Chapter 12 #2
Our mugs were both empty, so I got up to get more coffee. I grabbed the pot and poured us each a refill. If he was willing to open up to me about everything else, I figured he should be ready to open up about this too.
While I returned the pot to the burner, I said as casually as I could, over my shoulder, “And, uh…why did you need to be healed?”
At first, he didn’t reply. I slid back onto my stool, peering across the counter at him. His eyes were clouded over, just as they’d been each time we’d touched on this subject. His expression was inscrutable.
In the silence, I began to formulate my own answers, one more outlandish than the next.
If there was a Sea Wizard, I figured anything was possible.
Maybe he’d been attacked by one of our local Jersey legends.
Or fought a giant Hydra. Or tangled with some down-the-Shore version of the Loch Ness monster.
“Hunters,” Xander said finally.
Not even close to what I’d been expecting. “Hunters?”
“Undersea treasure hunters,” he said, moving uneasily in his seat. “I suppose they were out on the ocean searching for the wreckage of some sunken ship and the valuables it might contain. But then, they saw me.”
As this sank in, I got a queasy feeling in my gut. Somehow, the fact that hunters—human hunters—had harmed Xander was way worse than all the mystical fiends I’d just imagined.
“So, they were literally hunting you?” I asked. “Like an animal?”
“More like a treasure,” he said. “Like a rare specimen they could sell for a profit.”
“And they tried to kill you?” I asked, horrified.
“I don’t think so,” he said, shaking his head. “They may have just had bad aim, but I don’t believe they were shooting to kill.”
Shooting.
The word echoed in my brain. Xander had been shot.
“They probably thought I’d be worth more alive,” he continued. “In the end, they just managed to clip my right tail fin.”
I recalled the scar I’d spied on his right foot. Knowing the wound’s origin made me shudder.
“That’s…that’s…disgusting,” I sputtered. But that barely even began to express my true horror.
“Not all humans have your humanity,” he said with a sad smile. “That’s why most of my kind prefer to stay on our side of the portal. They’re afraid of being captured. And being treated like carnival attractions. Or worse, like lab rats.”
My eyes got big as I remembered something else. “That’s why you didn’t want me to call 911,” I said. “That’s why you didn’t want any doctors to examine you.”
He nodded.
“I’m so sorry,” I said.
“Hannah,” he said quickly, “you don’t have anything to be sorry for. You’ve been nothing but kind to me since you found me on the beach.”
“But how did you even end up on the beach?” I blurted.
His eyes darkened again. But this time, in the pause that followed, I didn’t try to invent my own explanation. I just waited for Xander to tell the rest of his story. Somehow, I knew he would.
“My initial goal was to escape the hunters by going home,” he said in due time. “I started swimming for the portal, with them in pursuit. Their boat had speed, but I had agility, so I thought I could outmaneuver them. But then…”
“You were injured,” I supplied.
“I was injured,” he confirmed. “And I lost my advantage. So, I couldn’t risk leading these terrible men back to my world. That would have put all my people—all the merpeople, that is—in danger. Not just me. I needed a different plan.”
“So, you swam for our world?” I asked.
He nodded again.
“That was very selfless,” I said.
He shrugged. “It’s just part of the job,” he said.
“What job?” I asked.
“Er…” He seemed flummoxed for a moment. Then, “The job of any decent soul,” he continued, quickly regaining his composure. “I thought that, if I could make it to shore, I could pretend to be human and hide out here in the dry world. Until it was safe to return home.”
He looked directly at me with his extraordinary eyes, and I could have lost myself in those deep pools of green. I really could have.
“But that was a bad plan,” I heard him say.
I shook my head. I wasn’t sure if I’d heard him correctly. “Um, what?”
“Hannah, I can’t stay here now,” he said, as if it should have been obvious.
Suddenly, my heart rate increased. The panic I’d felt earlier this morning, when I’d discovered the true nature of my new handyman, was nothing compared to the panic I felt now. “What do you mean, you can’t stay here?” I demanded. “Of course you can stay here.”
“But you’ve seen what I am,” he said.
“I don’t care what you are,” I practically shouted. “I know I was shocked when I first saw the real you, but—”
“It’s not that,” he said, cutting me off.
“Then, what is it?” I shot back. “Why can’t you stay?”
“Since you saw me—the real me—I’ve been thinking this through,” he said, his voice calm in contrast with my borderline hysterics. “To function properly in this world, I need to spend time in my merman form every day. Every day.”
“So?”
“So, if you’ve already discovered what I am, others could too.”
“Well, we won’t let them,” I said. “We’ll be careful.”
He shook his head. “It’s not that simple. I’m a stranger here,” he said. “So, I stick out. Even when I have legs. Eventually, the hunters will track me down.”
“The hunters are here?” I asked.
“I believe so,” he said. “They couldn’t turn their boat around quickly enough to follow me to shore, but they saw where I was headed.
And these are ruthless, greedy men who view me as their prize.
They won’t just give up on their hunt for me.
” He frowned. “I’m grateful for your hospitality, Hannah.
But if I’m here, in your home, that puts you in danger. ”
It was a good argument. And admittedly, I’d spent these last ten years insulating myself against danger.
Playing it safe. Only, things were different now.
I was different—or, at least, I was changing.
I could feel it. That little spark inside me—the one that had just been rekindled—was creating a fire in my belly.
Oh, I wasn’t fearless, not by a long shot. But I wasn’t quite so driven by fear.
“No,” I said decisively. “You’re staying.”
I wasn’t sure why I was so desperate for him to stay, and I wasn’t sure I was ready to examine my reasons too closely. But I did know this: I wasn’t going to let Xander leave. Not while he was in danger.
“Hannah,” he started to protest.
“No,” I repeated firmly. “Ten years ago, you kept me safe. Now, it’s my turn to keep you safe.”
“You don’t owe me anything,” he said.
“But you owe me,” I said, getting an idea. Maybe I was dealing a little dirty, but I didn’t care. “We have a deal. You said you’d stay here and help me with the Sunny Side.”
That gave him pause, just like I thought it would. Especially after that story, it was clear he was a man—or merman—of honor.
He launched a few more protests, but they were half-hearted, at best. I briefly wondered if maybe, deep down, he didn’t really want to go. If maybe he was hoping for an excuse to stick around. But I wasn’t ready to examine that too closely either.
“Then it’s decided,” I said. My voice was so strong and resolute I hardly recognized it as my own. “You’re staying. You’re staying here with me.”