The Invasion

23 | Growing Attraction

Sleep, sometimes, does the weirdest thing to your brain. Like messing up the time in your head. I find myself back traveling back to the past, back to those days where I would spend my summers at a holiday cabin. I would hibernate like a bat, and the first thing when I got up was to flop back onto the bed and snooze again for another five minutes. Typical me.

With my eyes still closed, I stretch on my comfortable bed, roll over to the other side and nestle my head into a hard, giant pillow. Except that it's...moving?!

I blink my eyes open. That's when my fuzzy brain registers that I'm not at home or a holiday cabin. But it's something similar—a camper van. The ceiling's pretty low. The lights are off, but moonlight spills through the window. A clock sits on the top of a fridge, reading 8.31pm. Everything is so still and silent, save for my pounding heart and the crickets chirping outside.

Shucks. Did I sleep the whole day away?

I shift a little, but find my cheek press up against Zarius's chest. My hand drapes over his torso, my leg hooking over his. His eyes are closed, his breathing even. His perfectly sculpted face is mere inches away from mine. With his arms wrapped around me protectively, I feel like a bear cub snuggling up against him; warm and safe from the monsters lurking outside.

Seeing him like this, I can't tell the difference between him and a human.

And was he worried that I would be cold?

My hand reaches out to brush aside a lock of his hair that has fallen over his forehead, the tip of my fingers lightly grazing his skin. I scan his face and his side, heaving a silent sigh of relief that his wound has fully recovered from the earlier fight.

He stirs slightly, pressing me closer to him so that his chin rests on top of my head. My jacket is gone and my shirt has lifted a little during my sleep, leaving a small gap of skin exposed. The subtle brush of his fingers against me has caught me off guard, and my skin flushes. Heat rises in my cheeks quickly.

The room suddenly feels hot.

I lie still, afraid that when I move again, he's going to wake up. Questions swim through my mind as I wonder what it's like to be a merfolk living underwater instead of a human.

Do they feel attraction towards each other? If they do, do they take the time to date—or court—each other? How do they have kids and grow a family underwater? How does society work over there?

My musty hair plasters to my neck. I must stink like hell, but somehow, my nose is desensitized to my scent. How does even Zarius stand being around me? And how does he not stink? Is there a merfolk secret to this?

Maybe a shower is what I need. I attempt to pull out of his arms slowly, trying to pry them off me carefully, but Zarius's eyes snap open immediately. He looks high and alert, no doubt putting out his antennae to sense for dangers.

His eyes settle on me. "Are you feeling better?"

"Yes," I respond meekly. Feeling the heat of his gaze on me has me growing flustered and I avert my eyes. "So, erm...how did we end up here?"

"I went back the way we came from and found these little huts."

"And you picked this? A camper van?"

He blinks, confused by my growing amusement. "Yes, I figured you would need this if we're heading to the place that you wanted to go. That human boy was driving a box like this, wasn't he?"

His observation skills surprise me yet again. "He did. You're a freaking genius, Zarius. If anybody's going to survive this apocalypse, you will be the man leading us all."