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Fuuccccckkkkkk!
I take a deep breath, and a head pops up in front of me, likely saving me from my watery death.
“What are you doing, Guardian?” Mazu’s voice is a lot less sweet, and a lot more annoyed than when she was off the coast earlier. Now that she’s so close, I can see how beautiful the mermaid is. Her dark hair is piled in fancy twists on top of her head and somehow dry even though I just watched her emerge from the water. Her plump lips are a brilliant red that doesn’t look like lipstick; I think it’s just the color they are. Eyes so dark they are black, at least in the dark night, flash as they await my answer.
I realize I’ve been gawking at her beauty instead of explaining myself to the obviously frustrated, possibly angry, mermaid. “I, I–”
“You thought you could hold your breath long enough to dive down to Beatrice’s lair and save Rory? I thought you were smarter than that, Guardian.”
I cast my eyes down to the water, wishing I could see straight through it to where my friends are being held. “I hoped maybe I had some kind of underwater breathing superpower or something.” Then I look back at Mazu, one eyebrow raised, and ask, “Wait, who is Beatrice?”
“Beatrice is my sister. She is the siren who has your friends. We don’t have time right now for more of an explanation. And as for this underwater breathing you hoped you have,” Her brows relax and a devious smile spreads across her porcelain face, “You don’t, Guardian. But I do.”
She swims closer to me, close enough that if I were to reach my arm out, I could touch her. And still, she moves closer. She rises from the water until her face is almost even with mine. I can smell her, salty and musky. I would have expected her to smell fishy, but her scent more closely resembles a soap or a lotion, I can’t place my finger on it.
She leans in until we share the same breath. “You need to trust me, Guardian.”
I instinctively close my eyes as her red lips meet mine. They are not as soft as they look. Dry and scaly, they make me feel like I’m kissing a snake’s back. But then her lips part, and her tongue gently taps my own lips, asking to be let in. My mouth opens of its own volition, wanting this new experience. I’ve kissed girls before, but not since college. And if you count my experiences with Lu, then I’ve kissed a mythological creature too. But I have never kissed a mermaid.
Her tongue enters my mouth slowly but not timidly. The tip tickles my own as Mazu uses it to explore my very essence. As our tongues slide against each other, I note how smooth hers is. I don’t feel the bumpy friction that I feel when Jake kisses me, that I’ve felt with every other kiss I’ve ever had. Hers is also the wettest mouth I have ever kissed, but I guess I should expect that from a mermaid.
The kiss makes my entire body tingle with anticipation. I also quickly forget why I came here in the first place. I press my body into hers. She is what I want right now, even as I feel myself fading. I don’t care about anything but her, this, us.
Suddenly, she pulls away. My eyes snap open, and all I see is murky blue. We are underwater. I gasp, but no water enters my lungs. My eyes snap to Mazu.
“What wasthatabout?” My voice comes out, not quite as I’m used to, but still recognizable to me.
Mazu giggles and shyly covers her mouth. I think her cheeks flush as she casts her eyes away from me. Down here, she appears to be a young lady in her early twenties and is the epitome of sexy to men.
Why Mazu, what a youthful glow you have.All the better to lure men to a watery death with…
I shake myself to get back to the matter at hand.
“I’m sorry if I frightened you, Guardian. That was what I had to do so you could breathe under water. Most believe sirens and mermaids lure people to their deaths. While that has happened, generally speaking if we like someone enough to pay them attention, we want to keep them around. Don’t worry though. Once you surface, the spell will break, and you’ll be back to breathing air.”
“Oh, sure. Okiedokie then.” I feel myself blush, knowing I enjoyed that kiss more than I was supposed to.
I look around, noting seaweed floating by us and lots of sand below while trying to focus on something that isn’t the sensual mermaid before me. At last, I give in and look at her smooth face again. “So, where to now?” I force the corners of my mouth upward momentarily, trying to imitate a smile. Fake it ’til you make it.
“Follow me, Guardian,” she commands before turning away from me and diving further into the ocean where the sand falls away and the view gets even darker.
We swim in silence, Mazu leading the way. I’m still replaying that kiss in my mind and therefore afraid that if I say anything, it’s going to sound like I’m hitting on her. The blue that surrounds us grows darker the longer we swim and lower we dive.
This is a strange sensation. Due to my body’s natural buoyancy, I have never been able to swim below the surface of the water. But now, my arms and legs move as if I am an experienced deep-sea diver. And one that doesn’t need any equipment to boot!
We’ve been swimming lower, into darker waters, for so long that I think I’m beginning to hallucinate when I see a glow ahead. It’s like approaching a city after driving through farmland in the middle of the night.
The glow gets brighter the closer we get. Beyond a large reef, rays of light shine up into the ocean like searchlights announcing the opening of a new, hip club, only not swirling around in a dizzying dance.
Even though I have been silent this whole time, Mazu turns to me with a finger pressed to her lips. She beckons me to come closer and lie belly-down on the reef beside her and to look ahead from our hidden position. I am grateful for the protection my clothes provide as my hands and feet, my only exposed flesh, brush the rough coral. We lay on our stomachs beside one another and army crawl through the thick atmosphere to look down at the source of the light.
Beyond the reef, the ocean floor falls away. The cavernous space below us is lit like a modern home on land, but it takes me some time to find the source of the light. I expecting some kind of lamp or bioluminescent creatures hung from the rock walls and coral partitioning the cavern from the ocean behind it, making this undersea home its own three-walled room, like the set of the sit-coms I watched growing up. But the light doesn’t come from something as simple as a lamp lit with stolen power or electric eels. Instead, balls of energy floating in the water here and there cause the illumination.
A breathtaking mermaid sits on a stool made of sea urchins. Staring into a piece of dark, polished glass that reflects her beauty, she brushes her long, dark auburn hair. Unlike Mazu, this other mermaid’s skin is dark bronze with a metallic luster. Her eyes are such a bright blue that I can see them reflected in the mirror from here. And she’s long. Longer and taller and bigger than Mazu. I look at Mazu with my brow lowered, asking without asking, and she nods.
Beatrice is also singing. Her voice doesn’t have the same effect on me it must have had on Eliza and Rory, but it is hauntingly beautiful and enticing nonetheless. My muscles unclench, my shoulders relax, and my eyelids feel heavier with every note.
But I quickly snap back awake. Oh. Eliza and Rory. Where the hell are they? My eyes scan frantically as I finally remember my reason for being in this glamorous and terrifying place.
