Page 104 of Midnightsong
“Of course.” Balcerzak stepped out of her way, and after going inside and putting away the refrigerated and frozen items, she stepped back outside.
“Please come with us and we’ll explain on the way.” Lopez sounded so calm, her expression soft, as if Angie had nothing to worry about.
Maybe they only had some generic questions about mer. She could handle that.
Angie fiddled with the strap on her shoulder bag. She followed them to their car, and they drove thirty minutes away from downtown, in silence to an office building.
“We have some questions regarding the situation with the merfolk, down by the Pacific Coast, and here,” Lopez said, once they parked and stepped out of the car.
The unremarkable, plain, two-story building loomed overhead in the rural space, and Lopez and Balcerzak led her inside. The closer they drew, the faster Angie’s heart raced. She didn’t have the first idea of what awaited her inside.
Balcerzek swung open the door to a dimly lit, austere room with only a table and three uncomfortable-looking chairs in the center.
Lopez sat first, and Balcerzak stepped in moments later, handing her a glass of room temperature water.
Though she was thirsty, Angie was too nervous to sip it.
“Angie, what can you tell us about the mer world? About them as a species?” Lopez clasped her hands loosely in front of her.
Angie licked her lips, dry from anxiety. She could tell them what she learned, and they would let her go. She didn’t like it in this room. The stuffiness and dryness made her chest feel tight, the dim lighting was already giving her a mild headache, and she hadn’t loosened her tight-knuckled grip.
But if she told them what she knew, she would betray Kaden and all the mer who had came to trust her. He was fighting his own battles, she knew, and she couldn’t help but question what he was thinking as things were coming to a head.
No. She couldn’t do that.
“Nothing you don’t already know,” she said.
Balcerzak raised a skeptical eyebrow and leaned in to whisper something in Lopez’s ear. Angie strained to listen but comprehended nothing.
“We know you’re close with them. I know you don’t want to tell and I don’t blame you. I wouldn’t either in your position.” Lopez leaned in, her voice and expression softening.
“But please think of the people around you. Your family. Tens of people have died because of them, all along the coast. Hundreds more have become homeless. If we don’t stop this now, there could be more.”
“And your family,” Balcerzak added, his tone soothing and concerned. “I don’t want to get in the middle of this, either. But my parents were two people who had to evacuate, too, and their home was destroyed with the last attack. They’re in their seventies and it was my childhood home.”
An unseen knife drove into Angie’s heart.
She couldn’t give in and tell them. But what if it was Bàba, Mia, Rosie, and Jack who lost their homes, or worse, their lives? Or Stefan and Ken? She would want to find justice for them too. Balcerzak and Lopez must have seen the cracks in her veneer and they continued.
“What if it was your dad? Your sister? Your niece and nephew?” Lopez asked. It was as if she had read Angie’s mind and Angie set her jaw. “When we speak with the higher-ups, we could make sure your lover isn’t harmed.”
But they would destroy his home, his people. Even if they spared Kaden, they would leave him nothing to return to. And would theyreallyspare him?
“Where is their base? Their palace?” Balcerzak pressed.
“I don’t know, I swear.” Her voice shook and she mentally slapped herself.
“You’ve spent all this time with your Mer-Prince, and you don’t know where he lives?” Balcerzak leaned back, his astute gaze zeroing in on her. “He never took you to his home?”
Angie took two deep breaths, calming herself down before she spoke again. “I don’t know how to get there. It’s in the middle of the deep sea.”
“In the last two years, you never knew where you were going at all? You never paid attention?” Lopez asked.
Angie’s resolve returned. “No. I just followed him.”
An hour passed, then two, and three. Angie had repeated herself so much she was exhausting herself mentally, her throat aching.
“You’re tired and so are we.” Balcerzak sipped his coffee. “Please, tell us what we need to know, and we’ll make sure you get home safely.”
