12. Like a Mermaid in a Thrift Store

CHAPTER TWELVE

LIKE A MERMAID IN A THRIFT STORE

The Present: Sato in the San Rafael Goodwill with way too many mermaids

In the history of bad ideas, of which there were plenty in Sato Daiki’s life (mostly via Patrick), going shopping with twelve mermaids, two werewolves, and one very enthusiastic merman had to have been one of the worst. Not that it was his bad idea, of course.

Apparently, some cultures did this kind of thing for fun.

Apparently, some Marvins did it for fun, too.

No one was prepared for them, least of all the San Rafael Goodwill. For one thing, there were only two changing rooms. And there were only two clerks. The clerks were instantly overwhelmed by the combination of mermaids and Marvin’s enthusiasm.

The moment they entered it was utter chaos. Fortunately, first thing on a Friday morning, there were no straight men in a downtown thrift store. But a dozen mermaids with an objective of finding multiple outfits, when they had never had such an opportunity before, was a recipe for disaster.

Marvin was running around like a greased priest in leather pajamas. He recruited Sato and Judd to fetch and carry mounds of clothing and kept up a running commentary on the nature of color wheels, draping, and something called the “importance of a power suit.”

As far as Sato was concerned, it was all some kind of advanced torture system. Why so many options? And why did Marvin care so much about them? Why was Colin so accommodating? Only Judd seemed to be on his side in this. The two of them took to exchanging increasingly desperate looks. So Sato was now bonding with a werewolf. Who knew?

“Cascade, sweetie darling, not the neon pink ‘80s suit. Those shoulder pads could become dictators of their own totalitarian regimes. Too far.” Marvin rushed over and ripped the suit out of Cascade’s webbed hands, putting a mint green pantsuit in her line of sight instead.

Barely had he managed to do that than one of the others distracted him. “Aqua, sweet-cheeks, put the polyester down and back away slowly.”

“But it has squid all over it!”

“You can’t wear a 1960s dressing gown to a marine biology conference, baby-cakes.”

“But the squid !”

“I thought humans loved a robe,” complained Onda, reluctantly putting the silk and lace one she was holding back into the negligee section.

Marvin puffed out his cheeks, then took a deep breath. “I told you on the way here – what matters is the cut and style first! I can’t help it if you didn’t pay attention. Prints will come into play, but let’s find you a suit first. Then we can look for a blouse with fish on it. Order of operations, darlings, okay?”

Marvin clapped his hands together, calling everyone’s attention like an enthusiastic seal. “Those are the suits over there, girls, please start with those.” He pointed to one wall.

A chorus of complaints about how boring the colors were met Marvin’s directive.

“But you need to play by human standards when wearing clothing. I explained all of this. I don’t make the rules, the two legs do.”

“But there are so many other options,” protested Meymey, who was flipping through party gowns.

“And if you plan to go out in the evenings you can wear a cute dress or something like that. But you’re here for a scientific conference. If you want to fit in and be taken seriously, you simply must wear a suit.”

“Do we want to fit in?” challenged Lana.

Marvin was getting increasingly frustrated, distracted by yet another flawed mermaid choice. “Doris, darling, no you can’t just get naked and try something on in the middle of the store. You have to use a changing room. Colin, hon, would you please explain nudity taboos to the nice mermaids?”

A large part of Sato was annoyed at having to do this instead of hunt for Patrick. Another part of him kept thinking how much fun Patrick would have in this place. His otter had always loved dressing up. What little money Patrick had was often spent on clothes and tons of accessories. Patrick always said accessories were toys he could wear. Sato remembered his stacked bracelet phase. He had enjoyed stripping them off him, dropping them one at a time with a clatter to the floor.

Just to be a dick and throw kelp in the engine, Sato said, “What about accessories?”

Marvin pointed two fingers at him. “Don’t you dare start.”

Sato simply turned and refocused on his sister. She had moved away from the sparkles and was dutifully flipping through suits. She was in the men’s section, but Sato didn’t think that mattered.

Behind him, Marvin let out a terrified shriek. Instantly Sato turned back, forearms up. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Judd throw down his armful of clothes and take up a defensive stance.

“Morwenna!” Marvin’s shriek resolved itself into vocabulary. “Absolutely not!” He whirled on Sato. “You, vangill, stop her!”

Sato gave him a look. “I do not interfere with the doings of mermaids unless they are in danger.”

“She is in very great danger of wearing traffic cone orange as a redhead !”

“It’s the color of a clown fish,” protested Morwenna. “I adore clown fishes!” She pulled out a pair of black and white patterned pants. “Look, like with this.”

“You want to wear an orange Hawaiian shirt with zebra print pants?” Marvin covered his eyes and pretended to faint. “I think I might be sick.”

Judd sidled over to Sato. “This is insanity.” Judd’s big frame was hunched and overwhelmed. The werewolf looked like he could lift a tugboat but not, apparently, withstand the weight of one shopping jaunt.

“This was your merman’s idea.” Sato pointed out the truth.

“He’s having a blast.” Colin joined them. He had a few things to try on, but otherwise seemed content to stick to the fringes of the madness.

“Is he?” Marvin seemed more like a high-strung hurricane.

Colin laughed. “He’s probably never been happier.”

Sato’s feet hurt and he wanted to go looking for Patrick. Marvin and his color wheel could go to hell.

“It’s cute,” added Colin.

Judd groaned.

Sato was growing to appreciate Judd in a dispassionate way. He came off as grounded and world-weary, steady. Massive, but he seemed decent and protective of his pack.

Judd said, “It’s pure torture.”

“Worse than vangill training,” agreed Sato, surprising himself by making an effort.

“Is it really?” Judd looked interested.

Sato didn’t elaborate.

Colin wandered off to advise Rilian on the nature of ruffles.

Sato watched Marvin chase down Tarni and yank a yellow feathered sweatshirt out of her hands, replacing it with a shiny brown suit the color of a damselfish. Too drab. She’d never go for it. She cast it aside without even bothering to try it on. It was the color of Patrick fur swimming in the sun.

Marvin shrieked again.

Sato was used to it now. “Is that really enjoyment?” he asked Judd, for clarification purposes only.

“Most definitely,” said Judd, his teeth a flash of white against his dark skin. “What’s your name, by the way? Or do we just keep calling you vangill ?”

“That works well enough.”

Marvin threw olive satin at Tarni. “Girl! Your taste. You’re clearly an autumn, put the spring palette down.”

Sato searched for his sister. She was contemplating three different kinds of tweed. Marvin rushed over to explain to her that it was the wrong season for tweed. Whatever that meant.

“He’s taking this awfully seriously,” said Sato to Judd. Patrick had been like that as he got older, always thinking and talking about different styles. Sato hadn’t cared too much. He liked it when Patrick dressed in tight things, or in stuff that draped and showed off his collar bones or hips. Pointed bones that Sato wanted to bite.

Marvin was more relentless than Patrick, though. “Yes, Paralia, the pinstripe is a much better choice. Very good, Aqua, that’s a great color for you and the cut is lovely. Good little mermaids. Well done, you!”

It took them four hours .

Four .

Meymey used something called a platinum card to pay. Humans and their obsession with metal. The card was actually plastic, not platinum, but it appeared to be sufficient.

By the time they left, each mermaid had at least one suit and a dress. Or what Marvin referred to as an evening fun-time outfit . And most of them had also found and changed into something that wasn’t a robe to wear right away.

Marvin insisted on shoes, in some cases high heels. Sato thought that heels were a terrible idea. Mermaids were notoriously clumsy on land already. To put them in high heels seemed asking for trouble. Sato suspected that they would mostly end up barefooted at the convention as a result. But he didn’t care much. Meymey had opted for flats.

Judd had solved the problem of transport by driving Heavy Lifting’s smallest moving van. It probably would’ve been easier and faster to simply swim from San Rafael back to Sausalito, but Marvin wanted to take them all to a place called Tam Junction to eat what he referred to as “the Bay Area’s best fish tacos.”

Accordingly, all sixteen of them descended upon an unsuspecting taco truck.

The taco truck was extremely popular with all walks of life, including straight human males. It might no longer be lunchtime, but it was still crowded enough to be an immediate problem.

Tacos, it turned out, were a little bit like the food version of mermaids. Which is to say, when mermaids congregated around at a taco truck it was basically the greatest, sexiest, and most exciting thing to have happened in many of these humans’ lives.

The efficaciousness of their new outfits was immediately put to the test. There was excessive touching, some making out, and a few popped buttons – and that was just the result of the tacos.

Twelve of the most beautiful women ever seen, hoovering fish tacos and flirting outrageously with any man who came up to them, was like a bad music video.

There was also beer. For the men, not the mermaids, obviously. The werewolves, even trained bodyguards, were having a challenging time of it. Sato didn’t much care. His responsibility was to Meymey only.

It was a long few hours, with some mermaid or other disappearing into the bushes with some human male or another, on the theory that even if they weren’t in a fertile part of the cycle, it was always best to be on the safe side. The mermaid version of safe sex was the opposite of the human version.

Sato stayed away from the fray with eyes on his sister. He sat at the end of a long picnic table munching a poke burrito because for once no one had ruined the fish by cooking it. He watched, unamused, as two men, overcome by the surfeit of tacos and booze, began to tussle over his sister. He wouldn’t have intervened except that they were physically tugging her back and forth between them, like sharks with a dead seal.

“Let her go,” said Sato, setting his burrito down carefully and wading in.

They were both large humans, much bigger than he was, although not as massive as Judd.

They ignored him and continued tugging.

Meymey was looking mildly perturbed but flattered.

Sato grabbed the hand that was on her upper arm closest to him and simply bent the man’s thumb back until it made a pop noise. It was a very satisfying sound.

The man howled in pain and reeled away. A less satisfying sound. Why were humans so noisy?

Sato gave the other one, still attached to his sister, a look.

That human let go and backed quickly away.

Judd came lumbering over. Looked at the whimpering man in confusion.

“Sato, dude, we don’t just break humans like that.”

Colin added, “Violence should be used in moderation.”

“Why?” Sato gave the human clutching his hand a disinterested glance. “Opposable thumbs are a privilege, not a right.”

Apparently breaking some strange human’s thumb was considered bad form at taco trucks, and the impromptu gathering ended on a sour note. Sato had no idea why. The man was clearly better suited to injury than not.

Marvin insisted that they come to the pack house, so that he could give them all makeovers and makeup tips. Plus he thought it would be fun to do a fashion show for his WooTube channel.

It was a nice big box, the house that the werewolves built. By Sato’s standards anyway. Not that he had many where houses were concerned. But he liked this box better than any of the ones he’d lived in or around in his youth. It had large windows and a view of the bay far below. Almost as if he could walk off the deck and float down to the water. He liked that the space was tied to the ocean. It was still a box, of course, but it didn’t feel so much like a box.

Meymey and her mermaids were having a glorious time, since essentially everybody was fussing over them, but this put them in a quandary over whether they should attend the conference that night.

Alec arrived at the pack house shortly after discussion commenced on the matter.

“Babes, you’re early!” Marvin charged at the Alpha and was indulgently swept into a spinning hug.

Sato had never seen two men with such easy displays of physical contact before. It was startling. It made him wonder, had they stayed together or grown up in a different place and time, if he and Patrick would’ve had that kind of relationship. Patrick had loved to hug him. Draped himself all over him.

“The lab closed early for a change. It’s Friday and I have a conference presentation to prepare.” The Alpha put his mate down and kissed him softly.

The mermaids were all riveted. They’d never seen affection like this before. Certainly not between two males. The fact that a merman was involved, a merman that they now considered somewhat theirs, or at least their fashion advisor, made it all the more intriguing.

Marvin wound skinny arms around Alec’s neck, prolonging the kiss.

Sato felt uncomfortably cold and jealous. Patrick used to do that to him. He wanted to leave. Swim across the bay. Go hunting in the gay bars of San Francisco.

Finally they parted. Marvin gestured to the den, which was full of mermaids in cute thrifted outfits and too much makeup.

“Look, I brought you girls!”

“Wouldn’t know what to do with even one of them,” was Alec’s amused reply. “But I heard your discussion as I was coming in. Paralia,” the Alpha focused on Meymey, “I wouldn’t bother with opening ceremonies, if I were you. Stay and play here as long as you like. The rest of the pack will be back eventually. We can barbecue something for dinner if you want.”

His sister seemed strangely relieved. “We don’t have to go tonight? Good, I can meet your kelpie and visit that club.”

Alec smiled at her, relaxed and charismatic. “The lesbian one?”

Sato said, “You really want to do that?” It was going to be a long night for him then, more time spent not looking for Patrick. The one place he definitely wouldn’t be was a lesbian bar.

“I do. It sounds interesting .”

“I don’t think it’s wise, but if you insist.”

“You won’t be able to go inside with her, vangill.” Judd’s tone was casual. They were reasonably friendly now, after a day of torture at the hands of shopping taco-eaters.

Sato said to his sister. “Then you cannot go.”

“You can’t tell me what to do.”

“You want to go, with a kelpie , inside a human club without me? I think not.”

“A kelpie is more than enough protection.”

“A kelpie is not a vangill.” Sato’s voice was hard – she was being unreasonable.

Nervous silence descended over the den.

Judd said, “I didn’t think you could challenge her authority.”

Technically Sato couldn’t, but he’d accidentally slid into older brother mode.

“Ms Trickle is good people,” said Alec. “You don’t have to worry about her.”

Sato narrowed his eyes at the Alpha. “Forgive me for not taking the word of a werewolf where the Paralia’s safety is concerned.”

“You can’t stop me,” Meymey said, being pouty and stubborn and very much his spoiled little sister.

Sato took a breath, made an effort to acknowledge her status. “You’re right, I can’t. But it’s a terrible idea.”

“How could she possibly be in danger at a lesbian club?” wondered Colin, who was also sitting with them in the den. He had his computer in his lap and was doing something on it.

Sato knew his sister well enough to switch tactics in an attempt to distract her. Perhaps she’d forget about this plan. “It’s been a long day without swimming. Perhaps we should go for a dip. We have taken up a great deal of Marvin’s time, and space in Alec’s house.”

“You’re more than welcome to stay,” insisted the Alpha politely.

Why did he have to be so nice ?

But Meymey was conscious of her brother knowing more social etiquette than she, and, as he had guessed, she did want to swim. Mermaids were even more tied to the sea than mermen. They normally were only out of the water for a few hours a month of hunting and sex.

So she took what Sato said as an excuse. “Oh yes, forgive us for imposing. We will get out of your hair. Erm, out of your fur. Come along, ladies. Let’s go swimming.”

The Present: Trick inside Bean There, Froth That, Sausalito

Trick had gotten dressed for work that morning with his own emotional stability in mind. He wanted to look good, because he knew that would make him feel better. He had on a tight, cropped, plaid shirt, oversized black cargos slung low on his bony hips with lots of extra dangling straps from too many pockets. Those straps wiggled becomingly whenever he did. He called it his K-pop boy-band-gone-bad attire. Thus he was playing BTS on the sound system to complement his look.

It was a busy day, but then Fridays always were. Never as busy as Saturdays or Sundays, but enough to keep his mind off things . By which he meant Sato .

Trick was lucky enough to have weekend help at the Bean. His boss sometimes actually showed up but more importantly there was Joe the part-time high-schooler, full of braces, zits, and ennui. But he was a decent enough worker and he showed up promptly at four on Fridays, which was all Trick could ask of such a creature. It was a bit much that he always had to have a book of terrible poetry in his back pocket. Lately he’d been reciting Howl under his breath and that was taking teenage angst to an extreme. Even for Trick. Who, as a barista, had a very high tolerance for angst.

By early evening, the front seating area near the big windows was packed with tourists, every table occupied. Floyd and a couple of other regulars sat along the side wall. And the back zone was filling up with crafters, nerds, and lesbians (or all three) because second Friday of the month was Queer Board Game Night.

Ms Trickle arrived unexpectedly.

Trick was pleased to see the kelpie. She was Max’s old boss from DURPS and consequently he’d met her at one of their barbecues. He introduced her to Varyenite and the coven of queers at the back, because he thought she was most likely to get along with them. As much as a kelpie can be said to get along with anyone.

She ordered a Sea Bream Froth, and lurked in a back corner with an eye on the door, clearly waiting for somebody. Soon, however, she became distracted by the board games and Varyenite. They descended into some deep philosophical conversation about the queer-coded nature of orcs in tabletop RPGs and whether Tolkien could be blamed for this or not.

He left them to it.

Officer Kettil came wandering in next. That was also unexpected. Usually Trick only saw him in the mornings.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, sounding more curt than he meant to.

The bear shifter responded in kind. “I know, right? There’s this crowd collected right across the street.” He gestured behind him to the window with road, sidewalk, and ocean beyond. Trick squinted against the setting sun. There did seem to be a more-than-usual number of people collected there.

Kettil went on. “Reporters and everything. No permits.” He growled.

“What for?”

“Beats me. But it’s full of something called vloggers. Most of them female. I need more caffeine to cope.” He pouted. “One of them called me an interfering lascivious lard ball when I moved her out of oncoming traffic!”

Trick narrowed his eyes, upset on Kettil’s behalf. “I suppose you can’t arrest somebody for being rude.”

Kettil sighed deeply, boulder-like shoulders curving forward. “To be fair, I accidentally touched her ass while I did it. But I really didn’t mean to, she was about to get run over!” He grimaced.

“Some crab just crawled up her oyster. Don’t fret about it,” advised Trick. Once upon a time he would have loved Kettil moving him around by the ass. Once upon a time he would have teased Kettil with just that kind of information. Once upon a time Sato wasn’t back. So, yeah.

Kettil made a face. “Must you be crass?”

Trick was about to point out that Kettil went there first, and that it was very gay of a supposedly straight man to be grossed out by accidentally touching female anatomy. Instead, he just gave him a shot of salmon oil with his espresso. The bear shifter looked awfully tired.

“Here you are. Now go sit in the back or something. Stop looming. You’re scaring all the customers, big tough berserker like you.” He flirted just a little – it was in his nature, after all.

Kettil looked less grumpy. His predator prowess had been praised. “You let Colin hang out here all the time and he’s a werewolf.”

“Colin is the least threatening werewolf ever to roar at the moon. The kid orders decaf lattes with whipped cream, for goodness’ sake.”

“ Howl , you ridiculous creature. Wolves howl .”

“Whatever.”

The bear sighed. “No, I really should go out and deal with whatever nonsense the humans are up to. I hate it when humans get excited. I’m not on the force to deal with humans. I’m only supposed to help with shifters.

“Protect and serve but only in moderation?” suggested Floyd. Who was listening in as usual.

“Do you want me to go check, big guy?” suggested Trick, who admitted to being mildly curious. The weird crowd was right across the street. This kind of thing never happened in Sausalito. He wouldn’t mind a little fresh air after all day in the cafe. “Joe can hold down the fort for a bit, can’t you, Joe?”

The teenager looked up from refilling the coffee carafe. Gave Trick a baleful look and nonverbal grunt noise. Trick took that as affirmation.

The Present: Sato in the San Francisco Bay, awfully close to Sausalito

The sun set and they had a nice long swim, dining on leopard shark and sea lettuce. The fish in the area were lazy, since there was no resident pod. Easy to catch, especially for Sato. Too easy, because the hunt failed to distract Meymey.

“Let’s go back now. I have a date with lesbians,” she insisted.

“I hoped you’d forget about it,” he admitted.

“I know, but it will be fine, brother.”

“I highly doubt that.”

“It’s your job to be doubtful.”

“You realize I will be coming with you?”

“I understand.”

They approached Sausalito via the spot where they’d had the initial meeting with the pack. It felt like a lot had happened since then. The sidewalk above, the street beyond, and all the little store fronts on the other side were much busier on a Friday night. The place was lousy with humans, like a completely different town. It made Sato very nervous. Too many two-legs.

They surfaced and moved forward, fighting a strong current.

There were sudden shouts from the sidewalk. People had gathered there, at the top of the shock rock, and were pointing down at them.

Meymey gave a cheery wave.

The excitement got more intense. A few brave humans – or did he mean stupid? – began climbing down the rock-covered embankment toward the water’s edge.

Sato wondered what was going on.

He swam a little closer and heard a high-pitched voice say, “That’s him! That’s the merman!”

There were phones out now. Lots of phones.

There also seemed to be a local news camera crew.

Sato wondered how long they’d been there, trying to spot him.

“I knew this was the best place to wait. The shifter cafe is right behind us,” said one of the probable reporters.

“Hello, Mr Merman,” another of them yelled, “would you please come and talk to us? You’re a local hero.”

“You have over three million views on WooTube” yelled someone else from the crowd.

Or my naked ass does, thought Sato.

“Can we interview you?”

“I need to thank you for saving my boy,” said a shrill female voice. He supposed that must be the mother.

Meymey was nothing if not amused. “Brother dear, it would appear you are a local celebrity. You have fans .” She was probably delighted that this was distracting him from her and her plans to go into the city.

“Ignore them,” advised Sato, intending to do that himself.

“I don’t think they’re going to let themselves be ignored. And that cafe behind them is the place I’m supposed to meet the kelpie.”

Sato considered. He should distract the group of humans while his sister went to the changing hut. It would be safest that way.

“Fine. You go in. I’ll entertain their stupid questions and let them take more pictures and join you shortly. Don’t leave for the club without me.”

“You really don’t have to come. You could just swim away right now. I will be absolutely fine.” She knew him too well.

He narrowed his eyes at her. “I’m your vangill. I have no idea why you’re being so stubborn about this. It is literally in my mandate to stay by your side and protect you when you are on land.”

“Suit yourself.”

But it didn’t suit him at all. “Why are you insisting on going?” he pressed.

“I don’t know, but I’ve never been more curious about anything. This kelpie and her club are fascinating.”

“It’s a whole different world. Full of danger.”

“I know. But also very hot women so I’m doing it anyway.” Sato would never have guessed his sister leaned that way. That any mermaid might. Did this kind of thing run in their family?

“You’re jeopardizing our mission,” he reminded her.

“It will be fine.”

“So go do it then, but wait for me before you leave.”

She gave him a long look and then fluttered her hands in agreement. Dove down to swim away and resurface near the changing hut. From there she would slip onto shore without being noticed, and dress in one of her cute new thrifted outfits. They’d left them all with the clerk there.

To keep their attention on him, Sato swam closer to the shock rock and the group of humans waiting for him.

They all started asking questions at once.

“Mr Merman, KWYRU radio. What’s your intention in rescuing the boy?”

“Mr Merman, Jeff Takke of Shifter Watch WooTube channel, four point six million subscribers. Did you mean to cause such a sensation with your lack of attire? Are you planning to pursue a career as an influencer? Have you retained representation?”

One of those gull-like child’s voices said, “Mr Merman, I’m Gary, the kid you saved. Ma says I need to say thank you . I don’t remember you at all but you’re very pretty.”

Sato said, “You’re getting close to the water again, aren’t you, kid? I won’t bother to pull you out a second time.”

“Ooo, he does speak!”

“Mr Merman, sir, if I fall in, will you save me ?” That was a female of some ilk.

“Or me?”

“Or me?”

“Why are you here visiting the Bay Area?”

“What made you rescue the boy?”

Sato scanned the group, wary of threat, uninterested in flirtation or actually answering any of their stupid questions.

There was an ebb and flow to the movement of any crowd. Sato had noticed this before with humans – as a teenager in groups at school and pulling Patrick away from his various parties. Humans had a kind of pod behavior all their own. Different from the symmetry of mermaids swimming together or schools of fish. Humans were more random, less predictable, but they still had a kind of pattern when in a group.

They pressed against each other and then reacted against the group by pulling away. This crowd included a bobbing up and down as the ones at the back attempted to see the famous merman more easily. They were stumbling into each other with words and bodies. As they asked their questions and jockeyed for position, the crowd parted enough for Sato to see the street beyond.

There were a few more people standing there, on tiptoe, trying to see what was going on down at the water’s edge. Humans attracted by the enthusiasm and interest of other humans.

Sato locked eyes with one of the curious onlookers standing at the back.

Huge dark eyes the color of deep sea trenches.

Round soft cheeks flushing the color of a conch shell.

In that split second of mutual recognition, he watched Patrick’s face lose all its color in horror. A horror that was seeing him.

He watched Patrick, his Patrick, flinch away in real fear.

Watched him turn and run as fast as he could.

Watched a car nearly hit him, slamming on its brakes and horn.

Sato was moving, chasing, hunting, without even thinking about it. His vangill training kicked in. A thousand times he’d practiced that maneuver, because he admired the Navarch’s ability. Now he could execute it smoothly. He jettisoned himself out of the water with the strength of his huge tail. He used all its might to propel himself up and forward, converting that tail to legs midair. He cleared the crowd, splashing them with water. He went up and over all their heads, landing in a half crouch on the sidewalk behind them. He bent his knees to take the weight of his human form. Balancing on two legs lightly. On land, he was much less clumsy than a mermaid.

The crowd screamed and scattered behind him. There were splashes as some of them fell off shock rock and into the bay. Some of those on the sidewalk fell to the ground on either side of Sato, shoved out of his way as he landed among them. The sounds of human pain, surprise, and fear were all around him. There was a shriek of car brakes, and the ominous crunch of vehicles hitting each other.

Sato didn’t care about any of it.

Patrick .

He pushed through what was left of the bystanders. Dodged around the fender bender blocking the road.

Focused only on Patrick’s figure.

Patrick who was running away from him.