Trust Issues

Chapter 3

Early the following day, I got dressed before the sun had even risen over the water. "'I wasn't strong enough.'" Those four words played on a constant loop until I'd all but memorized them. Every syllable was like a knife to the gut.

Hearing him voice my most profound regret—something I'd never told anyone—hit me like a physical blow. While Drew blamed himself for Carla and Ella's deaths, I assumed the blame for a completely different situation.

Something that hadn't even happened yet. The ominous image of Jonah leaving was permanently etched in my mind, bringing my depression and sorrow to a new level. Whenever I looked at him, my heart stopped dead in my chest, stealing the water from my lungs.

Even though I knew, despite everything we'd been through, there was a better chance of that scenario not coming to pass. That didn't stop me from clinging to him whenever we were together and fretting whenever we were apart.

He did the same, pulling me close whenever a shadow passed over his face, eyes darkening as memory washed over him. He saw my concern as that of a loving wife and, as such, barely paid attention to it. The sheer amount of will it took to smile and laugh (not to mention maintaining those smiles and laughter) was all but insurmountable.

My heart clenched yet again as I glanced at my sleeping husband. I hadn't told anyone about my breakdown yesterday, and now I wish I had. The only person who knew about it was Drew, and I knew he'd never tell anyone. Not even Mom and Dad knew, and a pang of guilt shot through me at the thought.

I hated keeping things from my family, but I was too ashamed to tell them. After everything we'd been through, I seemed closer than I thought to letting my depression and hopelessness consume me.

Even though I tried my hardest to maintain a happy and cheerful façade every day, I couldn't stop it from slipping every so often, despite my best efforts. It had begun to affect my daily routine, pulling me from an activity, a conversation, a meal.

Jonah and I would coincidentally lock eyes, and everything would come crashing down on me. When that happened, I would become withdrawn and distant, retreating into myself to stave off the dark feelings washing over me.

Regret, anger, sadness, despair, depression—each emotion was like a dagger plunging into me. I was teetering on the edge of a dark precipice, one I knew I would never escape from. I couldn't stop that one image from plaguing me, filling me with despair, sadness, and depression. I sucked in a sharp breath, my chest tightening. Panic began to seize me, so much so that I found myself opening my mouth to attempt to cry out.

I had been experiencing these mini-panic attacks frequently since the news about Zander was released. All the water had vanished from my lungs, and with it, my voice had also disappeared. I clutched my throat, clawing at it as if the motion would somehow get the water back into my lungs. I couldn't even manage a wheeze, but I heard movement behind me.

Jonah was in front of me in a heartbeat, concern and worry etched in his features as he scanned my face, my wide eyes. "Faye, listen to me," he said, his voice far away and muffled as if he were in another room. "I need you to breathe. Pull in water, then push it out. Breathe, honey."

My choking gasps were abnormally loud in my ears, and I could barely hear him. Yet I tried my hardest to do what he said, fighting past the tightness in my lungs and chest as I tried to get a single breath down.

The tightness slowly eased from my chest, and I found myself greedily sucking in water. Coughing, I took deep, shuddering breaths as I got used to breathing normally again. Jonah's face was pale, eyes wide as they scanned my face. When I began to sway, he gripped my shoulders, keeping me upright.

"Are you okay?" He asked softly. Before I could even open my mouth to attempt a response, there was a knock on our suite door. Jonah looked reluctant to let me go, but after my nod, he released my shoulders and swam toward the door.

I sagged against the wall, my chest heaving as I took deep breaths. I heard Jonah's low voice as he spoke to someone, but I couldn't make out the words. When I felt strong enough to move, I swam (albeit slowly) to the door, floating just behind Jonah. Drew was in the doorway, his face pale and eyes haunted. I noticed his slumped posture, the tremor in his hands.

Something was wrong. Jonah's eyes were wide, his face pale as he stared blankly at the wall beyond Drew. I glanced between my brother and Jonah to try and gauge what had happened, but neither merman spoke. Wordlessly, I slipped my hand into Jonah's, squeezing gently.

"What happened?" My voice was barely more than a whisper, but it felt too loud in the charged, tense silence that had fallen over us. Jonah swallowed hard as he exchanged a glance with Drew.

The three of us swam back into our suite, pausing in the entryway as Jonah shut the door behind us. It was my brother's turn to swallow hard, his throat bobbing with the motion. When he looked at me, my heart jumped into my throat. "Faye, I'm so sorry. I-It all happened so fast. I wasn't fast enough." As his voice broke, the tears he'd been trying desperately to hold back streamed down his cheeks.

The wording wasn't lost on me. It was a near-replica of the sentence he'd uttered yesterday. "W-what happened?" I repeated, my voice shaking.

"Laguna and Waverly had stopped by to see if we wanted to join them for breakfast. We'd barely had time to accept before chaos broke out. Several mermaids and a merman appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, eyes fixed on Waverly. The leader—a merman— never said a word, just grabbed Waverly and yanked her away from us.

"Before we could open our mouths to protest, the merman spoke, his voice cold and filled with malice. 'You knew this would happen eventually. It was only a matter of time.' His gaze had been fixed on Laguna, even as his words were directed at Waverly. Then he was gone, taking Waverly with her. We tried to follow him, but it was pointless. They could be halfway to Nepptheas by now."

When the realization hit me, it was like a physical blow. I reeled back, shock and hurt and fear coalescing into a ball in my stomach. Zander had just revealed a heartbreaking secret of Waverly's (one she'd kept hidden even from me): one that could potentially threaten her and her mother's lives. Waverly was a Siren.

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