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

Mount Glas

The kingdom was quiet today, not a mer in sight. Just as well, really, I thought as we swam through the streets. I didn't really fancy a public 'swim of shame' as we exited.

My high had quickly worn off, and I realized I was shaking. It must be all the adrenaline. I had not been expecting to see Kara at all, and the whole experience had been just as horrible as I would have imagined. It had been obvious that she hated my presence as much as I did hers. And the way she seemed to own Llyr was shocking. I would never have expected him to be such a 'yes' merman, but he seemed to be surprising me with each and every encounter. And certainly not in a good way, I thought, angrily, remembering his final words to me.

Nephys sensed my distress, even despite her own, and she held my hand as we traveled past the crystal houses.

We had not been out of The Jewel long before we heard a voice calling us.

We turned. Bright swam towards us over the yellow sandy banks.

"Oh, my gosh!" I exclaimed, swimming over and hugging him. I had not seen him once since my disastrous arrival at The Jewel, and he really was the most adorable mer.

"Miss White," he smiled, kissing my hand.

He looked exactly the same, a much feebler form than all the other great built up alpha-mers. He had sparkly blue eyes and sandy blonde hair.

"Heard the happy news?" asked Nephys.

"No, and what are you doing out here?" he said looking at our bags "I saw you maids shooting down the palace walls and I thought I'd try and catch up with you. Now, what in Nodens's name is going on?"

"What in Nodens's name is going on, is that Ri has thrown us out," cried Nephys angrily.

"Well, I can't say I'm surprised. He's absolutely flipping bonkers at the moment," said Bright.

"Well, so is Llyr," said Nephys. "He's going along with the whole thing."

Bright's eyes widened. "Is it a full moon or something? I can't believe he would do that!"

"Well, neither can we," said Nephys, adjusting her net bag over her shoulder, I could see she was fighting back the tears. "But he did, Bright. He did. And he wasn't even sad about it."

"Come on," said Bright, swimming over to her. "Give me those bags."

"Oh come on Bright, I'm much stronger than you," protested Nephys.

"Give them to me now," he insisted.

Nephys sighed and handed them over gratefully. "I suppose they are a bit annoying," she said.

He swung the bulging net bags over his shoulder and before long, the three of us were off, swimming over the barren sands in the direction of Evergreen.

"This Kara's really got her hooks into him, hasn't she?" said Bright.

"Oh you should have seen her just now, Bright," fumed Nephys. "She swanned in as we were leaving, and said 'Oh, these chambers are adequate.'"

"I mean, I don't get it personally," said Bright. "She's got a good tail and all, but that's about it."

I sighed, hauling the bag back up my arm and remembering her little comments towards me. "Oh, she's just a moo," I huffed. "A gorgeous moo though!"

"Well, looks aren't everything, Crystal," said Bright, tugging the bag from my grip, before I could protest. "And I'm not even sure about all that dancing everyone's so impressed by."

"Mmm, it was pretty good," I argued bitterly, raising an eyebrow,

"Pretty basic, don't you mean?" He dropped the bags suddenly. "I mean, even I can do that."

Nephys and I watched on with amusement. What is he doing?

He put his hands on his hips and suddenly began to gyrate around in quick circular movements. We looked at each other and exploded into laughter.

"Go Bright," I cried, as his little blue tail swirled below him. In all fairness, he actually could replicate the same moves; it was just that he looked ridiculous.

"See, she's nothing but a load of hype, and her father's a bit off too," said Bright, giving a little bow for his performance and retrieving the bags.

"A bit??" shrieked Nephys as we continued our journey. "Oh, do not even get me started..."

I didn't usually like to bitch, but right now it felt magnificent. I informed Bright and Nephys of the human meaning behind 'goldfish' and they, in turn, appeared delighted to learn the princess had named herself after a little pet with a one-second memory.

After an hour or so of non-stop swimming and Kara-bashing, a huge luscious green mound came into view. I blinked and strained my neck to get a closer view. What is this? A sea mountain now?

"Oh hurrah, it's Mount Glas!" cried Nephys.

"Does this mean we're here?" I asked. My arms and tail were killing me. One had to use both appendages to get along, and I'd never swam so far in my life.

"We're about halfway," said Nephys. "As you can see the landscape is starting to change. It will be nothing but green, green, green, once we get past the mountain. Oh goodness, do you need a break?" she asked, catching sight of my pained expression.

I nodded wearily.

"Okay, let's go to the mountain then," said Nephys.

It took maybe twenty minutes to reach Mount Glas, which looked surreal against the sandy seabed. Up closer, I realized it was a big black mountain, almost volcanic looking, and covered in luminous moss. The sea's surface swished blue above. It really was an amazing sight.

"Come on, let's go and sit on some moss," said Nephys, when we reached the foot of the mountain. She swam upwards passed some dark-looking holes.

"Careful Neph," called Bright from below, "remember, there's quite a lot of-"

Suddenly Nephys screamed, and her arms flailed everywhere. My heart somersaulted. What now?

I let out a terrified gasp. A long, thin gray creature snaked around Nephys's head menacingly.

She squealed helplessly and I looked at Bright. He moved his arms quickly to swim upwards but the net bags got wrapped around his body like a maypole, and he sank, entangled onto the seabed.

I looked up at the creature again. It had orange eyes and a long fin on its back. As it thrashed back and forth, I realized to my horror, that it had little triangular teeth.

I sooo did not want to have to intervene but with Nephys out of control and Bright wrestling with the bags, it looked like I may have to. I took a deep breath and prepared to ascend to Nephys's side.

Suddenly a thin straight object flew through the water and pierced the creature in the middle. It let out a high-pitched shriek as it was struck, before shooting onto the seabed with the object.

I frowned and looked at the object, which was now poking out of the sand, the snake-like animal dead and impaled.

I realized that I knew that thing all too well. I had seen it many times before, with its decorative rows of shark's teeth. It was a spear. Spirit's spear.