Chapter 6

Finn POV

I pulled myself away from Caterina and looked down at my hands in astonishment. My skin was… Iridescent. The same sheen that you find on fish scales. Suddenly I felt like I couldn’t breathe, the room feeling crushingly small, as though walls were closing in on me.

Without hesitation, she grabbed me and hurled us both through the glass of the small window and into the depths below.

As soon as we were submerged, my lungs felt full once again. I could breathe…. But how?

“Well, Sailor, that was unexpected….”

I looked up to find Caterina floating a few feet from me, smirking.

“I knew you were a child of the sea, but this, this I did not see coming”

“See what coming? Caterina, what’s going on?”

She floated close to me and gave me a reassuring kiss, which calmed me instantly.

“You, my love, are Mer.”

“Mer? Like mermaid?”

“Oh no my love, there is no mistaking you are very much a merman….” She purred seductively before glancing down at my still naked torso.

“No tail though, so only by half. But powerful, you are from an ancient lineage. Long thought to be extinct.”

She eyed me curiously as she inspected my features. I wondered if my skin was not the only thing that had changed about my appearance.

“Still my Sailor….” She smiled as she cupped my face. “Tell me, what do you feel?”

I took a moment to absorb my surroundings. I could see everything, and I could feel the sea accepting me. I felt in tune with every creature and felt no fear. I felt… like I belonged.

“It feels like home….” I admitted and she smiled at me once more.

“You are immortal now. Our tether is complete and you have taken your true form, but it will take time for you to reach your full potential.”

“Immortal?”

I had never considered a life without death. It was something I had always accepted as an inevitable part of my future. You live and you die. But she was telling me that I would live forever? I didn’t know what to make of it.

“This makes you unhappy Sailor?” She broke me from my thoughts, concern edging her beautiful features.

“No, it’s just. I never really thought about it. Immortality? It doesn’t seem possible. What do you do when you live forever?”

“The first 3000 years were very lonely, but then a lost Sailor followed my song and stumbled into my cave. And I knew, with one look that eternity would never be long enough.”

She half-smiled, but there was a sadness in her eyes. I couldn’t bear the thought that I had made her sad.

“Eternity will never be long enough for me either, Caterina.”

“You are kind, but you do not need to say such things to please me….”

I cut her off.

“No. I’m not saying this because I think it’s what you want to hear. I’m saying it because I feel this connection just as you do. I never want us to be parted. This is a lot for me to…. Come to terms with. But one thing that I am unwaveringly certain of, is my devotion and attachment to you.”

She kissed me so fiercely I was certain she was going to make love to me here again in the open water. Instead, she pulled away, a glint of mischief in her eyes as she smiled.

“Well Sailor, let us see what you are capable of.”