20. Dogged Questioning

20

DOGGED QUESTIONING

PACARI

" S lugger!" Teresa squeals in delight as she sees the little dog.

Kalixto, who was bathing in the sunlight, quickly flops into the ocean to hide himself. He is just eyes and hair above water now, glaring at me for not warning him.

The dog barks happily as it trots over to Teresa.

"Where'd your friend go?" she asks, scanning the waters.

Kalixto hides behind a rock as her eyes slide closer to his hiding place.

"Shy today," I say with a laugh. "Normally he's quite the show-off."

"Kalixto," I call out, dragging it into a singsong tease.

I have seen humans play with their babies in similar ways. He seems to be acting like one now.

Teresa seems content to scratch between Slugger's ears, to pamper the dog now that they've been reunited. I hope she is as friendly to him when he has been returned to his true body.

Finally, Kalixto pops his head up from behind his hiding place, just barely.

"This human named your slug?" he asks. "And why is your sifon hanging out?"

I feel myself flush with his notice. Though I am wearing clothes, they are wet, and he can see how my sexual appendages have not been retracted. My changan, the arm-like appendage that is part of my sifon , anxiously tries to wrap up the sifon and pull it back into its shell. But all it does is make me shudder.

"It's of no concern to you," I huff.

His eyes scan the yacunayi parts of me, jumping back and forth between Teresa and I. Teresa buries her face in the dog's ample fur, though I do not miss the wide smile that fills her face. It is hard for me to contain mine when I see it. Surely what has conspired between us must be clear, but I will not rub it in.

On the one hand, what happens between Teresa and I feels private. And on the other hand, I do not wish to insult Kalixto's ego with the knowledge that a human could do for me what he could not. Even though we have not been lovers for a long time, and do not see each other as such anymore, he can be possessive and silly. Of all of our friends, his ego is the biggest.

"Did you feel the quakes?" he asks, thankfully letting the subject drop.

I nod. "They trapped her in some of the old smuggler caves."

"Smuggler caves?!" Teresa yells out with excitement. "That's what all that stuff was? Oh man, Dawn is going to lose her shit."

"How did you get out?" Kalixto asks, settling his arms on the rock.

He is surprisingly shy today. Perhaps he realizes he cannot warp the mind of this human with his song—our bond must be clear to him. Perhaps his ego is less fragile than I assume.

"There was a waterway straight to the cave."

"It must not have been very long," he says, narrowing his eyes.

My eyes shoot to the necklace around Teresa's neck. It was for Slugger, but now I wonder if there's a way both of them can use it. Or perhaps… if I collect more magic, if the Lantern Witch would make another. Truthfully, once I return Slugger to the garden, then Teresa could use it to her will—as long as the Lantern Witch doesn't ask for it back. That I fear.

Kalixto's eyes follow mine. Teresa pulls Slugger to her chest and looks back at us both .

"What?" she asks.

I cannot tell if Kalixto can see the necklace, nor if he knows what it means. He may recognize the pearls.

"She is human?" Kalixto asks.

I let out a breath. "Yes."

"Is that why your sifon is so engorged? You had to give her breath to make it back to shore?"

I bend down and throw a rock at him. He dodges it, laughing.

"I am no siren," I grumble. "That is your skill, not mine."

"Dang," Teresa mutters under her breath.

My head jolts to hers.

"What? I dunno, that just seems kinda hot. Needing you to live."

I breathe slowly, trying to calm the pulse through my sifon . Kalixto's gaze fires between us before he grins wide, revealing his predatory set of teeth.

"Come here, below the water with me, human, and I'll let you try it out."

She snorts, holding her ground and simply petting Slugger.

"Does that usually work for you?" she teases.

"It does once I—" Kalixto opens his mouth, breathes in deep to let out a note.

But before he does, I've found more rocks and shells to launch at him. He dives under the water. I turn to Teresa, expecting that he has taken his leave—finally. We only came here for Slugger, to take him somewhere a little more fitting for a dog than a tide pool.

But then a giant wave spills over us. I pull Teresa close to me, not wanting her to slip, and knowing how to hold my ground against the rocks better than she. When the water settles, I turn to see Kalixto's grinning face lurking in the water.

Surface-dwelling parasite.

Making sure Teresa has her legs steady, I turn to the waters, ready to dive in and fight him. Teresa pulls me to her instead, laughing hard.

"We can get him back later. You owe me a date to your fancy underwater garden, and seeing you all green again is getting me all sorts of hot and bothered," she says. "Besides, look at this poor pup."

Black eyes and a little black nose stare back at me from a mess of matted white curls.

"He is much tinier than I thought he was," I say.

"You're just a little guy under all that puffy hair, huh, Slugger?" Teresa coos at him. "Aww, look how pathetic you look. Let's get you home, buddy."

I try not to feel jealous as she coos over and coddles the dog. As she said, we have a date underwater, where I will have her full attention. And then she can coo and coddle over me and I can do the same for her.