Page 296 of Hide and Keep

“What happened?”

“I think something bit me.”

Oh, fuck. My mind starts racing, thinking about all the creatures that could’ve bit her. It could’ve even been a jellyfish sting.

I lift her up, one hand behind her back, one under her knees. Her feet out of the water, I see they’re bare. There aren’t any sandals floating around us, so…

“You took your shoes off?”

She nods miserably, tears barely held back, before snuggling me closer. “I thought I had to for kayaking.”

“Aw, sorry, butterfly. That’s on me. I should’ve warned you.” I was so focused on getting away from here, I forgot Ever’s new to…here. “There’re crabs all over, under the water, under the sand, and if you step on one, or even just near one, they’ll pinch you.”

“That was apinch?”

The pinch itself probably wasn’t as awful as the shock of it. I’ve seen grown men brought to tears over an unexpected crab pinch.

I carry her to get her sandals, then we paddle out. As a fast learner, she has no problem keeping up with me, staying relatively close on my flank. Aside from my first few instructions on how to hold the paddle, the ride is silent. We pass house after house with only a few feet between them, givingthem a condominium-like appearance. Nothing like Ever’s neighborhood with multiple acres between each mansion.

“Do you like the water?” she asks randomly.

I glance around at it, then shrug. “I guess.”

“You could work with it.”

I nod before it turns into a shake. “I have no idea what that means.”

“You could get a job working with water.”

“Like a marine biologist?”

“There are a lot of roles in conservation work, not just biologists.”

“You want me to be a conservationist like you?”

“You already are. All of your jobs have been protecting something, right? Buildings, people… You could protect sea life.”

I hadn’t thought of it like that before. What I was technically doing—conservation of sorts—never really registered. I was choosing jobs based on the ability to disappear from everyone’s radar. Night guard of office buildings and storage facilities, the ones with entire shifts where I didn’t encounter a single soul, were my favorites. I didn’t like taking bouncer-type jobs, mostly because of the amount of people I was forced to interact with, but I still did it when needed. At least at Hide and Keep I could somewhat conceal my identity.

“I don’t know the first thing about getting into that kind of work,” I confess.

“I’m sure you could figure it out. You’re good at finding answers to things you don’t know.”

That is what the internet’s for. Or what it started out as. Now it’s… I don’t even know. It seems like people go out of their way to stay ignorant these days.

“It probably requires a degree—”

“You don’t need a college education to make a difference in the world.”

I consider that for a moment.

“What about you? Will you continue your conservation work?”

Ever doesn’t answer for so long I have to check on her over my shoulder. The paddle across her lap, she’s just staring at me.

I stop paddling, too.

“Too soon?” I know how hard it must’ve been for her to leave all those butterflies behind.

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