not move nearly as fast as I could, and I curse myself for not having turned away when I knew I should have, for not having called for Ichó already. My selfishness may be the thing that sees me all alone again. The thought of my waterlogged mate sinking to the bottom of the sea is a horror I do not wish to endure.
“Foolish!” I growl at myself, turning my head to check on my mate as we near the surface, the water becoming more opaque the closer we get. My Elena’s brows are furrowed as she concentrates on holding her breath, and I thank the Fates that she is a swimmer. Anyone else may not have the ability to hold their breath for this long. I can hear theba-dumof her heart beating in her chest, the pace a little too quick for my liking because it tells me she is at the precipice of panicking. She squeezes my hand tightly, right as I yank her upwards and push her past the surface.
Our heads break the water, and I steady my Elena around the waist to keep her afloat while she sucks in big, gasping breaths of airamongst coughing and spluttering. Her long, golden hair sticks to the sides of her face, and salty water drips off the tip of her nose.
“I am so sorry, my Elena. We should have turned around. I should have said something. This is all my fault!”
My mate shakes her head at me while still trying to catch her breath. “We didn’t know when it was going to wear off, or if it was going to wear off at all. It’s not your fault.”
My body is shaking, the fear of having nearly lost my mate has rocked me to my core, and I cannot help the tear that runs down my cheek, mingling with the salty water dripping off my face.
“Hey, it’s okay. I’m okay,” my Elena croaks, cupping the side of my face with her hand. I lean into her touch, scrunching my eyes closed and willing the fear to subside.
“Triton… Is that a ship?”
My eyes pop open, and I turn to look behind me, towards the barrier.
“It’s a ship! Triton, it’s a ship!” Elena squeals with glee and waves her arms above her head while treading the water below. “Hello!HELP! Hello!”
There is a ship on the other side of the barrier. At least, on the other side of where the barrier is meant to be. This big, hulking chunk of metal is not at all like the sunken wreck of rotted timber that lies in the waters of Aeolia. It has long metal arms that reach upwards and some that extend over the edge of the ship. Taut ropes drag in the water, and nets teeming with thrashing sea life that die a slow death of suffocation as they’re pulled from the deep. It is then that it hits me.Blood in the water.
The beast takes me over so quickly in my semi-frozen state, from shock and the cold, that I do not even have a moment to protest.
“That ship reeks of death,” we growl.
23
Elena
Afreaking ship! I can’t believe my luck that the barrier goes down and my salvation is right there on the other side. I continue waving my arms in the air and shouting, hoping someone on board will hear me and drop a life raft or come across the loudspeaker, acknowledging that they can see and hear me.
“That ship reeks of death,” Triton growls. His hand, moving quicker than he was able to just moments before, shoots out and grabs my bicep to pull my arm down.
“Triton! Stop it!” My brows furrow, frowning at Triton as I yank my arm out of his grip when I realize it’s not Triton anymore, it’s him.It.Whatever the beast is inside Triton that senses trouble in the water. Literally.
The excitement of a potential rescue fades away as I glance back at my potential rescuers and recognize what type of ship it is. Withits steel arms hanging over the sides, and nets being hauled in. It’s a fishing boat, but not just any fishing boat.Whalers.I’m reminded of a documentary I watched on the nature channel about illegal whaling. What I had mistaken as rust from this distance is actually blood—from the bodies of whales that line the deck—that has run over the sides, coating the paint in a rusty hue. Nausea rolls through me at the sight.
There’s a commotion on deck as the ship continues its steady pace in our direction, and I realize that with the barrier down, not only can we see them, but they can see us,and the island. I can only imagine the captain’s surprise when an island appeared out of nowhere.
“Triton, they’re headed our way.” I clutch at his arm, but he growls and shakes free of me, darting forward with a splash of his lustrous tail, leaving the protection of the barrier to do who knows what.
“Triton!” I call out after him as dread and nausea fill me. What if the barrier goes back up? What if he gets stuck out there and I get stuck in here? I wish I could call for Ichó. He would drag him back inside the safety of the wall. Instead, I am left with the decision of going after him or staying here. I slap the water infrustration and kick after him as fast as I can. Without gills, I am nowhere near as quick as Triton, and I realize how accustomed I have become to having them. I don’t move as smoothly in the water. My strokes break through the water, which gets rougher the closer towards the ship we get. The wake pushes me back time and time again, and I feel like I make no progress.
“Triton!” I can’t see him anywhere. I tread water, feeling tightness in my chest already from the exertion. The ship continues its course towards Aeolia.
“What are you doing, you stupid, stupid merman?” I don’t even feel joy or relief at being outside of the barrier because all I can think about is Triton. As soon as I get my hands on him, I’m going to throttle him for scaring me like this.
A head of golden hair pops up a few clicks ahead of me. The ship moves quite quickly for such a hulking mass of metal that the voices of the shipmates can now be heard on the wind. The figures of men rush about the deck; someone points in our direction and shouts. They’ve spotted us, so why is my internal warning system going gangbusters instead of feeling the relief of an imminent rescue?
“Triton!” I want to get us back inside the barrier immediately; the very real threat of it shutting us out presses on me. Triton glances back at me, and even with the short distance between us, I can see he’s not in control of himself anymore. He snarls and dives beneath the water, his tail flicking up spray as he goes under. He’s completely lost to the beast with the perceived threat and the blood staining the water. I glance at the ship, knowing for sure someone has seen his tail from the excited yelling that carries towards me.
“Shit!” I kick off again, chasing Triton down and getting a lot closer to the ship than I feel comfortable with. My heart hammers in my chest, and I can’t tell the difference between the adrenaline roaring in my ears and the wash of the waves caused by the ship’s wake.
I hear awhumpand whistling before I see it. A harpoon hits the water just north of me. I scream. I can’t see Triton, but I assume that they can, with the advantage of an almost bird’s eye view of the water. I tread water breathlessly, waiting for the inky spread of blood to come to the surface. Instead, Triton’s head pops above the surfacea few feet to the left.
“Oh, thank g—” My sigh of relief quickly turns to a shriek as anotherwhumpand whistle echoes in the air, and in the blink of an eye, pierces Triton through the flesh of his shoulder. In slow motion, the force from the impact spins Triton back towards me, his eyes wide as he looks down at the spear protruding from his skin. Triton jerks. The shooter retracts the harpoon, dragging Triton with it. Triton roars as the prongs on the tip embed themselves into his skin and allow him to be reeled in like a fish on a hook.
“No! No, no, no—” I don’t think, I just kick. My mind empties, and I’m taken back to a swim meet with one goal in mind—winning. Except this time, Triton is the prize, and I must get to him. I pull my arms over my head, turning to take a breath. Pull, turn, breathe, pull, turn, breathe, kick. Kick. On a breath, I can see Triton flailing about on the line, his fingers gripping at the rod sticking out of his shoulder, and with another roar, he snaps it clean in two. Immediately, the line slackens as it continues reeling its way back up the side of the ship, its prize lost.
