"Ooh, lovebirds in the forest."
"A pair of Humans."
"Don't they know it's dangerous in the woods?"
Four men emerged from the shadows, all of them barefoot. They prowled forward, more like animals than men.
"Shifters," Allie said softly. "Hunters of some sort. I'd say wolves, but I don't think so. More likely some sort of cat."
"Get in the water, then," Galen said urgently, rising to his feet. "Cats don't like water. I'll fend them off while you call for help."
"Tigers like water just fine," one of the men growled, stepping forward. "And it'll only take one of us to hold you down so you can watch how the rest of us entertain your little girlfriend. This is our territory, and you're trespassing, Human. Your kind need to be taught a lesson."
Allie burst out laughing. "A bit too melodramatic before breakfast, don't you think, boys? This is public land, free to be enjoyed by all Complex residents. At least, those who have the social skills to stay." She lifted her coffee from the seat beside her and sipped it before she started to hum a cheerful song Galen didn't recognise.
"Leave her alone," Galen said through gritted teeth, squaring up for a fight. He'd learned in the college dorms that his age and size made him a target, so he'd made it his mission to learn how to defend himself. Four Human opponents was the most he'd ever had to deal with, and even then he'd come out with a couple of broken ribs and a black eye, but it had been worth it. He hoped Metas weren't harder to fight than teenage boys high on hormones and adrenaline. If only his brain didn't feel so fuzzy. Should have had more sleep last night. "Run, Allie," he pleaded.
Allie stopped humming. "Hi, I'm Allie, and this is my friend, Galen." She gave a little wave. Galen caught a glimpse of something orange like a flame between her fingers before it disappeared. He must have imagined it. "We're responsible for your water supply in the Complex. When there's trouble, I come along to your house and sort things out. I'm very good at what I do, right, Galen?" He found himself nodding. Allie continued, "I enjoy my work, too. I like to sing while I'm working. I find it makes everything better."
The shifters met Allie's spiel with silence. It jarred with the voice in Galen's head telling him to run or fight, but that voice seemed to grow fainter even as he tried to focus on it.
The man at the very back gave a little salute. "You enjoy your breakfast, ma'am." He and his fellows melted away into the trees.
Galen shook his head, trying to fight the fog that filled it. "Allie? What just happened?" None of it made sense.
Allie's hand grasped his arm and pulled him to sit beside her again. "Just making friends with the neighbours," she said. She reached for a muffin and bit into it. "Mm, this is wonderful. You're going to have to tell me where you got them."
Galen sighed and grabbed a muffin. The moment was gone, stolen by a bunch of shifters. He couldn't ask her now, or the memory of his proposal would be forever tainted. Another time. At dinner, perhaps. When he wasn't feeling so foggy.
At his side, Allie began to hum softly again, and the world was wonderful once more.
Allie was making her final adjustments on the fitout for Uni Seafood Supply, Sven's new fish shop, when she received an incoming message. Violet wanted to meet her for lunch at a café on the other side of the Main City. Allie fired off a quick affirmative before she started to pack her tools.
"Are you finished already?" Sven echoed the response of almost every satisfied customer Allie had dealt with.
"I used to fix Ceyx' fish tanks on the ship. I could have done these ones in my sleep," she said.
"When do you want your fish? I can grab them from the cool room now, if you like. You forgot them last night."
Was it only last night that Sven had flirted with her and promised her fresh fish? It felt like so much longer.
"How about I swing by after work this evening, if that's all right? At the Aquatic Dome, not here. I want to ask you something," Allie said.
A slow smile spread across Sven's face and he winked. "Whatever my lady wishes."
Allie almost corrected his mistaken assumption, but decided it didn't matter. Maybe she should bring Galen along tonight, just to stir things up a little. And if a siren truly had been messing with Galen's head, perhaps she'd give herself away with some spark of surprise – or Galen might recognise her.
She waved goodbye to Sven and took a glyder to see Violet.
The moment Allie stepped off the glyder, she had to take a deep breath. The most exquisite sweetness, wrapping a core of earthy bitterness assailed her nose. Chocolate. Fresh and hot and...
Violet waved to get Allie's attention. "I found you a chocolate shop. What do you think?"
It wasn't just a shop. It was a café whose menu consisted solely of cocoa-based products. It truly was a wonderful day, Allie said to herself as she followed Violet inside.
"We'll have two orders of the chocolate chili and...what would you like to drink?" Violet said, turning to Allie. "I hope you don't mind me ordering, but I heard from a dragon that their chocolate chili is the best he's ever tasted. One of the Intra fire mages swears by it, too."
Allie smiled. "Whatever you recommend. I'm still growing accustomed to Human food, and I like to try everything at least once."
Violet finished ordering for them and led the way to a secluded corner table. As she settled in her chair, she asked, "What do your kind normally eat? I mean, you all kept to yourselves so much on the ship. I never saw any of you in the messhall. I never really thought..."
Allie waited for the waiter to fill their water glasses, then drank deeply to give the Human waiter time to get out of earshot before she answered, "Fresh fish, when we can get it. Lately, it's been a mix of ration bars and a selection from eating houses as they open. The other Mer finally have the aquaculture farm up and running, so they'll be selling fresh seafood tomorrow, I believe. I'll get my order in advance, of course."
"Of course." Violet nodded. "How do you cook it? I mean, on land, you'd use a normal kitchen like the rest of us, but in the water..."
"We don't. Cooking removes many essential nutrients and destroys the fresh texture. I believe Humans do something similar, though they call it sashimi."
Violet looked horrified. "Raw fish? Remind me not to date a Mer. Present company excepted, of course."
Allie inclined her head, accepting the oblique apology. "Do you have any information for me?"
Violet nodded and pulled out her tablet. "My boss asked me to investigate the surveillance footage for a particular maintenance tunnel. It was all rather urgent, and he pulled me off another investigation so I could do this today. All I heard was that someone had planted a bomb, and they wanted to know who had the opportunity. I combed every surveillance camera for that corridor, the maintenance tunnels, everything. And all I found was two people. You, and this guy." She tapped the screen, then tilted it so Allie could see. "He looks familiar. I'm sure I know him from somewhere."
Allie watched Galen struggle with his toolbox and what looked like a residential water pump as he palmed the door open and disappeared inside. Her heart sank as she recognised the pump as identical to the casing that had housed the bomb. It couldn't be Galen. Or if it was, he had to be under someone else's control. He wasn't a killer. There was just no way he'd blow up the Complex. It was a suicide mission, and he was smart enough to know that. The Galen she knew didn't have a death wish.
Someone had definitely mind controlled him, she decided. That was the only explanation. And when she found out who...she'd tear the siren's tits off.
Fear curdled in Galen's belly as he approached the Aquatic Dome. Now he was so close to his decade-long goal, he was terrified. It didn't help that Halcyon had starred in all his nightmares since the ship sank. She'd ripped away everyone he loved, and he couldn't let it happen again. His arms tightened around Allie's waist as the glyder raced through the corridors to the Mer habitat.
"They prefer communal living to individual apartments," Allie sa
id over her shoulder. "So their habitat is different to most. They manage the aquaculture facility that supplies the whole Complex with seafood, or it will when their fish stocks reach harvestable size. It's early days yet. At the moment, all they're producing stays within the Mer habitat. They only eat the freshest seafood."
Galen couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Fish who eat fish? Isn't that cannibalism?"
Allie laughed. "Back on Earth, the bigger fish ate the little fish because that's all they had. It's not cannibalism when they're different species, and it's the same with Mer. Mer have more in common with Humans than with fish. They're marine mammals, after all. Didn't Earth have marine mammals? Dolphins, and something bigger, too?"
"I've seen pictures of dolphins. They weren't much bigger than a Human, but they spent their whole lives in the ocean. There are tales of even bigger things – whales, my mother called them – that were the size of a ship, but I find that hard to believe. How could something so huge survive? What would it eat?"
"Whales sound intriguing. I hope there's DNA stored in the databanks somewhere, so one day scientists can create them again and they'll swim in Seldova seas," Allie said dreamily.
Galen suppressed a snort. Here he was, terrified of coming face to face with the woman who'd killed his parents, yet knowing he owed it to his parents to seek revenge if he could. All the while, Allie was talking about monsters even more frightening than the murderous Mer, and how much she wanted to meet them. If she met Halcyon, she'd probably want to shake hands with the woman, or whatever Mers did. It was as though Allie had been born without a sense of fear.
Dangerous. No wonder he wanted to protect her so much. She did so little to protect herself. Wanting to meet monsters indeed.
"We're here." One moment she was in his arms, the next she bounced down off the glyder, holding out a hand as if to help him down. "C'mon. What are you afraid of?"
"Halcyon," he blurted out.
Sympathy filled her eyes, or perhaps it was pity. "Mers are pacifists, and the ones here more so than most. You have nothing to fear from them, I promise. Halcyon is...unusual, even for a Mer. When she joined the war effort, it wasn't popular. She...let's just say you probably shouldn't mention that name around the Mer you meet today."
Galen nodded, wondering for the umpteenth time how she knew so much about Metas and the war. Perhaps she'd studied politics or modern history while he learned engineering, then switched to plumbing because all the political jobs were taken.
"Why did you become a plumber?" he asked.
Allie stared at him for a moment before she answered, "To get into the Complex, of course. I signed up as an apprentice in the construction phase, and volunteered as one of the Complex residents the moment they opened for applications. I knew this was where I needed to be, and here I am. Queen of the pipes." She laughed.
Did that then make him the king? If it meant a lifetime with her, he'd take the job in a heartbeat. This was hardly the time or the place to say so, though.
They entered a farming zone, which was made up of ponds as far as the eye could see, with narrow jetties between them.
"It's nearly dinnertime, so most of the Mer will be fishing. This is the best place to meet everyone. If you see anyone you recognise, let me know," Allie said.
Galen nodded, scanning the ponds for signs of life. What he'd taken for still pools were actually teeming with fish, and a surprising number of brightly-coloured Mer. Blue and green, gold and silver, black and white...so many shades, but not a hint of orange among them. Slowly it dawned on him that Halcyon wasn't here. But if she wasn't...where was she? It wasn't like she had anywhere else to go. The only water habitat in the whole Complex was here.
"Is everyone here?" Galen asked Allie.
She shrugged. "I don't know. I'll ask Sven." She waved at a group of men entering the farming zone. One of the men finished pulling off his shirt and waved back.
The whole group headed in their direction, led by a shirtless dude showing off his six-pack. "My lady," the show-off said with an elaborate bow.
Allie shook her head. "Just Allie, please. Galen, this is Sven. Sven, Galen is an environmental engineer who's in charge of Maintenance for the Complex. He's the one who's been working on your water problem with the tuna tanks." She took a deep breath. "Galen, Sven is – "
"The Patriarch of the Green Line, and every mermaid's wet dream," Sven finished smoothly. He peeled off his pants and dived into the nearest pool. When he surfaced, the man had turned emerald green, from his head down to the tips of his tail flukes. "As you can see."
Galen couldn't seem to close his mouth. The man had turned into a mer...well, not a mermaid. A merman, maybe. If he had man parts under that tail somewhere. Maybe Mer really did spawn like fish.
The other men who'd arrived with Sven stripped and entered the water, too. They changed and surfaced, each a slightly different colour. Not all of them were the monochrome of Sven the show-off, though – most of the Mer were flesh-coloured above the waist, and only their tails took on a different hue. Including – Galen gulped – the women. Two of what he'd thought were men turned to face him in the water, their bare breasts on full display. He didn't know where to look, and if Allie caught him staring at some other woman's breasts...
"You missed all the fun, Allie," one of the men said, emerging from the water with a handful of small fish. He lifted one wriggling fish high into the air, then swallowed it whole. "After you left, a trio of tiger shifters stumbled out of the bar and started picking fights with the Humans in the square. It turned into a brawl of about thirty people before the Intra broke it up. We might have to sell...what do Humans call it? Popcorn, that's it. We might have to start selling popcorn and seats for that sort of entertainment."
Allie frowned. "Why didn't you break it up?"
The man spread his arms wide. "Do I look like a siren? I don't calm mobs. If Humans and Metas want to fight, we won't interfere. Let the lesser beings fight out their frustrations with each other. Mer farm fish and keep their own counsel. If we're forced to watch as part of our participation in this community, fine. We'll bring snacks." He swallowed another fish, then dived under for more.
Allie let out an exasperated sigh. "Sven, Galen wanted to know if everyone's here, or if anyone's missing."
Sven surveyed the pools. "No, this is everyone. Why, is he looking to mate with someone? One of the younger mermaids might be curious about getting with a Human. She might eat him alive, too. He's not exactly the bravest of them, is he? He nearly pissed himself when I changed."
He had not pissed himself. "I've never seen a man shapeshift into a fish before," Galen said stiffly. "I didn't know you could do that."
Sven grinned. "Humans know very little about the Mer, and with good reason. They'd know even less if it wasn't for..." He exchanged a pointed glance with Allie, who shook her head. "So you've never met a Mer before, or at least, you didn't think you had. You could have seen any of us walking around the Complex and not known we were Mer."
"Is there anyone you recognise, Galen?" Allie asked.
"No," he said firmly. He'd never seen so many bare breasts in one place, and it was making him more than a little hot under the collar, plus a few other places, too. He didn't want to look too closely at the women. Especially not in front of Allie. None of them had an orange tail, which meant none of them was Halcyon. That meant she could be roaming anywhere in the Complex, looking for all the world like a normal woman. He didn't know what her face looked like, only her tail. He could have walked past her today and not recognised her. "We should go," he said urgently.
"All right," Allie said. She inclined her head to Sven. "Thank you. I should head home. It's been a long day."
Sven's face fell.
Galen felt an irresistible urge to grin at the merman's disappointment. Did the fish have a crush on Allie?
"Don't forget your fish," Sven said. "I'd offer to deliver it to your apartment, but then I'd have to put clothes on." A fe
w of the Mer within earshot laughed.
Someone climbed out of the water and returned with a cooler box that she handed to Allie.
"Thanks, Leukosia. You don't know how long it's been since I had fresh fish." Allie clutched the box to her chest.
Galen held out his arms. "Let me take that for you."
Allie surrendered the box, and one of the mermen muttered something in a language Galen didn't understand. Whatever he'd said, it didn't sound complimentary. Allie glared at him and gave him a one-fingered salute that evidently meant the same in Mer as it did in Human.
Galen waited until they'd reached the entrance to what he'd now think of as the Mer nudist colony before he said, "Did you understand what he said?"
Allie nodded grimly. "He said you were insulting me, calling me weak by taking the box. He suggested I show my strength by...um, avenging the insult. With violence."
Galen stopped. "I figured they were making a joke at my expense. If I'd known...want me to go back there and sort him out?"
"I don't need you to fight my battles, Galen. Besides, they'd only say it was an even bigger insult. I'd have to do something to you then."
"I could never fight you," Galen said. "I'd be too scared I'd hurt you."
Allie smiled, but said nothing as she summoned a zipper. The box was too bulky for a glyder.
"What are you going to do with all that fish?" Galen asked.
"Eat it, of course." She stared at him. "But not tonight. Let's drop this off at my place, then go out for dinner again. My treat."
"Last night you saved my life. I'm pretty sure I owe you a lifetime's worth of dinners for that," Galen began, seeing his opportunity.
"That depends. How good are you at cleaning and gutting fish?" Allie asked, laughing, as she boarded the zipper. The cab was crowded, so he had to sit on the other side from her, where his proposal once again went unsaid. At dinner, he promised himself, or afterwards. Then he'd ask her for forever.
All through dinner, Allie fought to find the fortitude to tell Galen who she really was. She wasn't afraid of his reaction. She'd seen hatred in countless Human eyes before, just because they knew she was a Meta. It's just that last night had been the most pleasurable night in her memory, and she didn't want to hurt him. Was one more night with him too much to ask? It wasn't like he'd hate her any more in the morning than if she told him now.
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