The Dark Hearts

Chapter 5: Clarke

"Tristen!" I shouted again after he put me down. Putting my hand on his finely toned chest, I whispered, "Eight hundred years is too long. Any luck finding my mother?"

"I'm sorry."

I looked down at my shoes. Tristen only lifted my chin and gave me a quick peck on the lips. I stroked his short ocean blue hair. I would have begun making out with him if Octavia wasn't standing directly behind me.

"I didn't know you had a boyfriend," Octavia said as she squeezed my shoulders from behind.

"I didn't, not for years. It's a long story."

"Tell me later? I'm going to take a break and explore the ship." Octavia made her way down the long hallway and took a left.

Tristen took my hands in his large tough ones. I looked down at his arm and noticed blue and black scales on the sides of his forearms.

"What is this?" I asked him.

"A side effect, I'm afraid." His low voice cracked as he explained, "I haven't been in the water for a about a week. I've been avoiding every drop of it."

"But why? We are on the ocean as we speak." We made eye-contact as I tried to reassure him that he could trust me.

"During the last moon, I was swimming as we merpeople should during such a time and the sirens found me."

My body froze and I couldn't speak.

"I escaped, but not before they performed the Moonlight Kiss on me. I am marked for life. Not even my heart can save me now. I may be walking and talking, but the moon will always make me go back to that infernal island until my heart comes with me and I can be killed," said Tristen, the anger rising in his voice.

"That's only during the full moon, Tristen. You can still swim. You should still swim." I encouraged him. "We can't have a merman who is scared of the water, now can we?"

Tristen laughed, pulling me close to his chest. "I never stopped loving you."

"And I you."

Taking his face in my hands, I kissed Tristen long and hard. His lips moved with mine, knowing every movement of mine. His hands took my waist as I rubbed the back of his head, running my hands through his hair. When we pulled apart briefly, I watched his eyes flash from golden brown to blue. The dance went on until the hall began to fill with students moving in. Then, sadly, we broke apart.

I took his arm and we walked in the same direction as Octavia, passing many doors on the way. When we finally reached the elevator, there was a couple of guys laughing in excitement inside.

"Five please," Tristen asked the boy closest to the buttons.

"Nice hair, bro," the boy said.

Tristen gave him a curt nod and pulled me closer so that I was inhaling the scent of the ocean in the crook of his neck.

When we left the elevator, we were surrounded by columns and an infinite number of balconies from which neon signs depicted the names of stores and spas. We were on the main floor of the ship.

"I think the admissions center is down here." Tristen rubbed his chin.

I look in the direction of which he was looking and saw Octavia sitting on the wall of a massive fountain.

I take Tristen's hand and lead him over to the fountain. Before we reach Octavia, I hand him my overly large hoodie from around my waist.

"I don't think walking around with scales on your arm is a good first impression, honey." Agreeing, he slides the hoodie over his head. I was slightly turned on by how good he looked in pink.

"Clarke! I thought I was hopelessly lost." Octavia looked up at us as we approached her.

"Maybe a map might help?" I heard a familiar voice behind me.

"Orion, my man!" Tristen took Orion into a brotherly embrace.

"Tristen? I thought... Nevermind. I'll ask questions later." Orion glanced at me, then at Octavia.

"Hey, pretty lady."

Octavia looked uncomfortable at the remark and pulled up her shirt in a desperate, yet subtle way of hiding her breasts. Orion, of course, noticed the movement.

Pulling her long hair back into a ponytail, Octavia said, "Okay so I think the classrooms are one level above us and the student cafeteria is a level above that. The guests are on the eighth and ninth floor, which we are not granted access unless it is the weekend or during school break."

"Well now." I laughed.

"Yeah, and why is hotel boy here?"

"Hotel boy?" Orion scoffed at the jest.

I giggled and Tristen slapped Orion on the back.

"What? I can't be a student here, too?" Orion raised an eyebrow at Octavia.

"I guess you can and are one, apparently," Octavia smiled awkwardly. "How do you all know each other. I don't recall you going to our school."

The three of us responded at the same time, "It's a long story."

"Okay." Octavia glanced at me with pleading eyes and I knew she wanted answers that I couldn't give her. At least not yet.