The Secret of the Emerald Sea Read Online Free PDF

first kiss , she thought wildly, feeling butterflies in her stomach.
    They flew over the storm until dawn was about to break.
    “When the sun comes up,” he murmured in her ear, “I will be as you knew me before, and it is always to be this way. For no human can see me as I really am.”
    “But I can see you!” Jane said, bewildered.
    “You are not human, Jane, and that is why you see, and why I am with you.”
    “Why did you not tell me sooner... what you are?” Jane asked angrily. “Did you not trust me?”
    “I didn’t really know,” the Cupid answered. “I would awaken at night and know what I was, but it seemed like a dream, or perhaps a nightmare. Until I found you,” he went on, “I doubted the reality of my transformations.” He shook his curls in disbelief. “It took the storm to show me that I am real.” He kissed her cheek. “All will be well now, Jane,” he murmured as they rose ever higher. “I will take us where we need to be.”
    She smiled at him, feeling some strange excitement unlike anything she had ever felt before. I must not look down , she thought. We are flying so high now . But she smiled.
    Jane was as enamored as ever with the Cupid, adoring the young man just as she did the little child. She relaxed into his arms, and felt again the strange tingling in her heart, for he was impossibly handsome, and she had become a woman.
    “I will go with you wherever you desire,” she whispered.

Chapter Seven
     
    Under the sea, Neptune’s rage churned just like the waters that swirled around him. His absolute power over the creatures of the sea did not extend to the land, and he knew that would be the first place Jane would go. However, all the gods were friendly after a fashion with one another— although they could be quite nasty behind one another’s backs—and so the King of the Emerald Sea made some inquiries.
    Spies and emissaries were sent out to look for the young girl. Her home village was scoured by disguised half-deities and various small amphibious creatures, and deemed to be uninhabited by her. Councils were held with the mermaids, who had all found their way back after Neptune’s outburst, and endless discussions about Jane’s whereabouts always brought them back to the same central point. No one knew where the girl was.
    Neptune was at a loss. The world was a big place, even for him, to search thoroughly. Under the sea, the search would be vast, but magic could assist his efforts. On land, he was painfully hobbled by the loss of his considerable powers. He only went on dry earth when he couldn’t help himself. In fact, Jane and her mother had been the only reasons yet to explore a world that he essentially loathed—the human world.
    But love was strange, and sent its chosen ones down odd pathways. So Neptune had seen Jane’s mother on the shore one day as she hunted for shells, and he was smitten. Lost in admiration, he put his feet on terra firma for the first time, and he brought back a willing bride, at least at the outset. His power was diminished on the land, but he still had the power of conviction, and he had drawn this golden beauty toward him. Never before had he felt anything like this, and he knew he was blessed.
    She willingly gave up everything to be his love, but then it turned sour. It didn’t take long for her surroundings to chafe at her, and all the godly power in the world could not cease her—slow–at-first—turning away from their love. Never had Neptune felt such pain as when she rose to the surface, her belly swollen with child, and walked away from him, not even pausing to look back.
    The heartache had been terrible, but time had healed the wound to an extent, and he had his godly duties, his mermaids—who were some his children and some his companions—and other distractions. However, his missing daughter, who was lost to him, made it so hard to forget everything that had gone before.
    “Shall I go onto the land?” he wondered