Chapter 22
Nerion
“Fuck me this bed is soft,” I groaned as I fell onto the mattress of our king size bed. “Is this how all rich people live?”
“This is a two-star hotel at best,” Teddy replied, sinking down beside me. “It’s economical.”
“You’re rich and you took me to an economical hotel?” I gave him a playful grin. “Cheap ass.”
He shoved my shoulder playfully. “It was the closest one! And it’s nice, isn’t it? Clean sheets, decent view...” He gestured toward the window where city lights twinkled in the distance. I could even see the dark ocean in the distance.
“I’m just teasing,” I laughed, rolling onto my side to face him. “It’s perfect. And honestly, after what we just did in that alley, I’d have been happy with a cardboard box.”
Teddy’s face flushed a beautiful shade of pink. “I can’t believe we did that.”
“Me neither,” I admitted. “But I’m not complaining.”
He smiled, reaching out to brush a strand of hair from my face. His fingers lingered on my cheek, and I felt that dangerous flutter in my chest again. I needed to change the subject before I did something stupid, like blurt out how I actually felt.
“So,” I said, sitting up and bouncing slightly on the mattress, “what now? We’ve escaped your parents, found shelter for the night, and I’ve thoroughly debauched you in public. The night is still young.”
“I don’t know,” Teddy replied, his eyes holding mine. “We could order room service? Watch a movie? Just... talk?”
“Talk?” I raised an eyebrow. “About what?”
He shrugged, looking suddenly vulnerable. “Anything. Everything. I feel like I still don’t know that much about you, Nerion.”
I swallowed hard. This was dangerous territory. The more he knew about me, the closer we’d become. And the closer we became... well, I’d promised myself that wouldn’t happen.
“What do you want to know?” I asked, trying to keep my tone light.
“Tell me about your family,” he said, his voice soft. “You’ve met my parents, as horrible as that was. But you never talk about yours.”
The request hit me like a punch to the gut. Of all the things he could have asked... I looked away, focusing on the generic hotel artwork on the wall.
“Not much to tell,” I lied. “They’re dead.”
“Oh,” Teddy said, his face falling. “I’m sorry, I didn’t—”
“It’s fine,” I cut him off. “It happened a long time ago.”
A heavy silence fell between us. I could feel Teddy’s eyes on me, patient and kind, waiting for me to continue. Against my better judgment, I did.
“They died when I was thirteen,” I said, my voice sounding hollow even to my own ears. “They were both sirens. Full-blooded, like me. My father was from the Mediterranean, my mother from the North Sea. They met in Greece and fell in love.”
“What happened to them?” Teddy asked gently.
I took a deep breath. I hadn’t talked about this in years, had buried it so deep that sometimes I could almost pretend it hadn’t happened.
“They broke the most sacred law of our kind,” I said finally.
Teddy’s brow furrowed. “I don’t understand. What law?”
“The one that makes certain things impossible,” I laughed bitterly. “Sirens are made to enchant, to lure, to destroy.”
I stood up abruptly, needing to move, to put some distance between us. I walked to the window, staring out at the city lights without really seeing them.
“There’s a curse on our kind. And it killed them both,” I continued, my back to Teddy. “Let’s just leave it at that.”
“That’s...” Teddy seemed at a loss for words.
“Fucked up?” I supplied. “Yeah, it is.”
“So you’ve been on your own all this time?” he asked, shifting the subject just enough to give me some breathing room. “Did you grow up in the ocean or on land?”
“On land,” I replied, thankful to talk about something else. “The pollution in the ocean has been getting worse and worse. Between the oil spills, the whaling, and the Great Pacific Garbage patch, my parents decided to move to land before they even had me.”
“Is it really that bad?”
His question was genuine, but I couldn’t help scoffing.
“It’s worse than anyone thinks it is. The water is dead in a lot of places.
There’s no fish, no whales, and empty reefs that are as white as bone.
It’s horrifying.” I turned back to him. “I’m glad I’m land.
I love being in the ocean. It feels like home.
But living there… well, it would be too hard to watch it all die around me and know there’s nothing I can do to stop it. ”
“Fuck… That’s horrible.” He pushed himself off the bed and came up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist. “Is there a place you still love to go? A place that’s not dead?”
I nodded slowly, savoring his touch. “The Aegean Sea is still beautiful. It has its problems, but I’ll always look upon it with an appreciative eye. It’s the waters I was born in and it calls to me.”
“That’s why you paint them so much.”
I nodded. “Yeah, I can’t get them out of my head.”
“Well,” Teddy said, turning me around to face him. “Let’s go see it.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “Right now?”
“Hell yeah, right now.” He was smiling from ear to ear. “I know how to do transportation magic and we’ve got this hotel room for the weekend. Nobody will even know we’re gone.”
I stared at him, dumbfounded. “You can do transportation magic? To Greece?”
“I’m the top of my class, remember?” Teddy’s eyes sparkled with excitement. “Long-distance teleportation is advanced, but I’ve been able to do it for years thanks to private tutors. I can get us there.”
My heart raced at the thought of seeing the Aegean again. I figured I wouldn’t see it again until after Widdershins. “But... we’d need passports, and—”
“We’re not going through customs,” Teddy laughed. “We’re just popping in for a quick visit. It’ll be like we were never there.”
The idea was reckless, impulsive, and exactly what I needed. “You’re serious?”
“Completely.” His hands moved to cup my face, and the tenderness in his touch made my chest ache. “I want to see the place that matters to you. I want to see the real you, Nerion.”
I should have said no. Should have maintained that careful distance I’d been trying to keep between us. But the thought of swimming in those waters again, of showing Teddy that part of myself...
“Okay,” I whispered. “Let’s do it.”
Teddy’s face lit up with a smile so bright it was almost blinding. He pulled away and began clearing a space in the middle of the hotel room, pushing the coffee table aside.
“We’ll need to be touching for this to work,” he explained, his voice taking on that confident tone he got whenever he talked about magic. “And I need to visualize the destination. Is there a specific beach or cove you have in mind?”
I closed my eyes, letting the memories wash over me. “There’s a small cove near Mikonos. It’s hidden between two cliffs, with white sand and crystal clear water. My parents used to take me there because it’s so secluded.”
“Perfect,” Teddy said. “Can you picture it clearly? The more details, the better.”
I nodded, the image vivid in my mind. The way the morning sun hit the water, turning it a dozen shades of blue. The smell of salt and wild herbs growing on the cliffside. The smooth pebbles mixed with sand beneath my feet.
“I need to draw the sigils,” Teddy said, taking a pen from the hotel desk. He began sketching intricate patterns on his palms, his brow furrowed in concentration. “This will anchor us to both locations so we can get back.”
I watched, fascinated, as the marks began to glow faintly on his skin. Witches had always amazed me with their methodical approach to magic. So different from the wild, innate power that flowed through those of us of a more monstrous nature.
“Ready?” he asked, holding out his hands to me.
I placed my palms against his, feeling the warm buzz of magic between us. “Ready.”
“Close your eyes and focus on that cove,” Teddy instructed. “Think about every detail you can remember. Picture it clearly in your mind.”
I did as he asked, concentrating on the memory of that perfect hidden beach. Teddy began murmuring words in a language I didn’t understand, his voice growing stronger with each syllable. The air around us seemed to thicken, pressure building like we were sinking deeper and deeper underwater.
Then came the sensation of being pulled in every direction at once. My stomach lurched, and for a moment, I felt like I was floating in nothingness, untethered from reality.
Just when I thought I couldn’t stand it anymore, solid ground appeared beneath my feet. Warm air caressed my skin, and the unmistakable scent of the Mediterranean filled my lungs.
I opened my eyes and gasped.
We were standing on the very beach I’d pictured, the one I hadn’t seen in nearly a decade.
The early morning sun blazed overhead, though it had been nearly one in the morning back in Boston just a moment ago.
The sea stretched before us, a perfect canvas of blues and greens just like I remembered it.
“Holy shit,” I breathed. “You actually did it.”
Teddy looked a little pale, but he was smiling triumphantly. “Told you I could.”
I turned in a slow circle, taking in the familiar cliffs, the hidden entrance to the cove that kept it private from passing boats. It was exactly as I remembered, preserved in time like a perfect snapshot.
“This is incredible,” Teddy said, stepping toward the water’s edge. “It’s so clear I can see straight to the bottom.”
“The Aegean has some of the clearest water in the world,” I told him, unable to keep the pride from my voice. “And this particular spot... it’s special.”
“Why?” Teddy asked, turning to look at me.
I hesitated, then decided to tell him the truth. “This is where I first transformed. Where my parents first taught me to use my tail.”
Understanding dawned on his face. “It’s your home.”
“My parents had a house in Athens, but yeah,” I admitted. “It’s the closest to a home I’ve ever had.”
The heat was building quickly under the Mediterranean sun. Teddy was already starting to sweat in his jeans and t-shirt.