Page 67 of Citrine

"But I am better than you."

She glares at me again and huffs, turning to the side. There are scattered plants by the tree, but she doesn't offer me some like the last time. She finishes it off, reminding me that I haven't had anything to eat yet.

She scratches at her side, twisting uncomfortably on the spot.

"This is madness."

"What?" I ask, still staring at her side.

"It feels like I'm… suffocating."

"Why?"

"It's these gills. It's the equivalent of covering my nose for no reason. But I don't know how to control theseso-called clothes. If I think about breathing, then…"

The covering on her body disappears, casting her bare. She curls in on herself, covering her body. She sighs.

"It's hard to make them come back and I don't even know what to do to breathe. Isn't that concerning enough?"

I stare at her, not sure of what to say. Like most things with her, I don't understand it, but for some reason, she's hurt.

So I must stop it.

"You need to go into the water. You can't breathe on land for too long or you will dry out internally."

"What? I'm not like you. If I go in, I'll drown!"

"You won't drown," I say, staring at her gills.

"How can you say that?"

"I've had them since birth and I've never drowned before."

"Well,whaleshave gills, too. Wait. They don't, but I don't remember what it's called. They have to come up for air and die by drowning, eventually. What am I even saying? Basically, semi-aquaticmammalscan still drown, even though they have the organs to technically float in water. Guess what? I'm not a semi-aquaticmammal! I'm just a plain oldmammaland I don't want to die on this strangeplanet, where my body can't even be found because I drowned!"

"You will not drown," I repeat.

"Well, how would you know that? I'm not like you."

"You stole my voice and can speak my tongue. You stole my body this time. You can swim."

She looks at me and I stretch a tentacle toward her, excitement rising inside. I was alone in the water since she wasn't capable of swimming. Now, I'll be able to have her by my side at all times, on water or on land.

"Come into the water."

She looks at me from the corner of her eyes. "You're like asiren, tempting me to jump into the water so you can drown me and feast on my flesh."

"I already said I won't eat you."

She's a different kind of delicious. I would rather savor her for a long time. For the rest of my life.

"Right. And I'm supposed to take your word for it. Perfect."

The sky crackles and she jumps again. We both look up to see dark clouds promising a destructive storm. She moves close to me, clinging to my arm. The skies darken, taking on a dark purple hue.

The clouds rumble and she squeals again, clinging tighter.

"You're afraid. Why?"

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