A Thousand Salt Kisses Later (Book 2 of Salt Kiss series)

My Nemesis

We had roamed over velvety moss banks for around an hour. Nephys was right; it was much greener passed Mount Glas. There was not really much sand in sight anymore, and huge rocks and vegetation bloomed around us.

I had been so tired after our mammoth swim that I had felt myself doze off a couple of times on top of Spirit, as we swam through the puffs of seaweed and other sea plants.

"Your back's comfy," I heard myself murmur as I drifted in and out of consciousness.

"Comfy?" Spirit asked skeptically.

"Mmm... comfortable," I replied. Maybe I should take that dreadful Ri's advice, and cease to use my 'human terms' down here; no one ever seemed to know what I was going on about.

I turned my head, Nephys and Bright were lagging behind us.

"Are you okay?" I shouted out.

Nephys exhaled wearily. "I'm starting to wish we took that unicorn!" she sighed.

I rested my head back down on one of Spirit's shoulders. I had managed to catch my own ride, it seemed, even if it was on the back of my nemesis. Nemeses had their uses, apparently.

"Can't you carry me, like Spirit is Crystal?" despaired Nephys to a rather pale Bright.

"What do you think I'm made of? Rock and malt?" Bright protested. " You wouldn't even let me carry your bags earlier, and now you want me to carry you!"

"Well, we're nearly there," said Spirit, cutting through their dispute. "Is this not the sea troll?"

"Sea... come again?" I said lifting my head. I do not like the sound of that ONE bit.

"Oh Crystal, it's not a real troll," said Nephys, giggling and catching us up, "it's just the shape of the rock."

"Hmm," I said, looking upwards dubiously. A big blobby black rock towered above us. It was encased in barnacles and didn't actually look like anything.

"Spirit named it!" Nephys continued laughing. "Look what you've done now," she said, jabbing Spirit in the tail with her finger.

"Oh, it's just a bit of Nordic mythology..." said Spirit sounding mildly amused himself. "They say when a troll gets caught in the sunlight, he turns to stone."

I was silent for a while. It was a strange idea, but indeed, a sharp beam of sunshine cut through the water at just this point.

We glided past the great sea troll, and I gradually lay my head back down again. I began to think about the merman underneath the cool exterior.

"I knew you were from up there," I said, a while later. Nephys and Bright had fallen behind again, and we swam alone.

"Up where?" he asked.

"Like, Scandinavia," I said.

"I don't know what that is," said Spirit.

"Oh come on!" I said. "Scandinavia?"

"Is it land? Because I am from the sea," he said irritably as if I hadn't noticed.

"Oh really?" I said sarcastically. "Well anyway, Scandinavia has plenty of seas, it spans about three countries."

Spirit was silent for a while. "I'm from the Northern Seas."

I don't know why he couldn't have just said that in the first place, but I was excited to learn of his heritage. My imagination began to simmer. There were all kinds of Viking myths about the sea; I bet he knew them all. I bet he had had all kinds of adventures.

"I can see you are quite excited," said Spirit.

"How?" I asked. "You can't see me."

"Okay, I can sense, then," he said, he said squeezing my hand ever so gently.

I felt that same giddy feeling again, the one I had had earlier that day. I didn't know where it came from, or what it meant, but it had somehow stemmed from the realization that if he could sense how I was feeling, then this meant one thing; he felt a connection to me.

As much as I hated to admit it, I was starting to realize that there was something kind of hot about connecting with your enemy.

***

Like The Jewelled Kingdom, Evergreen was aptly named. I had never seen so much green stuff in my life.

There was another luscious green mountain in the middle of this Kingdom, and on looking up, it appeared that most of the residents lived inside it. There was row upon row of caves, almost as though a giant caterpillar had eaten his way through the whole mountain.

"They are mer-made," Nephys explained as we ascended upwards to get a better look. "Father had the whole mountain gutted, and virtually the entire kingdom lives here at no cost!"

I smiled at Evergreen's answer to social housing.

"What does everybody do here all day?" I asked, as I watched the mer lounging around in their caves.

"Oh, well, we supply a lot of food from our nutritious soils. We have the best soil in the whole sea, and so Father can afford to let everybody live so cheaply. All our people work the land mainly and have fun. Lots of Camuls are made and consumed here Crystal."

"They have hot springs here too," said Spirit. "You humans like hot water, do you not?"

I couldn't help but giggle. How has he come to that conclusion? Does he know about baths or something? Although, coming to think of it, I had no complaints about my body temperature since the big transformation, and I had loved my baths dearly.

"Spirit, I think she's a mermaid now," said Nephys, echoing my thoughts. "But yes, we have hot springs, they come pumping straight up from the Earth's core. You can swim in them; it's more fun than anything; they push you around all over the place."

I felt my spirits lift a little. I didn't know we had any volcanic energies in this part of the world, but what I did know was that I liked this place more and more every second.

I noticed too, as we got further and further into the kingdom, that a crowd was beginning to form around us. Mer were beginning to notice our presence. Nephys was, after all, their king's daughter.

Princess Nephys lifted her arm and waved to her people, although I noticed their eyes appeared to mainly be fixated on me.

"Blessings Crystal," a few mers shouted out as we swam by. I blinked. They know my name? It was strange to think I could be well-known. Up on land, I was just a regular girl, a student!

As I smiled back, I saw that they were all rather hippie-looking. They had very long thick hair and bodies covered in dark decorative inkings. It was almost of the intricate detailing of henna tattoos, and I saw too, green leafy little crowns rested around their heads.

Once we had passed the mountain, we reached a huge towering mossy wall, and Spirit gradually let go of my hands so that I became detached from him.

I stretched out my arms; they really felt much better now after all that rest.

"Thank you," I said, looking over at him.

He lifted half his mouth in a smile, which immediately threw me. I don't think he had ever smiled before, even if it were only a semi-one. I looked up at the great green wall and then back to Nephys.

"We're finally here," she beamed.