Under the Sea *Book One* Water Trilogy

~Thirty~

I had nearly drowned again. It was like my life in had come full circle, only this time I refused to move away and I refused to give in to the fear that wanted to overtake me. This time I had Finn to help me through it.

"I want you to meet my parents," I said as we sat in Jenny's living room. My parents were out until later in the afternoon. It had been a week since the war in Atlantica and Finn had started healing up nicely. "We just have to come up with something to tell them so that it's not you living with a random person down the street."

"Oh, I know what you could say," Jenny said as she brought us a batch of cookies fresh out the oven. "I'm Finn's aunt and-"

*

*

"Finn's mother travels a lot and he wants to stay in one place for his whole senior year," I told my parents the lie Jenny had created as we sat at in the living room. Finn put a good few inches between us, which slightly irritated me, but it made my dad happy.

"So you have been meeting a boy down at the dock," my dad said before looking at me mom. "I knew it."

My mom laughed. "So are you just a boy that lives down the road or are you?" she looked at the space between us. The space that said we might or might not be dating.

"He's my boyfriend," I clarified. Finn smiled shyly.

"Welcome to the neighborhood Finn," my dad stuck his hand out to shake his. "I'm Sean Pitkus but you can just call me Sean and this is my wife, Malinda."

"Hello," she shook his hand and I could tell she would want me to spill everything about him after he left. "Would you like to stay for dinner?"

I looked at Finn. When I told my parents that I was having the new kid down the street come over I wasn't expecting them to be so happy to find out he was a boy.

"Absolutely, Mrs. Pitkus," he responded politely.

"Please, call me Malinda," she smiled at his sweetness.

"Okay," I interrupted. "We're going to me room now."

"Leave the door open," my dad said awkwardly. He had never really had the situation of me bringing a boy home before. "Or something."

I rolled my eyes and closed it anyway even though Finn had wanted to follow my father's rules.

"Finally, alone at last," I giggled before kissing him. His fingertips grazed along the small uncovered part of skin at my hip. Goose bumps formed on my flesh. He made me feel like no one ever had before. We stayed in my room kissing until the sun dropped lower on the horizon.

"Have you spoken to Meri lately?" I asked as we lay on my bed.

"Yeah, she says hi by the way and she was teasing me about the fact that she kissed you."

I laughed. After Nahla had nearly drowned me Meri had to give me CPR, mouth to mouth resuscitation, or if you prefer the kiss of life as Meri called. Finn found it awkward to talk about, Meri brought it up because she knew the effect it had on him, and I thought the whole situation was funny. What I thought was even more entertaining was the fact Finn still had no idea I had seen him naked. I snickered to myself.

I could hear the phone ring twice before my mom answered it in the kitchen. I listened to her laugh before telling them to hang on.

"Audrey, your boss is on the phone!" she shouted. I hesitantly went to the kitchen and grabbed the phone before walking back to my room with Finn. He asked me who it was and I mouthed Jim. He looked surprised. For several days Jim had closed the shop and told us he would contact us when he opened back up. I knew he was devastated that the mermaid he had caught had just been a dream, due to my wonderful acting and manipulative skills, but I hadn't known he was going to take it so hard.

"Hello?" I answered.

"I know what you did," the gruff voice of Jim said from the other line, sounding angry.

"What?" I said softly.

"You took her," my eyes widened and I looked at Finn who had no idea what was happening.

"I don't know what you're talking about," my voice shook.

"Yes, you do," I pulled the phone away and put it on speaker phone. "You took my mermaid. You and the damn boy freed her. Now I don't have proof that I'm not crazy. And now I know the truth. I know the truth about my wife and my son. I know the truth about you and Finn. You're all liars!" he roared. "You tried to hide what you really were from me the whole time. You probably took this job just to make sure I never succeeded in exposing your kind but this was only a minor setback. I will prove it. You just wait."

There was a paused before the beeping of the call ending filled the silence.

"He knows about you. He knows about your mom but his wife and kid?" Are they merpeople too? Is that why they never found the bodies? Was it really JIm's wife that came and told him everything would be alright?"

"He think's you're a merperson too, Audrey." Finn whispered.

"Oh my god," I dropped the phone on the floor. "What are we going to do?"

"We're going to do what everyone else does and call him crazy." I shook my head.

*

*

For the last few weeks of summer Finn and I hung out all day every day. It was great not having him as a secret. We went to the movies, we ordered late night pizza, and I had Finn try out a roller coast or two, which he didn't like one bit. I tried to teach him how to drive but that was going to take some effort and time. The night before the first day of school Finn about had a panic attack because he didn't have everything he needed so Jenny had to give him money and I took him to the store. That night he came to my window and pushed it open while I was sitting on my bed drawing a picture of him.

"Audrey." I jumped at the sound of his voice next to me.

"Finn, how did you get in here?" I looked around to see my white curtain blowing in the breeze. He smirked before plopping belly first down next to me.

"You're drawing me?" he wiggled his eye brows playfully, causing me to blush and try to hide my sketch pad. "No, don't hide it. Let me see," he demanded. I let out a huff of breath before handing it over. He smiled triumphantly. He examined them with the eyes that caused me to fall in love.

"It's just a quick sketch," I said nervously in case it wasn't up to standards.

"It's amazing. Can you draw by looking visually at a realistic picture?"

"I think so. Why?"

"You know that picture of us eating ice cream on the dock? I want you to draw that so I can hang it in my room. Just like you have me hung on your wall," he gestured to the many pictures I had organized above my bed. I blushed. I was so used to them being there that sometimes I forgot that it showed how truly obsessed I was.

"I can do that," I said. He took my face in his hands and kissed me.

"Goodnight," he whispered softly in my ear. "I love you."

And then he was gone out the window back to Jenny's. My stomach flip flopped at the thought of my senior year starting the next morning and my heart thundered at the thought of Finn being with me. I had a hard time falling asleep that night but eventually it was accomplished.