Page 54 of Oceansong
“Yeah.” She cleared her throat. Though they were obscured from the mer seeing them, she asked, “Should we move farther away?”
Stefan stood and she followed as they relocated at a safer distance.
“How are the grandkids?”
Stefan followed on Angie’s purposeful tangent without missing a beat. “They flew back to Juneau. Speaking of the no-lobster problem, they saidseafood prices were too high there. Looks like they’re feeling the shortage, too.”
Angie’s muscles went rigid. “It’s getting worse, isn’t it?”
They slipped back into a tense silence. A breeze passed, plastering a lock of hair on Angie’s face. She brushed it off.
Two dock workers walked near the blockade, picking things up from the ground and shoving the contents into a large bag.
Stefan spoke from behind her. “What’s going on? Why are they so close to the water?”
“My dad and Nick are sending out a lot of cleanup crews. They found traps around. One of the maintenance crew ladies got caught on caltrops made from coral. It blended in with the sand. She was going with her crew to fix up the gangway.”
Stefan stared, riveted. “So, what happened?”
“Her crew was quick enough to get her out. Then they bailed.”
Stefan let out his breath in an audiblewoosh.
Returning her attention to the two dock workers, Angie noted they were getting too close to the blockade and into the danger zone.
“Angie—”
“Hold on.” Angie had taken five steps in their direction before they changed course and moved away from the blockade. Her shoulders dropped.
The other worker stepped forward, her leading leg sunk beneath the sand. She screamed, dropping her bag and clawing in front of her, a futile attempt in staying above ground.
Angie broke into a full-on sprint, nearing the end of the dock when wood met ground and eventually sand. She was so close, so close.
A tidal wave twice as tall as Angie roared upward, and as if pushed by an unseen force, sped toward the coastline and crashed over the stuck worker, drowning out her cry for help.
The mer were here. One navy blue and one storm gray tail arched above the water before disappearing again. They looked much too close to the shoals.
Her colleague flailed his arms and bolted to where the stuck worker had been. The water receded, and she was gone, dragged into the ocean’s depths.
“No, come back!” Angie cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted as loud as her lungs would allow. The male worker skidded to a stop, eyes wide and mouth agape.
To Angie’s relief, he ran in her direction, toward the docks.
A jagged lance ripped through his chest, and with a choked gurgle, he fell facedown. Angie dropped to her hands and knees, breaths coming out inquick huffs, arms shaking and leg muscles tightening so much they cramped.
“Angie!” Stefan yelled behind her, pulling her to her feet.
What had come over her? It wasn’t the first time she had seen her colleagues fall to the mer, but this was the first time she’d seen someone killed in front of her.
She wasn’t prepared for the visceral reaction it invoked. Her heart hammered, mingled with a high-pitched ringing in her ears that temporarily deafened her.
And Kaden was the murderous mer’s prince. The gentle, handsome mer with sturdy hands and velvety lips and skin and a sleek, beautiful maroon tail.
She loathed to think that he played a part in ordering the attack. The notion sickened her and made her retch, bringing tears to her eyes. Stefan shouted into her ear. “We have to go! We have to tell your dad and Nick!”
Angie snapped out of it, short tremulous inhales and exhales making her hyperventilate. “O-okay. Okay. Okay.” She kept repeating it. If she believed it enough, she might eventually feel the same.
When she turned her gaze toward where her colleagues were felled, a white ship with a red stripe sailed past them.
