Whitney sat back down in her seat in the middle of the room, and Loan and Andrew moved to their spots near Arianna.
“We’ve debated enough and come to a decision,” Arianna began.
Whitney looked at her, but focused on the image of Sam in her mind instead.
“We will pardon the siren, as you have explained that they are innocent, and beyond that you are completely innocent as they aren’t your clan by birth. In order to tell the siren from the other mer clans, we will need to find a way to differentiate them before we can officially pardon them.”
Whitney stared in shock and didn’t respond like she should have. She wasn’t sure she heard correctly. Arianna just told her news she wasn’t expecting in the least. Loan winked at her and brought her back to reality.
“Siren have blue or green fins,” Whitney replied. It was easy enough to tell them apart in the water.
“Yet you do not,” the old lady added her two cents, as it seemed she always needed to.
Arianna nodded as she stood. Whitney froze in her seat. She knew only a little about Arianna, but she was pretty sure the rumors were that she was the strongest night human out there. Whitney wasn’t about to let the girl’s small frame fool her. Night human strength had nothing to do with brawn.
‘I honestly don’t know if I’m the strongest. There’s not really a competition for that sort of thing,’ Arianna’s voice rang in Whitney’s head. ‘And the guys like to exaggerate to keep me safe.’
‘So you can read my mind?’ Whitney replied. Andrew and Loan were telling the truth. Here Whitney thought she could only read their minds and it seemed like she could read everyone’s mind. Now she worried what she might have accidentally sent to Arianna.
‘Beyond your cute mate, there was nothing more I saw. That was only because you were thinking so strongly about him. I do my best to stay out of people’s minds if I can.’
Arianna walked past Andrew, and he followed two steps behind. She turned to him and placed a hand on his chest to stop him from coming around the table with her. He stopped in his tracks and gave her a hard stare. She didn’t even wither under the pressure he was exuding.
‘I want to try using one of my abilities on you. I think it might help us,’ Arianna explained as she continued around to where Whitney was seated, and Andrew stayed in his place.
‘Um, okay?’ Whitney replied as she realized that Arianna was waiting for an answer.
Arianna gently placed her hands on both sides of Whitney’s face. A strange sensation came over Whitney as Arianna’s hands warmed up. Whitney watched Arianna as she stood there with her eyes moving inside her closed lids. She was doing something, but Whitney had no idea what. After what seemed like only a few moments, Arianna let go.
“Turns outs you are right, Cleo, in doubting her being a siren. We have given the pardon to the siren, but you, Whitney, don’t need one. You are something that has not existed for a long time, and are not an outlawed night human at all.”
Whitney was now more confused than ever. Arianna saw the confusion and continued.
“I know the siren told you about Oceanids as a way for you to get off the island. To the siren who are alive now, and probably the rest of the night human world in general, Oceanids are a legend; they aren’t real. What your pink tail proves is that they are real. I know that you still carry the spirit of the skinwalker inside of you and want to protect the innocent. I think fate decided that this is a way for all mer innocents to be protected.”
Now everyone around the table was interested in what Arianna had found in Whitney. Whitney knew it didn’t come from her memories because she had no clue what was going on, but she was pretty sure it came from something deep inside of her. That was the only explanation she could come up with. Arianna was completely certain of what she was saying.
Arianna walked over to the door Whitney had entered and opened it. There, in the hallway, stood Trudy. She smiled and gave a small wave to Whitney. Whitney was beyond shocked and then a bit taken back by how much fear Trudy wasn’t feeling. Did she not know where she was? Whitney would have been mad to see her friend in danger, but now the siren—and thus Trudy—were part of the night human world.
“I know I didn’t ask you, but I had someone bring one of your siren here to show you the power you hold.”
Trudy walked into the room at Turner’s prompting as he got her a chair to sit in next to Whitney. Trudy sat down and gave Whitney her best brave smile even though her hands were clamped together to keep from shaking. Okay, she was terrified after all. That was a much more expected emotion. Whitney wasn’t a fan of having people in her head and was more than thankful the king couldn’t enter her mind, but for once she wished she could talk to her friend to reassure her it was safe and they would be fine. Well, at least she hoped they would be fine. She hadn’t heard the beginning of what Arianna was telling everyone.
“So the Oceanids are a type of merperson. Why the siren didn’t know that you are one is because no one has seen one for hundreds of years, and each Oceanid is different. It isn’t like how the siren have green or blue tails. An Oceanid can be any color they want.”
“Um.” Trudy raised her hand. “I think I missed something. Are you saying Whitney isn’t a siren?”
Smiling at Trudy, Arianna nodded. “I’m saying she’s much more than a siren. Each of the merclans come from different Oceanids that once populated the Earth, but as they were not needed and had children to continue on taking care of their part of the water, they left. Loan is the one who’s heard the most legends of them, but they supposedly come back in times of need, and that’s why Whitney was able to turn into one. The siren blood used to save her turned her into what the mer world really needed.”
Whitney nodded her head, but it still didn’t make much sense. She was sitting before the night human council now because she needed help. She couldn’t save anyone, let alone the island of siren that were going to be attacked any day. There was no way she could defeat all the enemies, and with Sam and his need to protect everyone, he would be in the front lines of the fight. She probably couldn’t help him. Being a savior to the mer seemed like an unlikely reason she had a pink tail.
Arianna watched Whitney as she thought, and Whitney finally realized the blonde night human was listening into her thoughts again.
“I’d like to blame my train of thought going wild on my hair color,” Whitney added, picking up a strand of her blond hair.
Arianna let out a small laugh. Then Whitney realized that insinuating her blonde hair made her lose track of things wasn’t the best thing to do since she was talking to another blond. Oops.
“I can show you how you’re going to save the mer,” Arianna said. “All I need is for you to transform.”
A fish out of water. That didn’t seem like it was going to save anyone, but since Arianna seemed to have all the answers, Whitney wasn’t about to doubt her. Taking only a second to straighten her legs, Whitney turned into her mer form and let her long pink tail drape in front of her.
“I need to borrow a scale,” Arianna explained as she reached forward and plucked a scale from Whitney’s tail.
The iridescent scale sparkled pink as Arianna held it carefully between her thumb and forefinger. It actually didn’t hurt that bad to have one scale taken out of her skin, and where it had been was already covered as a new one grew in its place. At least that was good to know.
“And now I need to borrow your arm.” Arianna moved over to Trudy, who held her right arm out for Arianna. Whitney wasn’t sure if Trudy knew who Arianna was, but Trudy seemed to understand doing what she said was the only option. Then again, it might have been Andrew standing behind the table giving them a ‘you have to behave’ glare that did it.
Arianna pressed the scale to Trudy’s arm and then waited. Whitney wasn’t sure what they were waiting for, but all the people in the room watched expectantly. That was the great thing about night humans; they lived in such a weird world, no one ques
tioned what she was doing.
“Try transforming,” Arianna finally suggested.
Trudy turned into her green form, but this time something unexpected happened. Instead of being the full fish monster she had been only the night before in the pool, she was half human just like Whitney and carried the same purple swirls across her upper body. Her tail was still green with flecks of pink every now and then, but she wasn’t the same green siren she had been before she had come into the room.
“It worked,” Arianna said. Of course, she realized it, too. She could see into Whitney’s mind and see the difference. She must have shown the rest of the people in the room as they gasped in unison.
‘How is this possible?’ Trudy asked as she looked at her scale-free arms before feeling her own face. She was no longer a monster in her night human form.
Whitney was startled by the voice in her head. She just heard her friend. Whitney turned to Arianna for an explanation.
“She’s part of your clan now, and just like the siren king, you’ll be able to hear everyone in your clan,” Arianna explained.
Whitney wanted to protest, but instead was caught by the wide grin of Loan as he looked at her from behind Trudy.
His dimples deepened in his brown skin, pulled so tight by his bright smile. “I knew my grandmother was right. I can’t wait to have some good luck for a change.”
CHAPTER 5
Sam was still so disappointed Whitney hadn’t met him the night before that he didn’t sleep well. She was out there on land, running around trying to keep the siren safe. That was his job description, not hers. She should be safe on the island beside him, but instead, he sat up for hours worrying about her. As the sun hit the ocean and began its morning tune, Sam gave up sleeping completely and went to the pool to soak instead.
He couldn’t help as his thoughts drifted to Whitney. He couldn’t talk to her, but felt faint traces of emotion every now and then. She was scared, tired, and confused. That didn’t seem like things were going very well. And siren, in general, did horrible the further inland they went. There wasn’t a siren he knew that survived more than a few days inland. Whitney thought it was because they worried too much about water, but he had a feeling that it had more to do with their connection to the ocean. He trusted that she would stay safe, but he still worried that sometimes even the best fighter could lose.
Sinking down into the water, Sam felt for her. He had to know she was feeling safe at the moment and not scared as she had before. At least that much of the connection stayed alive. He wouldn’t be able to bear it otherwise.
Day was coming, and soon the whole village would be up and training. They had preparations to do to keep the people unable to fight safe, and training to do with every able body who could. The king had finally told everyone on the island the truth that war was coming and Sam was happy he caved in and believed it himself. Now maybe they would stand a chance instead of being blind the moment it came. Sam just hoped that Whitney could figure things out before it did, and she would be beside him.
As he soaked in the lukewarm water, he finally realized Whitney was no longer scared. She was confused more than anything. What he would have given to be able to go into her mind and ask what was going on. Confused but not scared had to be a good sign. Confused meant she was safe enough to ponder something, whatever it was.
When the tingling started in his fin, Sam didn’t look down. He had been going without a proper soak for too long, and his fin had to be rehydrating as he had been in the pool for over an hour already. He wasn’t needed with the prepping that was happening now. Well, maybe he was needed, but he refused to help with anything until he heard from Whitney.
The tingling grew more intense, and he had to look and see what was going on. It didn’t feel like when his father burned off his scales in punishment, but something was definitely happening. Sam opened his eyes and found his tail wasn’t completely blue now. There were pink scales every now and then—pink scales that looked awfully similar to his mate’s.
Hopping out of the pool suddenly and changing before he normally should have, he had to grab a towel to dry off since he was now soaking wet in his clothes. His new fin was too much of a surprise development. He wasn’t going to meet with Whitney again until later, but he had to go try the ocean to see if he could talk to her. Something was going on, and he needed to know what it was.
Changing into dry shorts, Sam took off down the path to the ocean. Normally, he liked how secluded his house was and away from the ocean, but as he had to wind around the various houses and down the path to the sea, he was regretting not building closer like everyone else. He did his best to avoid anyone so he wouldn’t have to stop, and that was a feat in itself. Sam reached the water’s edge and was about to go in when he froze in place.
‘Hi, Sam,’ Whitney’s voice rang in his head. ‘I have something big I have to tell you.’
Whitney had been assured that Cassie and Jared were keeping the siren safe in her absence, but she still wanted to be back with them. Instead, she had to stay around the night human council mansion, wherever it was, and get all the details of the pardon on the record. It was important but time-consuming. Actually, in reality, Whitney was using her time to enjoy the outdoor pool while the majority of the night humans slept and the council argued over every last dot in the pardon. It had given her some much needed time to talk to Sam. With their bond, he was now part of her new night human merfamily, and her connection was complete with him. She could speak to him at any time, which was a huge relief.
“So how’d he take it?” Trudy asked from the spot in the pool next to her. She was still admiring being a mer with a normal upper body. She hadn’t gone under the water even once.
“About as well as I expected.”
“Meaning Prince Sam ordered you to return back to the island. Otherwise he would come get you?” Trudy understood Sam quite well, but then again, he had been her prince all her life. Whitney had thought it was just a nickname, but it was really who he was.
“Wouldn’t he be King Sam now that I get my own whole race of mer?” Whitney pondered, trying to make light of the situation. Having her own race meant nothing if the siren island was attacked.
“Oh, yeah, and I get to call you Your Royal Highness now, too,” Trudy teased. Even her red curls remained in her mer form, and Whitney actually found it strange to see her friend as a normal mer. It was obvious that Trudy found it strange also, as she kept looking at her own skin when she talked instead of at Whitney.
“Do you think the other siren will be fine with this?” Whitney asked. She really hadn’t taken that into consideration. The siren were pretty set in their ways and traditions, and she was basically breaking all of it. Making the greens into normal mer was bound to have consequences, but starting a whole new race was an even bigger change for all of them.
“I’ll tell you the greens will be thrilled. Do you know how often we get called ‘monster’ and not just by the stray human that might see us in our mer form? The blues think it’s funny to make fun of us, too. Like this, they can’t make fun of me now. I am sure every green will be offering to join you as soon as they seen this. Yes, the greens will be happy.”
“And the blues?”
Sam didn’t seem happy or sad about what was going on. His main and only concern was that Whitney wasn’t being treated badly or thrown in jail by the night human council. It took almost five minutes to get him to calm down enough after explaining that she had been to see the council and convince him that she really was safe. He was certain they were planning on killing her for the crimes of the mer in the past. He really couldn’t believe the pardon. That was going to take time to get used to.
Trudy shrugged. “I can’t imagine they’ll be mad about joining the night human world legitimately. Every siren has to worry if they set foot on shore, and then you have to worry about how to get food without killing someone. Access to blood will be a plus none of the siren can complain about. And
if they do have a problem, just don’t let them join your new mer, and you don’t have to worry about them.” Trudy winked at Whitney.
It wasn’t like Whitney completely got what her whole new mer clan was or how to make them. So excluding anyone at this point was a moot point. Arianna seemed to understand it way better than Whitney, and that was just by touching her. Whitney wondered if there was some sort of spell or hidden memories, or something like that she had accessed because it would be really great if Whitney could access them, too. It was just one more thing to ask about when she got the chance … rather, if she got the chance. She had yet to see the council again.
As if she knew she was being thought of, Arianna appeared in the doorway into the mansion. Whitney hopped up on the side of the pool and transformed back into her human self.
“You know that’s one trick I haven’t found in any other night human,” Arianna told her. Whitney scrunched her face as she was confused. “To be able to transform with your clothes on and then come back when you change back. When I transform, if my clothes are too tight, they rip to shreds. Then if I want to go back, I’ll be stark naked.”
“Oh that,” Whitney replied. “I agree. Best trick ever. Skinwalkers shred their clothes, too. Now I never need to worry, unless I transform in water. Then I have wet clothes.”
Arianna smiled and walked over to one of the lounge chairs on the deck of the pool. Ever the diligent friend, Trudy stayed in the water but moved to the far edge to give them privacy.