Because You Love to Hate Me(45)

Fine or not, it was keeping me from being with Samuel.

I tilted the shell against my lips and drank.

No sooner had the elixir slipped down my throat than I felt a stab of pain cutting through my belly. I gasped and reached for my stomach, certain that I would find a blade buried in my flesh, but there was nothing there.

The pain continued, searing through my guts until I was sure I was being turned inside out.

I screamed in agony and collapsed.





It was with much effort that I opened my eyes again. The world was bleary. Dried salt had tangled my lashes together. My heart was throbbing. My blood a chaotic rush through my ears. I gasped for air. It tasted different. Colder. Crisper.

It was still night, but the moon had trekked halfway across the sky. Storm clouds were on the horizon, threatening to reach land within the hour. There would be no sun tomorrow, my first day as human.

I bolted upright.

Human.

My jaw fell as I took in my body. Somehow, the absence of my tail was more shocking than the addition of human legs. I traced my shaking hands down my pale thighs, over the hard shins, to the toes that curled on my command, as obedient as my fins had once been.

A cry of elation escaped me.

I was human.

I rolled onto my side and moved to stand, but as I put my weight onto my feet for the first time, I yelped and my legs buckled, hurtling me back to the sand.

The pain was furious—not as horrible as when I had first tasted the elixir, but enough to leave me whimpering when I thought of standing again.

I had to, though. For Samuel. For our future together.

Gritting my teeth, I tried again, and this time I succeeded, locking my knees to hold my body upright. It was as if I stood on needles. I hissed, my face scrunched against tears.

It was tolerable, I told myself.

I would tolerate it.

I took a step. Flinched. Stepped again.

The pain did not lessen, but through strength of will I kept myself moving forward. I was walking. It was painful, but it would not kill me. I could go on, and so I would.

Soon Samuel would be here. He would embrace me and give me his arm, and what would pain be then? Nothing but an annoyance buried beneath my elation.

With this thought, I heard him.

I turned toward the footsteps coming down the beach. I spotted him before he spotted me and my body lightened, my heart soaring on the feathers of a white-winged tern. He was just as I remembered him, moving among the driftwood with an eager gait, picking his way among the broken shells and stringy kelp.

He looked up, beaming. “Nerit, you’re here. I—”

He halted, his smile deadening as he realized that I was not lying on the sand, waiting for him. His expression slackened as he took in my body, all bare skin and uncertain legs.

I had never been embarrassed by my nakedness before, but suddenly I felt vulnerable standing before him. I swallowed, believing it must be the newness of my strange body, but I could not keep from wrapping my arms around myself.

“Samuel,” I breathed. I wanted him to grin again. I wanted him to scoop me into his arms and laugh with glee at my unexpected transformation.

He did none of those things. He seemed stunned and, after a long moment, horrified.

“What did you do?” he asked—nay, demanded.

My smile became strained. “I . . . I’ve made it possible,” I said, daring a painful step forward. “I’ve made it so we can be together, like we wanted. After this night, we will never have to be parted, just like you said.”

“No. This can’t be.” He stepped back even as I came nearer. His hands went to his head, burying his fingers in his hair until it stuck out at all angles. “No, no, no.”

“Samuel, what—”

A shrill whistle sent a cascade of ice down my spine, followed by a male voice that I didn’t recognize.

“She is a beauty, I’ll afford you that.”

I looked up and spotted a pair of men standing on the nearest dune. They held an assortment of chains between them.

The man who had spoken shook his head. “But I don’t see any fish’s tail. Where is the mermaid, Sam?”

“She . . . this is . . . she was a mermaid, I swear.” Samuel gestured toward my body with dismay. “I don’t understand. This is some dark magic. She . . . she must be a witch! Take her as a witch!”

I stumbled backward. “Samuel, what’s going on? Who are these men?”

“We have a witch already,” said the second stranger. “Vladlena with the All-Seeing Third Eye.”

“But if this girl needs a job, I think we can come up with something for her to do,” the first man said with a hideous smirk. “Fisker and Holt’s Traveling Circus is always looking for offstage talent. Will save us from having to build that saltwater tank, too.”

He took a step closer to the edge of the dune and I noticed something that had been hidden from my sight before. A harpoon.

I whimpered, beginning to understand that Samuel had brought these men. That he had told them about me. That he had . . . what? What had he done? “Samuel?”

His eyes flashed. “You,” he said, snarling, “were going to make me rich. A thousand guilders they would have paid me. And now you’re . . . you’re worthless.” He threw an angry gesture toward my legs.

“Naw,” said one of the men. “I wouldn’t say that. We’ll find a use for her. Don’t you worry.”