Page 1 of Midnightsong
PART ONE
The
Pacific
Coast
One
Angie
Angie kicked her apartment door shutwith her foot when her phone blasted her C-pop ringtone, and she dug around in her jacket pocket to retrieve it.
The last thing she felt like doing was having a phone conversation after a long day of classes, but she peeked at the caller anyway.
Stefan Bien’s name flashed, a friend of her and her family who co-owned Creston’s local diving shop with his husband, Ken. His profile picture, of him and Ken wearing silly grins on their faces while on their recent vacation in Iceland, nearly covered her phone screen.
She loved hearing from him and if there was anyone who could spike her energy levels with casual conversation, it was him. Lighting up, without missing a beat, she swiped to answer the call.
“Hi, Stefan!” She greeted him while kicking her sneakers off.“How’s everything up north?”
“Good, good. I’m at the docks with your dad. Thought I’d catch up with you for a bit until he gets back from whatever boss business he has going on.” Stefan’s smooth voice filtered through her phone speaker, as clear as if he were in front of her, and then it went distant as he called out a greeting to whoever was passing by. “He asked me to come and restock a few oxygen, heliox, and nitrox tanks, but you know, he got called away.” His next breath hitched. “Your name came up, and it reminded me Ihadn’t heard from you much since you went back to school.”
Angie gave Stefan her full attention while he gave her an update on the daily happenings at the docks. All had been quiet with the mer, he told her, and they hadn’t interacted much with the humans since she came back to school last fall.
She hung her jacket on the coat rack across from the door and slid her indoor slippers on. They were violet and comfortable and made of memory foam, but she missed her fuzzy bunny slippers from home.Angie made her way down the short hallway to her living room. Compared to her Creston home, her studio apartment felt like a closet, but it was homey enough. She had decorated with photos of her family, whom she had visited prior to the start of this semester, and with portraits of the sea and underwater shots.
Her cat, Lulu, awoke from the couch and opened her tiny jaws to unleash a meow belying her small stature. She jumped off, stretched, and bolted to Angie to curl herself around her ankles, rubbing her cheeks and forehead on her.
On the other end, Stefan mentioned a group of them at the docks, him and Ken included, were going out to dinner with Bàba, Mia, and her two kids when the day was over.
A pang twisted Angie’s heart. Undoubtedly, she was excited to be in Seattle, chasing her dreams, but she missed the closeness and camaraderie back in Creston. Here in the city, it was much busier, and there was a deluge of events and opportunities to meet new people. It was exciting and there were endless options for food and recreation, yet it lacked the cozy, familiar feel of her small hometown.
She updated him on school and her and Kaden when he was done, finishing with inquiring, “Business back to normal?”
“Oh yeah.” Stefan’s voice sounded far away, his words followed by loud clinking and clanging—likely from moving oxygen tanks around, she assumed. “People—”
Then Lulu bolted toward Angie’s bedroom anda clinking and rolling noise emerged.
“Gaisi, what is she doing in there?”
“You alright?”
She hadn’t meant to say that aloud. “Sorry, hold on a minute.”
Angie walked to her room, and her eyes widened. Her cat was sitting on the hardwood floor, pawing at a small glass flute, rolling it around, tail sweeping back and forth behind her.
“Oh no, don’t touch that, girl.” Lulu mewed and ran when Angie rushed to her and picked up the flute.
“What trouble did she get up to now?” Stefan chuckled.
“It’s a seaflute Kaden crafted for me last year, so we could talk when we’re apart.”
“A seaflute? What, he made a magic flute that can be used for communication across land and sea?” Stefan sucked in a breath.
“Yeah, he spent half a year studying under a master crafter to create and imbue it with mer magic, and another half a year gathering the materials.”
The cat must have knocked it off her nightstand. Made of clear glass with her name etched in it, the overhead light winked off it, creating a prism flashing before her eyes. She only had to use her finger to swipe his name in Renyuhua across it, he had told her, and when she spoke into it, the soundwaves would carry across land and sea to reach him.
