Before It's Voiced

Romantic Fantasy

At last, Pete moves, Patrick's soft shuddering pulling his hand to Patrick's skin in what he hopes is a comforting gesture.

"There are no dangers here now," he says in a low voice. "And we can always leave if that's what you want."

Patrick's still for a moment more, staring at the empty water behind him, and then he looks at Pete with a stern frown.

"I cannot run away anymore." He shakes away Pete's hand but only so that he can hold it, his fingers tight as he pulls Pete forward, the mermaid following close behind. "I want you to see where I lived. Where I learned to swim and where I was named. It... It hurts but I know it is important."

"Of course," Pete says, struggling to keep Patrick's steady pace between buildings and debris. Stones glow beneath them in the shape of a road, lighting up with each press of Patrick's tail skimming atop it.

With every place they pass, Patrick shares a story with a soft smile and gentle eyes, pointing and staring as if he can see the memory playing out before him.

"I met my friend there. Joe, remember? The one who saved me?" Patrick says, pointing past a gate and into an open area filled with underwater plant life and small schools of fish. "It was a place for children to play. I snuck out one night and he was sent to bring me back before my father noticed I was missing."

As they swim, Pete learns of where Patrick's school was and what games he played— "I was the best at races, the fastest in the kingdom." He learns not about Patrick as a lost prince but, rather, he learns of Patrick the siren. He learns about Patrick.

And then they stop, a building like a wall of glass with spirals of shells and glistening rocks posing before them. Patrick's hand tightens around his and Pete looks to see he's not gazing at the open gates before them; Patrick's eyes are on the gaping hole further up, the wound expanding across the palace's side.

This is where I grew up shines in his eyes. This is where I was raised.

That is the place I called home.

Patrick points. "That is where the monsters came in."

Pete knew the words were coming but he still chokes on the image that plays within his mind. He sees those monsters from before, from his nightmares, crashing through a building meant to protect, gnashing their fangs and clawing at anything their horrid hands can touch. He hears their ghostly wails and wicked cries, can feel their tails striking against his flesh as if they're here.

He's shaking when Patrick pulls his hand away. "We don't have to—"

"I do," Patrick says, certain though his eyes are as frightened as Pete feels. "I do."

Pete knows why Patrick's silent when he leads him in, his movements even slower than before as he presses the gate open the rest of the way to bring them in. They cross a place that should be a garden but is torn up, stones and uprooted coral strewn before them like graves. He knows why Patrick's shuddering has stopped when he shuts his eyes and pauses before the entryway into the palace.

He knows what Patrick's thinking; he knows what he's not saying.

Patrick doesn't tell any more stories of the past as they go through the halls, passageways like hidden caves lit only by the crevices cracking through the old and abandoned building. Pete follows the flicker of his tail and wonders whether it's fair for him to feel as haunted as Patrick appears, sickened by the questions of is this where they slit his mother's throat? is this where he had to swim through to escape? is this all he remembers of his home?

They don't stop though Patrick slows as they pass what must be bedrooms, his eyes forward as he shakes his head and continues on. At last, they reach an open room twice the size of any other, pedestals reaching above them with jewels and human treasures decorating them. Two of these pillars stand proudly in the center of the room and Patrick reaches up, his hand grazing the top of one. His other arm presses flat against it in some strange embrace and, as the mermaid from before swims to the corner to reveal two hidden circlets of shells and stones, he realizes where they are.