| |
Delphinos did come for her. He did insist she stay. He wanted to be with her.
He was in love with her.
She could no longer pretend what they had was casual.
Did she ever believe that to be true?
Last night, she ached to tell him she returned his feelings and ask him to make love to her one more time, but it would only make saying goodbye harder, and it already cut too deep. If she just left, he might find it easier to move on without her.
But he made plans for a future they couldn’t have.
And she ran. Swam. Whatever. She could never be happy, knowing she’d cost Vythos an entire generation of merpeople.
“We’re here,” Palaemon said in her head.
Halie let go of his hand and propelled herself upward until her head was out of the water.
Here was L.A. again. Halie would rather see a new place, but the witch was the one who decided her destination. Not like Halie could run into someone she knew; humans forgot her after she returned to the sea. The occasional exception who couldn’t make sense of their memories told stories about her—like the poet in Ancient Greece, who wrote that terrible legend about her. Halie shivered at the memory and searched the empty beach with her gaze. The witch always sent her to relatively deserted places, so nobody would be snapping pictures of the girl in the soaked white shirt appearing from the sea, but there was a man within sight every time. All she saw now was a large golden-haired dog, rolling in the sand.
“Are you sure this is it?” she asked Palaemon.
“It is where Circe told me to bring you.”
The sea hag’s name was mentioned so sparingly, it took Halie a second to realize whom Palaemon meant. She nodded and swam closer to the shore beside him. Soon, her tail separated into legs, and she walked the rest of the way to the beach. The oversized man’s shirt she’d worn for her trip up top clung to her, heavy with water. She checked the pocket that hung beneath her breast. Yup, pair of soaked panties was in place. “Will you come get me, if things don’t work out?” she asked.
“You are on your own from here. I must return to Vythos.”
Palaemon’s reply came from farther away than she expected. She turned to see him walking into the sea, and rushed after him. She was in no danger of losing her legs to a tail unless, all of her was submerged in saltwater. “Hey. Wait. Will you check in tonight?”
Palaemon stopped and faced her. “Have you talked to your father?”
“What about?”
“Are you certain Delphinos can’t come for you?” He wouldn’t meet her gaze.
“I’d rather he didn’t. What does my father have to do with this? Is he coming ashore?” That would be a surprise. He hadn’t set foot on land in centuries.
“If he hasn’t told you, I probably shouldn’t,” Palaemon said.
“Now you have to. What’s wrong?” She wanted to ask, is it Delphinos, but she held back. First off, if something had happened to him, Palaemon wouldn’t have suggested he pick her up. And also, the king of the sea might have different priorities than her.
Palaemon looked around, as if someone could be listening. “You didn’t hear this from me, but there’s talk of an uprising.”
She gasped. “In our world? Who by?” King Nereus was a kind and fair ruler, and they’d had no issues since Poseidon faded with the rest of the Olympians.
“They say the Titans are waking.”
She’d never in her long life spared them a thought, and now it was twice in less than twenty-four hours she’d heard them mentioned.
Before she could ask more, Palaemon said, “I do have to go. Good luck,” and dove under the foam.