A Thousand Salt Kisses Forever (Third Book in Salt Kisses series)

I Became One

It was a cool late September afternoon, and although the sun had broken through the clouds, it was not capable of warming those beneath its rays. Humans beneath its rays, that was.

My dad was wearing a gray wooly cardigan and I could hear my mum in the kitchen saying 'brrrr' every second. I sat curled up next to Dad on the sofa with my head on his shoulder. Maurice, my aging chocolate lab was in a big furry ball by our feet.

I had put on a maroon zip-up hoodie, but I was not remotely affected by the autumn chill. We were watching the news. There was going to be a spectacular solar eclipse tomorrow, I learned from the news reader. At just around three p.m.

"Gosh, the weather's really changing," boomed Dad, swigging from his glass of beer.

"Well, why don't you go out and do some jogging Keith, that should keep you warm," said Mum sharply. I looked down at Dad's big round belly, it had been a bone of contention, ever since his retirement here on Starfish.

"You should actually go jogging Dad," I agreed, poking him in the stomach. "We're going to have our very own eclipse soon if you don't. It's getting big enough." I usually stuck up for my father but I had to admit, it had gotten even larger over the summer, and he had been warned about developing diabetes by his doctor several times now.

"Oh come on, I'm not going to lumber around the island like a great walrus," said Dad frowning, clearly disconcerted by this unusual attack from both his wife and daughter.

"Hmm," Mum agreed, no doubt now considering the embarrassment such a spectacle would cause her. "Perhaps a brisk walk then," she said decisively. "You go too, Crystal."

"Huh?" I said, sitting up and looking at her. Why am I being targeted? I'm thinner than I've ever been in my life, thanks to my summer of constant swimming.

"If you go, he'll go," she said, now ascending the staircase. "I'm going to turn the heating on."

Dad sighed and stood up. "She gets heating but I have to go and aimlessly roam the Isle," he grumbled as he trudged towards the door, before turning. "Come on darling, better do as she says."

I groaned. I was exhausted, I had been up since the crack of dawn, and had been to St Carolina's and back but I could never say no to Dad-time. As he got older, not to mention unhealthier, I often thought about how much I would one day regret every minute that I declined spending with him. Tiredness was not a good enough excuse.

Soon we were walking out of the front door and onto Lighthouse Lane. Maurice was trotting along behind us. I linked Dad's arm and nudged him to the left, in the direction of the twenty-minute walk to the other side of the isle. Dad, however, remained stationary.

"Shall we just go to the lighthouse and back," he suggested in a lowered voice.

"The lighthouse!" I exclaimed. "Dad, that's like, two minutes away."

"Yes darling, but we can potter about on the rocks," he offered, cheerily.

I froze, struck by a memory. At the beginning of the summer, before I had been reunited with Llyr, I had had a horrific reoccurring dream involving the very rocks dad spoke of. In every dream I had been barefoot and climbing over them, looking out to sea. I would then feel a stinging in my feet and look down to see that they had turned to slate, as sharp as the blade of a knife. I would become stranded. bleeding and wounded in an agonizing pain. When I looked out to the ocean desperately for help, all that I would see was a ball of flames on the surface, and a poisonous black smoke traveling my way.

"Crystal?" said my Dad. I jumped and came to.

We were standing in the street and my heart was actually racing from the memory of my dreams. They had stopped, ever since Llyr had come back to me.

"Erm, no Dad, no," I said. "Let's go to town," I said pulling him down the road and away from the lighthouse.

***

We strolled by the fishing huts which were positioned in the centre of the isle facing out towards the sea.

As we passed, Dad chatted with a couple of the seamen. Dad, a former environmental lawyer, was their longstanding hero, ever since he had managed to bring down a local energy firm SKANX. This vile company were destroying all the sea life in the area and bringing the fishing industry to its knees. Llyr and the mers, had too been horribly affected by SKANX and had a lot of respect for my father, unbeknownst to him.

We eventually said goodbye to the fishermen and continued our walk, pausing here and there to allow Maurice to sniff the paving for other dogs' scents.

"Oh come on Maurice!" shouted Dad, impatiently.

"Aww, Dad, leave him. He's picking up little messages. It's like dog texts!" I cried, gazing fondly at my old pooch.

Dad smiled at me and allowed Maurice a further four seconds before we continued our journey.

"Funny bunch, those fishers," said Dad suddenly.

"They always were kooky," I agreed, giggling. The locals of Starfish were like a bunch of coarse-skinned cave hermits. Still, that's what you got for spending your entire existence out on a little remote island, I guess.

"Did you know they believe that there are mermaids out here?" hissed Dad incredulously

I felt a wave of nausea. So he had finally heard.

"The other day, that Roger, he was saying that there's a colony out there," Dad continued, "and that only Islanders can see them. Some kind of old pact, he reckons. I mean, I thought perhaps it was some kind of dementia talking, but then Colin pipes up, saying I have to keep it top secret."

"Well..." I began.

"They're barmy!" he interrupted.

"But Dad, why would they all be saying the same thing?" I tried to reason.

"Because, Crystal, that's what people on islands do. They invent myths! Have you heard about the people of Iceland? They all believe in elves, and they won't drive down a road if there is a pile of stones in the middle of it, because they think these are their houses. Barmy!"

As we wandered forth, I realised that I felt very dizzy. If this was how he reacted to the very mention of the sea people, what was he going to do when I eventually told him the truth? That I had become one.