Page 41 of Oceansong
Angie gave him a sideways glance. “You come to the surface often? As far as I know, nobody’s seen mer. Except when I saw you a month and a half ago, when I was diving.”
He frowned. “You saw me underwater?”
“Yeah, you and a mermaid with a white tail.” She scooted forward an inch.
“Oh, no. That was my brother, Cyrus, and his lifemate.” A playful smirk formed and two dimples emerged.
“Lifemate? Then how come they have different tail colors?”
Kaden’s caudal fins curled and drew messy lines in the sand. “It can happen anytime during their life together. If not when they were first joined, it could happen with the birth, or adoption of their children.”
“I see. Is he older or younger than you?”
“Older.” He dragged his gaze to her. “Do you have siblings?”
“Older sister.” A brief thought crossed before she uttered Mia’s name. But, he had told her his brother’s. “Mia.”
“We’re both the babies of our families,” he said. “And yes, I occasionally observe the goings-on of the surface world, from afar. Human and land animal behaviors and patterns fascinate me. Life up top is so different than it is undersea.”
“And I feel the same about all of that. Except change land to sea.” Angie grinned.
Speaking of the sea. Angie’s thoughts of her recent, failed attempt at studying were fresh in her mind. The last chapter she started reading was about deep-sea creatures, but her fatigue won, and it remained unfinished. Kaden stretched out his tail beside her. She asked, “You ever see strange creatures in the deeps?”
Kaden pursed his lips, tapping his smooth chin. “I have, in the rare times I explore that deep.”
He proceeded to say something she couldn’t understand at all. “What?” Angie scratched at her temple. Kaden explained, and she brightened. “You’re talking about a goblin shark and barreleye.” Angie thought of the rarely seen deep sea shark, its snout shaped like a blade. “Not sure I’d want to run into one of those. Sharks I mean.”
“It probably wouldn’t hurt you. Unless you get in its way.” Kaden smirked. “They’re partial to ambushes rather than a chase. But, imagine this.” He rotated to face her. Angie sat at attention. “You’re minding your business. You sense something coming toward you in the dark, slow, methodical. You see a soft pink body, a blue-tipped fin. Then the nose. It glides right by you, and you think you’re safe, until it stops. And then...” He leaned in.
“It strikes like lightning and chews your head off?” Angie wiggled her eyebrows.
“Close! But no. They circle you for a torturous moment, and before you know it, their jaws shoot out, and you’re dinner.” Kaden put his hands in front of his mouth, wiggling his fingers at her and mimicking the shark’s jaws protruding out. Angie flicked at one of his fingers, half smiling.
“Top notch impression!” She put her hands to her chest and gasped in an exaggerated, mock show of awe. “If you swam around like that, those poor little cephalopods wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.” A soft chuckle escaped her.
“I tried that once, but they weren’t fooled.” He winked.
“That is amazing, though,” Angie said with a wistful sigh. “I’d love to get myself into the deep sea one of these days. Like the Mariana Trench, even the Challenger Deep. I wish I could visit your world.”
“There is a lot to see.”
Angie gave him a playful nudge with her elbow. “Aren’t goblin sharks mostly in the Atlantic Ocean? And Oceania? And barrel eyes are way south of here.”
“Yes, thank you for the geography lesson,” Kaden laughed. “I know where they live.”
“Ha, ha. Those are animals I’ve only ever read about, seen photos of. But to see one in real life.” Goosebumps grazed her neck as she imagined the sights Kaden had seen. “You must have traveled far and wide.”
“Up and down the Pacific, and I once swam to the Indian Ocean two tidesyears ago. I went with Cyrus, a trip for him before he was to be bonded.” Angie grinned to herself at the thought of a merman bachelor party. Kaden propped himself on his forearms, ventral fins waving in the breeze. “Afterward, we almost crossed the Dead Sea. I wasn’t prepared for the waters to be so warm, or to see so little marine life. It was eye-opening. To see territory and cultures so different from here. Took us more than a tidesyear.” He leaned in close enough for Angie to catch his scent, carried on the gentle gust of wind. He smelled of a fresh sea breeze, crisp with a hint of salt, or maybe that was what she was actually smelling. “Eventually, I would like to see other oceans and seas.”
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t envious.” Angie surprised herself when her voice lowered. She sat back upright, putting her hands on her lap. Kaden mirrored her.
“But, enough about me. Have you been to places other than here?”
“I didn’t see the exotic places you did, but I dived in the Caribbean, and the islands around Vancouver between high school and college. Otherwise, I haven’t been anywhere else, really. Except Washington. Now I’m back home.”
“Travel is something we both enjoy doing.” A glint of approbation crossed his features. “What of your plans now? Will you stay here?”
Angie couldn’t infer the meaning behind his question, if he was fishing for information or if he asked simply out of curiosity. “I’m here for the rest of the summer. Living with my bàba. I’m going back to Seattle for grad school in September.”
