ADRIFT BONUS SCENE

After all, whose mermaid tale do you think this was?

NINA

I don’t know what the future holds for me, though I can only hope that Grady stays in it. 

Even if he is the worst pretend shark I’ve ever seen. It’s absolute torture, watching him chase those little kids around the pool. He’s too damned nice for his own good. If it were up to me, I’d have emptied a few bottles of fake blood into the water and stirred up a frenzy. 

It’s probably for the best that I don’t help out with these kids’ parties. I’m way out of my depth. Quite literally. Wyatt was right when he said there’s so much to learn about being human.

Are you surprised? 

You shouldn’t be. After all, Wyatt told you himself. What Yori wants, Yori gets. And I wanted to be Nina. Silly girl made it easy for me, too. I never did have to chase her. In the end, she came right to me. I barely needed to lift a finger.

After Wyatt left me stranded in that rock pool, I had no choice but to wait for the tide to rise. Before sunset, my arse. The sky was as black as his heart by the time the water had risen over the rock wall, but by then it didn’t matter anymore.

I should’ve realised that Wara would never have stayed by my side. I think I knew that right from the beginning, though. I just didn’t want to see it. He never had the same fascination with humans that I did. Lyssa was the only exception. 

What I didn’t expect though, was the same level of interest from Nina. I thought I’d thoroughly scared her off the day before, but she came down to the rock pool before dusk, looking for something. Me. The girl sure had some fight in her, and while I admired that, it crossed my mind that she’d come to kill me. After all, thanks to Wyatt I was trapped and at her mercy. 

I lurked beneath the surface, watchful, and poised to strike if necessary. But she didn’t pose any threat. It was disarming and if I’m completely truthful, I was a little disappointed. She seemed almost afraid of scaring me, her movements were that tentative.

‘Are you a mermaid?’ she whispered, our eyes meeting through the hazy green water. I might be Mer, but I had no idea what she meant by maid, so I didn’t answer. 

We regarded each other for a few moments longer, before she slipped her feet into the pool. Immediately, her excitement rippled through the water. Inquisitive. Energising. Tempting. I couldn’t stop staring at her feet. The tips of her toes shimmered with what looked to me like scales - only now I know it’s nail polish. That green is still my favourite colour.

Bit by bit, she edged her whole body into the water with me, until only her head remained above the surface. The pool had grown quite deep due to the rising tide, and she was having trouble standing still with each wave that crashed over the rocks. I rose up on my tail, and very slowly lifted my head out of the water. 

I don’t know what I was expecting. Maybe that she would start screaming again? She didn’t, though. She reached out a hand toward me, and for some reason, I found myself mirroring her. Our palms touched, and something warm ran through her skin and into mine. There was a quiet intensity to her gaze, like she was trying to tell me something without using words. And then she reached out her other hand.

I’ll admit it, I was fascinated to the point of obsession. Why this girl who’d lashed out at me so ferociously just the day before, was now letting me grasp her fingers in my webbed hands and drag her a bit deeper. Maybe she was just as taken with me too, because she didn’t fight it.

Not when the wave crashed over our heads and pushed us under.  Not even when the last bubble left her lips.

I watched it rise until it broke the surface, then holding her to me, I circled the pool at speed and propelled us both out of the water and onto the rocks that formed the barrier to the sea. There, with Nina embraced in my arms, I waited until my skin began to dry and my gills were heaving. With my last remaining breaths, I closed my mouth over hers. 

Who knew that I’d be able to transfer on my own, if both my host and I gave in willingly?

I’ve never had to tell Wyatt about my transformation; I can tell that he’s worked it out. We’ve always shared a special bond, and now that we’re privy to each other’s darkest secrets, it’s a confidence neither of us can afford to break. Of course, I’ll be holding it over his head for the rest of his mortal life.

But for now, we both have what we want. He has Lyssa and I have Nina. And the tall, hot guy with the hair and eyes like melted chocolate, whose strong arms and big heart are making those little kids squeal until it sets my teeth on edge. 

Grady catches my eye and gives me one of those dimpled grins that sets my chest pounding. My skin flushes hot even though I’m relaxing beneath the shade of a Pandanus palm. He’s begging me to come into the water, but I’m not up to returning to it just yet. Baby-steps and all that. 

I’m loving these legs too much.