Page 16 of Midnightsong
Angie threw her shoes off and followed her cat with long strides, her gaze searching her small room for what could possibly have scared Lulu.
A vibrating hum filled her room, as if she had left her phone on the floor and it was buzzing with an incoming call or text.
Her seaflute was rolling on the floor again and Kaden’s voice filtered through. “Angie? Are you there?”
“Yes, one second!” She picked up the seaflute and looked back to where Lulu stood at her doorway, her head cocked and unblinking sapphire eyes. “Nothing to be afraid of, okay? It’s okay.” Angie motioned to the seaflute. That seemed to calm her cat down, and Lulu turned her back, walking away.
“What’s okay? Are you okay?” Kaden asked from the other end.
“It’s Lulu.” Angie’s gaze flicked up to her nightstand, where her top drawer was ajar. “I guess she got into my nightstand drawer to play with the seaflute, knocked it over again, and got scared when you called and it started vibrating on the floor.”
“Oh, didn’t mean to scare her. I’ve been trying to call you for some time, trying to time it when you usually get home from work.”
“Hit a bit of traffic today.” Angie poked her head out of her room, where Lulu was now curled up on Angie’s couch, faceplanting into it, sleeping. “Are you back at your queendom now?”
“I’m here, tired, but here. I had to use more of my magic to get back faster,” Kaden said. “My mother’s funeral is at the next low moontide.”
“So, tomorrow night,” Angie replied after calculating the tides and times in her mind. Tomorrow was the start of her long weekend, and if she could get the first flight out, she could be home with plenty of time to spare for the funeral. “I’ll be there. I want to come pay my respects.”
“I’d like you here, too.” Kaden’s voice softened. “I may be busy helping with final preparations, but I’ll meet you at the shoreline at low moontide. And we can go together. I have some things I wanted to talk to you about too.”
Angie wet her lips in anticipation. “You want to talk about it now?”
“I–I’ll tell you more when you’re here, but I gave up the throne to my uncle.”
She blinked and held the seaflute in front of her, staring at it as if it were his handsome face. No, this wasn’t the right time to question him about why. Not when his mother’s funeral loomed. Instead, she said “All right. If you believe you made the right choice, I support you.”
“I appreciate that. See you at low moontide?”
“Yeah.” After exchanging goodbyes, Angie booked the first flight out in the morning on Alaska Airlines and called her usual cat sitter to watch Lulu for the next three days. After pouring herself a glass of water, she texted Mia and Bàba that she’d be home tomorrow.
The familiar salt smell of the Creston Docks, glacial air, and the Bering Sea waves’ soothing crashes filled her senses when Angie arrived at her and Kaden’s designated meeting place in the early evening.
Bàba and Mia stood beside her, both off work, wishing to relay their own condolences to Kaden. They were lost in their own conversation and Angie half-listened as they talked about their workday, Jack and Rosie, and what they ate today with Angie.
Angie had gotten home early enough to have a mixed Alaskan Chinese style breakfast with Bàba before he left for the docks, and Korean street food for lunch downtown with Mia. The day flew by and her body ached for rest after being on the go from four o’clock that morning. But she could rest tonight after the funeral.
The night winds picked up around her, the skies dark and glittering with bright stars since four p.m., and her boots sank into the sand beneath her feet. Angie waited at the shoreline, tightening her puffer jacket around herself and tucking her gloved hands into her pockets, shifting her weight from side to side.
The waters rippled before her eyes, and Kaden’s head and shoulders appeared at the surface. His tiger-eye-like gaze glinted under the silver moonlight, the breeze sweeping his thick hair back, his handsome face and full lips alight.
“Zixin. Mia.” He bowed his head to them and they offered a greeting in response. “I’m glad you both are here.”
Angie crossed her legs and sat, and he pulled himself onto the sandy shore, leaving the bottom half of his tail submerged. His fingers encircled her wrist and tugged her toward him in a chaste kiss.
Zixin lowered himself to a half-kneel. “I am so sorry about your mother.” He swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “Queen Serapha was a formidable leader and an incredible mother to have raised a merman like you.” He put out a hand and rested it on Kaden’s shoulder. The Mer-Prince peered at the ground, lower lip quivering, and Mia kneeled too, offering her own words of solace.
“If you ever need anything, you know where I work. Or tell Angie to call either of us.” Bàba clasped both hands around one of Kaden’s, holding it for a moment before letting go.
Mia leaned forward to give Kaden a single-armed hug. “I’m thinking about you,” she whispered. “I know what it’s like to lose a mother.”
Angie watched the exchange, wearing a somber smile.
“Thank you.” Kaden offered them another head bow, and they stood.
“See you at home, Beibei.”
“Bye, mèimei and Kaden.”
