Page 42 of Oceansong
“Do you and your father live close to the main island?”
“No. It’s an hour and a half northeast by ferry and a bus, both of which come once every hour or two.” Angie hedged before saying more aboutwhere she lived.
Kaden didn’t press it. “It sounds like quite the ways to travel. What brought you here, if your school is not near?”
“Work experience and money for school. I also promised my bàba I’d help him when I could. At least, that’s what I wanted. But with this mess now, I’ve been working way too much. Wondering if I’m going to get drowned or speared if I dare get too close to the water. I just want to live through this, if stress or your people don’t kill me first.” Angie stared at the base of the lighthouse, watching the breeze stir up a small tornado of sand. She never thought she would have to add the last caveat.
“I wish this was not happening, either,” Kaden murmured, “that there was more I could do. I know I asked to meet you to discuss how we could stop this bloodshed. My leaders will not hear of any request for a ceasefire. They believe that you landwalkers started it, then taunted us with the strung mer at the shoreline, and believe you must pay.” A despondent chord struck in his voice. He slid one arm out to his side to shift his weight, his fingertips touching hers. A tiny jolt buzzed to her hand, a surprising visceral reaction to such a minor touch. Neither of them moved.
“I suggested that we speak to the mer. Instead of killing them. But since our ship, uh, theOdysseysunk and your people killed everyone onboard, and then killed our leaders’ son, they’re out for revenge, too.” Angie shuddered. She thought about what he said, and her heart sank. “What’s happening with the mer now? They’ve been quiet, and it’s a little unnerving. If you can tell me. Or want to.”
Kaden’s fingers shifted away from hers, the sand crunching under his fingers. “ I cannot say much more because I don’t know, but we are deciding our next move. We have noticed the same silence with your people, though they lurk in our waters sometimes.” His voice dropped to a whisper, choking out his next words. “We await news from leadership. And we are to keep a lookout for divers and sea vessels. We were told not to attack for now unless the humans strike first.”
Angie brightened with a sliver of hope. “So, if we stop attacking, you’ll stop too?” Hopefully, Bàba and Nick would listen to reason. Then she furrowed her brow, thinking. It would leave them at a stalemate. They still needed fish. “Never mind.” She pulled her knees closer to her. “I’m afraid. Afraid my family will be caught in the crossfire.” Her words shook as they left her lips.
“I understand. I am afraid for my family, as well.” A forlorn glint flashed in his eyes as he stared over the horizon. “But, on the topic of family. The child with you earlier. She is yours?”
“Oh, no, she’s my sister’s.” The words came out faster than Angie intended.
“She appears very attached to you. I respect that you value family.”
“Always have.”
He leaned in, eyes sparking with interest. “Yes, family is important, whether blood or found.”
At eight p.m., the sun still beat down on them, and Angie soaked in the warmth.
They had inched closer so their shoulders were touching, and the tiny jolt from her fingers moved to encase her arm, his presence electric.
In the distance, a humpback whale breached toward the skies and fell back into the sea with a mighty splash, a marvelous sight to behold.
She wouldn’t squander this rare moment of peace. Or the feeling that if their two species weren’t at each other’s throats, all would be right.
Twenty
Seeing that Bàba had madeit home before her, Angie froze momentarily. He had been staying late at the docks, and by the time he got home in the past few days, she had been asleep.
A smile spread across her face, and she wanted to spend some time with him this evening.
He sat at the dining table, with a hardcover military thriller and his rimless reading glasses poised over the bridge of his nose, and she recalled the Lisinopril and Ambien in his room.
He didn’t notice her right away, and she left her boots at the door, sliding her feet into her pink velvet house slippers. “Bàba.”
He turned his head a fraction. “I didn’t hear you come in.”
“You got home early today. Except for work, I feel like I haven’t seen you in days.”
“Grace and I are splitting the time since Everett quit.” He referred to his junior managers. “She was able to take his entire shift today, but I’ll have a lot more late nights and early mornings coming up.”
“Let me know if I can help at all.” Angie moved to sit beside him.
Stretching his legs, he sat back in his chair. “Keep doing what you’re doing.”
“Is that a new book?” She leaned forward with her elbows on the table and crossed her legs.
“Yes, the latest in this series I’m reading.”
The question she had been wanting to ask burst forth. “I went to look for painkillers in your room, and saw that you had blood pressure meds and sleeping pills.”
