What the Tide Brings

Chapter 11 - Kaelin - A Waltz Among the Waves

When they got back to Grandfather's house, Kaelin didn't want to go inside, yet. She did not want this wonderful day to end. It had been a fabulous, wonderful day, the likes of which she doubted could ever be matched. Liam turned something on the motorcycle, causing the roaring and vibrations to cease. Kaelin liked the machine, even if it was too loud.

"Do you maybe want to go for a walk on the beach?" Liam asked as he kicked the stick thing down to rest the motorcycle, so that it did not fall over. She thought that humans were so clever.

"I would. Very much." she replied, glad that he was reluctant for today to be over as well.

Liam seemed pleased by her answer. He motioned with his head to the side of the house. "C'mon," he said, takin her hand to lead the way down a narrow path worn into the grass from frequent traversing. This was the very same path they had traveled on her first day here, sneaking around to hide her from his mother. It seemed like an eternity had passed in the days since. She felt as though she knew him better than some of the mers, whom she'd known for centuries.

The last rays of sunlight faded, leaving only the blackness of space with billions of stars peering down on them.

They both removed their shoes and left them on the railing of the back porch before venturing out onto the sand. She slipped her hand into his as they walked to the edge of the water. Liam intertwined his fingers with hers, making their grasp stronger.

Kaelin's feelings of melancholy and loneliness were but a memory now. On the way home from the bar, she tried to focus on remembering all the good things that she did have. Liam, chief among them.

The water rushed in, cold and refreshing. A fine spray rose up from the cresting waves, to caress her skin with a gentle touch. She was feeling particularly dry after spending so much time in the hot sun today. She knew that was merely an illusion, it was only in her mind. Mermaid mentality, as it were. The magic that gave her legs also gave her the same tolerance to be without water as a human. Though, she couldn't last quite as long as a normal human. After a few weeks she would start to feel the effects of dehydration, no matter how much she drank, since it was her lungs that needed the water.

Of course, if she waited that long she would have to turn back for at least a full day to stave off those ill effects. But, she couldn't, not until it was absolutely necessary. She just couldn't risk it. Not until her life depended on it.

She pulled Liam further into the surf, until it rose almost to their knees. The bottom of his shorts legs became dark, soaked from ebbing of the tide. The hem of her sundress was wet as well, sticking to her legs, which made it more difficult to maneuver.

The strength of the waves rushing in and reversing direction just as quickly caused them to sway, almost as if they were dancing.

When a particularly strong wave rolled in, Kaelin stumbled. She wasn't accustomed to standing in opposition against the water. As a mermaid, she had been taught to ride the currents, to use their strength to propel her.

Liam was quick to throw out his arm, to grab her around the waist, preventing her from falling. He held her in that free-falling position for a long moment, carefully examining her face. He did that a lot. He would just stare at her when he thought she wasn't paying attention to him. It truly made her believe that he really thought she was beautiful as he claimed. She knew little of what attracted one human to another. All of their ideas of beauty seemed to be contradictory. The oddity that made one person ugly made another beautiful. One movie she saw made it seem as though all humans were beautiful, no matter their looks. She certainly could ascribe to that point of view. She found each one similarly interesting and unique. The faces of most mers didn't vary much beyond skin and scale coloring, not in the many ways in which humans did. Maybe it was the noses, she thought. Mers didn't have those unless they changed form.

As for Liam, he certainly seemed to be regarded as attractive. She had played witness to many a girl gawking at him, especially at the beach when he would take off his shirt—that was the time he received the most attention and praise. She could hear their words as they shared their thoughts on him with friends, who mostly agreed. Their reasons were interesting, though, because many of them had a different thing that they liked about him. There was a general consensus about his face: his lovely brown eyes and long lashes, his square jawline, the straight line of his nose, his strong brow. One girl liked the scar on his cheek, which he'd told Kaelin came from a punch to the face by his best friend, over a girl, to which he laughed heartily.

Noticing the small pink line, she smiled up at him as he helped her to regain her footing. "Thank you." she said.

"Anytime." he replied, still holding tight to her. His brown eyes sparkled from the reflection of the moonlight off the water, like stars in his eyes.

Her eyes raked over his face, so many feelings warring in her. She understood why humans referred to feelings in their heart. All of her emotions seemed to make her chest react differently, whether it was the jolt of a thrill when he touched her, or the way her pulse quickened by merely the thought of him, to say nothing of the weight she felt at the moment, as she wondered if he would kiss her again. The anticipation was nerve wracking. It was strange that she could care so much for a human boy, whom she had only just met. She had never felt even a modicum of this for any merman.

Of course, as a mermaid, she had never felt a fraction of what she had since becoming human. She understood the lure of the shore now. She never could figure out why the mers of legend would go to ground and decide not to return for many years, if ever. If they felt as strongly as she did, then she had no doubt of their reasoning. Her people—her father more than anyone—made it seem like it was some sort of self-imposed punishment. Now, she believed those stories were created to dissuade curious mermaids, like herself, from going on walkings.

It was only then that Kaelin realized she had started to hum. She wasn't sure when she had started doing it, sometime during her musings, she supposed. There was just something about Liam that made her want to sing. She knew what her mother would say about that, but she couldn't let herself think like that. She wasn't going to be in this place for much longer. She couldn't stay, as much as she may want to. For Liam's sake.

Liam took ahold of her hand and raised it out to the side, bringing his face down closer to hers. She thought he might want to kiss her again, which she would appreciate, but he didn't. He pressed his cheek against hers and started to sway. And this time it was not because of the water.

He was dancing.

The corners of her mouth lifted, pleased. She began to hum louder until she could no longer contain the song.

She opened her mouth to sing out to the world, a song that she had never sung before. A new song she had never heard before, coming from a place deep within. The waves slowed to a calm roll to match up with the pace of her song, as Liam continued to lead her through the water, their feet sifting through the mounds of cushy sand, in a semblance of a waltz, which he knew was the only human dance she knew.

After a moment of her song, she realized that he, too, had begun to hum something, low and soft. She stopped her song to listen to his. It was a familiar melody that she was sure she had heard somewhere; perhaps, it was one of the songs he had played for her from that ingenious, strange, little plastic square, which he claimed could hold over a thousand songs.

His deep voice gave a raw quality to the melody and she could hear so much depth in it. His emotions were ringing out through his song, as if he were saying them to her. But, of course, he wasn't. It was just mermaid magic that revealed his innermost desires.

Liam seemed to be in a trance as he swayed, holding her so close to him. His eyes closed, his lips holding a small smile.

Instead of saying anything and risk breaking the spell, she laid her head against his chest and held onto his shoulders, enjoying the dance under the moonlight.

If she lived for a hundred thousand years she didn't think that she would ever forget this night, with this ordinary, extraordinary human boy.