Submerged_a mermaid tale by Pauline Creeden

Author:Pauline Creeden [Creeden, Pauline]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: mermaid romance, Fantasy, mermaid
Publisher: AltWit Press
Published: 2018-05-07T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

Late morning, and I know that I’m early, but I can’t help myself. I have nothing better to do then to spy on what the bottom feeder might be up to. I forage through my family’s food stores and stab a portion of tuna with my spear before I take off. She’s so useless as a hunter, it wouldn’t surprise me if she’d not had anything to eat today.

I swim to the north and west, and decide to start at the reef where I’d left Verona the night before. Would she still be there? She could be anywhere in the entire ocean, provided she didn’t get too close to a Mer township. The marks on her body would prevent her from getting any help from Mer-kind but also might cause her greater harm than good.

From a distance, I spy Verona as she starts away from the reef. My heartbeat quickens and a feeling close to happiness blossoms in my chest. I nearly call out to her, but hesitate, as she swims even more to the west, focused on something. I wonder if it’s food, but then I realize she’d forgotten to carry the spear with her.

Foolish.

Then I hear the low hum of an outboard motor. My gaze shoots up toward the bottom of the small boat. Small boats in the middle of the ocean usually only mean one thing. Divers.

My chest tightens, and my stomach churns. Why is she swimming closer to the boat? I frown and rush toward her. I pull up behind her and reach out for her, but then I pull my hand back. Instead, I clear my throat. “It’s amazing that you’ve even survived seventeen years, born as stupid as you are.”

She gasps and whips around, her hair concealing her face for a moment. Then her blue-green eyes meet mine. My heart flutters in my chest, and blood rushes to my face. To hide my reaction at seeing her, I shove the spear I’m holding between us, the portion of tuna stabbed on the end still. There’s a knocking at the wood above our heads, and I frown as my eyes are drawn to the boat not far off.

“Have you eaten anything at all?” I ask.

She shrugs and lifts her chin, trying not to look at my catch, but her ravenous eyes have already betrayed her. “I had a few crabs.”

Yuck. No one eats those bottom feeders if we can avoid it. They are better used as bait. I curl my lip. “Crabs?”

She nods, crossing her arms over her chest as she sinks lower in the current. “They were easy to catch.”

I sink lower in the current with her, happy to be drawing away from the danger at the surface. I peer down at her from above. “Of course, they were. Scavengers. Bottom feeders. Dirty and opportunistic. I suppose you might feel kinship with them.”

I wince at my words. I’d meant to say it jokingly, but that wasn’t the tone my voice had carried.

“I’m not dirty,” she says, pouting.

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