Sleeping Nightmare

Chapter 16: can I trust you? | Tyler

I didn't need to go far to find the blackcurrant eyed siren. With the vial secured in my jeans pocket, I happen to stumble across Sarah and Queen Arya of Narmia, making their way towards the latter's guest bedroom.

Both their hair and clothing was still damp from the beach. Arya was muttering something inconsistently, and Sarah was nodding along, until she spotted me coming from the opposite direction of the hallway.

The purple vial felt like a fireball in my pocket. I should have given it to her right then, but something caused me to hesitate.

"You're here?" I questioned the siren, and Arya halted mid-speech. I had imagined her at her family's pearl home. That was where I was headed.

"Arya says there is a matter of urgency we must address," Sarah said by way of explanation.

The Queen asked, "Tyler? Does Kye-Ann want to discuss the trade agreement already?"

Most of the time, if I approached the mermaid Queen, it was for the trade agreement. Kye had wanted to finalise the details as soon as possible, probably to get the Narmians off Delmitii and back to their undersea kingdom. I suppose I couldn't blame her for that - a foreign ruler's presence did mean that most of Kye-Ann's tasks nowadays was to always be on standby in case the Queen required something, or if she was unhappy about a certain arrangement. Arya being here kept Kye from her usual tasks that she did for the siren island.

But the Narmians had been almost infuriatingly slow with signing off on the agreement. I wasn't exactly annoyed by it, not like Kye, but after so many meetings, it felt as if Arya was trying to extend her stay. But for what reason?

"No," I replied. "I..." I trailed off, debating against whether to mention the vial. "I wanted to see you," I finished lamely, addressing this last part to Sarah. "I wanted to see how you were doing." I inwardly cringed at the patheticness of the comment.

Only a couple of hours ago, we had been eating prawns together, laughing as we avoided large crowds to prevent ourselves from being swarmed by fans of Nathan's magazine. We'd been so comfortable.

Then the island's pier had been ravaged by a shark.

Two bright spots of red appeared on Sarah's cheeks, as if she too were remembering dinner, and she blinked her violet eyes a total of three times before saying, "As well as I can be, considering I'm the leader now."

I studied her face more carefully, and I realised that the sirens' sudden voting in her favour had left her rattled more than she would like to let on. She kept fidgeting where she stood, and her fingers never strayed away from the pearl key strung from her neck.

Arya hushed her. "Don't say that in such a resentful tone," she whispered. "Come, we'll talk in my room." The Queen ushered us both in before giving one furtive look outside to make sure the hallway was empty before closing the door.

Arya's room was quite ordinary, like any bedroom in Varielie, although there were certain touches that I had added to the room per Kye's request to make it more fitting for someone descended from mer-royalty. The pillows had been fluffed up with seabird feathers, and there was a scented candle on the bedside table to filter out the smell of dirt and sand from down the hill. The window pane had been cleaned, the grime cleared away to reveal a brilliant view of the setting sun.

Arya moved to sit cross-legged on her bed, patting the space beside her. Sarah obeyed, combing a hand through her waterlogged hair and releasing a grunt of frustration at the knots she came across. I remained standing.

"Can I trust you?" Arya questioned after a moment. It took me another second to realise she was speaking to me.

"Yes," I said, uncertainly.