Chapter 31 #2
Angie looked to Kaden who looked to Adrielle and Cyrus. They stayed still, but their necks and shoulders appeared relaxed.
Mia crept closer to the shore, and in equal measure, Adrielle and Cyrus approached. Both sides now at the shoreline, no one moved. A tense stillness befell them.
Beside Angie, Mia let out a breath and coaxed Rosie forward.
The two bum-rushed the coastline and pelted the three mer with an unending stream of questions.
Adrielle appeared to warm to them as she swam closer to shore, and Cyrus followed at her tailfins.
His gaze briefly met Angie’s, and his head moved into a slight bow.
Unlike their hostile, violent first meeting, this time, so close to land, Cyrus didn’t seem so threatening.
Mia hovered, watching Rosie like a mother hawk whose chick could be snatched up and eaten any minute.
Adrielle’s gaze darted to Rosie’s wrist where she had the gold, sea glass-studded bracelet donned. “May I see it?”
“Sure! Angie āyí got it for me a long time ago,” Rosie explained. Angie broke into a warm smile. Only a child would think that one and a half months felt like a long time. “She said it came from the sea.”
“It did. Because I have its twin.” Adrielle held out a wrist encircled by an identical bracelet.
Rosie and Angie sucked in a collective gasp.
“I had lost it some time ago when I was nearly caught in a landwalker net. Cyrus pulled me out before I was dragged to the surface with it. He crafted it when he was courting me.”
“Do you want it back?” Rosie began to slide the bracelet off, and Adrielle stopped her with a hand to Rosie’s wrist.
“No, no. Keep it. Think of it as a gift. You’re an honorary mermaid now.”
Tears gathered in Rosie’s eyes. “Oh, thank you! Thank you so much!” She ran forward and threw her arms around Adrielle’s neck, tiny feet splashing shallow waters, and Adrielle’s slender arms encircled the little girl.
Angie’s heart warmed at the sight. This time, Mia hung back, her shoulders and neck relaxed.
Cyrus leaned toward Angie and Kaden, keeping his eyes sharply trained on Adrielle and Rosie. “Human children look so bizarre,” he mused, cocking his head to one side. “She has such short legs and awkward, ungraceful movements. Are you sure she won’t accidentally trip and smack her?”
“They are strange little things, aren’t they?” Kaden nudged his brother’s shoulder with his.
Adrielle interrupted the reply creeping up Angie’s throat with a loud, “We can hear you!”
And Cyrus’ chest deflated. “I suppose that one is cute. In her own peculiar way.”
Angie stifled a laugh and turned her attention back to Mia, leaving Cyrus and Kaden to their own conversation, they switched to mer language. Angie and Mia sat in the sand, Mia’s gaze still glued to Rosie. She switched to Mandarin for her next question.
“Angie, how did this happen? You became friends with the měirényú? And one of them is your lover? How come his family didn’t try to murder us on the spot?” Mia pinched the bridge of her nose as if trying to snap herself out of a dream.
“I stumbled on a merman who was willing to talk, and I went with it.” Angie settled on that explanation for now because Mia pulled her phone out when it pinged. Her eyes grew wide and her shoulders jerked.
“Angie, I’m sorry. We have to go. Nick got off early, and he’s asking where we are. I told him we’d meet him at the docks, but I thought we had a little more time.” Her voice rose a pitch and her words streamed out in quick succession.
“No problem.” Angie couldn’t hide the annoyance tinging her words. She never got to leave work a little early. She moved to Kaden and Cyrus and Adrielle while Mia retrieved Rosie. “I’ll catch up with you. I just need a minute or two.”
“Be safe.” Mia’s eyebrows lifted slightly and, without another word, motioned for Rosie to follow her, leading them back toward where they came.
Kaden turned and mouthed something to Cyrus and Adrielle who gave Angie one last look that she couldn’t read, and they returned undersea.
Once they were alone, Angie clasped her hands together in front of her.
His gaze was expectant, and her words came rushing out.
She had a minute to explain herself. “My dad had cameras put underwater. They caught me leaving with you, and saw the fish the day you took me there. I swear, I didn’t know.
I saw a red flash when we were leaving, but I didn’t put two and two together.
” She swallowed hard. “Not until Nick showed up with fish last night.”
Kaden lowered his head, the tips of his caudal fins peeking out of the water and flipping forward and backward.
There was no indication in his eyes, his expression, whether he took her word or not.
Angie ran her hands through her hair over and over, pulling it to one side of her neck, then moving it to the other.
He turned to face the open sea. “I must take my leave.”
With one more brief glance at her over his shoulder, his gaze tortured, he left. Kaden would have to see the cameras for himself. He had to. The notion of not knowing when or if she would see him again tugged painfully at her innards.
She didn’t have time to dwell on it. Breaking into a jog, she caught up to Mia and Rosie.
They had made it halfway down the path, and once Angie fell in step with them, Mia jutted a finger at her. “You owe me the entire story when we have more time, alright?”
“Of course. And Rosie,” her niece looked at her, “ If you could please not tell your dad about what you saw today, I’d really appreciate it. He won’t understand. Can it be our little secret?”
“Okay. I won’t tell Papa. Don’t want him to be mad, ‘cause I know he doesn’t like the nice merpeople,” Rosie said, and Angie caught the faintest hint of a flinch.
“Nick lost his temper a couple times because he’s so stressed. But he always apologized,” Mia added, her words rushed. “It’s not his fault. He’s so tired all the time, and I know his mind isn’t in the right place.”
Angie bit the inside of her lip as Mia all but jogged back to where they came, her shoulders and arms visibly tensed.
Another fifty feet and they reached the main dock area where Nick stood shifting his weight from side to side.
He broke into a smile at the sight of his family, his gaze averted from Angie.
“Hi Rosie! And Mia, my heart.” He greeted Mia with a kiss, and Rosie with a big hug.
“Where have you two been? I’ve been looking all over for you! ”
“Mia came a little early to surprise you.” She exchanged a glance with Mia who nodded her head.
“But since you were busy, figure I’d help them kill some time and take them out for a walk on the shoreline,” Angie offered, but took back her words at the cold, insincere smile on Nick’s face that contorted into an angry sneer. He thrust his chest out.
Mia placed a comforting hand on Nick’s forearm. “Please, honey, it was just a walk.”
He didn’t react.
“Angela, why would you do something so stupid? You know there are mer along the shore not to mention traps!” His voice came out in a sudden bellow and blasted into her ears, and Angie staggered backward. Her heel met an uneven part of concrete, but she caught herself.
“I did a sweep to make sure it was safe. I wouldn’t bring them somewhere dangerous! You know how much I love them.”
Nick folded his arms and puffed out his chest, stance widening.
If he was waiting for her to apologize, he better get comfortable. That wasn’t going to happen.
Nick stepped to face her, the tips of their noses nearly touching, and he curled his upper lip. A vein in his forehead pulsed. “Never, ever do that again. Understand?”
For a long stretch of time, neither of them said anything, and Angie refused to budge from where she stood.
Finally, Nick looked away from her with a deep, noisy inhale.
“But my wife and daughter look happy, so I’ll let it go for now.
” He grabbed Rosie’s hand, practically snatching her, and stormed off with Mia following close behind.
“Oh, and Angela?” He yelled back to her, never bothering to turn back around. “Be here bright and early tomorrow.”
Angie’s hands were still shaking after they disappeared and when Bàba came and stood beside her. “You okay, Beibei? Sounds like you and Nick got into another altercation.”
“He asked me to be here bright and early tomorrow. I don’t know what that means. I was getting there at five, six in the morning some days.” She eyed her bàba. “I think the better question is, are you okay?”
His eyelids were stiff and his eyes red, a sharp change from his joy this morning at the news of another grandchild arriving early next year.
“Yes. Be here at six thirty tomorrow. There’s something all of you need to hear regarding the mer and our efforts to fight them and replenish our food source.”
Angie’s throat went dry and her heartbeat slowed to a crawl.
If the news was coming from Nick, then it certainly wouldn’t be good.