21
T o Blake’s immense surprise, Matt shuffled into the kitchen at ten in the morning, looking about ready to fall right back asleep. He suspected that the reason he was even upright had something to do with the fact that he was leaning one hundred percent of his body weight on Noel.
Blake, Marin, and Celeste were all gathered at the island—the latter seated at the counter, dressed in their sunglasses and throw blanket couture, struggling through a bowl of rice porridge.
“You’re up early,” Blake quipped, raising his eyebrows. “Do you have work later?”
“I have a spotlight in AluminumSiren’s charity stream at noon,” Matt explained, hopping up onto a bar stool beside Celeste and flopping his torso down onto the granite countertop, where he began to flail his arms. “I need food.”
“There’s some congee on the stove,” Marin told him, gesturing towards where it was simmering. He perked up in pride. “Blake made it almost all by himself.”
“Goddamn, it actually looks edible!” Matt hopped up from the counter and wandered over to the pot to peruse the contents. “Broth and rice is pretty hard to mess up, though.”
Blake deflated.
“Thanks, asshole,” he groused in Matt’s direction.
Matt cackled in response before he glanced over his shoulder at Noel, who was hovering in the entryway, chewing the side of his fingernail. “Would you like some, Monsieur Tremblay?”
“Yeah—if that’s okay?” Noel asked, glancing around those gathered with no small amount of nervousness.
“You’re a guest.” Celeste grunted between sips of their porridge. “Help yourself.”
“Sure, then I’ll have some,” Noel nodded, his attention stolen by the dogs, who had come to sniff at his heels. He crouched down to greet them, his discomfort evaporating as he grinned down at them. “Hey there, puppies.”
“Did you guys sleep well?” Marin asked as Matt loaded two bowls with congee.
“Like a rock.” Matt grinned. He turned to Celeste. “I always sleep better next to someone else. Noe was super cuddly—” he trailed off, frowning over Celeste. “You know, you look like you could use an energy drink. Or ten.”
Celeste looked up from their bowl, eyes hollow over the rims of their shades. Porridge fell from their spoon with a wet plop .
“I think an IV might be a better idea,” Blake interjected.
Celeste said something in French that sounded suspiciously like a threat. Blake ignored them.
“Hey Noe, would you mind giving me a ride home?” Matt requested, setting Noel’s portion of breakfast at the seat beside him.
“Actually,” Noel replied, approaching the island with Bonbon cuddled in his arms. “I was wondering if it was okay if I stayed here for a while? I have something private to discuss with Marin.”
“Ooh, you guys got Canadian government secrets to talk about?” Matt teased. “Gonna give him the codes to get into the maple syrup reserve?”
“I should scold you for making stereotypes…” Noel frowned. “But you know that’s a real thing, right?”
“Wait, really?” Blake interjected. Marin stared at Noel with his mouth agape, blinking in disbelief. Celeste did not appear to have the mental capacity for facial expressions.
“Yes, there’s a huge warehouse in the province where my family comes from,” Noel explained. “There’s something like four million gallons of maple syrup stored there.”
The conversation continued from then on, until an Uber arrived for Matt and he traipsed out the door after providing a goodbye hug for everyone gathered.
After taking Matt’s advice and violently slamming a Sherbet Storm energy drink, Celeste turned to address those gathered, appearing to be the world’s most miserable judge holding court.
“So was there actually something you wanted to talk to Marin about in private, or did you have something you wanted to share with the class?” they asked Noel, who was still rocking Bonbon in his arms like a spoiled baby.
“I figure it’s best to keep everyone in the know,” Noel said. “I sent an e-mail out to my extended family to see if anyone had ever heard of a ‘Marin’.”
Both Blake and Marin perked up.
Noel’s neutral expression didn’t bode well for them. “I’m sorry. I didn’t get any leads. Since my family is from Quebec, most of our connections are from the Atlantic. I tried reaching out to some of my parents’ friends out here on the west coast, but they didn’t know anything either.
“Unfortunately there’s a lot of smaller families around that I have no way of contacting.
Since a lot of us tend to keep the merperson thing a secret and functionally live as humans, they’re not exactly keen on reaching out to others and risking exposure,” Noel explained.
“Sometimes even communicating between ourselves can be dangerous—n-not that I’m asking for praise or anything!
” he interjected quickly, catching the expression of worry that immediately crossed Marin’s face.
“I wanted you to know that it could be risky, and not a lot of merpeople will engage with you like I did.”
“Still, thank you,” Marin told him as Blake gathered up the empty bowls to wash. “Between this, helping me with my powers, and the library yesterday, you’ve really gone out on a limb for me, and I appreciate it.”
“You’re welcome.” Noel bobbed his head. “Again, you don’t have to thank me—I know that if I was in your position, I would want to be reunited with my family as soon as possible.”
“God, you’re a sweetie pie,” Celeste told him, dragging their phone across the counter into their lap.
Noel released a hoarse, embarrassed laugh, looking about ready to bury his face in Bonbon’s stomach to escape the attention.
“Remind me to be less drunk and/or hungover next time we hang out—I like your vibe.”
“Thanks,” Noel squeaked.
“What about you, Celeste?” Blake asked, turning his attention to them. “Earlier you said you were waiting to hear back from Paul Aberley.”
“Checkin’ on that right now,” Celeste told him, flicking several extraneous apps off of their screen. “Looks like he replied. Give me a minute to read it. I am. Struggling.”
“You want me to read it for you?” Blake offered.
“Nah, I got it.” Celeste shook their head. “‘Dear Mx. Celeste,’ bluh bluh… ‘indeed the artist behind the vase’, ‘believe that I had an experience with the creature that you described in the form of a carving of—’ shit. Guys, I think this is the real deal.”
Celeste stood up, their blanket falling from their shoulders and cascading down over the kitchen floor as they read, brow furrowing deeper and deeper with concern.
“Oh shit ,” they swore again, voice low.
“What?” Marin asked. “Is everything okay?”
“It…” Celeste frowned, lowering the phone. Blake couldn’t completely discern their expression because of their sunglasses, but they looked upset. “It’s not sounding good.”
“…what happened?” Blake asked, already knowing the answer. Dread crept up his spine, cold and wriggling like a centipede.
“He hasn’t really been specific.” Celeste shook their head. “He says… ‘it’ll be easier to show’ us—whatever the hell that means.”
“Well that’s not ominous or anything,” Noel said, returning Bonbon to the floor.
“Is he nearby?” Marin asked.
“He’s about an hour up highway fifty,” Celeste replied, turning their screen towards Blake to show him a screenshot of Google Maps. “He says he’s free this afternoon, if we wanted to meet up with him.”
“No kidding?” Marin frowned. “I… I wouldn’t be opposed to that, if it’s not too much trouble.”
“Are you sure?” Blake asked Marin. “Not that I’m trying to exclude you, but… I’m not sure what we’re going to see there.”
“No, no—you’re fine,” Marin reassured him, shaking his head as he approached Blake. Marin laid a hand over Blake’s, rubbing his wrist with his thumb. “I want to be as involved in this as possible. It’s not something that bothers me. I want to be there.”
Blake placed his free hand over Marin’s, squeezing it with an encouraging smile. He then glanced around at those assembled, clocking Noel’s expression curdled with worry. “You all right, Noe?”
“I… I also want to go to be there to support you guys, but…” he hesitated, rubbing his thumbs and forefingers together.
“But… I’m really socialized-out from last night and need at least a few hours by myself to recover before doing anything else.
Also… I have medicine I need to take daily to manage my anxiety, and I didn’t take any with me because I didn’t know I’d be crashing here.
That’s something I really need to take to make sure I don’t have a panic attack when I go somewhere new, especially if I’m going to be meeting a stranger for the first time. ”
“I get that,” Blake reassured him. “If I forget my Zoloft for too many days, I start getting brain zaps and it’s the absolute worst.”
Marin piped up, expression encouraging: “I’m really glad that you were able to make it out last night, Noel. I had a lot of fun. I understand that it was difficult for you and I’m proud you challenged yourself.”
Noel straightened his sagged spine, eyes shining in joy. “Thank you, guys, that… that means the world for me to hear.”
“Of course. But if you feel the need to head home and rest, then you should go ahead,” Marin continued. “You can be there with us in spirit.”
Celeste made a noise that sounded somewhere halfway between a groan and a wretch as they pushed themself up from the counter with a great amount of effort. “Y’all are disgusting. I’m gonna go try to throw myself together. Drive home safe, okay Noel? It was great to see you.”
They departed from the kitchen, leaving Blake and Marin to see Noel off.