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Ro gives me an incredulous look and bursts out laughing. It startles with its vibrance and volume. He’s laughed in quiet chuckles often, but this is the first time I’ve heard him truly and fully laugh and it touches something within my heart. There isn’t a trace of mockery in it, just pure delight. I give him a wry smile as he scoops my hand up and presses a kiss to my palm. His breath is exquisitely warm, but it is nothing compared to the heat that lingers beneath the amusement within his gaze as he looks up at me.
I know I’m blushing when he finally releases my hand and straightens. “I guess that means you’re okay with that diet,” I mumble in embarrassment.
His smile widens, and he gives my hand in his possession a quick squeeze. “Do not be embarrassed, Keri. We have not spoken of Aquana diet, and there is no way for you to know. It is a fair question. It just surprised me since there is not much else to eat but the creatures that occupy the water. Call the taxi, and while we wait I shall tell you of the many foods we enjoy.”
“You don’t have to wait. All I need to do is open the app,” I point out as I pull my phone out and locate the app on it.
He watches curiously, and for a moment I can’t imagine what his world is like without the sort of technology that I always have at my fingertips to enjoy.
“It is a short telling,” he warns, “but it is sufficient to say that we eat most everything that can be found. We have different ways of preparing it and combining what the seas offer, though we consume our meals in the raw form, which I do not think you would like. Seals are fine eating, and dolphins when we catch one. Finned fish, shelled fish, kelp, seaweed, shark, it is all a part of our diet. It is especially pleasing to wrap cut fish in seaweed with various bits of vegetation and meat mixed together. We keep our food in little pots in cool, dark areas of our home where they will keep for many days, and when we eat, we pull the pots and pinch a bit of everything we desire and eat it with pieces of the seaweed. It is like nothing else.”
“I don’t know. Sounds a little like sushi to me,” I tease.
Ro grins back, but there is such an obvious look of homesickness on his face that an idea occurs to me, and I break out in a smile.
“All right. Meet me after work. I know just where we can go.”
Keri
I fidget impatiently,waiting for the hours to pass until I escape. There is not much that requires my attention since Lynn took care of all of the tasks that I normally space throughout the day. At this point I’m nothing more than a glorified babysitter. I tap my foot as I pull out the grimoire I’ve been studying for the last few days and my notebook. This book has been more difficult for me to get through than most. My trouble with it isn’t due to the subject matter. Everything within the pages is not only fascinating but also extremely informative. The mage who wrote this volume was an exceptional magician and an accomplished alchemist. Just reading what little I have has filled pages upon pages of my notebook not only with notes taken directly from the grimoire but also with some of my own thoughts and ideas to try.
My trouble with the text lies in one area alone—one eye-straining and headache-inducing area. As brilliant as the man was, his handwriting is atrocious. I can barely make out some of the faded words, especially now that I have gotten to this section regarding the occult matter of water and the sea, and the denizens within. I smile because not too long ago I would have taken that latter as representing immaterial beings. I never would have believed that Aquanas, or any other species, share our world with us in the most literal sense. Strange that something so well known became lost so easily once. It has given me a new appreciation for the old grimoires and how what might have once been considered figurative may not have been.
This section on water is exceptionally interesting. The prima materia, the higher essence of water that shapes the world by its transmutation. Gerald Vancourte continues to speak of how aquatic entities are by nature specialists of transmutation, their primal connection to the element allowing them to break down and reform as they contain within their material form the substance of this power. This is what allows them to venture among men. Although each species appears to have differences, there are things in common—every night the sea reclaims that which belongs to it, and every day when the moon is full, that which is of the sea remains locked within it.
I bite my lip, recalling that Ro will soon have to return to the sea. He will never be able to go far from it no matter how much he wants to because he will always have to return to it at least every twenty-eight days whether he wants to or not. I heard a group of kelpies just yesterday talking about the same supplements that Ro and Adiele mentioned that first day in the library, something about how the psychic block against the sea’s pull wouldn’t be so bad if not for the pain that they suffer when they are forced to return to the water. I can’t imagine anyone actually wanting that when it’s clear that separation from the sea causes such vicious withdrawal.
It makes me wonder what the other side effects are. Are they dangerous? Do they worsen over time from taking it? If so, I’m glad that Ro ran out. Even if our time is limited this evening, I would prefer to spend what little time I can with him rather than know that he would suffer—and in the long term perhaps in ways that no one yet knows.
Why would Ro even want something like that anyway? Sure, it limits his ability to explore if he must return every night, but surely there must be a better way. If it came right down to it, I would much rather find a way to brew a potion that could allow me to be underwater with him for a day rather than harm him.
I think I could deal with my fear of the sea under those terms—as long as we stay safely near the shore. And away from sharks. And if he really wants something to help him stay out of the water for a long period of time, then I can create something better. But it would take time… and a whole lot more research.
I regard the grimoire in front of me again and reach for my phone. I need to know everything that Adiele knows about the supplement. It will at least give me a framework of understanding on how it works. Ro hasn’t mentioned it again, but she would also know if he’s still determined to get it. If so, I will do everything in my power to provide him with something better.
I gulp quietly as I pull up my friend’s number. Even if it means asking for help from the coven—and disappointing my parents that I’m exploring other avenues of magic afield of the family practice of divination—to keep Ro safe, I will do everything in my power to make him what he needs.
Ro
I standat the edge of the crowd and look around, hoping to spot my female’s pale hair among the humans who are wandering along the docks. Although I am pleased that Keri agreed to this, I’m not so thrilled that she insisted that we meet here rather than walk together. I don’t understand why. Although I stay at a motel near here, I would have been happy to meet her at the library and walk back with her. I am anxious waiting here, half-expecting that if I do not move that some male will abscond with my female. It is an instinct bred of generations of males competing on the flirting grounds, but I cannot help the anxious flutter of my fins as I search the crowd for Keri.
But there—I see her, and the tension coiled within my belly relaxes as her eyes find me and she smiles as she lifts her hand in the air as if I have not yet seen her. How can I miss her? With her hair falling loose around her shoulders and the brilliant coral orange and red dress that hugs her body and flares around her thighs, she is a vision that stands out from the crowd. I cannot help but smile in return as I straighten and stride over to her, carefully avoiding stepping on anyone or accidentally slashing them with the barbed tips of my fins. Keri meets me halfway as she weaves among the milling human families.
“There you are,” she exclaims breathlessly, and for a moment I am anxious and watching for a sign of distress. She waves off my concerned look with a laugh, putting me once more at ease. “I’m all right. A bit of a squeeze this evening, isn’t it?”
I glance around and nod slowly. “I did not expect so many humans to be drawn to the docks,” I admit. “It feels a little strange.”
My female snorts lightly and tips her head to a brightly colored banner drawn up between two poles. “I’m afraid that’s going to happen during the seafood festival. It’s going to be a madhouse all week.”
I frown at the sign. More of the human writing is scrawled across it, but accompanying it is the image of something that looks vaguely like a crab. It boasts a horrifying smile that sends a tremor of unease through my scales. There is something so unnatural about what should have been a familiar creature that I instantly dislike its oversize smiling eyes and the toothy grin it has in a spot where no crab should ever have a mouth—and certainly no one that big. Even the size of the crab is beyond belief! A large slab of wood nearby is carved and painted to resemble the crab at terrifying proportions. The claws alone could behead an Aquana.
Keri glances over at the banner, her brow furrowing. “Is something wrong?”
I blink at her, unable to comprehend how she is not disturbed by it—or how none of the humans seem bothered by it as they take pictures with it. I see several children lean in close to it, and I want to just scoop them up and thrust them at their parents with a few biting words. There are plenty of monsters hidden in the depths of the seas. Humans do not need to create new ones.
A warm hand slips into mine, and my focus narrows entirely on it as I look over at the female twining her fingers with mine. She beams up at me, and suddenly I’m lost. My entire existence and all that I am is hers and captivated in that smile as in her magic as it sweetly caresses mine. If all Aquana males feel this way when meeting a potential mate, I can suddenly understand why they throw themselves into such ruthless contests on the flirting grounds.
“Relax. I know it’s a bit much right now, but I swear it’s not always this busy. I forgot that things were kicking off tonight. There are a lot of food vendors here along the walk that you might enjoy, but I thought maybe we could sit down and enjoy one of my favorite places tonight. I’m not scheduled to work at the library tomorrow, so we can enjoy some of the local flavor in the afternoon if you like.”
