A Thousand Salt Kisses (Book 1 of Salt Kiss series)

><> Chapter Thirty-Five <><

This thought had swirled about here and there in the back of my mind, but I had never paid it much attention.

Winter.

The seas would indeed be much colder and rougher. Freezing, even. The beaches unpleasant, often unbearable to sit upon. And what when it snowed? I had just assumed Llyr had magical solutions to everything...

"I mean, you can take it from me, it's impossible!" Nephys continued, crushing my hopes. "We spent an evening in his fishing hut one September... " she trailed off.

"And?" I fished.

"And, I hated being indoors!" she exclaimed, turning up her little nose. "Dreadful! I felt like I was in a box and it made me paranoid. I kept thinking I was going to turn - you know, from legs to tail - and be stranded. Well, if I'd fallen asleep that could well have been the case actually."

"Hmm," I mused unhappily, suddenly having an image of Llyr turning in my parents house. It did not sound good. I did some quick calculations, it was coming up to the end of July and we really only had a month left of summer.

"Who knows though... Maybe Llyr has some ideas.. I haven't asked him," said Nephys.

I decided not to dwell on the thought of winter, and buried it in the back of my mind again. Maybe Llyr does have some ideas. He had to, why else would he have wanted to get with me?

I shivered, I had been sitting here, soaking wet for ages now.

"Let's take you home," said Nephys.

"Do you have a boat?" I asked.

"I don't do boats darling," said Nephys. "You will have to ride on my tail."

I hesitated. Firstly, I had never seen a tail, and I had been putting it off for quite a while now. Second of all, that THING was still out there.

"That shark...?" I began.

"Oh, the fish has gone. I can't feel him," said Nephys dreamily, standing up and walking to the waters edge. She looked over her shoulder to check that I was coming.

I got up and trundled over reluctantly to where she stood. I bit my lip. I wasn't sure how this tail thing was going to work out.

She put her hands to her mouth, as she realized the reason behind my reluctance.

"He hasn't shown you!" she gasped.

I cringed and looked down. "No. I'm a... tail virgin!" I admitted.

She giggled, that melodic little jingle. "Oh! Tails are wonderful. They are magical, beautiful things. As Neptune said; 'To possess a tail is to posses the ocean.' That's a rough translation anyway," she said, swiping the air with her hand.

"I guess, the world is your oyster," I joked awkwardly, trying to cover up my nervousness. I now stood next to Nephys with our feet in the sea.

Nephys looked at me with her big, sparkly eyes and took my hands. "I can see you're terrified. I'm just going to do it really quickly, okay."

"Okay," I said, my heart fluttering.

Nephys disappeared downwards from my vision, it was as though she had dissolved before my eyes. It appeared that she had managed to hold on firmly to my hands as she went and I suddenly felt a tugging.

Don't freak, I willed myself, looking down.

The first thing I saw was a shimmering flash. I squinted, and when I got my first clear glimpse I was in awe.

It was a wonderful pearly-white; illuminous under the moon, as though it were in its element in the night. It was a slender, curvaceous tail, just like her human form, and the bottom flared out into two large, ruffled fins.

My eyes traveled upwards. The tail began just beneath her hips, and a few scales could be seen dotted around her flesh around the area where the two forms merged.

She floated before me in the shallows. "What I'm doing right now is rather miraculous," she explained. "Very few of us can stay mer on the surface. Most of us automatically shift – it's a protective instinct from humans."

I nodded, still amazed by what I saw. Gosh, it really was true.

"Isn't it brilliant?" she asked, waving it proudly above the water.

I nodded, "Yes, it's lovely," I said truthfully.

Well, it's not as scary as I thought.

"Okay right, we'd better dash," said Nephys pushing herself forward with her hands into the waves.

I trailed behind, confused. Does she want me to jump on her back or something? Best to just await further instruction, I decided.

When we were deeper she raised the bottom of her tail, so that the fins waved just beneath my nose. I giggled and instinctively went to swat them away, splashing water everywhere. They tickled!

"Hold on!" she cried, excitedly.

Hold on? But they looked so fragile, almost like paper. I thought about the shrimp they served up in restaurants; I could rip the tails off them with my bare hands. Oh God, I so don't want to hold on. What if it tears off?

"Just grab it!" she called. "It is strong, don't worry."

Sometimes it was quite handy the way these mers read your feelings, you didn't have to bother communicating your worries. I realized for a moment that if Nephys could read mine, it must mean she felt a connection to me. We had indeed bonded during our short but dramatic time together.

I exhaled and placed my hands firmly over each fin, clenching almost as though they were the handlebars of a bicycle. I grimaced at first, expecting to hear a crunch, but she was right; they felt tough, reminiscent of rubber more than anything else.

Before I had time to deliberate any further we were off, ploughing over the waves, which broke gently around us and then out into the open water. My body glided behind Nephys's, as though I were in a sleigh upon ice.

"We're going to go under!" she called.

"U-under?" I yelped.

Suddenly we dipped below the surface and I held my breath and closed my eyes, as I felt our bodies power through the icey water. No sooner were we down, we were heading up again, and bursting through the night sky, just as we had when I was rescued from the shark.

"We're going down again!" called Nephys, placing her hands above her head. I held my breath as we collided with the water and rocketed down below, only to scoop upwards again and shoot through the sky once more. This pattern continued for about ten minutes, like an invisible roller coaster. It all felt symbolic of my evening; I had gone from being on rock-bottom to an absolute high.

I imagined my brain must be flooding with a million endorphins. As soon as we dove through the sky, I would burst into gleeful shrieks, which I would have to stop when we lurched down again. We hit the water every time with such precision that there was never even a splash. We just cut straight through like knives in soft butter.

Before I knew it we were outside my house just beneath the jetty. I now giggled freely, and Nephys laughed with me. That had to have been the best experience ever.

"George used to love that when he was little," smiled Nephys, placing a hand to her heart nostalgically. "We used to call it the 'Big Wave'. He's a little old for all that now, of course..."

I smiled. It must be hard to watch your son age whilst remaining so youthful yourself.

"Thank you for everything," I said. "You have taught me so much, not to mention, saved my life..."

"Yes, I can't imagine what you were doing out there to be honest with you," said Nephys.

I decided to withhold the fact that I was desperately trying to grab Llyr's attention. "I just wanted to go for a swim," I lied.

"Hmm, you are quite a curious human Crystal," Nephys mused, hugging me. "Don't you worry about Llyr. I will send him straight to you when he returns."

I said goodbye to Nephys and hauled myself onto the jetty. I was quite a weight to bare with all my sopping wet clothes.

I made my way back up to the house, racking my brain for excuses as to why I was fully dressed as a waitress but absolutely drenched in seawater. I would have to tell Dad I fell off the taxi or something.

I held my breath and opened the back door. The whole house was dark and quiet; Dad appeared to have gone to bed. I tiptoed upstairs relieved and jumped into a piping hot shower. It was bliss.

When I got out I dried myself and put my pyjamas on. I climbed into bed, realizing that this was the first time in weeks that I had felt a little bit like myself again. It had been such a relief to find out that Llyr hadn't written us off.

I had to ask myself, was it really all worth risking my life for? I shuddered, as I thought about the monstrous situation I had put myself in earlier. I could not believe I would lose my head like that for a guy... even if he was amazingly gorgeous, kind, wonderful and erm, a mer-prince apparently.

I suddenly felt a buzz of excitement at the thought of seeing him again. I exhaled happily, and snuggled under my covers, grateful for the warmth. Now that that massive weight was off my shoulders, I could focus on helping Dad through his crisis. Perhaps I could even join the anti-SKANX cause, that would make him really happy.

It's not like I have to worry about ruffling Mum's feathers anymore. I've barely heard a word from her since she left us. I guess she must've well and truly moved on with her new life.