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

Silly B-

I felt sick to the gut. How could she? I seethed, as her elated shrieks echoed around the boat. Next, there were the horrifying sounds of splashing, as they groped beneath the waters.

I looked at George, but there was no need for him to speak. His face said it all. It was a grim expression, one of impending doom.

Silly bi-

Suddenly there was a loud rumble across the skies and they all screamed and giggled before the motor turned on again.

I strongly suspected this was a mer-incited storm, although I wasn't sure of its purpose, exactly. Was it to get the idiots to retreat back to the land? Was it a signal, they were letting me know they were onto my lies? Or perhaps just a storm of sheer rage. Probably all of the above, I decided miserably.

George and I sat there mutely, as rain hammered at the cabin windows, and the boat began to rock. The idiots seemed to take the bait and their hollers faded as the boat sped off.

No sooner had they left, the waves calmed again, leaving me in no doubt that this had been a supernatural flare up. I buried my head in my hands. This had been the second time George and I had been victims of a mer-storm. On the previous occasion, they had intervened when I had returned from three years at uni and interrogated George about Llyr's whereabouts. He had been about to spill the beans, that Llyr was getting married when watch-mer from The Jewel had silenced him with a clap of thunder.

I felt a huge stab of guilt. His loyalty towards me had caused him problems with the sea-people yet again.

It was hard enough already for him, being only half mer, and a product of a scandal that was on a similar scale to what was going on now. Nephys had actually been married to Llyr for a long time, forced by the hand of their fathers. During their marriage, she started dating a fisherman from the island and became pregnant. She then tried to pretend, with Llyr that it was his, but unfortunately, she bore a child who was predominantly human. George could not shift, nor could he breathe under water, making it impossible to cover it all up, and pretend he was Llyr's child.

Nephys had always been devoted to her son, and they visited each other all the time, arranging meet-ups out at sea. But asides from Llyr - who was genuinely very fond of George – the other mer just seemed to use him for information about the isle and other human issues that affected them.

Despite the sheer horror of what had just happened, this all got me thinking about the relationship between the island and the mers again. If it had caused and was causing so much strife, what keeps them from terminating the pact, from making themselves invisible again to Starfish residents?

I turned to George, but I sensed from his ghostly expression that this was far from a suitable time to probe. He honestly looked broken.