Chapter 20

Chapter

Twenty

Reid found Nireed right where he'd left her, only now there was a stack of potted meat on his counter and a pile of women's clothing on his bed.

"Friend stopped by?" He set down a sack of clean laundry along with groceries and supplies.

Nodding, Nireed splashed her face and neck with water before coming inside. "One of them. Dr. Lila Branson."

Dr. Lila… whoa.

Even he, a casual science lover, knew that name. Dr. Branson was huge in the scientific community as both the discoverer of, and the world's leading researcher of mermaids. And she'd just seen the inside of his tiny houseboat. Thank fuck, he'd tidied before leaving.

"Hungry?" He spread out an assortment of freshly caught fish he'd picked up from the pier in town. A thrill of pride swelled in his chest when he saw Nireed bend over to sniff and nod her head approvingly. Extracting a knife from the knife block, she quickly began filleting each one, her hands moving quickly and dexterously, like one might expect to see with a professional chef. Occasionally, she'd pause to eat a piece.

Glancing sidelong at him, she said, "My sister Aersila makes these."

"Your sister is a knife smith?"

Nireed nodded. "And other tools. She doesn't like that I'm here."

That was a non sequitur if he ever heard one. "On shore or with me?"

Her face fell, her eyes sad when they found his. "Both. I've tried to make her understand, but I don't think she ever will unless she sees for herself."

Settling behind her, he smoothed his hands over her shoulders, then rubbed the tight muscles in her neck with his thumbs. She leaned into the touch, a soft, pretty hum rumbling from her throat. "That's a lot of unknowns. I imagine my mom would be really freaked out if I came to live with you in Under Water Mermaid Land."

Nireed looked over her shoulder, pinning him with an unamused glare. "Under Water Mermaid Land?"

"Land Above the Water, Under Water Mermaid Land. I think we're matching energy here."

She snorted. Setting the knife down, she turned around in his arms, a small, wry smile creeping across her lips. "Perhaps you're right, Coast Warrior."

"It happens sometimes." He tapped her on the nose. "Got a present for you."

Her eyes lit up. "Show me."

Pulling a box from one of the bags, he began unpacking the device inside. She watched him curiously as he filled the basin with water and plugged it in. A quiet rumbling, then mist spouted out the top, making her jump back with a surprised little shriek. She glared at him when he began to laugh.

"Sorry, Starfish," he said, hiding his smile behind his hand. "Should've warned you."

She crouched beside him, peering at it with interest, irritation forgotten. "What is it?"

"A humidifier. Puts moisture in the air. Was hoping it might help you feel less dry."

"Oh." It was a quiet, breathless ‘oh,' and when he twisted to look at her, to gauge her reaction, he saw that her eyes were shining. Then, without warning, she pounced, hugging him fiercely. "Thank you," she said into his shirt.

"I hope it helps." He enveloped her in his arms. "Now, what do you say? You up for a little bit of adventure?"

She lifted her head. "I'm listening."

Fifteen minutes later, she was dressed for hiking and eyeing his motorcycle warily. "You should know I don't do car rides well."

"You've been in a car?" He zipped up his black leather riding jacket.

"A few times. Friends gave me something called Drama…" Her brow pinched as she struggled to recall the name. "Drama…"

"Dramamine?"

"Yes!"

"I've got some of that right here." He opened the storage box and plucked out a container of pills. "I usually swallow this with water…"

"I will just suffer." She waved a hand dismissively, before popping open her mouth and sticking out her tongue rather cutely.

Chuckling, he shook out a pill and dropped it on her tongue. She reared back, her face scrunching in comical displeasure, before she swallowed and shuddered.

"You good?"

"Alive. If that evil medicine didn't work so well…"

No exaggeration there. It was nasty stuff, but it did work like a charm.

Beckoning her closer, he slid his spare helmet, a sporty, black piece that matched his own, over her head. "We gotta wait for that medicine to kick in, but I want to make sure this fits. How's that feel? Any pinching?"

Her amber eyes flashed behind the black tint visor. It was positively spooky. "Strange, but fine."

While they waited, he explained the different parts of the motorcycle, how it worked, and what to expect. When he got to the part about the loud engine, she expressed concern about her hearing sensitivity, so he went and got her earplugs.

"Come up here, Starfish." He patted the bit of seat behind him.

Tentatively, she came forward, holding onto his shoulders as she threw her leg over the bike, placing her feet where he'd told her to. "Hold me tight," he said, turning the key, the engine rumbling to life beneath them.

She crushed him in a bruising grip, the air whooshing out of him. He patted her arm urgently, and she loosened her hold, relaxing against his back. Good girl.

He gave her knee a reassuring squeeze, then eased on the throttle. He took it easy down the access road, but once they hit the coastal highway, he brought them up in speed, zipping down the blacktop. Trees and stretches of coast whipped by, Nireed holding on firm and doing a happy little wiggle behind him.

He grinned.

When they were going over safety, they came up with a simple code so she could tell him without words whether she was having a good time. Two squeezes to slow down, three to stop, and anything else meant keep going.

He brought them to the seaside picnic grove where he liked to hike. The moment the engine quieted, Nireed slid off the back of the bike and pulled the helmet off her head. Her smile was as bright as her eyes. "That was fun!"

Such wonder and awe filled those luminescent eyes. Here was a creature who had seen the deep unknowns of the ocean, and yet a simple motorcycle ride, an experience he was able to provide her, brought her this unfettered joy.

He kicked out the kickstand and swung off, peeling his own helmet away.

Hooking his fingers in the waistband of her leggings, he yanked her to him and kissed her fiercely, tasting that excitement for himself. Not only did he love that she had a good time trying this new thing with him, he loved her thrill for the ride.

Just seeing her like that made him hot all over. And maybe it was the mating frenzy talking, but he was pretty sure tons of new couples went through a period of insatiable horniness early on in a relationship. As much as he wanted to continue that trend right now, he had an adventure to deliver.

Her cheeks were flushed when he pulled away. "What was that for?"

"Turns out I really like seeing you happy."

She smiled bashfully, the rosy tinge to her cheeks brightening.

After trading their helmets for a water bottle, he took her hand, leading her toward the trailhead. They hit the trail at a slow, easy pace, both so that Nireed could take her time over the tricky terrain and enjoy the new surroundings.

As far as summer days went, it was a good one for hiking. Low eighties, the sun bright and shining, but under the shadowy canopy of pine and birch, the air was almost chill, undercut even further by a crisp sea breeze threading through the trees. The trail hugged the coastline, never leaving the ocean far from sight. Beneath their feet, the ground was at times a soft blanket of fallen needles and moss. Others, a rugged obstacle course of boulders and roots.

"How do you know the way?" Nireed asked, holding onto his arm as they traversed a gnarly patch of roots.

Slowing to a stop, he pointed to a nearby tree trunk. "You see that blue stripe?"

She leaned against him, resting her temple to his shoulder, making his heart squeeze at her casual affection. "That marks the way?"

"Yup. They're painted at regular intervals."

"It reminds me of our kelp forest." She looked up. "The stalks are spaced closer unless we weed them out. But some of them are just as tall as this." She let go of his arm, carefully picking her way over to the birch tree next to them. She studied its white peeling bark with a gentle touch and drew a finger along the dark trunk beneath.

"How do you find your way?"

"We use rope scavenged from shipwrecks." She looked at him over her shoulder, expression thoughtful. "There's a lot we reuse that Surface Dwellers have lost at the sea."

He'd sometimes wondered at the sheer amount of trash and wreckage at the bottom of the ocean. Graveyard. Junkyard. Landfill. So many things all at once. He wasn't sure if a community of sea people reclaiming and giving new life to those things made him feel better or worse.

"What's your greatest treasure?"

She brushed her hand lightly down the trunk, curls of bark catching on her palm. "Food. Family. Safety." She paused. "But that's not what you mean. My favorite piece of salvage…it's, um, something that shows you who you are. What you look like."

A mirror.

"It shocked me. Jumped and everything. I thought there was another siren in the hull with me. But then I noticed she was moving exactly as I was." She turned around, pressing her back to the tree. "It was me."

"Did you keep it?"

"I did. A small piece for myself and Aersila. The rest is mounted on a wall in the city, so others can see and know too."

"Nireed, that's really…" Sweet. Meaningful. Selfless. "I wish I could see it. The kelp forest and the city you live in. But I can't dive that far." His heart, his stomach, everything plummeted at the thought. Here he was, sharing his world with her, but she might not ever get to do the same. Not because he wasn't willing, but without the proper training and a work schedule that would allow it, he'd never survive the journey.

In recreational scuba diving, advanced divers could descend to a recommended maximum of 130 feet—a certification he had and jumped through a lot of schedule hoops to maintain every year. Technical divers, with specialized training and equipment, could hit the 170 to 350 feet range, and according to Dr. Lila Branson's research, the merfolk lived within the topmost portion of that range now, but they'd had also been known to live deep, deep down on the edge of the Mesopelagic Zone. At the shallowest, that was 650 feet from the surface.

"I may never see it," he whispered, but she heard him regardless, and came over to cup his face in her hands. It was the one-sidedness of it that troubled him the most. Her people, her world, were important. She should get to share what she loved too.

"Lila has told me of cameras that can go deep down. If she has one, I'll ask if I can take it. If there's a way for me to show you, I will. I promise."

That shit had to be wicked expensive. "Maybe you can tell me about it?"

She smiled, hands falling to take his hands. "I'll tell you whatever you want to know."

They continued onward and along the way Reid learned that their city was carved into the face of an underwater cliff. In the days of old, when ships were made of wood, not metal, the Gulf of Maine merfolk would host other pods around the world for a festival honoring their goddess. It was as much a time for feasting and competitions as it was for trade and diplomacy.

The oceans were quieter and less hazardous then. Oil spills, plastics, and floating trash islands didn't exist yet, but the modern age made all those things, and lengthy migrations became especially dangerous. Someone always got hurt, or worse, and no festival was worth that risk.

It left whole pods segmented and isolated from each other, including Nireed and Aersila from their mother. "The last time I saw her," Nireed said, clutching his hand as she navigated a gnarly cluster of roots. "‘Starfish' was my only name. My memories of her are fuzzy and scarce. But Aersila told me, when I was old enough, that our mother swam to southern waters to visit our aging grandmother and just never made it back. It's easier to believe she's stuck out there somewhere with another pod than to admit she might not have survived the journey."

The sort of open-ended question that might never be answered. "I'm sorry. Not knowing must be hard."

"It's harder for Aersila." Nireed shrugged her shoulder, but her tone was wistful. "She was thirteen when our mother disappeared. She lost the one who raised her. I didn't. My sister was all I knew."

"You can still miss someone you've never met."

She thought about this for a moment, then nodded. "That's true. I would've liked to have known her, but when I sing my pleas to the Twenty-Armed Goddess for her return, it's more for Aersila's benefit than my own."

"The Twenty-Armed Goddess?"

"We believe she hears all things in time, as sound is carried to her on the currents." Letting go of his hand, Nireed crouched to pick up a stick, drawing in the dirt. It was a rudimentary picture, but he got the message loud and clear.

A leviathan. A kraken. Something in between.

A true horror of the deep.

"You're a friend of the ocean." Rising to her feet, Nireed took his hand again, no doubt sensing his fear. "You need not fear her return."

He shuddered. "Her return?"

"A creature as old as her must sleep a long, long time between risings."

"And the next rising is when exactly?"

Nireed just shrugged, completely unperturbed, but his next ten minutes were spent mentally scrubbing that whole conversation from his brain, followed by a giant heap of denial. If he didn't make peace with the ocean before his next duty period, he could kiss his career as a Coast Guard rescue swimmer goodbye.

Reid helped Nireed down steep slopes and over rock scrambles, offering a hand whenever she needed it. They took regular breaks so she could rest and catch her breath because being in swimming shape wasn't the same as being in hiking shape. But she quickly adapted. Her situational awareness was great to begin with, but in the space of a single hike, her balance improved, and she held onto him less and less. And while a part of him felt bereft of her touch, he was damn proud.

Spotting a low shrub dotted with light blue, Reid stopped them. He felt Nireed's eyes on him as he crouched, picking a handful of berries. "All right. This is my redemption." He stood, a single, fat blueberry pinched between his forefinger and thumb.

Without so much as a command, or moment's hesitation, Nireed opened her mouth and stuck out her tongue.

A thrill ran up his spine. So eager and willing and trusting.

He dropped it onto her tongue, watching as she chewed thoughtfully. Her brows ticked up in surprise, a smile breaking.

"Good?"

She promptly bent to pick more to eat. "Mhm."

Human flesh and blueberries. Who could've guessed?

At the summit, he led her to his favorite overlook, and they sat down together, their legs dangling over the ledge. It was so quiet up here. Just the wind and creak of trees. Neither of them spoke for a while, some inherent understanding passing between them about the sanctity of this moment.

They stared out over the landscape at the mountains and trees and dark blue bay beyond, enjoying the view and the silence. The world seemed so untouched.

"I didn't expect it to be so beautiful," Nireed said after a time.

"Not too smelly?" Reid teased. "Or dry?"

"Oh, it's far too dry, but the smells here are good. And I like the quiet. It's strange, but nice."

One would think the ocean was quiet, but between sound traveling faster in water and all the shipping traffic, there was always ambient noise. Some time ago, he'd read an article about the effects noise pollution had on whales and the constant stress it put on them. That had stuck with him ever since.

It would be Nireed's reality too.

"This is where I go when I need to think."

Nireed smiled. "You grew up here?"

He shook his head, pulling out his phone to show her pictures of home and hikes in Michigan's own brand of wilderness.

"What's it like to live away from home?"

There was more to the question than surface level curiosity. It was in the halting way she asked the question as well as the hesitance in her eyes. Was she contemplating a life near the shore, a life near him ?

Sooner rather than later they'd have to figure out the answers to some big questions. They'd begun something yesterday. It was bright and shiny and new, but it also had the feeling of permanence. He'd no idea how they'd make it work, or whether there was a way to evenly split the time and distance and effort, but goddammit, he wanted to try. Even if they could only take it day by day.

"It's hard," he answered truthfully. If he one day captured Nireed's heart, it wasn't going to be through half-truths and artifice. "I miss my family. I miss my friends. You meet new people, make new friends, but you still miss the ones you have back home. And you miss the familiar feeling of the place you left behind." He paused to rub the back of his neck. "It's not like I don't go back to visit. I do. Just maybe not as often as I'd like."

She gently took his hand, threading their fingers together. It was weird seeing them tipped with rounded nails rather than claws or without webbing in between, but he couldn't deny how good it felt to have their hands fit so snugly together. "Is it only your purpose that keeps you here?"

"Not at all." A grin fought its way to the surface. "I've got a strong streak of wanderlust in me. This?" He gestured around them. "This is an adventure. A way to see and do more in the world. It's so easy to fall into a comfortable routine, which there's nothing wrong with, but I like exploring and getting to live in new places."

"We have a lot to think about, don't we?"

"We do. But I like this." He caressed her thumb with his. "And I like you, Nireed."

"I like you too." She stretched out her hand to the expansive wilderness, just as he had a moment ago. "And I like this. I feel how you do—missing my home and my pod but wanting adventure. I loved riding on the back of your motorcycle, and I loved the pictures you showed me on your phone and in those books. I think I want to see those places."

"And I'll take you to every single one of them. But when you're ready to go home, you'll go home." Then, bumping their shoulders together, he teased, "I'll just have to get you a squirt bottle to carry around."

He had to explain what that was, but once it clicked, Nireed was cutely serious and excited. "Yes! I want a squirt bottle!"

Dropping her hand, he uncapped his canteen. They'd make do for now.

As he flicked water at her—which had her grinning like the Cheshire cat—he said softly, "I think we're allowed to have both things."

He wanted to show her the world above the sea, as much as she would let him, but he also didn't want a one-sided relationship where he just took and took and took.

Took her time. Her energy. Her home beneath the sea.

Took her away from pod and family.

Took her wildness.

But maybe, just maybe, he could give her adventure. A chance to explore this world and feel safe doing it.

Excitement shone in Nireed's eyes as she turned to him and said, "I think so too."