Page 26 of Midnightsong
“I’ll have to think on it.” What Angie had said about the possibility of another war weighed on him.
“That’s all you need to do. Take the time you need and ensure you make a decision with a clear mind and heart.”
After saying their goodbyes, he left the cave and made his way back to his palace, greeting wayward mer citizens as he passed. Most looked at him like he had sprouted a second tail. Others wouldn’t meet his gaze, looking or swimming away when he approached.
Only two mer returned his greeting with a bow or wave.
Saeryn had promised he would restore his reputation among the citizens, but if this small handful was any indication, he had done nothing yet, and Kaden pressed his lips into a grimace, his ribs growing tight.
Change took time, he reminded himself. They wouldn’t change their minds about him so quickly.
His caudal fins brushed comfortably against soft kelp beds on the seafloor and narrowly avoided a hissing hydrothermal vent when he approached the seamounts.
Filled with resolve, he organized his thoughts and planned to talk to Saeryn. Surely, his uncle would see his reasoning.
Ten
Angie
Angie’s head shot up at Dr.Williams calling on her. Her professor stood at the lectern, arms across his chest, a wry smile on his face and eyebrows knitted together. “You awake back there?”
Her fingers hovered over her laptop keyboard where she had been typing notes on possible suspects for Serapha’s murder. She had been looking through her phone periodically and writing down the dive logs from the manila folders in her word processor.
“I’m sorry, Dr. Williams, what was that?”
“I asked if you could tell me some evolutionary adaptations of marine vertebrates that have enabled them to colonize and thrive in various environments from the shallow coasts to the deep sea.”
Tamade. Angie’s mind drew blank. She knew the answer, had just studied it, but her brain refused to cooperate.
After another uncomfortable silence, Dr. Williams cast her a side eye and set his lips in a thin line. “Let’s try this again. Leo, how about you?”
He answered confidently. “Animals like fishes have osmoregulation and pressure adaptations. Like anglerfish have evolved flexible bodies and proteins to withstand the high pressures of the deep sea.”
Angie turned her phone off and forced herself to focus on the rest of class. It was the Tuesday after the long weekend and she had been so absorbed in Serapha, the divers, and the vast information she had to look through; she hadn’t studied more than an hour before bed last night. And they had a quiz tomorrow.
When class was over, she made her way to a quiet study area nestled in the library and sat down with the list of dive shops Stefan had given her. She popped open her laptop, expanding her search to the rest of coastal Alaska, from Kodiak to Juneau to Ketchikan, and even up to the North Pole.
Night fell by the time she had finished organizing her information and her eyes were as dry as sandpaper. She still had to study for her upcoming quiz and she needed to get a good night’s sleep so she could be fresh for class.
Tomorrow she would be dedicated to calling those diving shops.
She sent a silent prayer to her ancestors that one of them would hold the answers she desperately sought.
The week came and went and Friday had arrived before she knew it.
She called the dive shops and all but one was in the process of getting records of their divers for her, so she awaited their emails.
“Thank God it’s Friday,” Reesa chirped as she, Angie, and Leo left their last class for the day.
Leo stretched his arms overhead when they stepped out of the health sciences building. “I’m glad we’re not learning about merfolk anymore. The regular stuff is much more interesting.”
“Agree to disagree on that.” Reesa shrugged.
“What are you all getting to eat tonight? Everything on the menu looked delicious.” Angie didn’t want to keep going about merfolk lessons. Tonight, she wanted to relax and let loose with her friends, and call Kaden. She, Leo, and Reesa planned to go out for Japanese cuisine, and when Angie scrolled the menu earlier, she automatically made a mental note of what Kaden might have liked to eat.
When it hit her that she probably wasn’t going to see him anytime soon, her heart felt as if it shriveled into a little ball inside her chest. It had been a long week, and for a few hours, she didn’t want to think about what might be happening in Serapha—now Saeryn’s—queendom, calling dive shops, nor about the possibility of war.
She was bone tired.
