TANGLED TIDES (The Sea Monster Memoirs #1)

6.) Treygan

Treygan

Finally, silence. I thought she would never shut up.

How could one soul be so important, yet so impossible? In the old days it would have been simple: drag Yara through the gateway, show her our world and she would never want to return to human life. Then again, if the gate was open, we wouldn't need her.

I floated at the edge of the drab dock, waiting for Rownan's radar to kick in so he'd make an appearance and I could get back to my mission. If all went well, we wouldn't step foot on land. Yara would be so furious she would beg me to take her away from Rownan.

"What do we do now?" she asked. "Float here all day waiting for clothes to magically appear?"

Her question made my skin prickle with irritation. Sarcasm was a lost art that Yara hadn't come close to mastering. "Rownan will be here shortly."

Her eyes bugged like a Black Moor Goldfish. "What?"

I didn't elaborate. Perhaps if I stopped answering her questions she would stop asking them.

"What do you mean, Rownan will be here? How could he possibly know where we are? He can't see me like this."

I heard my son-of-a-psycho half-brother approaching before I saw him. Better to ignore him until the last second. "He won't see you naked unless you get out of the water."

"You know what I mean," she hissed. "I'm a mermaid."

Rownan's boots stomping down the dock diverted her attention. I wondered how much she truly knew about him. How much did I even know about him anymore?

"Yara, baby!" he shouted. Baby. How nauseating.

"Oh, my God," she moaned under her breath. Her eyes darted around the water. "Rownan, this isn't what it looks like."

"I've been so worried about you."

Reluctantly, I turned my head to see my nemesis squatting at the edge of the dock. Our eyes met for the first time in over a decade. My jaw tightened, as did his.

He reached out for Yara. "Let's get you home."

"The storm-I-something horrible happened," she said, not taking his hand.

"No worries. It will be okay," he assured her in a tone so fake it made my skin crawl.

She kept one arm pressed tightly to her chest while the other treaded water, then she shot me a smoldering glare. "He kidnapped me. I've been turned into a mermaid."

Rownan looked at me with shock and a hint of panic. Only a daft half-breed like him wouldn't have noticed the change in Yara's hair color, or her hallmarks and tail shimmering below the surface. He still believed her birthday was tomorrow. Chalk one up for keeping secrets.

Yara's bashful mumbling interrupted our brotherly stare-down. "I'm not wearing any clothes."

Rownan took off his coat, holding it open as it waved in the wind. "I won't look until you're covered. Sir, will you turn around while my girl gets out of the water?"

Sir? Really? Yara glanced at me and I did an about-face while her knight in furry armor pretended to rescue her. After some splashing and gasping from Yara, I turned back around.

"It was instant." She glanced from me to Rownan. "My legs, my arms. I feel normal again."

Rownan hugged her, blocking her face from my view while he sneered at me. They looked completely wrong together. Yara cloaked in white next to Rownan's black pants and t-shirt. Yin and yang, dark and light, cold and warm. Mr. Full-of-Lies and Miss Empty-of-Memories.