Ocean Cove

The rest of the ride home was a little tense. It was obvious that what had just happened was constantly replaying itself in everyone’s minds; it didn’t take much to tell it really shook them up. It shook me up too, but for another reason.

My friends were worried about the fact that they almost got into a car accident, while what concerned me was that whoever it was trying to kill me was willing to hurt others to do it and that made them all the more dangerous. Because of that person, my friends could have died, and they, or anyone else, wouldn’t have known what really happened.

Another thing I couldn’t help wondering about was the fact that Hilda appeared just after the ‘accident’, claiming to have been driving past and just stopped to help. More like to find out why her spell didn’t work, I thought to myself. According to Justin, the road he took was a short cut, but it wasn’t a road many used on account of how dangerous it could be, so why was she on it? Sure, a good argument would be, for the same reason we were even on it… , because it’s a short cut. But I wasn’t going to buy that at any price.

“Hey,” Justin called, pulling me out of my reverie. I looked through my window and suddenly realized he’d just pulled up at my house. I hadn’t even been paying attention.

As I was going to open the door on my side, Justin turned in the driver’s seat to look at

me.

“Could you not tell your parents anything about what happened? ’Cause if you do, they may call my parents to find out how I’m doing, and then my dad would find out what happened and he would have a fit.”

“You’re not going to tell him?” I asked, taken aback. “Are you mad?”

“Of course not,” he answered, and then strangely, he looked a little embarrassed. “I’m not actually supposed to drive on that road.”

“Yeah, okay. I won’t say a thing.”

He looked around at everyone else.

“Well?” he said expectantly. The others agreed as well.

I got out of the car and Justin drove away. As I was walking towards the front door a strange, sudden sensation of impatience and worry came over me. It was so sudden and strange that I started looking around as if I knew something was going to jump out of the tree at me. But oddly enough, these didn’t feel like my own emotions. It felt to me as if someone else had just dumped them on me, though they were affecting me just the same, working their way through my body like some kind of poison, infecting my already unstable emotions.

I could see through the window that the lights were on in the living room, which meant my parents were still up. It was only a couple minutes past ten, but I was really hoping they’d be asleep by the time I got home. I didn’t want to snap at them, which I knew I would do thanks to what I was feeling, I decided I’d just try to make myself calm outside for awhile. Maybe the air would help me get a handle on myself.

It was low tide, but as always I could still clearly hear the ebb and flow of the sea and the strong crashing noise as it bashed against the cliff. The air coming in off the ocean was so relaxing, so soothing that it actually did a lot to calm me down, because as the soft air drifted around me, I began to feel the foreign emotions drift away as if they just floated away on a breeze, giving rise to my own calmness. For no reason at all, I looked around and I suddenly became aware of just how beautiful this place was, as if a veil had now been lifted from my senses. The seductive sound of the sea, the breeze blowing through the trees, it was all so appealing to me.

I had just started walking around the mango tree and raising my head to look up to the sky when my eyes passed over the window of my room, where, because the light in the room was on, I saw the silhouette of someone pass by. Instead of getting alarmed, I just figured it was my mom, though I had no idea what she would be doing wandering around in there. Taking one last look around, I turned and went inside.

“Chase,” I heard Dad call as I closed the front door.

“Yeah Dad. It’s me,” I dropped my stuff by the door, whether by choice or involuntary reflex I didn’t know, because I was horrified to see Dad on the couch watching TV, with my mom in his arms, and she was asleep. A rush of fear passed through my body.

“Hi. Goodnight, Dad. Is there anyone else here?” I said a little nervously, though luckily Dad didn’t pick up on it.

“Goodnight, kid. Um, no one else is here,” Dad replied, groggy. At that I sprinted off up the stairs without hearing the rest of what he said.

When I got to the top of the stairs, I crept to the closed door of my room and paused outside for a while. If I was right, and there was someone in my room, I probably should have told Dad about it, but there was always the off chance I was wrong and I didn’t want to worry him about nothing. What I actually feared was that whoever was after me was behind the door, and if I was right, I didn’t want my parents involved.

Taking a deep, steadying breath, I turned the doorknob and opened the door. Surprise went racing through my body as I was startled to see it was Lyla. She was sitting silently on the bed with her eyes closed, but upon my entrance, she opened them and stood up. Even though she was dressed normally, in jeans and a tank top, she still looked to me like she was dressed for a fashion runway.

As soon as I saw her, I felt that familiar explosion in my chest, accompanied by the nervous tingling that spread to all my limbs, making me feel I had lost the ability to stand up

properly on my own. Those were just my everyday reactions to seeing her. I was about to take a step towards her, but at that moment, there was a soft knock on the door.

“Hey, kid, you okay in there?” Dad called from outside. Turning away from Lyla (which took a lot of effort) I pulled the door about a quarter ways open. “Yeah dad, I’m good. I’m sorry about just now.”

“Yeah, what was that abo--,” Dad stopped and I saw his eyes move over me and sweep the bit of the room he could see through the crack. When he spoke again, it was with a much different tone, but it wasn’t anger.

“Is there a girl in there?” He asked. My heart was now pounding so hard that I was surprised he couldn’t see it beating against my chest.

“What,” I said in fake mild surprise, “No dad. There’s no one else in here. Why’d you

ask?”

“Uh, I thought I smelled--,” But he shook his head and dropped what he was going to say. I almost breathed a sigh of relief. “Never mind. Must’ve been inside my head. Anyway, goodnight son.”

And with that, Dad turned and trotted back downstairs. I quickly closed the door, and whirled around only to find Lyla standing inches from me. I jumped back a little in surprise.

“How did you get in here and how do you do that?” I asked as I walked around her, a little wobbly, towards the bed. Being near her always made me queasy and nervous.

“Well, I got in through the window, and how do I do what?” she said, following me to the bed.

I shrugged before I answered. “I don’t know if it’s just me, but I notice you seem to move really fast when you want to, among other things.”

“I told you before, I’m gifted.” Lyla said dismissively. “But that’s not the issue. Are you okay? What happened to you earlier?”

“How do you even know something happened?”

“Chase please, focus. I will explain that another time,” she said impatiently. I explained everything that happened, about the accident, about the surge of energy and finally about Hilda, how she suddenly appeared and that she was my number one suspect. Lyla seemed very interested in all this, but didn’t like my views on Hilda being responsible.

“Well Chase, that’s not exactly evidence that Hilda’s behind these attacks. I mean, if she is the one doing this then she’s hiding her tracks very well, but I just don’t think it’s her. For all the time I’ve know her, I’ve never gotten the feeling that she’d want to kill someone, much less a teenager. And here’s the biggest question of all, why would she want to kill you? You just moved here.”

Lyla dropped into the chair and looked expectantly at me. I knew she never expected me to have an answer to that, but nonetheless I did. I really didn’t want to tell Lyla about the first time I met Hilda, because I was afraid the information would drive her off, but still I knew I needed to tell her.

“Well there is something she told me that I never told you. It’s not even that important anyway,” Lyla continued to stare at me, waiting. I sighed.

“When I first met Hilda, it was at the community party back in July, and that’s where she told me she couldn’t see my aura.”

I made sure to say that slowly so I could search Lyla’s face for any hint of surprise. But her face was unreadable. She didn’t even move a muscle when I said it, which meant she was either really good at hiding things, or she really didn’t know anything about it. So I continued.

“Anyway, she seemed to know that I’d met someone, a girl. Hilda told me that this girl would only bring me trouble and it would be best if I stopped seeing her, before it was out of my control. I didn’t believe in any of that stuff so I didn’t take her seriously, but then she came over this morning and somehow she knew I was still talking with this girl. She wasn’t too happy about that.”

When I was finished, Lyla nodded solemnly. Unexpectedly, she then locked her amazingly blue eyes onto mine with such a powerful stare I couldn’t look away or even blink too much.

“Chase, I want you to tell me something,” She leaned towards me. “Since then, have you been experiencing anything unusual? Anything at all, like losing sleep, having hallucinations or maybe… hearing things?”

I immediately thought about the strange song I’d heard, but decided not to mention it to Lyla. I didn’t think it was really worth worrying her about something that only happened once, or I possibly even imagine. I wasn’t prepared to worry her any further.

“No. Nothing’s changed,” I said.

Lyla continued to stare at me for a couple seconds more, as if determined to catch a lie, but then she nodded as if satisfied.

“I’m still not convinced that Hilda’s the one after you though. She’s just not that kind of person. One of the Somorians, on the other hand, could be though.”

“Lyla, Kristian’s a dick, but I don’t think he’s so bad that he’d really try to kill me.”

“No. I don’t mean Kristian,” Lyla said, looking shocked that I came to that conclusion. “Even if he does know about the supernatural, he’s way too young to have the kind of power needed to do these things. It’s got to be someone older with a lot more power.”

She got up and began pacing around the room exasperatedly and I watched as she silently passed me, each time producing that powerful perfume-like scent that always smelled so seductive.

As Lyla passed me again, without warning, I reached out and took her hand, intending to calm her down. Feeling sheepish, I suddenly realized this was the first time I had ever touched her. The feel of her soft, slender hands in mine sent the blood rushing through my body, quickening both my heart and my breathing. I also realized that as soon as I felt her skin, my

temperature also rose a little, not enough to make me hot, but just enough to make me feel warmer, as it was a little cold in the room.

Acting on impulse, as though my subconscious mind believed I couldn’t handle this, I gently pulled Lyla onto the bed to sit next to me, and I was happy when she complied without resistance.

“Lyla calm down. It’s okay, relax,” I said, but she shook her head.

“It’s not okay, Chase. Someone wants you dead, and they’re trying harder with ever attempt.” Our hands were still locked together and her eyes locked onto mine.

“Why are you helping me?” I blurted out before I could help myself. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you are, but I don’t know why, because sometimes you act as though you’d rather I wasn’t here. Sometimes I get the feeling you don’t like me very much.”

There was an explosion of emotional pain inside me, like my feelings were hurt, but once again, there was that distinctive feeling that it was an invading emotion. But I didn’t have time to pay any attention. I could clearly see Lyla was distraught by what I said, even though hurting her wasn’t my intention.

“Chase, that’s not true. I… it’s just…” she sighed and then said, “Never mind.”

And with that, whatever little moment we had was gone, because Lyla very gently pulled her hand from mine (at which time my body temperature dropped back to that of the room) and stood up. I followed her.

“Lyla, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you or anything,” she just put up her hand and smiled. The damage had already been done and I couldn’t take it back.

“The reason I’m helping you to find out who’s after you is because it’s the right thing to do.” She turned walked towards the window.

“Lyla, I’m sorry,” I repeated, “I didn’t mean to… I’m sorry,” It was all I was able to say, even though I felt much more.

“I know you are, but don’t be, it’s not like you did something wrong. It’s okay. Look, it’s getting late so I’d better be going.”

I didn’t want her to go. In fact my mind was screaming at me, telling me don’t let her go. But before I could do anything, in a move I would never expect, she turned around again and kissed me lightly on the cheek, which left me stunned and flustered, gazing at her like she was some sort of goddess.

“You are my friend, and I do like you, that’s why I’m helping you.”

She hopped out the window without the slightest sound. I wasn’t able to see how she climbed down the tree, as I was rooted to the spot where she left me, her words running through my brain. “I do like you.”

* * *

The next day was very interesting, as for me, surprise after surprise came. First, in the morning, I’d decided to tell my parents about the near accident. I knew I’d told Justin I wouldn’t, but for some reason it just didn’t bode very well for me to be keeping this from them as there were other things, worse, they didn’t know about. Surprisingly, they already knew. According to them, Hilda had called and wanted to know if my friends and I got home okay after what happened. Mom and Dad were concerned, but were both happy no one was hurt and as I was going to tell them, they weren’t angry at me for keeping it from them.

Later that day, Justin and the others came over to the house, where they told me Justin had told his parents what happened and wasn’t in any trouble. But the surprise I was least excited about came later that day when my parents got home around five when my friends had already left. Apparently they’d gone shopping for “Your school uniform,” Mom said as she unloaded the bags containing my new school clothes.

“White shirts with epaulette holders,” she took out the packaged shirts, “Brown long pants…”

Mom took out five brown pants made of a soft, fine material, “…and sixth form students, that’s you, and upper sixth are both required to wear a tie, though sixth formers do still have to wear epaulettes.”

I took up a pack of two epaulettes. They had four brown and green stripes, and the whole tie had the same color stripes. I was totally unprepared for this.

“You don’t seriously expect me to wear this do you?” I threw the epaulettes back on the

table.

“Chase, you have to wear this. It’s not optional. Plus you’ll look great in it. You know, I really don’t understand why you’re so averse to going to school here. “

“What, didn’t you get the books too?” I said bitterly, dropping onto the couch. But to my horror, Dad came walking in the room with a stack of books in his hands and dropped them onto the coffee table.

“There they are. Your backpack, shoes and stationery are in the truck. So kid, you’re all set for school,” he said.

I merely got up and said, “I need to go for a walk. I’ll be back soon.” I walked past my stunned parents and out the door.

The watery orange sun was now dropping behind the trees to the west, and the air was light and cool, which was perfect for me. I didn’t mean to be so unfair to my parents, but seeing that stuff just brought home the fact that I was stuck here. It reminded me that I had to go to a new school where I knew no one and nothing about, and that always kept me thinking I would be alone there. I guess anyone would just say it was the usual new school jitters.

I had no idea about where to go. As I had no intention of seeking company, I headed down to the cove. The walk down the hill seemed unusually quick to me, and I realized I didn’t

even hear the sound of the sea until I’d reached the beach. I guess with my mind preoccupied, I was less conscious of my surroundings.

After taking my shoes off and enjoying the feel of the sand under my toes, I looked around and headed for one of the larger trees on the beach, sat on a low branch and just rested there for a while. It felt so good to just sit there and let my worries subside. I didn’t worry about anyone being after me, about going school or anything. All I did was sit there and gaze out at the sea.

I laughed to myself. I was worried about going to school when someone was trying to use magic to kill me. I really had to get my priorities in order. That’s when I heard it again. That strange, sweet, beautiful song that didn’t seem to come from anything physical, as if it was in my own mind.

This time, however, I was sure the voice humming the song was Lyla’s. I remembered the warnings from the book I read in the library. If Lyla really was an Aquamun, I knew hearing this song could spell trouble for me. But in that moment where it was bringing me blissful clarity, I couldn’t help thinking, couldn’t help feeling, this was right. Somehow I knew, for me, it was a good thing. I definitely wasn’t being hurt and I was still in my right mind, not hypnotized by the song because the song didn’t make me forget about my troubles, it only kind of just helped me put them aside.

Another reason I was so eager to embrace it was because I felt it brought me closer to Lyla, closer than anyone else could be. I thought that somehow her song made her a part of me, and I loved that. It just made me want her more physically and emotionally.

I knew if Lyla knew what I was doing how angry she would be and was thankful she couldn’t read my mind. With that thought, I just sat back in the tree and with the wonderful song in my ears, I enjoyed the ambiance of the beach and with every passing second, thoughts of Lyla swam into my consciousness. That is, until:

“Ouch,” I shouted as something which felt like a small rock hit me in the back of the

head.

Rubbing my head, I looked around in time to dodge another rock which would have struck me in the face.

“What the hell did you do that for?” I shouted furiously at Kristian.

He was standing a couple feet away with another rock in his hand, and heading back up the road were two other guys who kept looking back down at Kristian, but otherwise kept on walking. They were probably friends of his.

“You’re disgusting,” he said contemptuously, “I warned you about that girl, I told you to stay away from her, but you didn’t listen. I know you’ve still been seeing her, you can’t deny it. You probably don’t care that you’ll hurt your family, not as long as you get to be like that nasty… hey!” He shouted as he ducked because I’d dropped from the tree and had thrown a rock back at him.

A fiery anger was now pulsing through my body which I wanted to take out on Kristian. Who did he think he was, accusing me of wanting to hurt my own family, but even worse, speaking of Lyla like that? And because of him, the song was gone.

I walked up to him.

“There must really be something wrong with you, if you believe that crap you’re spitting at me.”

I gasped in surprised as he aimed a punch towards me. I was able to move to the left to avoid it, but my foot got caught on a branch on the ground, making me fall.

Kristian, taking advantage of this, kicked me in the stomach, but at the same time, I’d grabbed and pulled his leg, which resulted in him falling hard on his back, which seemed to knock the wind out of him.

By the time he was back on his feet, I was too and before he could do anything I lunged at him, but for every blow I gave him, he sent one back.

As we were scuffling around, I suddenly felt two huge arms close around me pulling me off Kristian and holding me in the air.

“Let me go. Put me down now,” I bellowed as I thrashed with all my might, but I could have been struggling against a brick wall for all the good it did.

“Dude, calm down.” I recognized the voice as Michael’s. Kristian had picked himself up and was looking at both of us with deep contempt, but there was also a hint of fear in his eyes. He probably thought with Michael here, we could gang up on him. It wouldn’t be a bad idea.

“Michael, just put me down,” I said, calming but still with every intension of knocking Kristian’s teeth out. Michael on the other hand, wasn’t having any of it.

“This is over, I’m serious,” he said as he let me go.

Though I was still angry, the way Michael spoke kept me quiet. As I was glaring at Kristian, I saw he was bleeding from his lip, cheek and had small scrapes on his face and hands. With one last dirty look at Michael and I, he turned and walked away, and I had to stand there resisting the urge the throw something else at him.

By now the sun had already set and the first set of stars were already twinkling, but the moon wasn’t out yet. I finally looked over at Michael and realized he was shirtless and wearing a pair of swimming trunks, but he didn’t look as though he went swimming, as there wasn’t a single drop of water on his body, yet I knew he’d just come from the sea as the smell of the ocean was strong on him. There was another strong, cologne-like fragrance coming from him I could identify.

“I didn’t need you to step in, you know. I had it handled,” I said, dusting myself off.

“Sure you did,” he replied with a snicker as we began to trot up the hill. When we took the turn to my house and he followed me, I realized he was making sure I didn’t go running after Kristian.

“I’m not going to run after Kristian you know, I’m going home.”

“All right, fine. Are you going to be okay?”

I could have sworn he looked in the direction of my house and I heard a small ‘humph’. But either he did it so fast, his eyes were back on me in the same second, or I imagined it. I just couldn’t be sure. All the Morgans were so strange. But then again, according to popular belief…

“I’m going to be fine,” I said as I walked away, leaving Michael behind me, though when I looked back, he was already gone.

I looked over the treetops and saw the moon now beginning to peek out from behind the clouds. As I was able to see the ocean in the distance, I stood still for a while to watch the beautiful way the moonlight danced on the surface of the water, the same way it did on Lyla’s skin the first time I met her.

My observations of the beauty of nature didn’t last very long, because as soon as I was still for a couple seconds, all the cuts, scrapes and bruises I’d received from the fight began aching. Pushing them aside for the moment, I continued my walk home, increasing my pace because of the anger that was once again burning inside me.

When I was hearing the song on the beach, it was acting like a kind of wall, keeping the flood of emotions away. But now that it was gone, all those feelings were coming back. But in the midst of my anger I felt something else arise--something different. It was as if my emotions were trying to calm me down, but the fire burning inside me was burning too strong and within seconds had overcome my sudden calmness.

When I finally reached home, I slammed the front door shut and headed straight for the stairs, but Mom cut me off before I got there.

“Please, tell me you– Chase, what happened to you?” She said, alarmed as she took in my appearance. I wasn’t even worried about how I looked.

“Nothing happened, Mom, I fell.” I tried to go around her, but Dad grabbed my arm and spun me around.

“Who did this to you, Chase?” Dad asked.

This was the point where my anger spilled out. I wasn’t able to hold it in any longer and unfortunately my parents were the ones on the receiving end.

“You did this to me,” I said fiercely as I pulled my arm from my father’s hand. “The both of you are the reason for this, by bringing me here. How many times have I told you I didn’t want to stay here, that I didn’t belong here? Yet you don’t listen. You tell me I’ll get to love it here, that I have family here. Well, you know what? I don’t care, because I don’t know them. I got beat up because someone else also thinks I shouldn’t be here. You have no idea what being here’s been like for me. But it doesn’t matter to you that my life here has been hell, not as long as your jobs are bringing in your money and I go to school like a good little boy. What else has to happen for you to realize this place will never be my home?”

And with that, I turned and shot up the stairs, not even looking back at my parents, though I was sure they were standing at the bottom of the stairs, looking stunned.

When I reached my room I slammed the door shut and fell on the bed, waiting for my parents to burst in. I didn’t get up to turn on the light, and the moonlight wasn’t yet spilling through my window, so I was sitting in darkness, breathing heavily and staring around at the stillness in my room.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a strange feeling came over me, not something new, because I knew I felt it before. It was that same magnetic feeling I had a few weeks ago, when I’d first met Lyla. It was the same feeling that felt like it led me to her.

But right now, it was telling me to look back. So without hesitation, I spun around. She was standing by the wall near the window.

Strangely enough, though the room was so dark and I could barely see my own hands, I could see Lyla more clearly than anything else in the room, as though the darkness found it harder to cling to her.

Though I had no idea she was going to be here, I was no doubt glad she was.

“What’re you doing here?” I asked carefully, not wanting to snap at her too.

“I’m here for you,” Lyla said simply, though looking a little uncomfortable, “I know what happened with you and Kristian, so I figured you’d want some company. If you want me to, I could leave.”

“No. Please don’t. I want you to stay.” I responded quickly. For some reason that left a strong silence between us for a couple minutes, until Lyla finally sat at the top of the bed.

“You know even though I know what you’ve been going through, I don’t really understand what you’ve been feeling. That’s one of things that I find intriguing about you. Anyway, I decided I would come over here just to talk and then just now, I heard what you said to your parents,” she hesitated for a moment than said, “Do you really hate living here?”

“Yes,” I replied, a little too quickly, “and no one can tell me I don’t have a good reason.” I turned around to face her. Wow. I had to keep telling myself to stay focused and be cool.

“Since I’ve been here someone’s tried to kill me twice now for I don’t know what and then that idiot Kristian thinks it’s a good idea to attack me. It feels like the island itself is trying to reject me. I hate this place so much.”

Lyla said nothing, but continued to stare at me. I turned back around, looking at the bedroom door and just realizing my parents weren’t coming up. Maybe they thought it would be best if I cooled down first or maybe they were actually thinking about what I said. What they were really doing, I had no idea.

I never sat so still and silent for so long in my life. After what I’d told Lyla, she didn’t say a word, but just kept staring around. A few minutes after that I left the room to tend to the bruises on my body and take a shower, but when I returned, she was still there, and she still said nothing. Even though I wanted to say something, anything in fact, to her, something told me to be quiet for now.

Doing nothing actually turned out to be more time-consuming than I ever thought. As I sat on the bed, I watched the clock go from 8 to 9 o’ clock. I’d fallen asleep before it reached ten, but woke up when the alarm sounded and saw it was 12:00 midnight.

Looking around, I saw Lyla in the exact same position she was when she arrived.

“Did you sleep well?” she asked with no sign of boredom or tiredness in her voice.

I shrugged. “It was a restless sleep, if you know what I mean. Look, I thought you said you came here to talk.”

“I did,” Lyla responded, “but after hearing what you said, I decided it’s time to tell you the truth. And there is something I want to show you that I know will lift your spirits.”

She turned around and gazed out the open window. I threw my legs over the side of the bed and sat up, but it was a little too fast, which left me dizzy for a couple seconds.

“You want to tell me the truth about what?”

“Everything. Don’t worry. You’ll understand soon enough.”

The moon was now high enough that my room was showered with white light, which Lyla was standing in. This caused an odd effect where it made her skin look like it was glowing. I had no idea what she was going to say or do, but I decided not to question her just in case it angered her and she left. I did love her company. At around ten minutes past twelve, she finally said, “Chase, I want you to come down to the beach with me.”

“What, at this time? Why?”

“Like I said, I’m going to tell you the truth about… well everything I can. Plus there is still that thing I want to show you. Anyway the beach is so beautiful at this time. If you don’t want to come, I will understand, of course.” There was that slight note of disappointment in her voice. It made me feel guilty even though I didn’t do anything wrong.

“No, I’ll go with you, but I don’t think there’s much you can do to change how I feel,” I said defiantly. She merely responded with a “We’ll see.”

I watched as she climbed through the window and onto the thick branch of the mango tree outside and was amazed at her agility and how easily she climbed down the tree.

After I got down, we began our walk to the cove.

“Are you cold?” I asked, noticing the only upper body clothing Lyla was wearing was a blue tank top. She looked at me and giggled, which sent goosebumps running through my body.

“You know, for someone who used to live in New York, you sure don’t handle the cold very well.” I did notice that she seemed unaffected by it. “Don’t worry about me, I’m fine. The cold doesn’t bug me,” she added.

It was a very beautiful, cloudless night. The moon was almost directly overhead and it was shining so brightly that I could clearly see everything around. There was a light breeze out, and I walked a few feet behind Lyla so I could appreciate the way her dark hair swayed in the air, as if it was crafted from the very darkness of night itself.

I wanted to say something just to hear her sweet voice, but there was something about the way she looked, as if a perpetual sadness had come over her, that left me at a loss. I began to wonder if it had anything to do with what she had to tell me.

By the time we got to the beach Lyla had already taken her shoes off, as if she wanted nothing more than to feel the sand between her toes. Without a word she simply sat down on the sand and gazed out to the sea as if deep in thought. Admittedly, there was something soothing about the way the waves came in at night. It made the sea seem more appealing somehow.

Without invitation, I sat down next to her, though not close enough to invade her personal space. Here on the beach, the air coming in from the sea was a lot colder, but she didn’t seem to mind. It was the opposite for me. I guess the cold did sometimes bother me.

“I told you I’m going to tell you the truth, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”

I clearly detected a kind of nervous edge to her voice.

“The thing is though, I’m afraid of telling you because, once you know, it may be too much for you and you may become afraid of me or something. Telling you this will change your life forever. Look, from the first time I met you, since that night, things have never been the same. Everything feels so out of order.”

I thought about what she was saying, and something horrible came to me.

“Lyla, are you saying, since you saved my life, I’ve been complicating yours?”

Lyla fixed me with that powerful stare I’d come to know.

“I’m sorry. You misunderstand me. But then how could you not when I’m blabbering. What I meant was, since I saved you, I’ve been complicating your life. Let me finish.” She pleaded as I was about to speak.

I didn’t like that she was blaming herself for all this, but I closed my mouth nonetheless.

“Chase, as you know by now, I’ve been keeping certain things from you. Things that if you knew would perhaps help you make the choice I’m not strong enough to make. Maybe you can make the decision I should have made after I saved you.”

A kind of sad smile appeared on her face. I would have said she looked like she wanted to cry, but I didn’t see a single tear.

I felt it happening again, and at a horrible time. I felt a huge emotional wave of sorrow wash over me. As usual it came so fast, it felt like it was some outside feeling. Seeing Lyla so sad was breaking my heart, but what I was feeling was worse. It felt to me like I was the one being sorry for some crime I’d committed. I wasn’t able to shake it off as I was able to do with the rest of these sudden emotions. This feeling was stronger than the others I’d felt. So with a strong pain of sadness I my chest, I closed my eyes for a couple seconds and with success, managed to push the feeling away.

“Are you okay?” Lyla looked at me with concern. I simply nodded as I felt my calm emotional state returning to me. I really hated when those feelings came at me. It was like being sick, never knowing when a fresh wave was coming. At that moment, when I was taking a couple deep breaths, something incredibly ludicrous came to me. But I didn’t have time to think about that now.

“I still don’t understand what you’re trying to say,” I said, getting back to the conversation.

Lyla pulled her feet up and wrapped her hands around her knees, but didn’t pull her gaze away from the sea. She sighed deeply before she spoke.

“I told you once that I was different, that I wasn’t like most people. Well, the truth is it’s more than that. It’s a lot more than that.”

I suddenly understood what Lyla was trying to say. I always knew she was different, and not because of the people that kept telling me so, or from what I managed to put together. I knew she was different from the first time I met her, though I really didn’t know in what way, but I felt it. That strange magnetic feeling that kept pulling me to her was also a huge indication that something was different about her. But knowing this only seemed to make me want to be closer to her, not push her away.

“Chase, you know what I mean when I say I’m different, don’t you?”

“Lyla, do you mean that… that you’re not human?” I asked in a whisper. When she nodded, it wasn’t a surprise.

“You know what I am, don’t you? I know you do.”

It took me a while, but I nodded. Lyla still wasn’t looking at me, but I got the feeling it was more because she was afraid.

“Say it,” she said softly, “I want to hear you say it. Tell me what you think I am.”

“Lyla, why are you doing this?”

“Say it,” she repeated. I stared at her. The words were on the tip of my tongue, but still felt unable to pass my lips. I knew once I said it, it would be true, and that would mean, up to this point everything I believed couldn’t exist (even with my present situation) would suddenly be my reality. But what actually gave me the willpower to say the words was knowing, if this wasn’t true, if Lyla wasn’t who or what she was, she wouldn’t be in my life. With that realization came the sudden wanting for all this to be true.

“You’re an Aquamun,” I said confidently. The absence of fear in my voice seemed to have startled Lyla, for she finally looked at me, her eyes full with questioning.

“Do you know what they say we can do to humans?”

“You mean the switching thing? Yeah, I’ve heard about it.”

“Then why aren’t you afraid,” Lyla said, as if that was to be my only sensible reaction.

“Lyla, I’m not afraid of you. I know you have to want to turn me for the switch to be performed and I know that’s not what you want.”

I was just about to scoot over to her, but she moved over a few inches before I could. I couldn’t help feeling hurt.

“You don’t know that Chase,” she said, turning towards me. “You see, it’s true that we Aquamuns have control over our power, and all my life I’ve been able to control it. I have never wanted to turn anyone. But it’s different with you. When I’m around you, I feel as if I have to try so much harder to keep my power in check.”

“Why? Why is it different with me?”

“I don’t know. And that’s one of the things I’m afraid of. I could be more dangerous to you and not even know it. Chase, I couldn’t live with myself if I hurt you.”

She sounded so distressed it made me just want to reach out and comfort her, not because of how I felt about her, but simply because it wasn’t fair for someone like her to be going through this. I could tell that this degree of uncertainty made her uneasy, to say the least.

I edged closer to her and was thankful that this time she didn’t turn away.

“Lyla, you are not dangerous to me. I know that. I feel it and you should too.”

“Oh yeah? How do you know that?”

“I just do.” Lyla looked at me with her eyebrows together, and then as if catching the punch line of an unsaid joke, we both laughed.

“You said you hoped I could make a choice you weren’t strong enough to make. What is

it?”

“That you would distance yourself from me to save yourself.”

“I would never do that, not to you,” I looked out at the sea. It really was almost as appealing as Lyla herself.

“I figured that’s what you would say, but I still had to try.”

“Why can’t you leave me? I mean, what’s stopping you from avoiding me completely?”

“Well…” Lyla started, but she looked like she was afraid to say what she wanted to.

“I-I couldn’t just leave you to deal with your attacker by yourself.”

“Uh huh. Okay,” I responded, with a coy smile.

“I’m going to admit that even though I wanted you to say we couldn’t be friends after you found out about me, I’m really relieved you didn’t. If you did I would’ve had an extremely hard time distancing myself from you, but at least you would have been safe from me.”

I don’t know how, but her voice sounded both relieved and disappointed at the same

time.

“I know, I know,” she said suddenly, the same time I opened my mouth. “You don’t think I’m a danger to you?”

She then smiled at me. “You know, you’re different from everyone else.”

“Different good or bad?”

“Good, definitely good,” she reassured me, and then silence fell between us for a couple minutes.

That’s when it finally hit me: I’m sitting next to a mermaid! Lyla isn’t human! I ran those two thoughts over and over in my mind, and not once did it make me feel uncomfortable.

“So, I just told you I’m an Aquamun. Don’t you have any questions?”

I was intensely surprised by that. I didn’t expect her willingness to be so open. Interestingly, I was actually bursting with questions. It’s not like you meet an Aquamun every day. Well, I guess as it turns out, I do.

“Sure,” I was trying to act as though it didn’t matter. Lyla’s adorable giggle told me she was on to me.

“What can you do? I mean, what kind of special abilities do you have? You never really hear what mermaids can do.”

“Well, let’s just say we’re very strong,” Lyla said with a sly smile.

“How strong exactly?” I pressed, very interested now. She stood up, looked around, then beckoned me to follow her as she walked into a grove just off the beach. After walking around for a couple seconds, we came to a sudden stop in the grove where one of the biggest trees, which had to be about thirty-five feet tall, had fallen onto a couple of other trees, leaving it at a slant. Its immense weight was clearly causing the other trees to fall.

Lyla climbed onto a huge boulder that was directly under the slanted tree, and placed her hands on the underside of the fallen tree trunk. Then she began to push. I could only watch in amazement as, with a loud rumbling noise and the rustling of branches, the tree moved off the others, and Lyla threw it onto the ground where it hit with a loud crash.

“Wow!” I shouted in awe. She smiled widely, and then in the blink of an eye she was gone. Almost a full second later I felt someone tap me on my shoulder. I spun around to find her standing behind me, her hands clasped behind her back.

“And we can move fast. Very fast.”

We started walking back towards the beach.

“Having these abilities isn’t always so great. Sometimes, when you have to be careful not to move too fast or to keep your strength in check, it just makes blending in all the more difficult.”

We found our spot on the sand, but this time Lyla lay flat on her back, and I did the same after her.

“I think whoever’s after you might be trying to kill you because of me,” she said suddenly.

“Just because you saved me.”

“No, it’s not that,” she shook her head, “You told me Hilda told you she couldn’t see your aura. To be honest I don’t know why that is, but we can’t rule out the fact that it could be because of me. Clearly whoever is after you is probably thinking along the same lines.”

She looked up at the sky, but I knew she was thinking deeply.

“If they thought I wanted to turn you, I guess they’d be attacking me, but as they’re going after you, I believe they think you want me to turn you. I could be wrong though.”

I watched her silently for a while as she just looked up at the stars. Then she sat up suddenly.

“What is it?” I asked, standing up.

“It’s time. For the thing I have to show you, I mean,” she got up and looked out toward the great, dark sea. To be honest, the night was going so interestingly, I forgot about the reason we really came out here.

“Wait, you’re not going to tell me your pet’s the Loch Ness monster, are you?”

“What? That’s ridiculous, no.”

“Oh, that’s too bad,” I mumbled, disappointed. “That would have been kind of cool.” When Lyla laughed, it sounded as if it danced on the air.

“I said I was going to show you something to lift your spirits, but to show you, I’m going to have to take you out to sea.”

“You can do that? Take me with you?”

“Well yes. The thing is, I’ve never done it, but I do know how. But I’m gonna to need to know if you trust me.”

With her dark blue eyes locked onto me, Lyla began walking backwards into the sea until she was in the water and only stopped when it was just above her knees. As she stood in the water, it looked like the sea was dancing around her and it couldn’t move her.

After finding out the girl I was madly in love with was a mermaid, instead of turning me away from her, knowing it only made me want to be all the more close to her because she had this whole different life I knew nothing about, a whole different life I could be a part of.

I pulled off my shirt and pants, threw them aside with my shoes, and stood on the beach in a pair of boxers with the cold night air blowing all around me. I began walking towards the water’s edge and at the same time Lyla began walking deeper into the water, inviting me to join her by holding her hand out to me.

The way she looked, with the water playing around her body and her hair dancing in the air, simply made me want to go out to her all the more. However, as soon as I reached the edge of the water, something strange happened.

The second the water touched my feet, I suddenly couldn’t move. It wasn’t like some external force was holding me back. It was just the opposite actually. The moment I reached the edge of the water, one thought entered my mind causing me to pause where I was: Can you really trust her? After she just told you what she is, do you think it’s smart to trust her? She may not hurt you directly, but you do have family and friends.

However, just like when I got those unexpected bursts of emotion, I knew the thoughts I heard weren’t my own, even if I did hear them in my head. They were coming from somewhere deep in my head, like some sort of repressed memory, but it felt more like the opinion of someone else.

I tried to push these thoughts out of my head, but the harder I tried, the harder they tried to keep hold on my consciousness.

Panic was starting to course through me because the louder these foreign thoughts got, the less I felt I had control over my actions, as if, impossibly, these thoughts were taking control of me.

That’s when I realized she was standing just in front me. She had me locked in that unbreakable stare of hers, and as I looked into her soulful blue eyes, I felt all my fears quickly disappear and at the same time felt like I just got pushed back into my own body, though the voice in my head was now screaming at me to get away.

“Chase you don’t have to do this, but if you do, I won’t let anything happen to you. I won’t hurt you.”

She then reached forward and took my hand in hears. From the moment Lyla’s fingers interlocked with mine, the opposing voice in my head didn’t just recede to some dark corner of my mind, but disappeared altogether, and I was left fully in control of my thoughts. Then I noticed just how warm I’d become as soon as Lyla touched me, so that the water pulling at my feet and the cold air lost their chill.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

She smiled contentedly, then took me a little further out until we were waist deep in the

water.

“Before we go any further, I need to know you trust me completely.”

“I do.” I replied confidently, though breathing a little nervously.

Lyla smiled and led me deeper into the water until it was up to our necks, with our feet no longer able to touch the sandy bottom.

“Take a deep breath. Here we go.”

I sucked in as much air as my lungs would hold, and as soon as they were full, Lyla pulled me underwater. For a second we were just floating there, staring at each other, and then I felt her hold on me tighten. Before I had time to register anything else, we were off, speeding through the water faster than anything ever could.

We were moving so fast my eyes didn’t have time bring anything around us into focus, which meant all I saw was a mass of moving blackness. The only thing that was clear to me was Lyla.

Moving this fast, the water felt a lot more solid to me than it ever did, like I was trying to swim through jelly. It was like the sea itself knew I was human and didn’t want me swimming so fast, but as I was with Lyla, it had no chance of slowing me down.

Before my lungs got anywhere close to burning, or before I could even get past my surprise and start to enjoy the ride, we came to a sudden stop. When we stopped the force of water hit me hard in the face. That time it really did feel like the water had won.

After we broke the surface of the water, I began rubbing my face to relieve some of the tingling.

“I’m sorry,” Lyla said, looking slightly amused, “I forgot how fragile you humans can be.”

Still smiling, Lyla guided me to what appeared to be a small land mass only a couple feet wide. As soon as we climbed on, I noticed that every single drop of water on Lyla seemed to drip off her, as if her body was repelling it, leaving her completely dry within seconds. Even her hair was water-free and was swaying in the breeze.

I, on the other hand, wasn’t as lucky. The moment Lyla and I separated my body once more became susceptible to the temperatures of my environment, because as the night air hit my wet skin, I began shaking and shivering.

“What are we doing here?” I wrapped my arms around my body. I looked around and realized we were on one of those little patches of land just beyond the cliff the lighthouse stood on.

“We’re just waiting on Nikolai. He should be here soon.”

I sat down next to Lyla, all the while trying my best to keep from shaking.

“And where exactly are we going?”

“Well with Nikolai’s help, we’ll go to hear the song of the whales.”

She started giggling at my quizzical look.

“It’s not something you can really explain. You have to experience it.”

As always, her eyes found their way up to the cloudy sky. The moon was barely visible through thick puffs of clouds. As was usual on the island, there were still plenty of stars out.

The same way Lyla couldn’t seem to help watching the sky, I couldn’t help watching her. Seeing her there, sitting so still and looking as she did made me see her more as an Aquamun. Despite having a family, no one ever seemed more alone then she did, and at that moment, it was almost too sad to think about.

Lyla looked over at me and surprisingly, held out her hand to me. This was something I’d have never expected because, apart from bringing me here, she always kept a discernible amount of space between us. I didn’t question it; I simply just took her hand in mine.

The second our hands were clasped together, the chill was thankfully gone from my body. I realized just how much I loved the feeling of Lyla’s soft hand in mine.

When she began to shift her body, for a second I thought she was going to move away from me, but I was dumbfounded to see she was moving closer to me. We were now so close together, our shoulders were touching.

“How do you do that, protect me from temperature?” I only asked because I wanted to start a conversation.

“To be honest, I don’t know. Strangely, that only works with you. I realized it the night I saved your life. Whenever I touched you, your body temperature matched mine and our temperature’s always the same. I’ve never heard of anything like this before.”

She paused for awhile, fiddled with her hands, then said, “May I ask you something?”

I nodded.

She brought her gaze from the sky and looked at me with an intensity I’d never experienced before. When she spoke, there was a nervous edge to her voice.

“What does it feel like to be human?”

I was completely surprised. It was something I would never have expected to be asked in my life, so it’s not like I had an answer ready.

I thought carefully about what I was going to say before I spoke. “Well, I’ve never really thought about it before, but, I’d have to say it feels like… freedom.”

Lyla’s blue eyes opened wider at this. I was a little surprised by it myself, but after I said it, I understood exactly what I meant and found it strangely easy to explain.

“Being human means, you can get hurt or get sick, you get old, and you die. Sure, those can be deal breakers.” Lyla giggled for a second and my heart seemed to beat faster. “But being susceptible to those things only makes us stronger. Being human means we’re free to make our own choices, take risks and we shape our own destinies. I guess being human simply means we try to do the best with the life we’re given.”

“That’s very beautiful. The life of an Aquamun is so much different. We are immortals, but it’s like we never have a destiny. No purpose, no reason to live. We only have the ocean. Forever bound to the sea. It’s easy to understand why some of our kind want to turn human.”

“Do you ever think about turning human?”

“Of course. But I don’t have any intention of becoming human. Still I always wondered what it would be like to be human, to live and experience life as you do. I think most of my kind think about that at some point, but I could never do it… change, I mean.”

“Why not?”

Lyla looked at me like I missed something obvious.

“Because I could never force someone to become what I am?”

“Oh.”

“Even if I could find a human who wanted to turn, I still wouldn’t because that would hurt my family. We’d be torn apart. I would never be able to see them again.”

Lyla and I made eye contact with such intensity that I couldn’t look away if I wanted to. Our gazes seemed to be locked together by some unseen force. And then that strange feeling started running through my body again, the one that made me feel like I needed to be closer to her and before I knew it, I was leaning towards her.

“Chase, what’re you doing?” Lyla whispered nervously, but not worried as I brought my face closer to hers. I noticed that she didn’t turn away.

“I don’t know.” I said, equally softly.

It was like my body was again moving on its own and I was just along for the ride, except I was in control and this wasn’t a ride I wanted to stop.

“Please, you don’t want to do this,” Lyla said, but I got the feeling she was feeling the same. Before I knew it my lips brushed against Lyla’s. I honestly didn’t know if it lasted a couple seconds or if it stretched on for hours, but during that time I had the most exhilarating feeling of my life. I felt like all the worries and pain I had in my life never even existed. Even my troubles about moving here didn’t seem to have ever been real.

This was pure bliss.

But the moment lips left mine, everything changed. I felt like a huge weight had dropped onto my shoulders and I even had to fall on my hands and knees for support. I suddenly felt stressed, like all the problems and worries in the world were now all mine.

Lyla helped me to my feet.

“Don’t ever do that again,” she said angrily.

“What was that?” I asked, trying to catch my breath.

“Whenever we have intimate contact with humans, somehow they seem to experience complete bliss the whole time. In a way, making them more open to us. But when you pull away… withdrawing from it can be rough on you.”

“So you’ve never kissed anyone before?”

“Not another human.”

A smile actually came across my face at the thought that I was the first human she’d ever kissed. Before we could say anything, a figure flew out of the water with the speed of a bullet and Nikolai landed right in front of us, only wearing a pair of swimming pants. He was

already completely dry. He looked curiously at me, then turned, looking both angry and scared, to Lyla.

“You told him! How could you do that?”

“Nick, it’s okay,” Lyla said, but Nikolai shook his head.

“No, it’s not okay. You can’t be sure we can trust him, and believe when I tell you, father won’t like this.”

I was actually very surprised to hear Nikolai’s reaction. I knew he was just concerned, but I would’ve thought at least he, of all the Morgans, would have been cool with me knowing.

“Nick I didn’t have a choice,” Lyla said, then sighed, “someone’s been trying to kill Chase using magic.”

Nikolai looked at Lyla and me with surprise, but Lyla just raised her hand.

“I’ll explain everything later. As for father, I’ll be the one to tell him. Why are you so late anyway? You were supposed to be here before me.”

Nikolai merely shrugged off Lyla’s question.

“I got side-tracked. It happens.”

Lyla shook her head, then turned to me and held out her hand. I didn’t know what exactly we were going to be doing, but I took hold of her hand for the second time in an hour. Just as we reached the edge of the little patch of land, both Lyla and Nikolai spun their heads towards the cliff, fear etched in both of their faces.

“What is it?” I spun my head around a little too fast to see what they were looking at, which left my neck hurting.

Lyla glanced at Nikolai. “Don’t worry, whoever it is can’t see us.”

“What’s going on?” I asked again, massaging the back of my neck with my free hand.

“We thought someone might have been watching us from the cliffs. I swore I heard footsteps up there.”

“But if someone is there,” Nikolai said, “They won’t be able to see us.”

“He’s using his power to make us invisible to everyone else,” Lyla explained.

“But what if someone was there before Nikolai got here, then they would’ve seen you.” A strange concern gripped me.

“No,” Lyla said, “If there was anyone up there when we got here, I would’ve heard them.” The concern I was experiencing just kept growing. “Let’s get going. I’m pretty sure no one was there. Must’ve been a cat or something, you know, nothing to be concerned about.”

Nikolai turned back towards the water. Lyla and I did too.

“Are you ready?” Lyla asked, holding my hand tighter.

I was still a little nervous, but my trust in Lyla removed any doubts I was feeling. I gently squeezed her hand, which looked slightly aglow, just like Nikolai, thanks to the light of the moon.

“I’m ready,” I said.

“Deep breath,” Lyla reminded me.

“On three,” Nikolai said next to me, poised to jump into the water.

“One, two, three.” Lyla, Nikolai and I leapt into the water at the same time. However, instead of splashing into the water, it was like we just slipped in, or the sea just took us in. There wasn’t the slightest splash or sound. It was amazing.

As soon as we were underwater, the two Aquamuns didn’t waste any time. We were off. Just like before, we were moving so fast everything just looked like a streak of black moving mass, at least to me. This time, other than Lyla, Nikolai, who was swimming next to us, was the only one I could clearly see.

We were moving so fast we were leaving three tunnel-like trails behind us, though Lyla’s and mine were connected, as we softly but swiftly cut through the water. I felt Lyla fingers close around mine more tightly. I looked around and saw that she was smiling broadly and so was Nikolai, who was flipping and turning with a speed and agility no other being could achieve.

Then suddenly, out of nowhere, it hit me.

A strange burning sensation erupted in the pit of my stomach. At first, it only felt like the burning pains you get when you wake up on mornings with excruciating hunger, but it quickly surpassed that and grew into something like a small fire raging in my stomach.

I saw the smile slip from Lyla’s face the same time I felt an immense amount of worry rise inside me. The fire in my stomach began to rise up to my chest and down to my legs. Pain was now starting to spread through my whole body as if it were moving through my veins.

My hold on Lyla was weakening and she had to grip me tighter to compensate as we came to a sudden stop. The flames in my body were now licking the walls of my throat and continued to spread further. My eyes started to burn so badly I had to squeeze them shut. By now it had already reached my hands and feet and to make matters worse, it’d reached the insides of my lungs and felt like it used all the oxygen I had stored to burn hotter. But the worst thing of all was, in my pain, I couldn’t even scream. I had to keep my mouth tightly shut.

However, through all my pain I got the weird sensation that I was going up. I felt an arm go around my waist and my head was resting on what felt like a shoulder with a hand supporting the back of my head.

The second we broke the surface of the water, I opened my mouth and sucked in as much air as possible in one breath. As soon as the fresh salty air filled my body, it seemed to extinguish the fire that was consuming my body from the inside out. All the pain was instantly gone and I felt my strength return.

“Chase, what’s wrong?” Lyla asked the second we broke the surface. She sounded panic-stricken and the fear in her voice actually hurt me as much as what just happened. Someone with the voice of an angel shouldn’t ever have to sound like that.

“I’m– I’m okay,” I said hoarsely. The insides of my throat felt raw and sore.

“What’s wrong?” Nikolai asked the moment he got up. “Why did you stop?”

“It’s Chase. He’s been hurt. I think someone just tried to hurt him,” Lyla said angrily, then looked at Nikolai who flinched a little when she spoke. “You see now? This is why I had to tell him. I won’t let him face this alone. We need to go back.”

“No,” I said hastily, “I’m fine now. We can go on.”

Lyla shook her head in protest.

“We should get you home, in case this person attacks you again.”

I spat out some sea water that got into my mouth. “Lyla, I don’t think they’ll try it again. And even if they do,” I spoke a little louder as I knew she wanted to interject. “You can just get me to the surface again and I won’t object to you taking me home. I know this song of the whales thing is something you’ve been waiting for, plus you did promise me.”

“Lyla, he’s fine,” Nikolai pressed on, “He’s well enough to stay and if we leave now, I don’t know when next we’ll be able to see it.”

Lyla looked like she wanted to swear.

“Fine,” she finally conceded, “but we’re leaving at the first sign of danger. How much further do we have to go anyway?”

Nikolai looked around the dark water for a couple seconds, and then he said, “Actually we’re close enough. I can do it from here.”

He first stared off into the distance, as if seeing something Lyla and I weren’t privileged to see, then dove out of sight without a word. After a while, I felt something brush against my leg.

I tried frantically to see under the surface of the dark, churning sea.

“Did you just kick me?” I asked, but Lyla just smiled at me. “They’re here. Are you ready?”

“Um, yeah, I am.”

The second I inhaled enough air, Lyla said, “Remember, don’t be afraid.” Her grip on me tightened once more, then she pulled me underwater.

Just because Lyla told me not to be afraid didn’t exactly stop me from almost opening my mouth in surprise. At first I couldn’t even begin to understand what I was seeing. Swimming around us were far more whales then I cared to count. And it wasn’t just one species of whale, oh no. I was shocked to see all kinds of whales from five unbelievably huge blue whales, right down to dozens of killer whales.

Every single one of the whales was swimming past Lyla and I and not even bothering us, as though we weren’t even there.

We found Nikolai swimming while holding onto one of the fins of a particularly large humpback, so we followed him.

I knew that these waters should have been extremely dark, but there was a beautiful white glow that illuminated the water and seemed to follow us wherever we went. After a while, when I became confident one of the larger whales wasn’t going to swallow me, I began to relax a little and was actually captivated by these wonderful creatures. And from the looks on both Lyla and Nikolai’s faces, they were clearly enjoying the experience as much as I was.

Then I heard it.

Something that sounded almost too beautiful and too surreal to even exist. It was similar to the harmonic sound of the Aquamun’s voice, yet different, and it was coming from one of the whales. I couldn’t tell which one, but I knew it was. Before long, all the other whales joined in the song. No, not just a song. This was more like a holy symphony, and every whale around us was just a piece of the whole, parts of the sum.

Obviously I had never heard anything like it. I’d never imagined that whales could make such beautiful songs. This was just the kind of thing my parents would love to hear.

As we were swimming, I looked directly under us and saw light reflecting onto something. Or maybe it was giving off its own, I just wasn’t sure. I wasn’t even sure of what it was, but before I could get a good look at it, the creature turned and swam off on its own, but I could have sworn it was a pure white whale. Not albino, because I’ve seen pictures of those, but a pure, snow white whale.

Before I knew it, all the whales were dispersing in their own directions so that before long, it was only me and the two Aquamuns left. I had no idea where we were going now, but I didn’t really care. What I’d just experienced was one of the most amazing things ever.

Within a short time we were crashing onto the shores of East Island.

“That was amazing,” I breathed the second we dropped onto the sand, “I’ve never dreamed of anything like it.”

“Yeah, it was even better than the first time,” Nikolai shouted. He then turned and, whooping and shouting loudly, ran back into the sea.

“What’s he doing?” I asked Lyla, who sat next to me. She giggled.

“He’s just going for a swim. I think he likes the sea more than the rest of us.”

She then turned to me. “I think we should get you home before...” I raised a hand to cut

her off.

“Yes Lyla. I know you’re concerned about me and I am feeling a little tired, so I won’t object to going home, but before I do, I need to tell you something.”

“What?”

I felt a tight knot form in my stomach, but I couldn’t let that deter me from what I had to say. Somehow, hearing the whale song had given me the courage to do this and I wasn’t going to let it pass.

I took a couple breaths first to steady myself as my hands were shaking and my heart was pounding against my ribs, which I was sure Lyla could clearly hear.

“I love you.”

I was a little surprised at how calmly and confidently I said it, but that was nothing compared to Lyla, whose eyes opened wide in shock.

“It’s true, I do. And before you say anything, it has nothing to do with you being an Aquamun. You are the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen. For no reason, you are willing to put your life on the line for me. I love you and I want to be with you.”

Lyla stared at me for a while, directly in the eyes. For a second I thought she wanted to do something with her hands, but she simply kept them where they were, on her lap.

Happiness, fear, hope, were the emotions I was feeling, yet there was that strange sensation that there were some peripheral feelings. But I couldn’t understand how, as those were what I really was feeling, unless my theory was right.

A huge wage crashed onto the beach.

“Oh Chase, I didn’t want this to happen to you. I didn’t want you to feel like that. I don’t want to hurt you, but I can’t be with you. You want to know what’s even worse?… I’m in love with you too.”

I could have sworn every cell in my body was pulsing with excitement.

“Then why don’t you want to be with me?” That might have sounded a little desperate, but I didn’t care.

Lyla sighed heavily. “I do want to be with you and that’s the truth.” She placed a soft hand on my cheek. “But I can’t because I don’t want to hurt you, please understand that.”

It was my turn to sigh heavily. “You’ve never been with a human so you don’t know you will hurt me.”

“I don’t want to take that risk.”

“I love you. I don’t care how long it takes, we should be together and you’re going to see

that.”

Despite this, Lyla smiled pleasantly at me. After hearing her fears about us being together, I decided that not telling her I was hearing her song was the right choice for now.