Pastel Colored Sadness

CHAPTER 12 Currents of the Sea

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Chapter 12

Currents of the Sea

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I had to walk towards the cliff from the hotel, but I didn't care. I felt like everything was slipping from my fingers, and I was chasing after the nearest thing I had once had. The sun was rising over the cliffs as I stood at the foot. There was a wall of carpets, sleeping people watching over it. I silently went past them, around the wall of carpets looking for an entrance when I saw Earwyn kissing another man on the cheek before ducking under the carpets.

She was wearing a dress of scales, a smile on her face. She didn't see me, didn't know I was there. I wouldn't have known she was there if I hadn't seen her either. Our hollow hearts weren't echoing against each other, as all Siren Hearts did.

Her heart was no longer hollow. I turned to the one she'd kissed, and realized he was no more than a boy. And he looked like a dragon with his golden eyes, large shoulders and body. I could almost imagine wings on his back, and a long red tail curling around him as he took in the morning light.

Anger hot and blinding overtook me, I put a knife to his throat, struggling with him until I had somehow managed to pin him to the ground. He was all size and no talk. He knew nothing of fighting. I cackled. "You've stolen my destiny, boy," I growled.

Earwyn came from behind the carpets and screamed as she saw me, like I was the product of her nightmares. She woke up everyone around us, their swords drawn as they faced me, pushing her back. "Stay back, Princess," they commanded her.

"No, you won't, Earwyn. If you don't come to me right now, I'll slit his throat," I warned, dragging him to his knees so I could stand behind him, my blade to his throat.

Shaking like a leaf, she pushed the guards aside despite their protests. Her eyes never leave the boy at my feet. "Okay," her voice shook, looking at me, "I surrender. Now let him go, and I won't fight you. I swear," she no longer shed tears of blood. They were now as clear as crystal.

I release him and kick him down the hill. Taking her hand in the same motion and pulling her close to me. She was warm, almost burning my skin as if with fever. She put her arms around my neck, as if she were waiting for me to kiss her.

"I'm sorry Conner," she then dragged me over the side of the cliff.

I screamed. What was she doing? We'll both die now!

I turned to see her above me, her arms held out wide, her dress of scales glittering. He looked like an angel to me. Her beauty is unearthly in this morning light. The first drops of seawater reach us, burning my skin, but literally burning hers. She was on fire!

Then strong arms of the boy she'd called Conner held her waist, and I felt my bones break on the surface of the water, tearing my insides apart before I screamed with pain and the sea rushed into my body.

I watched as Conner and Earwyn hugged tightly, Earwyn shaking. Her legs turned to a tail and fins, her scales seeping into her skin. She was gorgeous. Her hair grew longer, so long that it pooled around them like a large cloud. It would go to some point between her knees and her hips on the surface, like it had been when she was singing.

I realized then that I had been a monster that haunted her nightmares all this time, and had only proven it with my actions. With the last ounce of my sense of self, I wished them true happiness.

I was Seth Sinclair.

I was Tethys.

I was the current in the sea.

I was so large, spread across the world. The magic in the storm and protector of the underwater castle.

As I rushed through the city, a part of me paused at a window looking into a house. The woman there seemed to see me, and then wept as I continued on.

I was the sea.

I stopped for no one.