Chapter 7

Cam woke on Sunday morning when his Dad came into wake him. It had been a rough night the night before.

As they walked in an awkward silence to the shore he had plenty of time to think of the events of the previous night.

His dad had dragged him to a Jengu water spirit on the waterfront. They are powerful Undine healers originally from Cameroon. They take many forms according to who visits them. This time the Jengu looked like a beautiful raven haired mermaid. She came to them at the shore when his father called to her.

She walked out of the water guileless and naked as the day she was born. Cam just sighed and thought yeah for shifters. She walked right up to Cam, took his face in her tiny hands, and looked into his eyes for a long period of time, before she announced.

"There is nothing to be done."

Her words were an actual psychical manifestation. Cam felt like he had been hit with one of those wrecking balls right to the gut.

His father was speechless. He just stood in front of him his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. Cam wanted to reassure him, but what could he say?

Hey don't worry it'll be fine, but would it really?

Malcolm's seal gray eyes held such guilt as they locked on his son's.

P-p-erhaps t-there is someone else we may visit oh wise one?" his father sputtered.

"There is no one I can recommend."

The Jengu kissed Cam then right on the lips and said mournfully, 'Oh my sweet child the sea will lose a valuable resource soon."

His dad never shut up the entire drive home. He insisted they could see this legendary creature or that. He mentioned some old ceremony that might help, but he knew he was just grasping at straws, he could feel it in his bones.

The thought made Cam laugh out loud until he cried and his father rubbed his back soothingly the rest of the way home.

Once home, Cam went straight to bed exhausted by the events of the day, but sleep wouldn't come.

He just stared fixedly out his sliding door to the sea feeling empty. And for once nothing was running through his head. It was like he couldn't even form a thought. The thing he had dreaded was at his throat. He'd been running from it for three long years ever since his father told him it could be a possibility, and it was weird, but the knowing actually made him feel better.

Once he acknowledged that feeling all the others got shelved for the moment. The worry for everyone else at this time took a back burner for once. He would take Megan sailing tomorrow but from now on, every waking moment of his free time would be spent in the lab trying to find a solution.

He'd go to George and ask for advice about medicinal herbs that might forestall the inevitable. And he'd focus on the Molecular Modification Brew. He could start trials tomorrow night.

Once he had a plan in motion sleep came, but not a very restful one. He dreamt that the sea was a vengeful lover that wanted nothing more than to drown him in her embrace, over and over and over again.

When his father and he took to the water his father never left his side. He swam like a mirror image of his son. And Cam could cry all over again when he realized why. His father was worried that he'd reject the skin underwater and the sea would claim its prize.

He knew in that moment his father would lock him up and throw away the key to keep him from swimming to his death, but that reality was a gruesome one at best. It would be like living each day in a medieval torture device, his father knew it, and he was telling him with his actions that he'd never let him go.

Cam started swimming alongside his father in seal form, racing beside him; he wanted to feel the power and the rush of being magical as long as he could. When his father indicated to the shore Cam was loath to leave the water, perhaps if he never left the sea it would finally accept him for who he really was: a magical creature that loved the sea and not just a lowly halfblood.

He deserved to be here regardless of his muddled heritage, damn it!

God damn the sea for rejecting him.

He left the water his father by his side. They walked silently, but purposely back to their loving home.

Cam broke the silence when he said, "I'm not giving up. I'm going to go see George Tulugaq tomorrow, and I'm going to figure out away to stop the rejection."

His father beamed at him, "that's my boy. I'm not giving up either, and between us we'll find the solution, I promise you that."

Cam grabbed his father's arm and turned him to face him.

"Promise me something else. Promise me that if I reject my skin you won't lock me up."

"I'm sorry son I can't do that." His father said with a downcast look.

"You've got to Dad. You've got to let me go. Don't do that to me." Cam was pleading now, but his words fell on deaf ears.

"It's not going to happen anyway. We're going to find the solution you and I. Besides, I have an ace up my sleeve that could be the answer to our prayers. "

"Really!" Cam voice went up a whole octave in surprise.

"What is it?" he asked hopefully.

"I can't say at this time, but be assured that if anyone can help she can." Malcolm took him in his arms and slapped him on the back over and over in his patented dad hug.

"I'll be gone all next week, but if I can I'll come back with a solution.

At first Cameron thought that his Dad was in denial, but when he looked at the confidence written all over his face, he became certain too.

With a sigh of relief Cam interrupted the hug with a, "let's eat I'm starving. Is there any bacon left I feel like making a bacon weave with the works for breakfast, what do you think?

"I think that's a great idea. Let's get it done before the rest of the brood wakes up."

"You start the cooking," Cam suggested happily, "I'll make the coffee."

And that's when Cam went from doom and gloom to certain he was going to make it. Whatever his Dad had planned, he just knew if anyone could pull it off his father could.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Cam invited Meg over for Breakfast at his house at his father's insistence. Everyone gathered around their big kitchen table. It was a long light pine table which had two captain's chairs for his mother and father on either end, but the opposite sides had long built in benches like a picnic table for the kids, and even though it was massive they just barely fit.

His father had built it with his bare hands to convince his mother that he was serious about filling his home with children. He had been an only child and his childhood had been a lonely one, he'd told her, and he didn't want that for his children.

After the chaos of breakfast Megan insisted on doing the dishes. She'd remarked more than once she loved helping out at his house, because no one jumped up and assumed that she couldn't do it. They just let her work in peace. Cam helped her feeling happier than he had in a long time.

Afterward, Megan sat on the cool beach watching the wind blow the waves and sea foam to shore while he rigged the sails in his tiny boat. He'd named her Megan's Song when he'd built her two years ago.

They hadn't been dating then, but he'd loved Megan ever since they met as first years. When he and his father built the boat with their bare hands, he knew just what to name her.

When he'd told Megan she had just laughed and called him a dweeb, but he could tell she loved it.

He really was a lucky guy. To look at her was to marvel at her beauty. She was the most gorgeous creature he'd ever laid eyes on. A January wind was blowing her long auburn curls across her slender back and across her shapely arms. The sun bounced off her sun kissed skin while her long auburn curls danced on her bare shoulders in the wind.

She was sitting with her arms stretched out behind her and her legs stretched out in front of her. Her crutches sat next to her forgot for the moment.

She looked relaxed but he could see the tiny lines of worry on her face. Nah she was not fouling him. When he was done he went to her and crouched down on his haunches beside her.

He wanted this so badly for her. He just knew if he could help her get over her fear it would open up a whole new world to her -- one without limitations. She would be free, but he hoped he wasn't pushing her too hard.

"You know you don't have to do this if you really don't want to?"

She just beamed up at him in reply and said, "Ok I really don't want to . . . but I have to. I've got to try. You don't know how many times I've sat on the shore and wished that I could go with you and your father. "

"Both of you always look so happy when you come out of the sea. You look like all is right with the world, and I want a slice of that pie."

"I'm okay anyway I stole a valium off the step monster if things really go sideways, I'm all set."

Cam looked shocked, but she just laughed.

"Joking!" she cried.

Which broke him up; he pounced on her then and devoured her luscious lips with his. The sea could wait he thought.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Let me carry you!"

"No way, I can do it myself." Meg insisted.

"Okay tell your body that, because you're shaking like a leaf in a wind storm right now."

"I'm fine," she bit out through clenched teeth.

The bow of his small sailboat was resting lightly on the sand while the stern flopped this way and that with each crest of wave that hit the shore.

Cam couldn't imagine how she was going to maneuver herself through the water with her crutches and then get in the boat all while she looked like she was about to throw up.

He didn't think she couldn't but, that didn't stop him from thinking that it was wholly unnecessary to put her through that in the first place.

But she was being her usual stubborn self. And they were at a stalemate.

He could tell that she wanted to walk out herself, but her terrified legs wouldn't allow it.

For the first time Cam finally understood the phrase "it's better to beg for forgiveness than to ask for permission'.

So he scooped her up in his arms and threw her crutches as far ashore as his arm strength would allow and starting walking her toward the boat.

She was tight lipped and angry, he could see that, but she was also terrified. Her heart was racing against his chest and her eyes were closed tightly shut.

They flew open though when he placed her in the bow to take his place in the stern.

She had clutched at his neck the entire time he carried her and had for a moment refused to let him go, but her pride wouldn't allow her to look weak; so she sat up her back ramrod straight and fixed her gaze straight ahead angrily.

Oh yeah he was going to pay for this later.

He leaned over her for a moment to draw the anchor in and the boat had tipped madly to one side.

She let out a tight lipped whimper, and clutched at him frantically.

Cam put his face right in hers and stared straight into her beautiful big blue eyes the color of a Caribbean sea.

"Babe, it's going to be alright, I promise I won't let anything happen to you."

The wind was high but not too aggressive the perfect day for a sail. Cam sat as close to her as possible letting his leg lean against her outer thigh. He'd need to be able to be close to the mainsail to tack on and off. He raised the main halyard til the wind caught the mainsail, and they were off.

Meg clutched at him again, but he rubbed her thigh to try and sooth her. The keel of his boat cut through the cresting waves like a knife through hot butter and they were underway, sailing toward the breakwater and the open sea.

Meg began to relax as they picked up speed and the sudden jolts from side to side turned into gentle rocking as they sliced through the surface of the water.

He held her in his arms after he trimmed the mainsheet and set the sail into the wind.

He was relieved to notice that her heart rate had decreased. She was even smiling slightly. She still had her eyes firmly closed but she didn't look like she wanted to climb him like a scared cat any more. At least that was something.

When they crested the break water they were greeted by a pod of Bottlenose Dolphins. They raced beside the boat leaping and playing as if they were trying to get someone's attention and then he knew they were calling out to her and she couldn't even see them.

"Megan," he beg, "open your eyes someone wants to say hello."

She cracked one eye comically and asked, "who," but a big grin split her face when she say them?

They must have noticed that she saw them too, because they did the most miraculous thing then. They started swimming backwards like an act at sea world and started whistling and making clicking noises at her.

"Can you understand what they're saying?" Cam asked in amazement.

Megan eyes shone with unshed tears and she blurted out," Yes I can!"

"What are they saying," Cam asked eagerly.

"They're saying 'welcome to the sea your majesty'."

"I don't understand Cam what can they mean?"

"I knew it," he crowed. "I always knew it."

"Knew what?" she narrowed her beautiful eyes at him. Her fears forgotten.

"You have a special affinity for dolphins, maybe that's why they're calling you 'your majesty'?"

The dolphins seemed to laugh at them then as they began to leap over the bow above Megan's head.

"Can you talk to them," Cam asked excitedly.

"Sorry I don't have a clue where to begin."

"What are they saying now?"

"They're asking me to come play with them. They want me to jump out of the boat and join them.

She looked with wonder in her eyes at him and said, "Cam they know I'm afraid and they're promising to protect me."

"Well? " Cam asked eagerly.

When it looked like she might, when she started to stare at the water longingly it happened.

She started breathing heavy and sweat formed on her brow and her upper lip. Her heart started racing in her chest he could feel it where her back rested against his chest. She clutched at him then with eyes as big as saucers and said the one thing he never wanted to hear again:

"Cam I can't breathe," she screamed and she completely shut down. Her breath was going in and out like a big billow. He couldn't get her to the shore fast enough then. The dolphins had stayed with them the entire way nearly beaching themselves with their worry.

Once the bow hit the sandy shore he scooped her up in his arms and started wading ashore but in his haste he tripped and they both fell in the water.

It happened then.

The sea began to rage and the wind picked up to a gale force. Sand started biting at their bare skin and faces. She clutched at him as he picked her up in his arms once again and carried her ashore.

They flopped down near her crutches their heads bent away from the furious wind. It howled in his ears. The waves began to crash on to the shore seeming to be purposely trying to suck them back in. They got larger and closer each time.

In that moment he didn't care how independent she was, he picked her up again with one hand while grabbing her crutches with the other and took off for home. Some instinct was screaming at him to get her away from the water.

She buried her face in his chest the entire way while he had to squint his eyes to see through the sand storm that had picked up out of nowhere.

Every breath burned in his chest and his legs started getting weak as he fought the wind that pushed against him with all its might. And just when he thought he wasn't going to make it suddenly he was in front of his sliding door. Relief flooded through his body as he wasted no time in prying it open and dove inside shutting it firmly behind them.

They both collapsed on the floor of his room a pile of limbs and crutches.

The wind buffeted the trees and bushes outside and smacked at his sliding door angrily.

His father came crashing down the stairs and tore open the door to say,"What the hell was that?!"

Cam was breathing too heavy to talk, but even if he could he had no way to explain what had just happened.

Meg moaned from beside him and said, "Let's never do that again."

****************** THANKS FOR READING********************

I hope you all liked this chapter -- Do you think Cam will reject his skin or will his father be able to save him like he thinks?

And what the heck just happened with Meg? Why did the sea just react so violently when she touched it? Could that be why she is terrified of it?

Tune in tomorrow to find out.

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