Chapter 52 Sirena
I paced back and forth in my pen.
The weight of waiting was becoming oppressive.
I didn’t take my dress off. I would be damned if I died wearing a hospital gown.
That, plus, I didn’t mind if I looked a little rough.
At the MSA, I always had to be polished and pulled together. Not just as an agent, but because I was representing the agency, as the next in Royce’s line.
But I’d spent almost seventeen years of my life beneath the sea before going onto land, and unlike representations from eighteenth-century art, people who looked like mermaids didn’t just sit around combing their hair.
We traversed dangerous waters, with creatures bigger than we were—and we hunted.
With spears and speed and teeth.
And then I felt someone move against my mind. Daughter? a familiar presence asked.
Mother! I squealed back in glee.
You are still in danger, yes? Her concern slammed into me, barely restrained.
Yes. But—we are working on things. I had no doubt Nex would come up with a solution.
He loved me—one hundred percent.
We . . . will investigate that later, my mother said, sensing the change in me. For the moment, we await your command.
And now that I was more receptive, I could feel other minds waiting below—krakens. Friends. Cepharius? I thrilled.
Of course, he thought back. Don’t tell your father.
I already knew why I couldn’t. You don’t think he’ll recognize you?
I felt him laugh. I wasn’t intending on breaching the surface. And besides—he’ll be too busy looking for you, his little girl.
Girl, yes. But not so little anymore. I smiled up at the cameras. I hoped Nex was watching—and if so, I gave him a wave in warning.
I didn’t know exactly what Nex—or the MSA—needed from me.
But I knew what I could give them.
Time.
This yacht wasn’t going anywhere—not with me on it.
It was time to go further below decks and sing.