Page 32 of Oceansong
Nothing else mattered.
Fifteen
Angie lay on dry groundwhen her eyes fluttered open. The hazy sun glared back at her, and she squinted. She was on the edge of a small island on the rocky shoal before it transitioned into the actual beach a few yards away, but how?
Pushing up on her arms, she slumped forward and coughed out a lung full of seawater, searing her throat.
Where was she? Where were the mermen or mermaids that nearly drowned her? Surely, they hadn’t just let her go so easily.
Glassy, calm waters surrounded her on all sides. Across from her, a mountain range shrouded in fog. Behind her, a thick forest of spruce trees loomed over her head, imposing and mysterious.
Nothing looked familiar. No land masses, no landmarks that she could place.
The hair on her nape and arms rose as she imagined the worst-case scenario. That the mer didn’t kill her because they chose to leave her alone here, isolated, to die slowly.
She patted her pants and jacket pockets. Her phone was gone too. Nobody would find her here, and her chest ached at the thought.
As she continued scanning the area, she froze.
“What the f—”
Kaden’s upper body bobbed up and down in the water, amber eyes wide like orbs. He didn’t swim closer.
Just stared.
Angie scooted backward. As soon as she moved, nausea and dizziness hit, and she dry-heaved. Tears blurring her vision, she rubbed her eyes.
Finally, he paddled forward and rested his arms on the island’s edge. The ends of his tailfin peeked out from the waves. “Are you alright?”
“Wh-what happened?” Angie rubbed at her temples and folded her legs, settling into a more comfortable position. “Why in the eighteen levels of hell were you just floating there, staring at me? It’s creepy.”
His biceps twitched, and he bit his lower lip, failing to keep one side from pointing upward. “Apologies, I did not want to be practically on top of you when you awoke, and scare you.”
She blinked, processing what she just heard. “Why would you be on top of me?”
“To ensure you were still breathing?” He stated it as if it were an obvious fact, and his smile grew into a full-blown one that reached his annoyingly breathtaking eyes.
She didn’t find that notion funny at all, and didn’t return his smile. “So, I would have been forced to see your giant face when I opened my eyes because you were, and I quote, ‘on top of me?’”
“Well, yes, I’m a decent being who didn’t wish to see you drown.” Kaden’s eyes rounded, and for a moment, he looked as innocent as he sounded.
“I suppose I’ll try and be flattered,” she said, sotto voce.
“You can feel however you wish. That mer who was slowly cutting off your air supply? I distracted him and then grabbed you when he wasn’t looking.”
“You didn’t have to save me, again. I mean, I almost killed you, and almost turned you into shark dinner after shooting you.” She searched his features, trying to pinpoint what it was he could possibly want from her in return for the rescue.
“You nearly put a bullet between my eyes. Then you shot me anyway the next time.” His tail swished from side to side, creating drag. “But you saved me. So, consider the favor repaid.”
“Yeah, yeah, I remember,” Angie grumbled. “Shit. My dad is going to wonder what happened to me.” Bàba was going to be worried sick that they hadn’t come back on time. Hopefully Abigail’s radio message had gone through. Were there people searching for them? How much time had passed since the waves swallowed their boat, and Abigail and Elise?
Thoughts of the two women sent a wave of sadness crashing over her head.
Without her phone or another way of telling time, she had no idea. She also had no idea how to get off this island, and a sudden and overwhelming sense of dread cloaked her.
She couldn’t get Elise and Abigail out of her mind. Maybe they were still alive, somewhere, somehow. “Did you see what happened to thosewomen I was with?”
Kaden’s voice took on a melancholy timbre. “The two mermaids likely drowned them.”
