Page 14 of Midnightsong
Angie cocked an eyebrow. Surely, he was joking.
Sketches of merfolk skeletons, of a mermaid and merman’s, appeared on screen with detailed notes of bone names.
The class went silent.
Then, snickers arose from the back of the lecture hall, and voices trickled into Angie’s ears.
“Is this a joke?” Leo sputtered from beside her.
“Hey, nice one, Williams! What are we learning next week? Dragons?” a young man hollered from the row in front of Angie.
Her classmates’ snickers rose to giggles and raucous laughter.
“How about the Anansi? I want to learn the anatomy of how a human can turn into a spider!” Another young man’s voice sailed over Angie’s head.
More of her classmates’ murmurs of disbelief followed, and Angie wanted nothing more than to slide under the table and curl into a ball. This wasn’t a joke. She knew.
“I mean, merfolkdoexist. Just don’t think anyone’s seen any outside of that little town in Alaska,” Reesa offered up.
Filled with nervous energy, Angie shifted in her seat; her friends knew she was from Alaska, but she never told them she was specifically from Creston.
“You ever see one, Angie?” Reesa whispered.
Angie inadvertently rounded her shoulders, making herself smaller. Truth or lie ping-ponged in her mind.
She couldn’t bring herself to say yes. Not yet.
Leo’s voice broke in, saving her from having to answer now. “Who knows? All those viral social media videos could have been doctored.”
The rest of the class carried on, and Dr. Williams’ voice drifted in and out, and her classmates had fallen into silence, clicking and scribbling noises surrounding her.
When Angie peeked at her phone for the time, it showed forty minutes had passed, and class was dismissed.
Students scurried up to pummel Dr. Williams with questions, surrounding him while he positively beamed. She too wanted to talk with him, not necessarily let him know about her dealings with mer, but with her ties to Alaska, she didn’t want to raise suspicion.
A quick glance over at Leo showed his jaw clenched, and he was grinding his teeth.
“That was ridiculous.” He threw his hands out to his sides.
“I thought it was interesting,” Reesa said with a half shrug.
“Let’s talk about something more interesting. How was your date the other night?” Leo asked Reesa.
“Not seeing him again. He annoyed me.” Reesa’s shoulders lifted in a nonchalant shrug. “First date I’ve been on in two years, and all it did was remind me why I’m happier single. But if we’re done talking about my non-love life, let’s go get lunch, okay?” She ushered them toward the cafeteria.
“I’m not hungry for anything here. I’m on cooking duty and I have to run to the store.” A small smile tugged at the corners of Leo’s lips. “Making bandeja paisa and sancocho tonight. Sandra just got back from visiting her parents in Colombia and she’s a little homesick. This way we get a little Colombian, a little Dominican, and we’re both happy.”
Invisible fingers tugged at Angie’s heartstrings. Memories of how her village in Creston had starved during the merfolk war edged their way to the forefront of her mind, a sharp contrast to all the food at their fingertips now.
“Sounds delicious,” Reesa said with a soft chuckle. “Ange, how about you?”
Angie faced them, rolling her lips between her teeth. Lunch sounded delectable, but she was planning to make oxtails, carrots, and potato soup at home later. After her two-hour stint at the aquarium, that was. “I’m good, I have to work. I’ll catch you both on Tuesday?” Angie waved them off, breaking into a light jog to get to her car. She had ten minutes to make the twenty-minute ride across town.
She burst through the aquarium doors, catching her breath. The cool air streaking across her face while she ran across the parking lot turned to sweat when she entered the much-too-warm aquarium building.
Tian, who let the heater go haywire?
“Angie, you good? Why do you look like you sprinted across town?” her supervisor, Grayson Davies, asked with a cocked eyebrow.
