Mer Tales 01 - Everblue

parents aren’t still on the throne. They were true leaders.”
    My chest tightened. “Do you think he’ll seek revenge? How long do you think we’ve really got here?”
    Dad looked to Mom and shrugged. “I’d say a month or two.”
    “ Really?” The hope calmed my nerves. Ash could finish school and then we could leave for Florida in June—to get her all set up for college, of course. “This is good news. Ash has been so nervous about when we’d leave and how things would work out.”
    “ But I’m going back to get Tatiana sooner than that.”
    “ Oh, right,” I said, worried what Ash would think of me leaving so soon.
    Mom touched my arm. “Ash will come around. Just let things marinate. With the promise, she’ll follow you to the ends of the earth.”
    “ And I her,” I said quickly. “I’m going to tell her now.”
    Mom smiled. “Enjoy your talk.”
    I shimmied up the stairs and checked the time. Exactly an hour had passed. The phone barely rang before she answered.
    “ Hey, baby,” I said, intending to be cheesy. “Where have you been all my life?”
    “ Right here. Waiting for you.”

58
ASH

    Just hearing his voice made me whole again. In the time waiting, I’d chewed my nails to the nub, worn a new groove in my carpet, eaten half a box of chocolate chip cookies, and yelled at my sister for messing up the bathroom.
    “ I’ve got good news,” he said.
    “ Tatchi’s home?”
    “ Well, no. Not that good. I’ve talked to my parents and the Florida thing works in perfectly with their plans. There’s a safe house for runaway mers, so we’ll be together while you go to college.”
    “ Great,” I said and pulled in a deep breath.
    A safe house sounded more reassuring than him living alone in the Atlantic. But I still didn’t know how to tell my parents we were getting serious, so serious I’d want to marry him if he asked. Being only seventeen and jobless without a place to live wouldn’t stack in our favor. And Fin seemed apprehensive about me becoming a mermaid. Would I have to wait long? The thought of swimming around with a real live tail exhilarated me. Would college end up being the cover-up? Would my family notice I’d changed? Heck, if we lived in the Atlantic together, why would we need jobs anyway?
    “ Ashlynnnn,” he cooed, “what are you thinking about?”
    “ Life.”
    “ Sounds serious,” he said with a little laugh.
    “ Since our first kiss, I can’t think of anything else.”
    “ That wasn’t entirely my fault. You were the one taking a pleasure cruise in freezing waters.”
    “ I’d heard that there was a hot merman stalking the waters around Fannette Island. I had to look for myself,” I giggled.
    “ Hot, huh?” he asked with a smile in his voice.
    “ And sexy.”
    “ I’ve been told that.”
    “ By whom?” I asked with pretend outrage.
    “ By all the mermaids.”
    “ Oooh, if you were here I’d—”
    “ What?”
    “ I’d pin you down and kiss you so you’d never think of anyone else but me.”
    “ Can I come over now?”
    We both laughed.
    “ I wish,” I said
    He continued to flirt with me and plan our future. In the back of my mind, I started to envision the wedding as well. I couldn’t imagine anyone except Tatchi being my maid of honor, but worried if I waited any longer, and let him go to Natatoria without me, they wouldn’t come back and I wouldn’t have the power to find him. My dreams and worst nightmares swirled together in a multicolored cloud of uncertainty.
    “ Geez,” Fin said in exasperation. “Who keeps trying to break in on our call?”
    “ What?”
    “ Call waiting. Hold on. I need to tell this fool where to stick it.”
    “ Okay.”
    I heard the click and waited, imagining him chewing out the poor telemarketer who was trying to make their sales for the night. Out of my window I saw the bathroom light in his house filter through the trees and smiled. We were so close, yet so far away. After two minutes passed, I wondered if my phone still worked properly. I clicked a button so the screen would light up and the seconds counted away. After three, my heart began to speed up. What was taking so long? After ten minutes, I was about to put on my clothes and walk to his house myself.
    “ Sorry, Ash,” Fin said, finally clicking over. “It was an important call for my dad. Something’s come up.”
    “ Is everything okay?”
    “ Yeah,” he said, but I didn’t believe him. His edgy voice told me