Hart of the Sea

Chapter 14

I couldn't believe the words had just left my mouth; one out of the two biggest secrets of my life now hung in the water around us. I'd only told them about my visits to the shallows. I hadn't yet worked up the guts to tell them about Talia.

I looked between my parents' faces, waiting for their reactions. Shock froze their expressions for a solid few seconds. Then they burst into laughter.

"What's so funny?" I asked in disbelief. "Isn't that breaking the law?"

Once they'd both composed themselves, Mom spoke first. "Honey, we know you go to the shallows. We've known for a while."

My jaw dropped. "Wha- How? Why didn't you say anything?"

"Your mother and I were your age once," Dad said with a chuckle. "We knew you were just curious, plus it's only natural for you to be drawn to part of where you come from. And we know you're a smart kid, and that you'd stay out of trouble." By stay out of trouble, could he mean not talking to humans? Do they know that I've been doing that too?

No. How could they? It's not like they follow me to the shore.

"I have to admit...I'm a little shocked you guys didn't try to stop me," I laughed nervously.

Dad scoffed. "We did. We grounded you, remember?" Oh. Yeah, I guess they did. Before I could respond, he continued. "But even that couldn't keep you away from the shallows. It was almost as if you wanted us to find out," he laughed lightly, stroking his chin. "After that, we knew: nothing was going to stop you. No matter what we did, what consequences we gave you, your instinct to return to your other home would always draw you back to the shore."

I gulped. "It...It wasn't any instinct that kept me going back," I whispered, so quietly that I could barely hear myself over the sound of waves crashing softly above us. Was I really going to tell them?

Yes. I have to. Otherwise, the weight of this secret will crush me.

"What do you mean, Hart?" Mom asked gently, the slight tremor in her voice revealing her fear towards what I might have to say.

"I mean that...it wasn't some instinct to return to where I came from that kept drawing me back to the shore, it was...Talia."

"Talia? Who's Talia?" My dad asked, confused.

"I don't think I know a Talia," Mom mused, narrowing her eyes in thought. "Is there even a Talia in Chiton Village? Maybe she's from one of the outer villages...Moonshell? Oh! Maybe Shark-Eye Village?" She asked my father.

"No, she's not from any village," I said meekly.

"Oh. Is she from a neighboring kingdom then?" My mom smirked. "Were you guys going to the shallows together?"

I shut my eyes tight, shaking my head. "No, no, she- she's not from another village, or another kingdom, or this one...she's not from- she's not from the ocean..."

Both of my parents' eyes widened in unison. My mom's jaw dropped. Dad clenched his teeth. No one spoke for a solid minute; the only sound reaching my ears was the distant call of a dolphin.

"After everything we've told you over the years...all the lessons we tried to teach...," Dad whispered, trailing off. He scoffed at the ceiling. "Why do you think we were always so adamant about staying away from humans? It's a given, an unspoken rule: merfolk and humans don't exist to each other. That's that. We knew with you, there'd be some innate curiosity about the human world, so we had to squash it as early on in your life as we could. We couldn't let you experience exactly what your biological mother went through with Oliver...we couldn't bear the thought of you getting killed just for a human, some foolish crush-,"