Page 12 of The Lighthouse Keeper and the Mermaid
He opened his mouth and said some kind of words she was sure, for the tones and sounds changed and paused, but what he had said, she had no idea. Regardless of it being gibberish to her, her mind had stopped hearing any of it when she saw his teeth. It wasn’t just his skin that felt like a shark’s. Oh no, his mouth looked like one too, with every last tooth a jagged canine.
“Oh,” she said, pulling away. Their hands broke apart and he looked a bit startled before he rattled off something else.
“I am so sorry,” she said, suddenly feeling so wildly uncomfortable. “But I don’t speak that language.” Those teeth were not human, which perhaps should have been no surprise, but all canines? He was a predator. He could rip someone to shreds. Thank God his mouth was only the size of a man’s or she was sure she’d have had real problems. Even then, she wasn’t so sure. Didn’t dolphins attack whales? Little by little and piece by piece was not out of place here in the sea.
He pointed to her, then the lighthouse, and said something else. What could he be asking: if she lived there? If she was going back? If she knew what it was for?
“I’m the lighthouse keeper. I live there,” she said, feeling stupid for saying it at all if he couldn’t understand.
He nodded his head toward it as if telling her to go towards it, then gestured to the open sea and made hand symbols that she guessed might be angry rain clouds.
“Are you talking about last night?” she asked, wondering how she could make a symbol for it.
But he seemed to be gesturing her along as if he wanted her to go toward home.
She frowned but went to the oars all the same. “If you insist…” she muttered.
And as she started to row, the most incredible thing happened. He watched her go for a second before diving after her, and as he dove, his lower body broke through the surface—a tail. A turquoise and silver tail.
CHAPTER 7
A…mermaid?
She could almost laugh at the absurdity of it. A mermaid? It was as likely to be Poseidon himself for as crazy as that sounded.
Then he was gone under the water.
She stared stupidly for a second, not moving, not even thinking.He’d come back, wouldn’t he?her heart cried out. He wouldn’t just leave her like that, right?
And sure enough, his white hair popped up some hundred feet away and he turned back to look at her, as if wondering where she could possibly be.
She couldn’t help but smile. She wouldn’t be that fast even if she rowed with all her might.
But she took the oars and started up again, and he waited until she got close before diving back under once more.
They did that at least three times. Him going, him waiting, him diving again. And it seemed he was leading her back to her own lighthouse—or really to the dock in the small cove.
Perhaps she shouldn’t be surprised. Dolphins seemed quite intelligent too when she watched them play, and this creature had the face of a man so perhaps he also had the intelligence of one.
But still, as they rounded the jetty of rocks to her dock, it seemed so strange. How would he know it was here or what it was for? Had he beenwatchingher? Or was he smart enough that he actually understood what lighthouses and docks and boats all were?
He lingered near the dock, and as she pulled close and tied down her boat, he just watched her. He hardly looked curious, but she also supposed she couldn’t assume his face would show emotions thesame as a human’s would.
He seemed to be waiting for something, but she wasn’t sure what. He couldn’t associate her with food, right? Surely, she would have heard of mermaids if the fishermen were feeding them for fun. Or was he waiting for some kind of thanks for saving her life—if he was the one that had?
But when she stepped off the boat, he seemed to nod in…satisfaction, as ifthatwas what he had been waiting for. Did he not like her in small boats after last night?
Well, maybe that was fair; there was a small part of her at the moment that didn’t either.
“Thank you,” she said, nodding herself.
There was a slight ghost of a smile on his lips. It was so…warm that she felt ridiculous for ever doubting for a second that he expressed emotions just the same.
Good Lord, he was beautiful—perfection—like a statue come to life. Chiseled jaw, striking eyes, and his body—she stopped herself. She was alady. Ladies did not appreciate naked torsos.
“Can I get you something?” she asked.
He smiled and said something that she guessed had to do with him not understanding the language.
