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The merfolk remained in the cabin we had allotted for them, and ent to check on the else They were still alive, though they hardly budged an inch I wasn’t sure e intended to do with them e arrived in The Shade, but for noe didn’t have a choice but to keep them with us

As we entered deeper into the Pacific Ocean, I just prayed that ouldn’tin The Shade My prayers weren’t entirely answered

After the fifth day in the ocean, we found ourselves caught up in a hurricane We’d been forced to surface for fresh air due to a led to navigate the sub current We had to stop for a while and try to weather the storest, I’d just finished having a shower The sub more than ever I was terrified that we’d find ourselves stranded in the middle of the ocean

Ben had already left the control rooh I was sure that he wasn’t sleeping I didn’t kno anyone could sleep through this turbulence

I turned the corner of his doorless cabin Sure enough, he was sitting upright in bed with a bunch of athered up thespace for h I didn’t sit I stretched outthat he do the saot into the same position He reached out to touch h my hair

"You okay?" he asked

I brushed a thumb over his lips, thenbody enveloped round

Despite his coldness, a warht hand traveled slowly up and down ht, listening to the beating of his heart

Benjaainst hope that ould reach The Shade, but now that ere nearing it, a part ofit The Shade marked the end of our journey, possibly the end of us… whatever us was A brief friendship A sweet roether in a current and then being pulled apart

I wasn’t sure that I would ever uy like Benjauy like him

He’d told me that we could still stay in touch, but of course it wouldn’t be the sa so far apart… ould drift apart eventually No doubt he would find someone else Maybe I would too

I just wished soh I knew that it was iain My family who so desperately neededmy impossible fantasy "I e didn’t have to part," I whispered

He reached for my face and tilted it upward, so that he could look ue over his lips, which parted slightly, as if he were about to answer Then he dipped his head and claimed my lips in a slow, passionate kiss