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

Surfacing

"Take my hands," Spirit instructed, as we hovered above the seabed some hours later. We were just outside the cave, which turned out to be hidden within a large black rock, the entrance now inconspicuous.

Asides from the rock, the seabed was barren, and all that surrounded us was huge stretches of light yellow sand.

I sighed and reluctantly took Spirit's hands in preparation for our ascent. I couldn't help but notice that he had nice hands. Whilst they were large and manly, they were also kind of... shapely. They looked like they could do things, artistic things perhaps.

I saw too that he wore silver rings on his fingers which bore interesting engravings. I squinted closer; they were runes; I recognized the Norse symbols from my history studies.

I momentarily wondered if Spirit's human ancestors may have had some nordic blood. I mean, coming to think of it, he was the only fair mer I had ever seen. I felt vaguely excited at the prospect of a Viking mer, until I quickly remembered that it was Spirit, and Spirit was a total arse.

I decided I wouldn't ask; I did not want to give the impression I was remotely interested in him.

It had appeared that Nephys was running late, and Spirit had been too impatient to wait for her before taking me up to the surface.

"What's the hurry anyway?" I asked him as we hovered opposite each other. I was secretly itching to ask about the ceremony but did not want to admit I had been eavesdropping the previous night.

"What, you want to stay down here, or something?" Spirit replied curtly, his blue eyes flickering in my direction.

I scowled at him. "Err, not with you," I replied scowling at him.

Now he looked at me coldly. "You've clearly matured," he said.

"Well, I'm only twenty-one," I bit back. "You're like, seven hundred, so what's your excuse?"

"Four hundred, actually," he replied, his lips twitching briefly into a smile before he tugged me upwards. "Come on."

My eyes caught his rings again as we began to move. If he was of Nordic heritage, then they may have been passed down through the underwater generations. Either that, or he had found those rings in the sea, lost Viking treasures, sunk in battle.

"What are you thinking," he asked, looking at me suspiciously. I wondered if, like Llyr, he could sense my feelings. Could he know that I was thinking about him? No, I decided. The mer had to have a connection with someone to do that.

"Nothing," I replied, looking away.

We travelled slowly through the waters; we must have been about forty feet under and I felt butterflies in my stomach as we got closer to the surface. I had no idea what it would feel like to shift back.

"Will it hurt?" I asked my grouchy escort.

"No," he replied flatly.

"Oh," I said. "Okay." What a reassuring presence he is.

We were really close now; the waters were getting brighter and brighter, and Spirit was watching my tail intensely.

I closed my eyes as we reached the surface and broke through into the warm summer air. The sky was blue, and the warm sun felt beautiful on my face.

I giggled happily. "Well, that didn't feel too weird," I said, looking at Spirit.

Suddenly I choked, as water gushed out of my mouth and into the sea. "Urgh!" I cried eventually, once my chest had emptied the water back into the ocean.

I watched on mesmerized as water streamed from Spirit's full lips into the seas. But this was not new to him, and I soon realized he still appeared very stressed.

He put his head under the water for several seconds and when he brought his head up again, I could see the panic in his eyes.

For a second I felt worried. Last time I had seen him look like this, that beast was heading towards us, and I looked around worriedly.

"What?" I asked.

Spirit slapped his hand to his forehead. "You're still mer," he said.

***

We tried to ascend several more times; each attempt brought about the same result: absolutely nothing.

Spirit was getting more and more agitated with every journey.

"You're not relaxing!" he shouted, on the seventh ascent. "That's what the problem is."

"Oh, excuse me!" I shrieked with exasperation. "I'm sorry I'm not like, some kind of expert. It's just I've never not been human before."

"Stop talking, relax!" he commanded.

"I can't relax when you're being so tense," I whimpered back.

"Please, just try," he said, as we traveled, "think of something nice... think of lying on a beach or something, you humans like that."

I let out a deep, shaky sigh and closed my eyes. At least he had said 'please.' He wasn't a total barbarian. I let my mind travel, trying to picture the perfect beach.

The last time I had been on a beach was with Llyr, and so I pictured the place where used to take me. He had named it 'Crystal Bay', after me, and we would lie on the sands in the sunset holding each other, until way after dark. I imagined I was there again, and I felt all the muscles in my body un-tense.

"That's good," I heard Spirit say softly as he guided me.

I felt our heads break through the waters and I opened my eyes, looking at Spirit expectantly.

He closed his eyes tightly. "Please, please, please," he prayed, before sticking his head under the water.

Despite my own distress, I couldn't help but wonder why he was quite so desperate for me to shift back. I waited tensely, contemplating this. Surely it wasn't my wellbeing he cared about; it was something else.

He resurfaced, and I knew instantly it hadn't worked. He leaned backward on the surface and cried out with frustration.

My mind began to spin. I'm actually stuck like this! How am I going to go home and see my Mum and Dad? What about my friends? Jemima's engagement party is this week. I can't just be a full-time mermaid!

Crap! Like, seriously. CRAP! CRAP! CRAP!

"Spirit," I cried out, "what's going on?"

He moved to an upwards position again and shook his head. "I really don't know. We are going to need some help."