Sleeping Nightmare

Chapter 10: the merman prince | Sarah

I rolled the white lolly around in my palm, marvelling at its pearl-like sheen - it even caught the sunlight the same way a real pearl would. "What did you call this again?" I asked.

Tanzeem grinned. "Cyarne. It allows us to breathe underwater for approximately an hour, tops. Trust me, I tried to push my luck recently, and I almost drowned. Mother sent half the island to find me, I swear."

It was late afternoon, and I'd returned to Tanzeem's house from Tyler's photoshoot to join my relatives on their regular pearl dives. We headed out to the pier shortly after changing into clothes made out of waterproof material, so that the fabric wouldn't stick uncomfortably to our bodies once we exited the water.

As far as my family was concerned, I'd only gone for a long walk around Delmitii. I would have told them about posing as Tyler's partner for the island magazine, but I held myself back, for adequate reasons. I'd only known my cousin for two days, but I was pretty sure that she would pass out if she'd heard that I'd kissed someone.

And not just someone. I kissed Tyler, for gods' sake.

I kept replaying the moment in my mind, fighting the subtle blush that rose to my cheeks when I thought of his lips, the softness of them. He'd smelled like something tropical, and when I had closed my eyes, I had imagined being somewhere exotic, magical - not atop a hill where a creep guy named Nathan was making lovey-dovey eyes at us.

It had only been a kiss for work, I reminded myself. He felt nothing; I felt nothing. He'd done it because he needed the money. He'd tried to hide it, but I had observed the way he had perked up at the mention of a pay raise. He was hot, but to work as a model and Kye-Ann's assistant with seemingly no break from either job implied that his life probably wasn't as simple as it seemed.

I had let him kiss me.

Why? I was still trying to figure out the reason, too.

Well, I'd never been kissed nor kissed anyone before, and I had been curious to know what the experience was like. When we'd faced each other, he'd seemed so extremely shy and hesitant. Screw this, I'd thought, and just went for it. Better to get it over and done with, right?

I didn't think it would feel that good, though. For someone who was having their first kiss, Tyler was a damn good kisser. And when he'd made that tiny sound from the back of his throat, I'd nearly died from how cute it was.

Okay, Sarah. Get it together. Stop fantasising over something that happened hours ago. It's over.

Tanzeem waved a hand in front of my face. "Hello? Earth to Sarah?"

I blinked. "Sorry, I spaced out. What did you say?"

"Mother said we're diving in ten minutes," Tanzeem gestured to where Aunt Geena and my mother were standing by the edge of the pier. My aunt was making wild gestures with her hands - probably informing my mother of the potential threat that the sea creatures represented, and to emphasise the cyarne's pressing time limit.

"You said you nearly drowned," I remembered. "What happened? Who found you?"

Tanzeem paused, tilting her head slightly to the side as if she were thinking. "It was this merman, actually. It was so weird. Like, I remember my vision blurring, and then suddenly he was there."

To be saved by a merman wasn't common. In fact, nobody had known that merfolk existed until almost two years ago. "Oh, a Prince Charming, come to save his damsel in distress?" I said in a singsong voice, my smile widening as Tanzeem's face contorted with fake rage.

She raised a hand and slapped my shoulder. "Very funny. No, he just dumped me on the sand and retreated back into the ocean. I didn't even get a proper look at his face. Honestly, I thought he was out to kill me and I was saying my last prayers to the angels when I realised that he was actually returning me to Delmitii. Gosh, my mother roasted my ass."