Ame Perdue

Chapter Twenty-Three

I nearly dropped Kam.

My eyes were glued to the figure no more than fifteen yards away from me. With the lack of light and the fact that we were underwater, I should have been able to make out what I was looking at. I shouldn't have been able to even tell that there was anything there. I blamed this stupid merman crap for being able to see it. For a moment, all I could do was stare at the creature slowly drowning.

True to his nature, he didn't look very panicked about the fact that he was currently at the bottom of a bodied-filled lake with no means of escape. He hadn't blacked out yet, he was still tugging helplessly at whatever contraption it was that he was stuck in. He was captured from the waist down, his legs enclosed in some kind of metal container. Even from where I was, I could smell his blood in the water.

His body jerked as he tried to free himself. I squinted; his hands were locked behind him. His eyes were glancing around him, but it didn't take a fool to see that he was practically blind in the water. He didn't even seem to be aware of the snapping turtle a few yards in front of him, the water completely throwing off his vision like it should have mine. I didn't even consider not swimming over to help him. Didn't even consider leaving him there.

There was no mistaking who he was.

I had never met anyone who dyed their hair quite like his or met anyone with different colored eyes. It was a thing, I knew, but not common enough for me to come across anyone with the mutation. He had stood out in the crowd, someone that was easily recognizable. I think that even if he didn't stand out, I wouldn't be able to forget him. Not easily anyhow. But he did stand out. It was what had drawn me to him in the first place, and what allowed me to recognize him ever since then.

Elm's pale skin was taking on a blueish tinge as he held his breath. I didn't know what kind of creature he was, but I wasn't stupid enough to think that he would be able to hold his breath forever. He only seemed to notice me when I was a few feet away from him, his movement halting as he turned his head to face me.

There was nothing to give away how he was feeling at that moment. If he had any fear at how close he was to dying, he showed none of it. I swallowed hard; the image of him actually dying flickering before my eyes. Even then he hadn't seemed afraid of death. He didn't even look very bothered by the fact that he was at least a mile below the surface with no way out. Instead, he stared at me with those mismatched eyes, his face expressionless.

There was a pull deep inside of me to help him.

I couldn't deny that there was something pulling towards him, a little voice in the back of my mind that told me that our fates were intertwined. A pull that wanted me to save him. It was pissing me off. I hated the stupid thing. What? I was supposed to like this guy because of some pull? I was supposed to trust him because I had a few dreams about him where he was in trouble? I was supposed to save him from all of the pain that he was undoubtedly going to face?

Yeah right. There was also a voice that told me that I was supposed to trust the Wanderers and all that lead to was a body in my arms.

I should have left him here, should have let him die. It would probably be merciful if my dreams were anything to go by. If they were right, he would die a painful death and have even more pain before he ever got to the point of dying. Drowning would be a mercy compared to dying like that. I should have left him there to die, it would have been a worry off of my plate anyway. But I didn't swim away. I didn't leave him there to drown.

I reasoned with myself that it was my curiosity that kept me there. That it was purely because I needed to know why this person was showing up in my dreams. What was so important about him was that he kept appearing everywhere I look. Not that it was because of the pull that made me want to keep him alive. That had nothing to do with it. This was to see what B.S. excuse he would feed me to explain away my dreaming about him. That was it.