How to be a Mermaid (The Cotton Candy Quintet #1)(46)

“Kai!” I cried happily.

“Tara!” he said, like he couldn’t believe I was here. I couldn’t believe it either. “How long are you here this time?”

“A long time,” I told him. “Did you think I’d forget you?” Kai eyed me suspiciously and I laughed.

“For good?”

I shook my head, feeling the dark cloud of sadness come over me. “Not yet,” I said. “But soon.” Finn and I had been discussing what was next in our relationship. The plan was to eventually end up living together somehow. For now though, I was busy being his eyes and ears on land.

“Tara!” another familiar voice cried.

“Ponce!” I grabbed the snapper and hugged him close. “You look great! How are you doing?”

I swear, the fish flushed scarlet. “I’ve got a girlfriend,” he said sheepishly.

“A girlfriend?” I laughed. “She’s a lucky girl.”

My voice caught in my throat when I saw the other familiar figure in the distance. Unlike Kai or Ponce, he stopped further out, watching me. My heart fluttered.

“Hello there, stranger,” I called out to him playfully. My heart was pounding in my ears, as it always did when I saw him.

“You’re here.”

Before I could react, I found myself in his arms, his lips on mine, his hands holding me to him. He kissed me with the fervent passion of someone who had found everything he wanted.

I knew because I was kissing him that way too.

He pulled back and wrapped his arms around me. I couldn’t tell who was doing the holding and who was doing the clinging.

“I’ve missed you,” he said.

“Me too.”

“Tara, so much has happened while you were gone!” Kai interjected. With finals and everything, it had nearly been a month since I had joined them in the water.

“I’ll bet,” I said, offering him a smile. “A lot’s happened on land as well.” Whatever translated my words into Mermish changed “two months” into “two moons”.

Finn held my hand, not taking his eyes off me. “You can tell us all about it,” he said, his sea green eyes soft.

“Just so long as you keep showing me how to be a proper mermaid.”

He smiled at me, the brilliance of the entire city of Thalassa in that one smile. “Of course.”





AFTERWORD


When I first started writing How to be a Mermaid, I knew next to nothing about professional mermaiding. I looked online, watched videos, and kept an eye on forums, but I didn’t think I’d get a chance to see a mermaid in real life. And if it wasn’t for the Georgia Aquarium’s Festival of the SEAson, I probably still wouldn’t have been able to.

As part of the Georgia Aquarium’s Christmas celebrations, the famous Weeki Wachee Mermaids did a special performance at the aquarium. I went to a meet and greet with one of the mermaids and watched them do a live show.

It was one of those defining moments in my life. Watching these mermaids perform was like watching fantasies come true. Up until that point, mermaids were a thing of myth.

The mermaids of Weeki Wachee brought them to life for me.

While I was there, I also did a behind-the-scenes tour of the aquarium. My wonderful guide took me to areas where a lot of aquarium goers don’t venture. I got to see my favorite animals, the whale sharks, from a whole new perspective. I learned that they ship in food everyday from New Zealand for a particular animal’s diet. And I saw the inner workings of one of the world’s biggest aquariums.

The mermaids were enchanting, but I found that the living, breathing aquarium was just as magical. There are far too many things on this earth that we take for granted. The beauty of the sea is one of them.

The entire experience was eye-opening. A lot of conservation efforts are going on taking care of the animals and our oceans.

If we don’t take care of our environment, there will be be less opportunities for future generations to see the beautiful ocean and its creatures.

Finn, Tara, King Oceanus, and King Leviathan may take care of the oceans in this book, but it is our responsibility to do more.

We have a fantastical, magical world around us. We need to take care of it, too.





ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS


A shout out goes to all of the Blazing Indie Collective and the authors of the Falling in Deep Collection. You guys rock and it is an honor to work with you all.

Immense gratitude is in order for Lori Parker, Emily Goodwin, Blaire Edens, Felicia Sullivan, and Rhiannon Frater for their input into this making this book better. You deserve a hug.

A special thanks goes out to Lis Culpepper, who helped me with some legal questions that arose in this book. Without you, I would have been completely lost.

And last but not least, thank you to my family and friends, especially Chris. I know I disappear for long lengths of time into my world, but I can always count on you for making reality a wonderful world to come back to.





ABOUT THE FALLING IN DEEP COLLECTION


From mermaids to sirens, Miami to Athens, dark paranormal romance to contemporary stories with steam, the fifteen award-winning and best-selling authors of the Falling in Deep Collection are bringing you mermaid tales like you’ve never seen before.