Page 82 of Oceansong
“Yes. Be here at six thirty tomorrow. There’s something all of you need to hear regarding the mer and our efforts to fight them and replenish our food source.”
Angie’s throat went dry and her heartbeat slowed to a crawl.
If the news was coming from Nick, then it certainly wouldn’t be good.
Thirty-Two
Nick stood some feet outsidethe meeting room, his head high and shoulders pulled back. Angie’s shoulders inadvertently tightened at the sight of him.
“Angela.” Nick’s voice was icy.
She swore under her breath and approached him.
“You’re buddy-buddy with the mer now?” He flung his accusatory words at her, his posture rigid and tight.
“What are you talking about?” She inhaled so deep that her lungs rammed into her ribcage.
“People saw you talking with a merman.” He jabbed a finger toward her face, and she stepped sideways with one hand up, avoiding it.
No point in denying it now.
“I had to find a way to appeal to the mer since nobody will listen to me.” She stumbled over her words, but Nick looked too riled up to notice.
“First of all, nobody authorized you to do that. Your dad specifically asked you to stayawayfrom them. I sent people to follow you periodically because I had this feeling you were up to something shady.” He folded his arms tight across his chest, making his defined pectoral muscles stick out.
Angie thought her stomach had fallen into her intestines, and her hands and feet grew cold even as they stood in the sun’s beams. Words escaped her. Nick maintained his glare, shaking his head in disapproval. “That’s what I thought. Someone saw you pacing up and down the beach last month, like you were looking for something. He couldn’t figure out why you were so close to the beach when we were given explicit instructions to stay far from it, so he came to me. You’re lucky he didn’t go to your dad first.”
She knew what he was talking about. The day where she was looking for Kaden and found his kombu kelp directions stuck in an empty bottle.
“Like I said.” Her head weighed heavy, and her words came out in short, quiet stutters. “I wanted to see if I could get them to listen to me.”
“Okay, I get it, you had good intentions. But you’re real–” She didn’t understand his next word, but it was laced with a French accent, and he continued on, “at following directions, you know that? I still don’t know what you’re up to or what’s going on in that brain of yours, but if you don’t want me going to Zixin and telling him my suspicions, you’ll do what I say, alright? Unless you want Daddy keeping a closer eye on you. Maybe even forced leave.” His hazel eyes burned with rage, his eyebrows in a tight V over his eyes. “I have to give it to you though, if it weren’t for your sneaking around, we might never have found where the fish were.” The smile spread across his face was a mocking one.
Somewhere in his rant, he threw another foreign word at her. Leave it to this asshat to throw what she assumed to be French swear words at her, knowing full well she didn’t understand. She wouldn’t be surprised if he ran to Bàba the moment he suspected something else.
“Did you tell them to destroy the cameras?”
His question jolted her, and she raised an eyebrow. She didn’t even know the cameras had been tampered with. “No!”
Nick snorted, the dubious expression on his face telling Angie he didn’t quite believe her, but he didn’t press further. It made sense now, the reason he waited for her outside the meeting room was because he was upset that the cameras were damaged and wanted to know how or who was responsible. He wanted to pin the blame on her.
Angie shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other. Tian, she wanted this conversation to be over. “What do you want me to do now?”
“You can start by staying away from the mer. Don’t let me catch you again,” he said, curt.
Angie glared at his retreating back.
Go to the Hells, Nick, and don’t come back.
She took a calming breath before following him into the room where the meeting was held. Nick stood whistling, head high and shoulders pulled back. Bàba threw him a fleeting glance from the other end of the room, and then returned to being nose-deep in a large stack of papers.
Angie fingered her watch, twirling it round and round to keep her mind busy for what may come. Her insides quivered.
“Before I start,” Nick said after clearing his throat, the sound ringing through the building’s high ceilings. “Thank you all for your efforts during these trying times. You come to work and put yourself in danger each day, yet you do not hesitate to contribute. Many of you are even seeking newideas on how we can end this disaster and get things back to normal again.”
Angie recoiled as workers’ cheers and whoops erupted around her. She wrapped her arms around herself, a way to shield herself from what he was going to say next.
“We caught another merman, but I decided to keep it alive.” Nick paced back and forth, and Angie’s hands grew clammy, her breaths catching in her chest.
