The Calling

Chapter 28 -- The Night

Penny awoke the moment she felt the disturbance. She lay in bed for maybe two minutes waiting for it to return: when it didn't she slowly slid out from under the covers, doing her best not the disturb Kemena. She was already wearing leggings so she threw on a jacket and slipped into her sandals before leaving the motel room and stepping outside.

The night was calm but cloudy: the forecast for tomorrow indicated storms were going to hit the coast by late afternoon. She looked around the parking lot and didn't see any movement, but didn't expect any at two in the morning.

After about ten seconds she turn and began walking towards the beach. Because she was pretty sure she knew what had woke her up...

Leigh was on the beach, standing just at the edge of the surf, wearing a cami and shorts and nothing else. She looked out over the dark ocean, watching the larger-than-normal waves crash into the shore and roll right up to the tips of her toes.

Penny cleared her throat as she approached. Leigh turn and smiled before speaking. "Came to make sure I wasn't going to take off in the middle of the night?"

"Maybe." She kicked off her sandals before stepping up next to her mother. "Or maybe I just wanted to speak with you a little before tomorrow."

She nodded. "How did you know I was up?"

"I felt you walk by." Penny looked off to her right, in the direction of Three Arch Rock, for a few seconds. "The last couple of years I've learned to tell when you're within about fifty feet of me, and if you pass by close you wake me up."

"Singing Nymph certainly taught you how to detect mermaids."

"She did." Penny reached out and took her mother's right hand. "You feel it, don't you?"

"God, yes." Leigh closed her fingers around her daughter's hand. "It's been tugging at me ever since we left Portland and hit me hard as soon as we arrived in Netarts and I could see the ocean. It's been—" She looked down at the water swirling around her feet. "I almost did leave."

Penny had worried her mother might do that. "Why didn't you?"

Leigh turned to Penny. "Because I wanted to give you a proper goodbye and I would have needed to awaken Kemena for that to happen." She turn her daughter to face her and took both her hands. "Have you explained what's going on to her yet?"

"No—" Penny shook her head. "I haven't. I figured it would be too much for her to understand right now."

"You also don't want to tell her what else this could me—do you?"

Penny glanced downward. "No."

"You're going to have to."

"I'm thinking tomorrow night." She looked up into her mother's eyes. "After you're gone."

Leigh wrapped her arms around Penny and began to sob softly. "Now I know how my mother's felt when I left for dry land."

"Except it's the other way around now..." Penny untangled herself from her mother's arms. "You're leaving you daughter behind and returning to the pod, to your binding mothers." She gave her a soft kiss on the cheek. "They're going to be so happy to see you after all this time."

"I know. But I'm going to miss you—" She hugged her daughter again. "Little Bubbles."

Penny chuckled through her tears. Since returning to land Penny and Leigh had begun calling each other by their mermaid names when they were in private. "I'm going to miss you, too, Crimson Mane." She hugged her mother tight one last night before stepping back and holding her by the shoulder. "Would you mind if I sleep with you tonight? Just this one last time on land?"

Leigh nodded. "Only if I can cuddle you."

Penny tugged on her mother's hand. "I wouldn't have it any other way."