A Thousand Salt Kisses Later (Book 2 of Salt Kiss series)

Quintessence

The following morning I sat up slowly and looked around me, I felt very lightheaded. Where are we?

Jasper was next to me, completely unconscious, while Dara was snoring on the sands beside us, his body floating upwards with every grunt.

I giggled and shook Jasper, memories of last night slowly seeping back. We had passed out on the way home from the valley, and we were somewhere on the slope back up to the palace.

I vaguely remembered stopping here. There had been some music coming from a cave above us, and we had danced.

Jasper stirred and then blinked a couple of times and sat up.

"Oh, my Shark!" he cried, looking around us. "We're still here!"

I fell to the side giggling and pointed at Dara.

"Oh, my Sh..." Jasper swam over to him with a piece of seaweed and stuffed it up his rippling nostrils

"Jasper!" I cried

Dara jerked awake coughing out the seaweed.

How disgusting, it went up his nose and came out of his mouth.

"Sorry," said Jasper. "It's a sea slut thing."

"Well, I'm glad I'm not a sea slut," I said disapprovingly, looking down at my oyster shells. I frowned; they were looking a little wonky.

"Well, that's not what you were saying last night," said Dara, croakily.

"Huh?" I said.

"Yes, you said you were through with straight men and that you wanted to transition into a merman and become a sea slut," said Dara

"Oh, come on!" I said, blushing a little.

"Yes, it was very educational," said Jasper. "You told us all about the whole procedure that they perform above waters. We never knew of such things!"

"Well, actually I heard tales of a maid trapped in man's body once before," said Dara. "Tis said she was altered by spell."

"Hmm, well there you go," I said, twisting my shells back into place. "Perhaps if I am unable to return home, this could be the way forward."

"But yours is not a true cause for why one may undergo such transformation, I imagine," said Dara, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh no, of course not," I said, looking down. "Just a poor joke, I guess. Or possibly something I was deadly serious about at the time. Those capsules really went to my head."

"I'm feeling monstrous," Jasper agreed. "Let's go back to the palace."

I nodded and slowly swam beside them up the hill.

Jasper held out his arm, and I linked it as we went.

"Very gentle-mer-ly," I joked, and Dara and Jasper laughed.

"You're so cute," said Dara to me.

"Oh she's wonderful," said Jasper. "I hope she stays here forever - sea slut or not."

***

Once at the palace, I had been given a good pampering by the maids.

A vine of little white flowers was wrapped several times around my forearm, while the rest drifted out by my side.

"Only our finest foliage for Miss White," one maid had said, smudging the pearl pulp across my eyelids.

Now, I swam to the pink garden with Jasper, feeling like something out of A Midsummer's Night's Dream. I was not too enthusiastic about this trek but Jasper had said he always visits the garden after a big night out to find some kind of detox berry.