A fish out of water, p.11
A Fish Out of Water, page 11
Erica panicked. She tried to escape Ariel’s grasp, but Ariel wrapped her tight in her arms. It was Erica’s life she was protecting. She breathed in water and shared air with Erica. Her mervoice rippled through the chill. “Whatever comes, Erica, we will be together. My yes is true.”
They struggled against each other for a few more seconds, then the flames around their bodies winked out. Erica blinked, seemingly conscious. Ariel leaned forward to share air again, but Erica turned her head.
Ariel pushed off from the pond’s bottom, taking Erica with her toward the surface. Erica pulled back and Ariel paused, her hair drifting between them.
“Ariel.”
“What’s wrong, Erica?” Ariel pushed her hair out of the way so she could study Erica’s face.
Then she realized she was looking at Erica, who did not know how to swim, drifting comfortably under the surface of the water. Her green eyes followed Ariel’s every move. Ariel swam closer, her heart pounding in her ears. Green eyes… Erica’s eyes were no longer the silver of madness.
A wild hope surged inside Ariel. Some of the cure had worked for Erica. Something had helped. That was all that mattered. Ariel stared in amazement at how calm Erica was, breathing naturally, with no sign of her earlier panic. Breathing, Ariel thought. She’s breathing.
As coolly and competently as any mermaid, Erica turned a somersault in the water.
“I think I’m having a very good dream,” Erica pronounced.
Ariel shivered as the delight of Erica’s mervoice wrapped around her. Mervoice—Erica should not have mervoice. She had given Erica more than a cure, it seemed.
Rising to the surface, Erica beckoned to Ariel. They clambered onto the soft ground next to the water. Without thinking Ariel cast a drying spell for herself.
Erica immediately did the same, grinning. “I understand everything now. I don’t really believe what just happened, but I felt as if I was touching death, and now that’s all gone. Because you sang for me, Ariel.” Erica settled on the bank near the water and pulled Ariel onto her lap. “You sang for me with an angel’s voice.”
“I’m no angel. Just a mermaid, and maybe not even that anymore.”
Erica gasped. “I wasn’t wrong—you did speak, didn’t you?”
Ariel nodded. “Yes.”
Erica cupped her face. “Your eyes tell the truth, don’t they?”
“Yes.”
I love her yes, and I will never get enough of it. Ariel, I want you and love you. “You know that’s my favorite word?”
Ariel’s lips curved. “Yes.” Erica’s song was still vibrant in Ariel’s mind. The infection was cured, and Erica had no reason to sing now, but she did. For love, Ariel thought. She sings for love and so…and so do I.
Eagerly pulling Ariel’s mouth to hers, Erica laughed for joy. Ariel felt the wonder of being something that gave Erica happiness, not pain. The feeling was better than anything she had ever felt, and it was addictive. She wanted to feel it again. “Yes, Erica, love. Yes. Always yes.”
They stretched out on the soft ground, tangling in Ariel’s hair, mouths bruising in the haste to kiss and enjoy another wonder, and another.
Erica’s teeth grazed Ariel’s jaw as their breath mingled. “Time to enjoy this.”
“We have all the time in the world.” Ariel arched up to meet Erica’s playful, wet kiss. Her tides were rising unsummoned, uncompelled. Her body ached for Erica, and it felt wonderful to want and know that want would be fulfilled. “Please.”
Whatever they had become, they still had this, Ariel thought. Erica’s hands knew how to touch her and this time there would be no stopping Ariel from learning every crevice of Erica’s body with her mouth and fingers. They would not have just one night, but all the nights that counted.
All the pasts had led to this present and only this present could give them a shared future.
With a laugh, Ariel rolled on top of Erica. Her gaze was distracted by shimmers on the surface of the water. It was already the new year in the land of her past. Bright with color and motion, the scene had once been all Ariel had thought beautiful and necessary. Now she wanted much more and with Erica she had found the missing pieces of her soul.
She saw Caliba standing abruptly still, seemingly staring into Ariel’s eyes. Then Caliba smiled sadly, waved a hand, and the images misted over, as if they would only be dreams for Ariel now.
“Look at me, Ariel,” Erica said in a low voice. “Look at me.”
The green of the autumn sea merged with the blue of midnight in her eyes. “I love you, Erica. I had no idea what that meant, but you taught me.”
“We will go on learning.” Erica kissed her softly. “But right now I want you to sing for me, Ariel.”
Ariel closed her eyes and let the pleasure of Erica’s touch sweep over her. With it was the knowledge that the only reason Erica ached to touch her was love. Their happiness was a choice.
Ariel’s voice soared for Erica, with all her passion, and when Erica’s voice joined hers it was a song no mer nor human had ever heard before.
Please...
“Please.”
Her voice plays on my body like the tide. I rise and fall to the cadence of her words while past and present eddy in my mind, muddied by shifting sands of need and desire. She asks me if I want her. The gooseflesh along my arms says yes. The wet I can feel surging between my legs says yes. I try to say yes with the intensity of my eyes, the eagerness of my hands, the curve of my lips.
With all my heart, with the soul that loving her has grown in me, I give her the only word that has ever mattered: Yes.
Eternally yes.
The End
Notes from the Author
A Fish Out of Water is inspired by The Little Mermaid and was written years before mainstream entertainment realized that fairy tales could be seen through new eyes. The original version is brutally bleak and most subsequent retellings still dissolve into a familiar story of a woman sacrificing her identity, magic, and even her life, on the altar of unrequited love.
The Disney version brought names and good songs, and at last in the film Splash the prince is the one who makes comparable sacrifices for love. But I thought it was high time that the object of Ariel’s desire be a “prince” who earns Ariel’s love and that all sacrifices be in service of love—and life. I hope you agree.
Many thanks to the fabulous Julia Watts, who edited the original version in 2004. I am thankful too for the encouragement and example of so many colleagues in the lesbian fiction genre, like KG MacGregor, Erica Abbott, Melissa Brayden, Harper Bliss, Lee Lynch and Meghan O’Brien to name just a few out of so many terrific and inspiring writers.
— Karin, August 2017
And many thanks to you!
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Print and ebook versions of novels, plus many digital short stories, are available from Bella Books and major online retailers. Signed print copies, samples, background information and additional digital short stories are available at Kallmaker.com.
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Karin Kallmaker has been exclusively devoted to lesbian fiction since the publication of her first novel in 1989. As an author published by the storied Naiad Press, she worked with Barbara Grier and Donna McBride, and has been fortunate to be mentored by a number of editors, including Katherine V. Forrest.
In addition to multiple Lambda Literary Awards, she has been featured as a Stonewall Library and Archives Distinguished Author. Other accolades include the Ann Bannon Popular Choice and other awards for her writing, as well as the selection as a Trailblazer by the Golden Crown Literary Society. She is best known for novels such as Painted Moon, Substitute for Love, Touchwood, Maybe Next Time and The Kiss that Counted.
The California native is the mother of two and blogs at Romance and Chocolate. Write to her at karin(at)kallmaker.com or visit at Facebook or @kallmaker on Twitter.
See all of the novel-length work, novellas and short story collections: All About Everything.
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Other Works by Karin Kallmaker
All links take you to Karin’s website where you’ll find excerpts, reviews, readings and more. For a complete list of works, start here: All About Everything
Unbeliever
Love is magic is love. A mysterious book full of blank pages and an alluring new neighbor… Ordinarily Hayley Carnegie would be intrigued, but her twin sister needs all the energy Hayley can give her. (Lesbian Romance Novella)
A Fish Out of Water
The 77th daughter of the Mer queen is irrevocably bound to a human woman by a deadly curse. Stripped of her voice, Ariel must find a way to save them both. (Lesbian Romance and Fantasy Novella)
Castle Wrath
When an ingenue inherits a remote, storm-drenched castle in a foreign land, she doesn’t expect romance, sex and intrigue as part of the inheritance. Or a curiously attractive caretaker. (Lesbian Romance Novella inspired by Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey)
Captain of Industry
Actress Jennifer Lamont has left a trail of broken hearts in her wake. CEO Suzanne Mason won’t be any different. When love gets in the way of treasured dreams, nobody wins. (Lesbian Romance Novel)
Love by the Numbers
Dr. Nicole Hathaway needs an assistant. Down-on-her-luck socialite Lily Smith needs a job. Who cares if they hate each other on sight? (Lesbian Romance Novel)
Comfort and Joy
Home from Afghanistan to surprise her mother, Milla doesn’t expect more than the best apple pie in the world and the bliss of unrationed hot showers. She’s not counting on futures — or meeting a woman like Tyna. (Lesbian Romance Novella)
All the Wrong Places
A steamy look at sex and the single girl as Brandy weighs her free-for-all life against her growing feelings for her best friend. (Lesbian Erotic Romance Novel)
Roller Coaster
Laura Izmani is glad of her new client, a wealthy actress who needs a private chef for her twins. She's also grateful that Helen Baynor doesn’t remember their first meeting on a roller coaster ride that changed their lives. (Lesbian Romance Novel)
Above Temptation
Kip Barrett does her job as a financial investigator very well, and nothing can tempt her from following the rules, not even her boss’s boss’s boss, Tamara Sterling. Golden Crown Literary Award Winner. (Lesbian Intrigue-Romance Novel)
Stepping Stone
Hollywood Indie Producer Selena Ryan isn’t going to let anyone use her to get what they want, ever again, even if that means living without love. (Lesbian Romance Novel)
Warming Trend
A river of ice has frozen Anidyr Bycall’s life. The future looks even colder when she returns home to the glaciers of Alaska, the mistakes of her past and the disdain of the woman she once loved. (Lesbian Intrigue-Romance Novel)
The Kiss that Counted
CJ Roshe has finally met a woman she could love. If only she could tell Karita Hanssen her real name. Lambda Literary Award Winner. (Lesbian Romance Novel)
Christabel
Can financier Dina Rowland and supermodel Christabel escape the cycle of doomed fate to conquer the past and claim a future at last? A gothic tale of two hearts taken captive in colonial New York. (Lesbian Gothic Romance Novel)
Wild Things
Dutiful daughter Faith Fitzgerald has met the perfect man. There’s just one problem: she’s in love with his sister. (Lesbian Romance Novel)
In Deep Waters: Cruising the Seas
Karin Kallmaker and Radclyffe can’t wait to get you all wet with this dual erotic short story collection. Golden Crown Literary Award Winner. (Lesbian Erotic Short Story Collection)
Car Pool
Accountant Anthea Rossignole and environmental biologist Shay Sumoto discover that it’s never an easy commute on the Freeway of Love. But there are soft shoulders, merging traffic, and it’s slippery when wet… (Lesbian Romance Novel)
Bonus Excerpt
Castle Wrath by Karin Kallmaker
I am an heiress… A dark woman
follows me… Steak and Stilton pie
Arrival in Inverness…
The important thing is that you believe what I’m telling you because, frankly, it’s unbelievable from the get go. It’s not like it’s a complicated story, or anything, and I still don’t know how it ends, but it’s completely and totally true.
I took this writing class and they said the important thing was to write what you know and leave out the boring bits. That’s two important things, I realize that now. But here's what I know and I'm leaving out the boring part about how it all came to pass: I inherited a castle in Scotland!
You don’t want to know about my grandfather’s great aunt’s adopted nephew-by-marriage who died without issue and the long series of accidents that lead to me being the heir — trust me, it’s a forty-part episode of Masterpiece Theatre. But here I am on a train in the Scottish countryside, trying to imagine the twists of history that caused all those deaths that let this incredible thing happen to me. It’s a bit freaky thinking about karma and fate and payback so I’m not thinking about it.
What I’m thinking about right now is that I can’t understand a thing anyone says and I’m hungry. Plus, there’s this tall, dark woman who keeps staring at me. I think I saw her at the train station in Glasgow. I had to run for the train and she seemed to be following me because she was running too. She’s attractive but hardly my type — too old. Too serious, I'll bet. I trod on her foot when the train started to go and she said “Buggery bollocks” and I said I was sorry so I don't know why she’s staring at me.
I wonder if she’s the other heir.
Sorry, I hadn't gotten to that part. I didn’t mean to leave it out as it’s not at all boring. See, there are two heirs. We have to live in the castle for thirty nights and then one of us will inherit and the other gets a bundle of cash and a ticket home.
The other heir, P. Tennielle of Manchester, England U.K., is some kind of artist. The “P” stands for Portia, how British is that? The photos of her were badly lit but the staring woman could be the same woman. What a way to start off, me tromping on her foot. But she doesn't know it’s me. Right now, to her, I’m just a clumsy American, not B. Brannigan of the Lodi Brannigans, currently attending university in Berkeley, California, U.S.A.
The “B” stands for Brittany, by the way. Maybe when we meet officially at the solicitor’s office in Inverness she won’t remember me. That is, if Dark Lady turns out to be Portia Tennielle.
My best friend, Susie Bling (I know, that’s hysterical, isn't it?) is nearly an attorney and she said the will is completely screwed up and would never fly in the U.S. except it was written over 300 years ago — before the U.S. of A. even existed! — after some sixth earl of someplace was “attaindered.” I tried to look that up online but after about two minutes I needed a latte, know what I mean?
I’m hoping Stilton is a cheese and that food bought on the train isn’t going to put me in the toilet for the next 24 hours. But lots of people in business suits are digging in so I’m taking my chances. Shillings and pence aren’t troubling me. Even if I don’t get the castle, I get five thousand pounds which will pay for this really spiffing trip to England. Scotland. Scotland’s in England, or is it the other way around? I can never remember. It seems kind of complicated because after Florence Eldridge chopped off Katherine Hepburn’s head and Bette Davis doesn’t marry Errol Flynn, one man became king of both. I planned to study up and get it right as I whiled away the days in not-quite-my castle.
Anyway, I can do pretty much as I like on this trip, including not counting my cell minutes, and still have a bundle for some necessities when I got home again. Like rent and food.
* * *
Steak and Stilton pie is tasty, and that’s a relief. Dark Lady got off the train at the last stop before Inverness and that was a relief too. I guess when I edit this I’ll just take her out. It’s incredible what I see out the window — cows and country houses, stuff like that. If it weren’t for the train I was on I’d expect to see Conestoga wagons.
I don’t suppose they ever used Conestoga wagons here.
The previous stops taught me that when it is time to get off the train you’d better be near the doors and ready to jump, luggage and all. They barely come to a full and complete stop. As I attempted to alight with some kind of dignity I tripped on the smaller of my two suitcases. A nice older gentleman caught me. Scottish men went up in my estimation after two wearing T-shirts with “Caley Thistle” volunteered to manage my bags all the way to the taxi stand, giving me a chance to get my skirt back into place. I didn’t understand a word they said except the invitation for “a pint” which I had to turn down.
