Spoiler alert! This posting is only for those who have read Born of Water and are interested in the bonus content. Note: as of November 2021, this scene is included in the book.
Antoni, Mom, and I stood on the tarmac near the small Novak twin-prop. Ivan was already on board, waiting for Antoni. But Antoni’s eyes were full of me, and mine were full of him.
“Um… I’m just going to say goodbye and then let you… you know,” Mom said. She stuck her hand out at Antoni.
He tore his eyes from mine long enough to smile at my mother and shake her hand. “Thanks for making my trip worthwhile. I’m really happy I’m not flying back with unsigned documents. I’m sure I’ll hear from you when you’re ready. Take care of yourself, Mira.”
Mom surprised me by pulling him into a hug, which was completely out of character for her. I wondered how many swims in the Atlantic it was going to take to cure her of the habit. It was the second time I’d seen her hug someone this summer. “I’m really sorry about Martinius, Antoni. He’ll be missed,” she said. When she released him, she turned to me. “I’ll wait at the truck.”
“Okay. Thanks, Mom.”
Mom saluted Antoni one last time and walked away.
Antoni touched my cheek with his fingertips. “I wish you were coming with me, and I don’t care how mushy that makes me sound.”
“Our time will come,” I said. I sounded brave, but my heart ached for him and my mind swirled. Was I ready for this? To be in a relationship? Dating was one thing, but Antoni… well, he was Antoni. Things would never be ‘casual’ between us. We were already way past that. He pulled me into his arms and we wrapped ourselves up in one another. My breath hitched. This was hard. “Maybe, I could come for Christmas break,” I said against his shoulder.
“Don’t tease me,” he whispered, stroking my hair.
I looked up at him. “I wouldn’t do that. I mean it.”
He smiled and kissed me tenderly, cupping my face in his palms. My lips melted into his, soft and sweet. He pulled back. “Be safe, Targa. I love you. You’d better get off the tarmac. Call me if you need anything. Promise me?”
“I promise,” I rasped. I cleared my throat. “I love you, too.”
He smiled. “I know.”
I turned and walked away, grinning to myself, but my lower lip quivered. I felt full of unshed tears, both sad and happy. How could one heart contain this much emotion? At the small airfield terminal, I watched the plane’s props whir to life. I sighed. I could make it to Christmas, couldn’t I? I made my way to the parking lot. I opened the truck door.
Mom was texting and put her phone down as I slid into the passenger seat. “You okay, Sunshine?”
“Yes, I’m good. How about you?” I closed the door and buckled up as she turned the key.
She shrugged. “Sad about Martinius. In complete and utter shock about Novak Shipping and at a total loss for what to do next.” She gave me a close-mouthed smile and raised her eyebrows.
I laughed. “Seriously.”
“Antoni is smart. I say we just sleep on it.” She put the truck into gear and started towards home. A flock of seagulls flew over us, bound for the ocean.
“Sounds good to me.” A few minutes later I spotted a tiny white plane ascending into the clouds. “Bye for now,” I whispered, craning my neck to watch it go. I tilted my head back against the headrest and closed my eyes. I was still tired from the ordeal with Eric, and in a bit of shock over seeing Antoni again.
Mom and I were quiet as she steered the truck into our neighbourhood and parked in our trailer’s parking space.
A thought occurred to me as I undid my seatbelt and got out of the truck. It had been so easy to use my siren voice on Eric to get him to do my bidding. I changed the entire course of his life with a few simple words. With an ability like that, we could get people to do or think whatever we wanted. It was a power that could easily become a crutch for a siren. “You know we could have avoided all of this, right Mom?” I said as we entered our trailer and she flicked on the light.
“How do you mean?” Mom closed the door the way she always did – too hard. The trailer shook.
“One of these days this place is going to fall down around our ears,” I said, kicking off my flip flops and opening the fridge. I grabbed a container of ice cream from the freezer and two spoons from the drawer.
“Well, apparently it doesn’t matter because we’re probably moving to Poland.” She ran a hand down her face and collapsed backwards over the arm of the couch. She put a couch pillow over her face and wrapped her arms overtop. “And what do you mean we could have avoided it?” came her muffled voice.
“Back in Poland, when Martinius first shanghaied us with his theory.” I came into the living room and sat across from my mom. “Ice cream?” I held out a spoon.
“Yes,” she threw off the pillow, rolled over and sat up. “Go on.” She took the spoon and gouged the mint chocolate chip, leaving a canyon spotted with chips waiting to be excavated.
“After Antoni left the room, you could have just used your voice to erase Martinius’ suspicion and get him to believe that mermaids aren’t real. If you really wanted to, you could have stopped all of this in its tracks. Why didn’t you?” I took another bite of ice cream and crunched the chips, letting the sweetness melt over my tongue.
With a full mouth, Mom shook her head and waggled the spoon at me. She swallowed her ice cream. “Nope. Wouldn’t have worked.”
“Why not?”
“Martinius has siren blood.” She reached a hand out for the ice cream tub.
I blinked at her, eyes so wide they felt dry.
She looked up from the tub. “What?”
“Martinius has siren blood,” I repeated, enunciating each word.
“I’m sure of it. Sybellen’s blood runs through his veins, and that means he’s immune to a siren voice. Our voices don’t work on each other, and they also don’t work on humans who have a mermaid somewhere in their lineage, either.” She snatched the tub from me. “Rare though they are.”
My jaw dropped. “Really?”
“Really,” she winked. “I guess that’s a little tidbit I hadn’t told you yet. Oh, there’s so much!” She took a spoonful of ice cream.
“So, if I meet someone that’s descended from a mermaid, and I want to tinker with their brain a bit, not that I would,” I held out my hands. “Hypothetically speaking. I wouldn’t be able to make he or she think or do anything? They’d be completely immune to my powers?”
“As immune as I am.”
“And, if it was a guy, he’d be immune to my… other talents, too? That musky thing that happens, and whatever other magical things we have that seem to draw men in droves?”
She shrugged. “Probably. Doesn’t mean he won’t be attracted to you though.”
“Why, because I’m pretty without the siren wiles?” I batted my eyelashes.
“You’re ok. But I’m biased.”
“Ha ha.”
I shook my head when she handed me the ice cream, the spoon tail sticking out of her mouth. “No thanks, I think I’m sugared out.” I got up, filled two glasses with water and returned. “I was thinking… maybe I could go to Poland over Christmas break.”
“Mmhhhmmmm,” Mom said. “Something tells me that has nothing to do with inheriting Novak shipping and everything to do with a certain Polish lad.”
I grinned and set down a glass of water in front of her. I took a breath. Now was as good a time as any. I hadn’t broached the subject of other men with her… well ever, and she’d never brought it up with me. I wasn’t sure how she’d react. “Speaking of lads… who’s yours?”
Mom looked blank. “I have a lad?”
“Don’t play dumb. I saw you hugging that dark-haired sailor at the airfield in Poland.”
She dipped her fingertips into the glass of water and flicked me in the face. I jerked my head back and blinked reactively. She smiled serenely.
I hovered my fingers overtop of my glass of water, and shot her a meaningful look.
Her smile disappeared. “You wouldn’t.”
I lifted the water from the glass, sliding it out in a perfect cylinder. It hovered in the air between us. The visual was bizarre.
“Targa…” she warned.
With a flick of my fingers, the cylinder-shaped water flew into her face, soaking her head and torso completely. She scrunched up her eyes, water sluiced over her face and hair. Her t-shirt was drenched. She opened her eyes and looked down at herself. “Brat.”
I sat back and folded my hands, my face smug. “So?”
She wiped her face and pushed her hair back. “If you must know, his name is Jozef. We’re… friends. I think.”
“You think? You don’t have friends. Least of all friends who are men.”
“That’s true, but Jozef is different.” She got up and retrieved a tea towel from the kitchen.
“Different how?”
She sighed and sat down. “Do you really want to talk about this?”
“Are you kidding me? You haven’t been on a single date since dad died. You said that you’d have to spend some time in the ocean to trigger the cycle again, so when I see you getting cozy with some man you worked with, some guy that I’ve never met, it kind of piques my curiosity!”
“We weren’t getting cozy,” she muttered behind the tea towel as she wiped her face. “Jozef is just a nice man. He never leered at me once, he and I talked like…” she paused. “Like I wasn’t a siren. Like I was just a person. He was the only man I worked with that I could really relax around. So you see, it’s not what you’re thinking. I don’t even think that’s really possible for me right now. It was just a friendship.”
“Have you talked to him since we got back?”
She shook her head. “That’s probably not a good idea.”
“Why not? That’s what friends do. They keep in touch. Are you going to tell him about inheriting the salvage operation? Are you worried about leading him on? Do you want to see him again? Do you miss him?”
“I don’t know, Targa. Go away. I’m not pestering you about Antoni.”
She had me there. She’d been nothing but respectful. I chewed my lip. “Okay. But, you would tell me if there was ever someone. Right?”
She sighed and gave me a tired smile. “Yes, I’d tell you.”
“Because, you know I’d be happy for you, right Mum?”
“Yes, Sunshine. I know you would.”
Thanks for reading the bonus chapter! Born of Water was written out of a love for the ocean and for nautical history and mermaid lore. I have always had a fascination for shipwrecks and marine history. What better way is there to experience the underwater world than as a mermaid, right? Both Targa and Mira both have more stories coming, but I hope you enjoy the other Elemental Origins stories as much as you liked this one!
Enter your email address and get Returning Episode I delivered to your inbox. You’ll also be added to my VIP Reader Group so you won’t miss any exciting new releases, promotions, exclusive VIP-only content, or giveaways. (You can unsubscribe at any time).
Returning is Mira’s story. VIP Readers will have the opportunity to download all of the Returning episodes for free as they are released.
Recent Comments