“I didn’t die. Blake was there and he… God, Violet. He was like an avenging angel. I’ve never seen someone so angry before.”
“There’s that too. I’ve seen the way you look at each other.” She frowned. “And there are the other mermaids….”
“Violet, you can’t give up your life for me.” I shook my head. “Besides, if you do this, I’ll make Dad give you tank detail.” She hated cleaning the fish tanks. “You have to do this.”
“I don’t want to.” She crossed her arms and glared at me. That’s more like it. I had a feeling that as much as I was worried about her leaving, she was just as stressed out.
“It’s going to be good, Vi. Maybe I can come visit you one day.” I smiled. Who knew? I could always just swim there.
“That would kick ass.” She smiled sadly.
“C’mon. There’s no telling what Dad’s done to Blake by now.”
Blake was leaning against the kitchen counter. Someone had gotten him a T-shirt and he was drinking a glass of orange juice. His eyes met mine as soon as I turned the corner and I felt warmer immediately. I could feel it like a touch when he looked at the marks on my arms and legs. His jaw tensed and he looked down at the floor, his hair falling over his eyes.
“We need to decide what to do.” Mom walked out of the kitchen and brought me a glass of juice. The sugar always helped pep me up after a bunch of changes.
“What do you mean?” I took a sip and watched my parents over the rim of the glass.
“We have to report Devin to the police. He can’t come back here.” Dad crossed his arms over his chest. “I sent the others home, but they all knew something had happened. There wasn’t any hiding that.”
“Did anyone see him leave?” A terrible feeling slid over me. What if he was still here at Flukes?
“He was out when we left the fish house. If he got up on his own, I doubt he wanted to do anything but get the hell out of here.” Blake raised his head and I looked at the cut under his eye. There was hydrogen peroxide on the counter and a couple of bandages. My feet moved without thought, taking me straight to him. Carefully I touched the butterfly bandage on his cheek and frowned. Looking down, I lifted his hand so that I could examine the cuts there. I remembered the blood on them and winced. Bringing his hand to my mouth, I brushed a kiss over his knuckles.
“Thank you.” I looked up at him and was surprised by the tenderness in his eyes. He was usually so cocky, it caught me off guard.
“I wish I had been there sooner.” His eyes were dark with emotion and my heart sped up. I’d never been looked at like that before. As if I was the only person that mattered.
My dad cleared his throat, reminding me that we weren’t alone. I didn’t step away from Blake, but I did turn so that I was facing everyone else.
“What do we tell the cops? If they see me like this, they’re going to want to know what happened. If I tell them I had an allergic reaction, they’re going to want to know how I’m healing so quickly.” I shook my head.
“I have to tell them something.” Rubbing his jaw, Dad looked at me with narrowed eyes. “We could tell them that he threatened you and that Blake ran him off. It’s not far from the truth. You’ll just have to cover up until you’re completely healed.”
“No one saw you but us,” Violet said. “I ran ahead to make sure no one was on the path.”
“Wait.” Mom shook her head. “You said that Devin was something different. If the police go looking for him and they find something that isn’t human, it might bring them back to Meena.”
“He’s been arrested before.” Blake shrugged. “I don’t think he’s going to give away his secrets just to get at Meena. Not really his style.”
“What made you think he wasn’t human?” Violet sat on the couch, her legs tucked under her. “He looked like your run-of-the-mill bad guy.”
I could feel Blake standing behind me and hesitated. Explaining this was only going to further the evidence that I wasn’t human. “He had gills and his eyes changed. It was… scary. I’ve never seen anything like it.” I shuddered, remembering the hate in his eyes. “And he told me. Told me that his mother had been a mermaid.” I bit my lip. What if I couldn’t have children with a human? What if I had never met Devin and gone on to get married, having no idea?
“But he wasn’t a mermaid?” Dad’s voice was quiet and I could see the scientist in his eyes working out the same conclusion that I’d come to. “Blake, did he look different to you?”
“Looked like an a**hole.” He shifted closer to me, his hand brushing my lower back gently, and I wondered if he had understood the implications. “I didn’t see any gills, but I wasn’t really looking.”
“He smelled horrible, too. I noticed it a couple of times. Like something rotting in the sun.” I made a face, remembering how bad it was. “I heal when I change, what if…” I darted for the door. What if he’d gone to the water? The closest water to the fish house was Mitch and Jallia’s pen. I fumbled with the door handle for a second, but managed to get it open.
My legs wobbled as I took the stairs down, but Blake was right behind me and reached out to steady me. I took the path as quickly as I could, my heart racing. When I hit the gate that blocked the path to the swimming areas I slammed the palm of my hand down on the latch and fought to open it.
“Mitch!”
Blake’s’ sure hands slid past mine and worked the gate open. I kicked my slippers off as I ran down the dock and practically fell down the ladder. I could hear the dolphins, but none of them had surfaced. I dove into the water and swam for the other side of the enclosure. There was a splash behind me as someone else jumped into the water, but I didn’t bother looking to see who it was.
Stormy was the first to surface, his angry clicks letting me know that something was wrong. There was a nasty looking scrape along his head, but he was too upset to let me look at it. Mitch surfaced with Jallia, her agitated movements adding to my anxiety. I grabbed Stormy’s fin and let him pull me to the others.
“What’s wrong? Are you all okay?” Mitch whistled plaintively and I turned to look at Jallia. She was angry, but looked unhurt. They were all passing along their fear and frustration. The most I could pick out from them was an impression of a shark, but that didn’t seem right. I ran my hands over Jallia’s belly and tried to see if there was anything wrong with the baby.
“Meena!” Blake swam near us but kept his distance, wary of the angry dolphins. Mitch immediately shot toward him, pushing against him so that he moved forward.
“She’s trying to keep you close so she can protect you.” I watched her in shock. She had accepted Blake into her pod without another thought. She was signaling that Blake was ours.
“Are they okay?” He covered the last little space with quick strokes.
“They’re upset. He must’ve been here.” I looked for Dad and saw him walking along the top of the nets. He knelt down and by the look on his face I knew there was something wrong.
“What is it?” I raised my voice so that he would be able to hear me.
“Hole.” He shook his head. “Big hole. We need to move the dolphins.”
Carefully, I thought out what I needed for Mitch, Stormy, and Jallia to do and sent it to them. With a quick whistle, Mitch rounded them up to the gate that led to one of the other areas. Flicking the lock open, I swung the gate out and let them swim through. We had been keeping that pen clear for when Jallia gave birth and we needed somewhere for the mom and baby to stay while guests were here, but it would work for now.
“How’d they know what to do?” Blake took the gate from me and pushed it closed.
“I told them.” I watched his face, my stomach tightening. Just because he knew what I was didn’t mean that he knew everything about me. I couldn’t help but wonder what would be the straw that broke the camel’s back. There had to be something that would send him running for the hills.
“Told them how?” His brown eyes were trained on my face.
“They can feel what I need, what I’m thinking.” I tread water for a second. “Just like I can tell what they want.”
“So that first day I met Mitch, you told her to splash me?”
My mouth fell open. That was the last thing I thought he’d ask. “No! She thought you were rude!”
“So she really understood what I had said?” We started swimming toward where Dad was standing above the hole.
“Yes. They are so much smarter than humans give them credit for.”
“Well, she likes me, so it’s obvious she’s smart.” He winked at me. She didn’t just like him. Mitch had accepted him as part of the family, but I didn’t know how to tell him that. It was a big deal for her to take to him so quickly and I still didn’t understand her thoughts of him as mine.
“Meena, are you too tired to go down and take a look?” Dad was still kneeling on the boardwalk.
“No, I can do it.” The light was starting to fade, but the hole was obvious. The tear was large enough for me to fit through with no trouble. I pulled at the torn edges, confused by what had caused that type of damage.
I surfaced and looked at Dad. “Something shredded the net. It’s a mess.” He cussed under his breath and stalked back toward the toolshed. It was a real pain to replace a whole side instead of just patching a small area.
I swam to the platform to haul myself out of the water but didn’t have the energy. Crossing my arms, I laid my head down on the platform and let my body just float. There was so much going on and I was emotionally and physically exhausted. Blake pulled himself out of the water and leaned down over me.
“Let’s get you to bed.” I reached up and let him grasp my hands. With one tug he pulled me out of the water and against his chest. Once we were up the ladder, he found my slippers and then slid an arm around my waist.
When we got back to the house, Mom made us all some quick food. It was quiet for the most part, everyone eating and lost in their own thoughts. Once we were finished, Blake got up and helped Mom clean the kitchen. I leaned on the counter and watched them work together. Mom would point him in the right direction and Blake would laugh when she made fun of him for not knowing what a strainer was.
It was almost peaceful until I noticed the red marks that were still on my arms. Violet sat down on the stool next to me and leaned her head against my arm.
“I’ve got to go.” She frowned. “I guess I have an early flight in the morning.”
“Yes, you do!” I smiled and hoped that I didn’t look as bad as I felt.
“You’ll keep me updated, right?” She cut her eyes to Blake and then back to me. “About everything?”
“Of course.” I hugged her, hating knowing this would be the last time that I saw her for months. “Get out of here.”