Next thing I know, I'm gasping for air and trying to choke up the water in my lung. A soothing hand pats my back as I double over and vomit onto the sand of the beach. The taste in my mouth is so bad that I want to vomit all over again, but I force myself to swallow and focus on something else. Anything else.

Like whose hand is on my back and why am I on the beach again? I crack open my eyes and blink several times as the light burns. "Wha?"

A soft sigh reaches my ears. "You almost drowned is what!"

The sound of the human's voice sends a jolt through my body and I sit straight up, hitting my head hard against his chin. I cuss up a storm. By the time I recover from the pain, he is laughing.

"What? What is so funny!" I give him my best dagger-like glare.

"You!" He is gasping between laughs. "You curse like a sailor!" Tears are beginning to fall from his face, he is laughing so hard. 

My face heats up with embarrassment. "So? What of it?" I lift my chin and he turns his attention back to me. As his eyes trail over me, I realize that I still do not have my seal skin!

Quickly, I look around to see if we are on the same island, and I recognize it. He must have dived in after me to pull me from the water. I'm not the best with my legs, but I wonder if I could run back to the cave real quick?

Judging by the amount of time I spent panicking and nearly drowning--I am never going to tell anyone that because I am a mermaid and mermaids do not drown!--the tribes must already be well on their way into the dark depths of the ocean.

As though he can sense what I'm thinking, the human clears his throat. "So, what's your name?"

It is such a normal question for such an impossible situation. Yet my manners won't let me ignore the man who saved my life. I bite my lip. 

"My name is Ceili. Um. Thanks for, you know, saving me and all. That would have been a very embarrassing way to go out."

He lifts an eyebrow. "Because you're a mermaid?"

I scramble to get on my feet and back away from him. Even though I moved so suddenly, he doesn't seem like he wants to follow me at all. Instead, he just looks mildly amused. "You must be a young one, the way you fall all over the beach like the sand is kicking you every time you touch it."

Heat creeps into my cheeks and the tips of my ears. "How...how dare you!" Of course, he is right, but it's impolite to point it out. I think. Human-Selkie relationships are strange and most definitely not my forte.

"Easily. I'm not a threat to you, Ceili." He gestures down to himself, soaking wet and now covered in sand. "I just saved you from drowning, remember? And you're not the first mermaid I ever met. Though you are the first one I ever had to save from the ocean."

"Rude!" I lift a hand and wag my finger at him. "That's no way to talk to a lady, human." My finger-wagging is abruptly cut off as a pain shoots up my toe. "Ouch!" 

I raise my foot into the air, displaying a bright red crab who stubbornly holds onto my toe. "You stupid, brainless, sponge of pain and rudeness!" With a not-so-gentle-kick, I manage to send the crab flying towards the ocean. 

Once more, the human laughs at me, holding his stomach and gasping in an odd way. I turn my glare onto him. "You...you! You are not a nice man!"

He rolls onto his back in the sand and looks up at me with a broad smile on his face. "Aw. Don't be like that, Ceili. If you had seen your expression, you would have laughed too."

I cross my arms over my chest and turn up my nose. Maybe I would have, maybe I wouldn't have. But that is hardly the point!

"Hey." His voice is gentler now. "Don't you have to get home? I'm sure your people will be worried about you."

He's right. I should get going. I take a step towards the other side of the island. Then I freeze. Is this a trap? Is he waiting for me to lead him to my skin? I look down at him. There are horror stories about humans stealing Selkie skins.

We are powerless to return to the ocean without them, so it's basically a mernapping. I've heard some humans even take those captured Selkies as their wives or husbands. A shiver runs down my spine. 

Can I trust him?

If I don't go now though, will I be able to go later? What if I stay here all day and the others come back to dance tonight? They won't know what is happening. I bite my lip again. 

"I'm going home." My voice is shaky, but I know it is what is best. If it's a trap for me, then I'll just have to be quicker than he is. 

"Goodbye then, Ceili." The human is still laying in the sand, making no move to come after me. I nod and walk back towards the cove. The farther I get from him, the faster I go. 

Get my skin. Go home. Skin. Home. 

I glance over my shoulder and he is still laying there on the beach. Under the sunlight, his brown hair gleams like nothing I have ever seen under the water. I slide into the alcove and find my skin untouched. 

Quickly, I run to the water and pull it on near the waves until my tail shimmers in the sun once more. I slip into the water, ready to race home, but something stops me. I turn instead and swim back to the spot on the beach where the human waits.

Like he knew I would be back.

His feet are in the water and his toes dig playfully into the sand. I swim until I am only fifteen hands from him, and I look at him from the safety of the water. The water is chest deep here, my tail curling under the waves. 

He meets my eyes and smiles, lifting a hand to me in salute.

"What's your name?" I call out from the water. 

For a moment, he looks surprised. Then he smiles. "My name is Liam."

My heart warms in my chest. 

"Liam." I repeat. Then I make the worst life decision possible.

"Will you come here again, Liam? Tonight, when the moon is high in the sky?"

This time, he bites his lip. And nods.

I disappear under the water.

~~~~~~~~~

Author's Note:

Okay, so this story has taken a sort of backseat to my other projects, and I'm still unsure I'll meet my Camp Nano goal. However, I am still determined to finish Ceilie's story and maybe even a teaser chapter of one of the other clans. 

Then I'll do some serious editing of these rough drafts and mark the story as complete. Thank you for your patience, lovelies! I really appreciate it. ^^