s**t, s**t, s**t! I kicked desperately against the sand, blind to anything but getting to the surface to expel the poison from my body, but my muscles refused to obey. Slowly the unnatural weight spread to them, constricting my movements with every second that passed.
Before I could finish the thought of what would happen if I didn’t get to the surface soon, the water rippled around me again, and suddenly Grim was there.
His dark hair floated around his pale face like black seaweed, but I didn’t have time to appreciate what a handsome merman he made. Without pause he wrapped both arms around my waist and pushed off from the sand, sending us shooting upward with rocket speed.
The second my head was free of the surface, I tried to suck in a lungful of oxygen, but my airways were full of w
