Lost in the Deep Blue Sea
13.

Our lips disconnected from each other’s and I swam back. “The water’s nice.”

Peter chuckled and followed me in. We were swimming around in Mermaid Lagoon. Eventually, this would be where I would have to limit my swimming to and he would have to be right there with me. I wanted to bring him in the waters as he brought me on land.

I grabbed his wrist and pulled him to me. “I know you can’t breathe underwater but I can and I want to try it out. I want to see if we could possibly...” I turned red while I pictured us kissing.

Peter chuckled. “I see where this is going. Go on. I trust you.”

I smiled and pulled us under the water. I grabbed his neck and pulled his lips against my own, making sure I was releasing some of my air into his lungs. I moved my hand up to the back of his head, gripping his hair.

This was everything I wanted. Somehow, this was the most romantic kiss we’d ever shared. First kisses were supposed to be the most romantic but this one topped the charts. Underwater kisses were beautiful.

He was ripped around from my grasp and I opened my eyes to see Viviane dragging him down to the depths of the sea floor. I couldn’t let him drown.

I swam after her, pushing through the water and moving my tail up and down. I pushed faster, reaching her and grabbing her arm.

Viviane struggled to pull him from my grip but she was failing. I thought I was winning until the other mermaids showed up to help Viviane. I lost my grip on Peter and they dragged him away. I followed them, doing everything within my strength to get him free. I failed. I failed every time I tried. They took him inside the cave.

I swam inside and noticed the body laying on the rock. “Get away from him!” I swam over and pulled myself up, looking at him in his lifeless state. “I promised I would protect you and I will.” I leaned down and opened his mouth, breathing into him. “Someone help him, please!” I yelled at them.

Viviane snickered. “He deserved to die. He stole you for your duty as queen and you will have to eat him anyway.”

Cora came through and looked at me. “You have to do CPR. I’ve visited the shore enough times to see humans do this. You breathe into his mouth and pump his chest.” She pulled herself up on the ledge as well and looked at me. “Let me show you.”

I scooted over to give her some room. I needed her to save him.

She leaned over him and placed her hands over the middle of his chest, one on top of the other. She began to push down and pump his chest while she tried to bring him back.

My breaths came out shaky and dry as I watched in horror. I needed him to survive. “Peter, please come back. Do it for me.”

Viviane laughed, feeling like she’d won. She didn’t even try to fight Cora as Cora struggled to make his heart beat again.

I wished with everything I had that he would come back to life.

“Why are we here? Raina, you know the mermaids are after us,” Peter warned.

“Relax, they won’t come. I just want to relax with you and have fun. I want to swim with you.” I walked into the water, my legs becoming a fishtail once again. I fell into the shallow water and laughed, looking back at Peter.

He looked worried and I didn’t like to see that expression on his face.

“Please, come swim. Let’s enjoy this. The mermaids can’t get to us right now. I will protect you. I promise to protect you, Peter.” I waved him in.

He looked around the area to check for any sign of danger.

I looked back at the sea, seeing clear waters as no mermaids swam about. The sun reflected upon the waters beautifully, the ball of light becoming smeared over the soft waves. It fought to reflect itself as a ball of light on the sea but the water fought against it with movement. Still, the sun managed to stay intact as a very misshapen ball.

Peter finally gave in. “Okay, I’ll swim with you.”

He walked into the water and I backed away. He got close enough and grabbed my arms, pulling me towards him. He pressed our lips together, moving them in sync.

Our lips disconnected from each other’s and I swam back. “The water’s nice.”

Tears spilled as Cora continued to pump with no sign of it succeeding. If I had just stayed out of the water, we would’ve been safe. This was all my fault.

Cora stopped as Peter coughed, rolling over to cough out water from his lungs.

I rushed over and helped him by patting his back. When he finished coughing, I kissed him deeply. “I’m so sorry. I am so so sorry,” I apologized repeatedly.

Peter shook his head to shut me up. “Hey, don’t you stress about it. It’s not your fault.”

“Peter, I was the one who led us into the water.”

“Raina, I said don’t stress about it. I know who wanted to go into the water. You’re a mermaid. I can’t keep you away from the sea at all times.” He grabbed my hands to reassure me.

I sighed and nodded my head, pouting. “Okay.”

Viviane swam closer. “So cute. You guys think this is going to last.” She sighed and shook her head. “Nope, unfortunately, it won’t.”

I looked at her and held onto Peter. “Stay away from us.”

“Where else do you have to go? You’re trapped in this cave. He can’t breathe underwater. I’m afraid you’ll have to give up and accept your fate.” She shrugged.

“I won’t do it. I will never accept it. I love him and I will do anything to keep that.”

She laughed. “Whatever you want to believe. It doesn’t make it true either way.”

“I know myself.”

“I know you, too. I also happen to know that you want to be more human and what can humans do? Well, humans sure can’t fight against something if they begin to believe it. With enough time, we can make you believe this was the right choice.”

I looked at Peter and got closer, hugging him and whispering into his ear, “Hold your breath.”

Peter closed his mouth and I wrapped my arms around his torso, underneath his arms. I quickly slid into the water, taking him with me. I swam under the mermaids and out of the tunnel, up to the surface.

Peter gasped for air before I took him back under, swimming towards Mermaid Lagoon. My speed was the only thing keeping us alive. The mermaids couldn’t catch up no matter how many there were or how fast they swam.

I swam us closer to the beach and let go of him in the sand. He coughed as he tried to steady his breathing once again.

I looked behind us, seeing the mermaids jumping through the water, towards us.

“Peter, we have to go. They’re coming.” I feared the worst but hoped for the best.

Peter wrapped his arms around my torso and we vanished from the beach. We appeared inside the tree fort, both of us still soaked and laying on the floor.

I took deep breaths and put my head against his chest, listening to his racing heart to calm myself down. “We’re safe, for now.”

Peter nodded and took some deep breaths as well, catching his breath. He kept his arms around me, refusing to let go in fear of losing me. I didn’t even move from my position. I couldn’t really go anywhere with my tail but even if I had legs, I would still choose to stay with him.

I closed my eyes and laughed a bit. “That was such a close call, was it not?”

Peter chuckled and nodded, being careful not to hit his head against the floor. “That was adventurous.”

I looked at him and smiled. “It was, my love.”

Peter pushed some of my wet hair back and frowned.

“What’s wrong?” My face turned into an expression of worry.

“It’s nothing serious. You just have a cut on your head.” He touched a spot and I winced from the pain, realizing I had injured myself.

He showed me his fingers and they had some blood on them. “Let’s get you some bandages.” He sat up and stood on his feet. He walked over to something and opened up a box. He grabbed some cloth and a bottle, bringing it back over. “This water will help clean off some blood and I’ll tie this cloth around your head.”

I nodded as he poured water into the wound on the side of my forehead. He folded the cloth up neatly and tied it around my head. “There, that’s better,” he said.

I smiled and nodded. “Thank you.”

He rubbed a thumb against my cheek. “Anytime.”

I bit my lip. “Peter, I need to tell you something.”

“What is it?”

“I’m not sixteen.”

His eyebrows rose a bit. “Oh.”

“I’m about to turn eighteen. I know it was wrong to lie but... Eighteen is the age of which mermaids have to mate and I didn’t want to scare you by telling you my real age. It’s too late now since the mermaids are trying to kill you but I thought you deserved to know. I’m at the age of which I’m supposed to be having babies and I’m out of time. I can’t wait any longer. It’s the age of purity or whatever the mermaids call it.”

Peter nodded. “I understand. I mean, I assumed you were sixteen but this is just a year older. I’m not too worried about your age.”

“Really?”

“Really. You didn’t harm me with your lie. It wasn’t even a big lie, really. The mermaids are just crazy either way.” He sat back down on the floor with me.

I nodded a little and looked at my tail. “I didn’t want to lie but I just got scared. I assumed you would be afraid if I told you I was at the mating age. You would assume I was picking you. Well, I am picking you but in a different way. I picked you to love.”

He kissed my head. “Of course. I understand.”

I sighed. “What do we do from here? We have to figure something out. They’ll replace us soon.”

“We will. I promise we won’t get caught again,” Peter reassured.

“I promised to protect you and I failed that. Maybe we’re just bad at keeping promises.” I stared at the wooden flooring.

Peter coughed. “No. We just have to fight harder to keep them.”

“We do.” I leaned against him and groaned. “My stomach hurts. I haven’t eaten in a while.”

“I have something.” He got up and grabbed a bag of something from a shelf. He sat back down and looked at me. “This is human food but you have some human in you so it should be okay to eat.” He opened the bag.

“What is it?” I asked.

“It’s a little snack I keep down here just in case. They’re peanuts.” He put some in my hand.

I put one in my mouth, chewing. It was hard but still soft enough to chew on. It had an earthy type of taste but I enjoyed it. “Wow, those are good. It’s like eating a soft rock.”

Peter gave me a funny look and shook his head, laughing. “Okay, if you like eating rocks.”

“You do if you like peanuts.” I smiled and put more in my mouth. They were amazing. They weren’t exactly plants but they were something different. I would need to adjust my diet if I was going to spend my future on this island.

Peter ate them with me and the crunch was a pleasant sound to my ears. I didn’t know why, but I liked listening to it. The way the teeth could crush the soft rock was astounding.

“Peter, I just want to know what it’s like. I’m no longer the sixteen-year-old girl you assume I am. How does human reproduction work exactly?”

He choked on his food and coughed a bit. “Well, um... Why do you want to know?”

“I want to have babies someday and I don’t want too many with you. I think a hundred babies is too many.”

He chuckled. “That’s a lot. Yeah, maybe the human method is the best. You can have one at a time and stop whenever you don’t want anymore. Of course, sometimes you can end up having multiple babies at once but it’s nothing to fear.”

“Mhm, go on.” I gestured for him to continue.

“It starts with a menstrual cycle. Oh boy, do you have that yet? If you’re in your human form more often, you will have to fear that. I hear it’s the worst thing ever. I guess I have to teach you all about human women and how they function.”

“Oh yes, then let us start with that.” I smiled again as I laid my head on his shoulder. I would need to know how I functioned if I would live most of my days as a human eventually.