Opal Waters | ✔

- Chapter 13 -

I couldn't take it anymore. The tears were taking control and I didn't like it. I had to get out of here, the pressure of the ocean too much against my skin. I felt trapped. The realization of having to come to clean washed over me. I pulled away from Damien, allowing my lungs to take in the air was the water as I filled my body up as much as possible. I started to float towards the surface, kicking my tail behind me I pushed myself, swimming faster than I had ever swum before.

I had to get out of here.

My mind was racing as I did so, the water seemed to go on forever, the surface never getting closer. I could tell Damien was following me, his hands grazing my tail every so often. I knew I needed to go faster. I couldn't let him catch me.

My body felt like we were playing a game of cat and mouse, and unfortunately, it seemed like I was losing. I shot out of the water like a missile soaring through the air until my body lost momentum. Turning I quickly placed my hands out in front of me ready to dive back under the waves. My heart was racing as I did so, the water washing over my face like a jet stream. There were bubbles everywhere, and I realized I'd disoriented myself.

I heard a crash up above me and knew immediately that it was Damien falling into the water just as I had. I winced, waiting for the impact of him falling on top of me, but it never came. The water swirled around me, pulling my hair in every which direction, but nothing ever came of it. I could feel the thoughts flowing through my mind like they were falling off a waterfall. I couldn't breathe, my heart racing.

I kept my eyes clenched shut, something telling me I didn't want to see what happened next.

"Calm down!" I felt Damien's arms wrap around me as I continued to lash back and forth. Something told me to get out of the water, to get away from everything down here. But if I did that I would be beached until I dried off, and without Damien's help that could be hours.

"Opal!" I heard the voice again and suddenly my fin wouldn't move. I couldn't bring myself to kick at the water anymore. We were close to the shore, I could tell by the pressure on my body that we couldn't be more than twenty feet deep. I opened my eyes slowly, looking for any sign of danger. Damien placed his hand on my mouth holding me close to his body. His other hand holding me tightly. I caught his eyes, the panic rising in my chest again. He shook his head, looking out into the deeper water.

A large shark swirls in the water just a few meters away from us, shaking as he swims in circles. Why wasn't he coming closer to us?

Damien squeezed me once again pulling us closer to the shore. Asada always said stay away from the sharks, never run from them, but stay away from them. If a shark tries to attack, we have to defend ourselves but they shouldn't bother us if we don't give them a reason to. They would rather an easier catch. As the thoughts rush through my head I feel the blood leaving my lip. I hadn't realized that I bit it when falling back into the water. The salt tore at my skin, as it fought to heal itself.

The shark continued to swim, pacing back and forth like it was waiting for us to make one wrong move. I did my best to hold the blood in my mouth. Damien and I needed to get out of here before we both became fish food.

"I'm going to get you to safety, I just need you to calm down," The voice echoed through my thoughts again. I allowed myself to collapse into him, my weight working with him instead of against him.

Damien continued to pull us towards the shore and each kick of his fin sent the shark into a frenzy. He couldn't reach us and I wasn't sure why. My heart had slowed, due to me forcing myself to calm down. This was all going to be okay, but only if I helped the situation.

Eventually, we were in shallow enough water that our heads were popping out while we swam. The world seemed quiet above the surface like there wasn't a single thing that could go wrong. But Damien and I knew better, a danger was lurking closer than we could even imagine. The shark was large enough it couldn't reach us here, but we could still see a slight shadow of its fin off the horizon. Taunting us as it continued to swim in circles.

Our eyes adjusted back to our human eyes as we pulled ourselves onto the sand. It scratches our stomachs until both of us were so exhausted we collapsed. Flipping over with what little strength we could manage. We would have to wait until the tide went out far enough that it wasn't washing over us anymore...then we'd have to wait until we dried. I let out a slight groan, as this was going to be a long night.

Damien held my hand as the two of us lay on our backs, looking up at the stars. The moon was still low in the sky, but by the time the tide was fully out, it'd be high enough to see all around. I watched it carefully, trying to catch every slight movement as if it were a clock. This, of course, was impossible.

"Are you okay?" Damien questions, his hand gripping mine tighter as he turns to look at me. I turn to look at him as well, our eyes meeting as the sand sticks to our faces. This was the worst part about being a mermaid but Damien made it slightly better.

"I am now," I smiled.