I sat along the yacht's rail as it glided across the waves toward Miami.
“Look at the lights,” Manx said as he held my hand. “Aren’t they amazing?”
I stared at the city. It glowed with a prism of color, the man-made lights shimmering on the waves. The tall buildings looked silver against the skyline, drowning the twinkling stars overhead. I gazed at Manx, who was staring adoringly at the cityscape. Maybe I was the strange one, but I didn’t find the city attractive. Riding on the boat made my head and stomach lurch, and it was all I could do to calm my newly-transformed stomach.
“Here, Ink. Drink this.”
I looked up to see Roald standing before me, a bottle of blueish liquid in his hand. “Roald,” I said, half-rising to greet him.
“Easy,” he said, reaching out to steady me. “Your legs won’t be steady for a few days yet.”
Roald had worked with Seaton and me as part of the scouts. Keeping watch for deep-sea mines, new drilling operations, or other signs of trouble, we had kept the tribe safe. On land, Roald had joined the suffocators, the mer equivalent of the human police force. Creon kept the suffocators, his personal army, always in close reach. I’d always assumed it was because he expected the Gulfs to wage war again at any moment. Maybe that was not the case.
Suddenly aware that Manx’s eyes were on us, I let go of Roald. “Thank you, old friend,” I said, sitting again. I took the bottle from Roald.
“We call it aqua vitae,” Roald explained. “It helps us acclimate to the dryness, and it will help with the nausea you must be feeling.”
“How thoughtful, Roald,” Manx said then.
I heard the hard undertone in his voice. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one.
“King Manx,” Roald said with a courteous bow. “Princess,” he added, also bowing to me. With a polite smile, Roald left us. Considering Roald was not easily disturbed, seeing him respond to Manx like that worried me. I didn’t think Roald was bothered by anything.
“You should try it,” Manx said, encouraging me. “It will help if you are feeling seasick.”
“Now, there is a misnomer,” I said and then sipped the liquid. It was some kind of spring water. I could taste the sharp tang of minerals inside. I swallowed slowly, afraid my stomach would revolt, but instead, it made me feel much better.
As I drank, Manx leaned toward my ear. “You’ll find that mers don’t act the same on land as in the water. You may have been friends with or trusted others in the ocean, but people have different agendas here on land. Don’t be quick to trust those you knew below the waves, no matter how friendly they seem. There are rumors about your friend.”
“Rumors?” I glanced at Roald, leaning against the opposite rail and looking out at the city. Clearly, people on land lived very different lifestyles. I glanced at my mersisters, who were dressed in bikinis or short dresses. They had embellished their ears like the humans, with large sparkling diamond and gold earrings adorning them. Mermaids could never resist such beautiful human trinkets. We loved them despite ourselves. Such items had lured many a mermaid to their doom. As well, many mers were smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol, vices of humans. Clearly, mers acted differently on land, but what about Roald? I gazed at him. His dark-colored shirt fluttered in the breeze. “Roald worked with me. He was a scout and a good and trustworthy merman. What kind of rumors are there about him?”
Manx leaned into my ear. “You know he is a suffocator?”
“Yes.”
“Half the suffocators have gone rebel. The other half, such as your friend, have questionable loyalty.”
I was shocked. I stared back at Roald, who was gazing out at the city. “I cannot believe it. The suffocators are undyingly loyal to Creon. Why?”
“That’s the question, isn’t it? Don’t trust him. We may yet have a use for your friendship but don’t put your faith in him. A storm is coming. You must be careful who you put your faith in.”
“Then how do I know if I should trust you?” Though I said it in jest, my mind had cataloged the fact that he had not let go of the robe, that he had stolen a moment for his own pleasure. Perhaps I should have been flattered? I was, after all, intended as his wife. But it hadn’t felt like flattery. It had felt like control.
Manx leaned into my ear. “If there is one person here you can trust, it is me. I would die for you. You will be my wife, rule at my side, and be the mother of my offspring. I will never let anything harm you now that you are mine. I’d give my life for you.”
His passionate words surprised me. I opened my mouth to speak but didn’t know what to say.
“No sharp comeback this time?” Manx asked jokingly, then wrapped his arm around me and pulled me close. “Drink, dearest mermaid. We’ll have you home soon. It’s windy in Miami tonight, but the weather is still hot. You’ll see, I have everything ready for you.”
Not sure what he meant, I could only smile and sip the aqua vitae. I glanced across the deck of the yacht. This time, I caught Roald standing at the side of the mamiwata, whose robes and white hair whipped in the breeze. He bent low so the mamiwata could whisper in his ear. He wore a somber expression. When the old woman finished speaking, they turned and looked at me.