Mariana and Clara announced they were ready to head home and anyone who wanted could join them on the boat. There was a look on their faces that told me they highly advised that I do so and I was about to say yes when Gavin called out. "Come on no merfolk worth his salt will sit in a boat if you can swim!"

I wanted to interject then to tell that I didn't care, I was a new mermaid anyway but the oldest Corenth talked right over me. "I'm swimming back, in fact why don't you join me right now Thomas?" The oldest McLaren man exchanged a look with his wife, who nodded, and then Thomas and Clayton quietly slipped out of the cave and swam off.

Deciding I'd just go I was about to hoist myself out of the water to make it clear I wasn't swimming when Dave grabbed my arm underwater and held on. In a panic I sought out Matt and saw that Gavin and Clay were physically pushing him to the exit, telling him they wanted to race. Orly and Josh were already swimming out together too so no help there. Did they think if they paired off with them I'd be safe? Or where they all expecting me to ride with Mariana?

"Let go!" I yanked on my arm to get free and raised my voice further to call out for help. Just then Matt and the two Corenth brothers who'd been herding him out submerged and disappeared. Dev then popped up on my other side and asked me if I wanted to swim or ride on the boat and Dave spoke over me immediately that I'd already agreed to swim with him.

I was worried about Matt now though, I knew he'd never willingly leave me, he'd never let those two guys herd him away from me. Dev looked unsure but when I impulsively nodded he waved at Mariana and Clara and Dave finally let go of my wrist. I dove immediately, heading out of the Moonfell and in pursuit of Matt.

Behind me, Dev and George followed with Dave who seemed the ringleader in all of this. I didn't like having two strangers on my tail but when I got out of the cave I saw that Matt had doubled back and was heading straight for me, the other two chasing him. It was hard to tell if they thought it was a game or if they had given up pretense and were really pushing Matt. Josh and Orly were still waiting outside the cave too so suddenly it was the whole group of us again

Matt swooped in and nearly collided with me but I let him circle around me, kind of like a sniffing dog and then at his gesture started swimming in the direction of home. Instead of me shadowing him closely like we'd done on the way to the Moonfell, now he was shadowing me, it made swimming a little harder but I could understand how he wanted to keep me in his sights.

Not even two minutes after we'd set out I caught Dev and George shooting past, the two darting around each other and half wrestling. I lost sight of them pretty quick since we were still in the reef but I figured Dev would be fine on his own, he knew this place really well. I was setting the pace for everyone so I had to look over my shoulder to see who was still with us and when I did I was surprised to notice that somehow Josh, Orly and Dave had disappeared.

Matt's hand was on the small of my back then, pushing me forward and a look at his face told me he was incredibly worried. He wanted me to push for speed but the currents were pretty strong today and I'd slept badly so I was really tired. Matt's fault since I'd lain awake tossing and turning while I tried to analyze his behavior since his return.

I pushed alright but we hadn't even hit my first breathing moment yet and I usually needed three of those before we reached the McLaren home beach. One moment Matt's hand was still on me, helping to propel me through the water, the next he was gone. I caught him rolling through the water with Clay who was easily the biggest of the three brothers. Then the next moment Gavin, the oldest had me around the waist and was towing me away.

I fought him, clawing at his chest and arm and trashing my tail as hard as I could to get away but I was nowhere near as experienced in the water as he was. Besides that, they'd timed the attack well, I was nearly out of air and as long as he held me I couldn't go up for it. My fighting was only making me lose oxygen quicker. In fact, I was starting to feel rather faint.

Letting my body go lax I let myself become a dead weight in his arms, which didn't mean as much underwater as it did on dry land. At least it gave him the impression I was done fighting or maybe even that I was out of air. He kept towing me through the water at an impressive speed and I was really getting in the danger zone air wise when he at last angled up to the surface.

Not before I'd noticed that he'd taken me out of the reef around Sharkfell and away from the coast, toward the deeper gullies, or the trenches as Matt called them. I'd never been here because the currents were heavier and there were more sharks around, it was also a helluva lot deeper and once you lost sight of the surface you could get turned around. Matt had told me not to risk it on my own, I might run out of air before I'd found my way back up, since it sounded scary as hell I'd obeyed his advice.

Gasping and spluttering Gavin held me tight as he drew me to the surface. My arms pinned in a tight grip behind my back. "Now you're going to do as you're told girl," he hissed in my ear. "You're coming with us but first you're going to give me what I want! When I turn you around you better not try and scratch me again you got that? You won't like it if I have to punish you."

The true menace in his voice scared me so much that I nodded my assent, still drawing sweet air eagerly into my lungs. What was it he wanted now? It wasn't like he could rape me like this was it? Though to be fair I didn't know a whole lot about the different physiology yet. I could pee like this, there was a small slit at the front where you'd think the juncture of my thighs would be more or less. But it was nearly impossible to spot among my scales. Did mermen have something similar or was he built more like a dolphin or a seal?

I was clearly about to find out because Gavin had now pinned both my hands in one of his and was sliding the free one up my belly to make a grab for one breast. I couldn't help it, I wasn't going to hold still to be groped and since we were still above water with our heads I let out an angry scream. The next moment Gavin yanked me underwater and spun me hard so I flipped around, he caught me with a grip on one arm which felt like he'd nearly yanked it out of its socket and drew me against his body, front to front this time.

Immediately I could see that my fear was confirmed, he was sporting an erection that pushed out from the front of his body from a slit similar to my own. It was much bigger than I thought it should be and dark in color and he was grabbing at me, pushing me towards it, trying to align our bodies. I fought again and screamed too though this was useless and cost me a lot of air. I got in a lucky strike, raking my fingers down the side of his face and drawing blood, but I missed his eye socket like I'd been aiming for.

I thought I was done for, Gavin was so much stronger than me and every time I seemed to get away he caught me again and I'd somehow be closer. Somehow he'd be that much closer to slipping that monstrous thing against me, or god forbid in me.

Changing tactics I stopped pulling and lunged to one side, towards him, and managed to get my teeth into his shoulder hard, drawing blood. At the same time I raked my free hand down over his belly and drew long slashes through his skin. Instinctively he pushed me away from him and I took a chunk out of his arm with me.

Then suddenly Matt was between me and Gavin, his hand pushing me away, gesturing for me to go before he pulled the knife from his arm sheath and dove on Gavin. The way the two of them moved when they fought was crazy, spinning, swooping and diving around each other while they used their claws and teeth and in Matt's case his diving knife.

I didn't want to leave Matt but I didn't know what had happened with Clay or if maybe one of the other Corenth's might show up at any time. I did as Matt had told me and spun around, searching for anything recognizable so I could figure out in which direction to go and get away from here.

During the fight we'd sunk down into the trench however and I was, just like Matt had predicted, unsure which way to go. What was up and what was down? Everything was just water to me. Worse, I was getting close to needing air again and with no way of knowing if I was swimming in the right direction I could very well drown.

I'd drifted away from Matt and Gavin and now when I looked I didn't see them anywhere either. It was like I was all alone, floating in absolutely nothing. Then from my left I saw a dark shape heading straight towards me, I panicked, that shape could be anything, Gavin or a shark or Matt. I spun and started swimming away from it as fast as I could.

*

Second update today, bonus one for the weekend ;-)

Who do you think is swimming towards her?

I uploaded the first half of a short story about Mariana and Orly, it's a prequel to this one about how the two of them met. It's called The Professor and the Siren. I'll upload the second half to that, probably next week.

Much love,

Robin