The night air felt thicker than usual. Heavy. Watching. Every whisper of wind pressed against my skin like a warning. The moonlight spilled over the balcony, silver and sharp, glinting off the edges of the railing. Each wave in the distance shimmered like a distant eye, watching me, waiting.
My heart hadn't stopped racing since I whispered,
"I'm not alone."
And I wasn't.
Something moved — a shadow slowly moving away from the darkness near the balcony's edge. My entire body froze, nerves screaming in protest. The air shifted, carrying the faint scent of salt… and something else. Something old. Something ancient, like the sea had held it for centuries and was now letting it slip into the night.
Just as I was turning, a hand clamped over my mouth. Muffled panic rose in my throat as my body jerked. My long nails scraped the stone floor, leaving shallow marks, but the grip didn't loosen. Strong. Too strong.
"Don't scream," a voice whispered,
low and steady. The kind of voice that sounded like waves dragging you under. I fought anyway. My elbow jabbed at his side — maybe a rib, maybe a muscle — but he didn't flinch.
"I'm not here to hurt you," he hissed, though the words didn't match the weight of his grip. "But if you scream, they'll hear us both."
I forced my eyes upward. His face was half-hidden beneath the silver moonlight, pale and sharp. A jawline carved from shadows. And his eyes… oh, his eyes. Grey, purple, and something darker swirling between, like a storm trapped inside a crystal.
"Who… who are you?" I managed, trembling.
He didn't answer. Instead, he glanced toward the horizon, muscles tense, as if every second stretched and snapped at once.
"There's no time, Hope. He knows."
He knows. Two words. My chest tightened so fast it felt like my ribs might crack.
"Who knows?" I demanded, stepping back toward the railing. "What are you—"
Before I could finish, he moved like the sea itself had possessed him. One second, he was standing there. Next, his hand was clamped around my wrist. Cold. Wet. Like he'd just risen from the ocean floor.
"You have to come with me," he said, his voice commanding but edged with urgency. "Now."
I pulled, twisted, tried to jerk free. "Let go! I don't even know you!"
He hesitated, and in that pause I saw something flicker — sorrow, or maybe regret — across his face.
"You don't have to know me. But you will," he said. And with that, he pulled me forward.
I stumbled, heart in my throat, barely catching myself before the balcony spun beneath me — railing, floor, sky, waves — everything blurring in dizzying motion.
"You're insane!" I shouted. "We're three floors up!"
"Trust me," he said, his tone softening, almost pleading. "Please."
For a heartbeat, the world stilled. Just him. Just me. Just the silver sea whispering below, alive and hungry.
Then I saw it — the faint glow running up his arm, like light streaks beneath his skin. His eyes flared brighter, the storm within them now visible, electric. He muttered words in a language I didn't know, syllables that felt like bubbles popping. My body froze as black and dark blue scales shimmered along his forearms — black fading to light blue, light blue into deep ocean blue. His shoes fell away, revealing a tail that gleamed like polished shells. His hair — dark brown streaked with midnight — floated as though underwater, though we were still on land.
He wasn't human. Not completely.
"What… are you?" I whispered, awe and fear tangling in my throat.
His gaze softened, and he said quietly, "Loyal to the king… and cursed to serve him."
Before I could react, he wrapped an arm around my arm. Tight. Careful.
"I'm sorry," he muttered.
The words were barely audible over the pounding waves below.
Then — the fall.
The wind drowned my scream from my lips as the balcony blurred past. Cold air whipped my hair, my jacket, my body. And then — splash.
The sea claimed us whole. Cold. Deep. Endless. I fought, kicking, trying to swim back up, but his grip didn't falter. My lungs burned, my eyes stung with salt. And then…somehow, impossibly, I could breathe. The water didn't drown me. It didn't hurt. It felt alive, whispering around me, brushing against my skin with curiosity and hunger.
I felt weirdly free…
He looked at me through the water, eyes glowing brighter than before, pulling me downward gently but firmly at the same time. And suddenly, the ocean itself opened before us. It parted into two to reveal something that looked a lot like a city
Faint outlines of towers shimmered below — towers of coral and gold, spiraling into the depths. Light flowed through them like veins, pulsing with life. Schools of tiny glowing fish scattered in the water like stars. Seaweed waved like banners. The water hummed, sang, and breathed.
"Welcome to his world," he said. His voice now echoed in my head rather than my ears, vibrating through the water itself.
I couldn't tell if I was dreaming, dying, or being reborn.
His hand tightened around mine, steady and sure. "The king's been waiting for you, Hope."
And then I realised — what I thought wasn't just a tail, it was a merman's tail, rippling and glimmering under the water.
"You're… a merman!" I breathed, stunned as the glow along his arms and tail began to fade into darkness. I couldn't hear my own voice, but I knew that he could understand what I said. Even in the dim, I could see the power in him, the raw ocean energy that hummed beneath his skin, alive and pulsing.
I clung to him instinctively, trying to balance myself as I started to feel dizzy, as the currents carried us deeper into the unknown.
Then everything faded.