Lost at Sea

The siren’s body slipped lifelessly to the side. Jasper’s eyes lit onto Eleanor immediately, flashing her the warmest smile he could manage. She looked absolutely exhausted and was covered in scrapes, but she still looped an arm around him and carried him to the surface.

He gasped for breath, his chest heaving. “I didn’t think I could hold my breath for that long,” he joked. Eleanor did not smile. The pale faces of the rest of the sirens did not smile, either.

She blinked as she gauged their body language. He tightened his grip on her arm, but he didn’t seem to need to worry. Eleanor pulled him forward right into a cluster of them, but they parted aside to let them pass.

“What’s wrong with them?” Jasper whispered. Eleanor’s lips barely moved as she replied.

“You just killed the strongest of us. They’re terrified of you.” She paused. “I’m terrified of you.”

“I don’t understand,” Jasper said after a beat of silence. He pushed his wet hair out of his face. “Who was that?”

“That,” she murmured, pulling him all the way to safety, “-was Lizbeth. She was our self-proclaimed queen, and the reason I was so unhappy.

“Sirens are mostly independent, but even the most wild creatures have to answer to someone. She was our someone. Who knows who they’ll choose to lead us, now?” She sighed and glanced upward toward the sky. The sun was beginning to dip below the horizon as the horrendous clouds cleared. Magnificent colors streaked across the sky as if in celebration of the death of a tyrant. The setting sun glinted orange off of Eleanor’s profile and again he was struck by how absolutely beautiful she was.

He didn’t have long to enjoy it. The journey was long, but she managed to drag him up into the shallows of a remote shoreline faster than he was ready for. Her long tail coiled against the sand at the bottom as small fish began to pick at the algae she’d collected. She smiled, a genuine one, and Jasper felt his heart flutter.

“I love you,” he confessed. Her eyes flashed up to meet his face. “I’ve always loved you. I loved you when you were my wife, I loved you when I thought you were dead, and I love you still.”

“I know,” she whispered, reaching up a hand to stroke his face. He closed his eyes and leaned into her touch and inhaled the new scent of her; sea breeze and brine. He didn’t mind the change like he used to. He was going to have to accept that ten years could change a person.

He opened his eyes. She was still there, pink lips slightly parted as she studied his face as if trying to memorize it. Of course, she might have actually been. Jasper leaned in closer, the scent of her sweet breath luring him in exactly like a flower would to a bee, if the flower was carnivorous and the bee was its favorite food.

“Jazz,” she whispered, and the use of his old nickname from her sent a jolt through him. He crashed his lips to hers in a desperate need to feel her against him. Pure electricity sparked between them as her mouth moved in unison with his in a pattern so familiar it hurt.

Her hands were everywhere, tangled in his hair, stroking along the rough stubble on his jaw, pulling him closer by his shoulders. He thought if this were the way he had to go, he would gladly accept it.

She pulled away and immediately he could feel the cold again. He rested his forehead against hers and panted quietly.

“I’ve never felt anything like this,” she whispered. He smiled and pressed his lips between her eyes.

“Yes, you have,” he murmured. Her eyes filled with tears as he pulled away.

“I wish I could come with you,” she admitted, reaching and taking Jasper’s hand. Her hands were rougher than he remembered, and her skin darker than the dainty porcelain she’d had before, but he thought it made him love her more.

“And I wish I could stay with you.”

She laughed, a sound that still flooded his heart with joy. He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her fiercely once, then sweeter again.

“No matter what happens,” he said, “-you’ll always be my Eleanor.”

“Even if I live forever?” She chuckled, tears glistening in her stormy green eyes.

“Even longer,” he choked, hugging her to him. “Even longer.”

He stood and waded through the shallow water to the shore. He paused to wave to her, but when he turned, she was already gone. Jasper cupped the perfect shell in his hands and collapsed to his knees.

He wasn’t sure which goodbye had been harder.