Surfacing

by Masters, Cate

  AJ almost felt sorry for the guy. He had his heart set on fulfilling this fantasy. And for whatever reason, including AJ as a partner.

  “We’ll talk tomorrow.” He forced a smile and waved, turned his back and blew through his lips. This guy’s obsessions were getting worrisome. Soon he’d have no other way to duck him.

  He walked the three miles to his grandfather’s house, letting the sea pull him in the right direction.

  When he opened the front door, Grandpa lay sprawled on the sofa, snoring, newspaper on his chest, television blaring.

  A pot bubbled and spit red sauce across the stove top. AJ lifted the lid. More meatballs. He turned down the heat as low as it would go and went to his room. His guitar leaned against the bed, within easy reach whenever the urge struck him. And lately, it struck more and more often.

  Strumming, he tried to pick up where he’d left off last night on a new song. The melody teased just out of reach of his consciousness. If he could finish it, it would be one of his best yet. But the harder he tried, the more it eluded him. Forcing it seemed to push it further out of reach.

  The room stifled him. Intense concentration made everything seem too small. Open air, that’s what he needed. And the sea’s foamy spray on his face.

  He shouldered the guitar strap and went to the kitchen, where he wrote a note to say he went for a walk and would be back later. By the sound of Grandpa’s snores, he’d likely not read it until after AJ returned anyway.

  He cut through the side yard and across three streets to the Gulf coast. Although he’d grown to like his job as captain of the Wilderness Cruise, nothing rivaled the open sea. It rejuvenated his senses. His shoes sunk in the sand and rock as he passed a man and son tossing a football, three teenage girls in bikinis folding their blanket. The girls laughed and whispered as he approached. One rocked her hips and said, “Hi.”

  AJ grinned. If only they weren’t jail bait, he’d bite. He trudged on toward the islet reaching out into the water to his favorite spot–a large, flat rock the perfect height for playing. His fingertips had grown sore as the calluses he’d lost this past year had developed again these past weeks. The pain was payback for giving up on his music.

  The tune came back easily, but he became stuck at the same point every time. He played it over and over, hoping something would come to him, some natural progression of notes that eluded him last night. True, he hadn’t written a song in a year, but he’d been good at it, really good. Songwriting was a talent, and couldn’t have left him forever.

  His fingers flew across the strings, each time coming to a crashing halt after the same chord change. He flung himself to his feet with an anguished groan, gripping his guitar as if trying to strangle it as he walked inland.

  The breeze carried a tinkle of laughter, almost like music. He whirled toward the sea. Waves washed over the rocks, a gull cried. That must have been it. Pulling his guitar strap across his shoulder, he stepped across the rocks.

  “Goodbye,” said a girl’s voice.

  AJ’s foot caught on a rock as he turned. The laughter again. As he stood watching, water splashed high at the edge. Not like the sea crashing into the waves. Like something had sent the splash toward him.

  His guitar swung on his back as he ran to the spot. Beneath the waves, something greenish-grey slid from sight, deeper into the water. The back of his neck prickled at the possibility of... No, he’d been listening to Chaz too long. Letting the dude get to him with all his mermaid talk. But what else could it be? A dolphin? They didn’t come this close to shore, did they?

  He stood where the rocks met the sea until stars pricked holes in the azure sky. Only the thought of his grandfather made him turn away from the sea toward land, where he felt more lost than ever.

  Chapter Six

  AJ pulled the boat to the pier, thankful for lunch break. “All right, folks, watch your step. Enjoy your day.” The automaton quality of his voice made him sound like Harry. The thought alarmed him as he cut the engine. Already, he’d grown too comfortable in this job. It wasn’t the be-all and end-all of his existence. He couldn’t let it be.

  Why he felt so frazzled, he couldn’t pinpoint. Maybe the heat wore him down. Maybe the frustration of not being able to finish the song. Maybe what happened last night at the beach left him rattled, without logic. Really, he hadn’t seen anything. What he heard could have been anyone, someone further down the beach, their laughter carried on the wind. Lying awake for hours last night hadn’t helped. His bed called for him now.

  When Chaz approached with AJ dead in his sights, AJ’s alarm turned to agitation.

  Chaz fell into step with him as he walked up the ramp. “AJ, my man. I’m goin’ to the Mermaid Galley. Come with me, I’ll buy you lunch.” Something pathetic about his expression, his politeness, made AJ soften toward him.

  He ran a hand through his hair, wondering if his nerves could take a half hour of listening to Chaz. His stomach grumbled. He needed to eat. “Yeah, sure.”

  His light punch to AJ’s shoulder seemed tentative, as if Chaz knew he’d been pushing too hard. “Great. We have a lot to talk about.”

  Great, yeah.

  Chaz ducked his head as he spoke in a low voice, as if spies were onto him. “I figured it out. The key is for you to sing.”

  “What?” He cut himself off before saying, What the hell are you talking about. What did Chaz ever talk about–mermaids.

  Chaz looked left and right. “To lure them. Like your grandfather said. They love a good singing voice. And I noticed a lot of girls look at you, so they must think you’re hot.”

  Hearing Chaz say AJ was hot made him immediately uncomfortable. He took a step to the side as they walked to put distance between them. He wouldn’t argue about girls looking at him, though. Everywhere he went, their attention snapped in his direction. From pubescent pony-tailed girls to blue-haired ladies, their smiles held more than friendliness. A creepy chill crawled across AJ, as if Chaz had been profiling AJ. Stalking him.

  Not missing a beat, Chaz moved closer, his voice low. “So what do you think?”

  AJ tried not to. But if that was the extent of Chaz’s plan, he had a long way to go. Hoping to point out the frailty of the scheme, AJ asked, “Where am I supposed to do this? On the beach? You expect one to climb out of the water long enough for you to catch her?” Surely he’d see how ridiculous it all was.

  Excitement filled Chaz’s wide eyes. “No, that’s the beauty of it. There’s that footbridge over by the Wilderness Cruise. You’d be up there singing, and I’d be waiting down below. The water’s kinda shallow there. It’d be a snap.”

  A snap. “Your neck, most likely.”

  Chaz opened the restaurant door. “Huh?”

  When AJ opened his mouth to speak, Chaz’s eyes shifted from side to side, and he held up his hand. “Wait till we sit,” he murmured.

  They ordered at the counter and took their food to a table near the kitchen entrance, where less people sat.

  Chaz lowered his head, and spoke behind cover of a French fry. “The sooner we start, the better.”

  AJ bit into his cheeseburger, too tired to argue. The best tack might be to let Chaz talk. It’s what he did best. “Why’s that.”

  As if AJ were the slow one, Chaz winced. “Because it might take awhile. It’s not going to come the first night we’re out there. We have to lure it, let it think it’s safe before we nab it.”

  So many holes in his logic made AJ wonder whether it represented holes in Chaz’s brain. “How is a mermaid supposed to hear me singing on the bridge? It’s nowhere near the sea.”

  Chaz lowered his head, and the edge of his hand sliced the tabletop in progression with his plan. “See, that’s what most people think. But they’ve been seen in rivers and canals. They come inland.”

  AJ tried to keep the sarcasm from his voice. “Right. I forgot. You researched it all.”

  With a wounded look, Chaz’s eyes twitched as if adjusting their focus. He glance
d backward. “I did, yeah. The Internet is full of stories about mermaids.”

  Stories being the operative word, AJ wanted to say. Stating the obvious seemed useless with this dude. “OK. Say I agree to this. How long before we give up?”

  “What?” Chaz’s face was a blank. He held a fry midway to his mouth, but question must have thrown him so off track, he forgot to eat it.

  “I don’t mind playing out there, I do it every night any way. But I’m not going to go there every night for nothing.” He leaned back and waited for Chaz’s reaction.

  Chaz jerked his shoulder. “Leave your guitar case open. Maybe someone will put money in it.”

  “If there are people around, how will we catch the mermaid?” AJ sipped from his milk carton.

  “Keep your voice down.” Chaz glanced to his right, gave a wan smile to a passing old man. “I was jokin’. No one’s around at night.” He shook his head as if AJ were dense.

  AJ finished off his burger. Chaz would never stop hounding him if he didn’t agree. “Say one actually does come. How would you catch her?”

  The gleam in Chaz’s eye took AJ aback. “Metal. Like your grandfather said.”

  “What kind of metal?” If Chaz meant harm to any creature–mermaid or not–AJ would have no part of it.

  As he leaned his elbows on the table, Chaz rounded his shoulders in a huddle with AJ. “I’ve been workin’ on a special net, adding metal rings to it.”

  That didn’t sound bad. He gulped the last of his milk.

  “And if the net doesn’t convince it to cooperate, I’ll have a knife and a gun, too.”

  The milk caught in his throat, made him choke. “What?” AJ leaned back in his chair, hands braced against the tabletop.

  Chaz smiled in a calculating way. “I won’t use ‘em. Not unless I have to.”

  AJ shook his head and looked away.

  The placating tone in Chaz’s voice was less than convincing. “Look, I’ll just threaten the thing so it’ll come along peacefully. I don’t want to hurt it.”

  AJ clucked his tongue. “Stop saying ‘it’.”

  “Huh?” Chaz’s eyebrows twitched together.

  “Mermaids are female. Like any other female, you should call her ‘she’.” AJ watched two Weeki Wachee mermaids sit at a table across the room.

  Chaz threw his napkin onto his plate. “Sure, whatever. She. Her. It. So long as we catch one, I’ll call it princess, if you want.”

  The conversation had grown old. AJ smiled at Susie, who giggled.

  “Now there’s a mermaid I’d like to catch.” AJ let his slow smile sizzle and burn.

  Her long blond hair captivated him when she swam her routine. He never lingered–long–in the Underwater Theater, but found plenty of excuses to pass through as often as he could. Susie’s golden hair flowed behind her in the water, and he had dreamed of it fanning her head as she lay against his pillow beneath him.

  Chaz peered over his shoulder. “Too bad Tobias’ rules say no dating the mermaids.” His scolding tone rekindled AJ’s agitation.

  “I have to get back.” He gathered his trash as he stood.

  Chaz followed like a greasy shadow. “What time do you want me to pick you up tonight?”

  “Tonight? What do you mean?” AJ smiled broadly at Susie as he walked out, Chaz on his heels.

  “We gotta start right away. I told you it might take time.”

  AJ stopped, filled his lungs with air. Might as well get it over with. “OK. How about eight thirty?”

  Chaz cocked his jaw. “Make it nine thirty. So no one will be around.”

  “Fine. Nine thirty. But I’m not singing out there all night.” AJ strode away, swearing to himself if Chaz followed, he would refuse to go tonight. When he looked back, the blue uniformed figure scuttled away through the throng.

  Chapter Seven

  The rumbling in his grandfather’s driveway made AJ sigh. Nine thirty already.

  The long honk made him curse his own stupidity for agreeing to this crazy plan, and Chaz’s stupidity for blasting the horn so late. All the neighbors were Grandpa’s age or older, and bound to complain.

  Guitar case in hand, he strode toward the front door. “I’m going out for awhile.”

  The light of the TV flickered across Grandpa’s face as he peered over his glasses. “All right.” He raised an eyebrow at the sight of the case, but let it pass. The tone of the old man’s voice held a warning against staying out too late.

  In the truck, AJ cradled the case between his knees. “Are you sure we won’t get in trouble for this?”

  Metal groaned as Chaz backed out. “Trouble? For what? Public singing?” He chuckled and ground the gear into first.

  “Grandpa will kill me if I get fired.” AJ said it more to himself than anyone.

  Chaz blew raspberries. “You worry too much.” The truck sputtered ahead down the dark street. He pulled down an embankment near the bridge and parked behind a tree. From the back bed, he pulled the metal-lined net. Beneath it laid the rifle, its dark metal as sinister as Chaz.

  The sight of it sent a chill through AJ. “What if you actually catch one? You’re just going to throw her in the back of the truck?”

  In a matter of fact tone, Chaz said, “Yeah. Then to my house. I have a pool.”

  The dude’s plan had more holes than the net. AJ didn’t resist the urge to point out the many flaws. “What about the chlorine?”

  “What about it?” Chaz pulled the rifle from the truck bed.

  He couldn’t believe he bothered arguing about a hypothetical mermaid. “Never mind. Just be careful with that thing.”

  “I’m a deadeye shot.” His inflection reminded AJ of a mafia mobster. Not to mention the gleam in his eye as he patted the gun.

  “Great. Just make sure to point it away from me.” AJ climbed the short, steep hill to the bridge and opened his case. “Anywhere in particular?”

  Chaz skulked behind the tree. In a hoarse whisper, he said, “Don’t talk to me, you’ll give me away. Just play.”

  He ran his fingers across the strings. “Right. I’ll give you away. I wasn’t thinking.”

  “Shhh!”

  AJ tuned several strings. He hadn’t planned what to sing. He ran through his band’s old play list, and settled on a Foo Fighter’s Everlong. He’d always liked the acoustic version. The vocal range fit his comfortably.

  He strummed the insistent beat and closed his eyes. When he began singing, he didn’t feel stupid, as he thought he would. Music always carried him to another place, and it was no different now.

  Closing his eyes, he imagined a roomful of girls swaying as he played, his song’s rhythm flowing from himself and getting inside them. The follow-up was always even better, when one or more would let his body’s rhythm get inside them, too. He smiled as he ended the song, the chords thrumming in the darkness.

  “Oh, that felt good.” Really good. He hadn’t lost his touch. He splayed his fingers in a stretch.

  Silence from down below. Right. AJ wasn’t supposed to talk to him.

  “OK. Let’s see.” Other than the chirping crickets and other night sounds, AJ felt like he was back on stage again. He’d wondered whether he should attempt a solo career, whether he could cut it alone on stage.

  Without thought, his fingers launched into the next song on the old play list. Confidence returned with each song he played. Three songs became four, four slipped easily into five, five transitioned to six. At the end of the seventh, he stopped to drink from his bottle of water.

  “All right. Well. Any requests?” He plucked the strings and tuned each one.

  Still nothing from below. Maybe Chaz had fallen asleep.

  “No, I didn’t think so.” He’d play a few more, then call it quits. His fingers skipped across the strings as he mentally ran through the old set lists. The tune he’d started last week remained unfinished. He strummed the opening bars and sang. It sounded better here than at the shore, where the wind and waves mixed with
it. Here, the sound was clear, maybe something about the placid water. He looked out over the canal as his voice carried through the night.

  Something caught his eye. A movement, a ripple beneath the surface. He stumbled on the lyrics, then picked the rhythm up again. At the point where his voice took off in the song once more, the still canal broke in a splash.

  “What the...” A reflection across the surface revealed rings radiating outward, but nothing more. “Hello?”

  From beneath the bridge, the oval outline of a turtle drifted by.

  He let out a breath. How stupid. He was letting Chaz get to him. He checked the time on his cell phone. Ten twenty-five.

  “That’s it. Show’s over.” Placing the guitar in its case, he snapped the locks shut and carried it down the embankment to the truck.

  Chaz was nowhere in sight.

  AJ whistled. Leaves rustled beyond the tree.

  A man’s figure came clear in the darkness, then Chaz stood outside the driver’s window. His whisper strained from his throat in excitement. “Did you see that?”

  “It was a turtle.” This guy needed some Prozac or something.

  Chaz’s eyes had a crazed look as he held a finger to his lips. “No. Something else was in there, too.”

  AJ opened the door and climbed in. “Probably a manatee or something.”

  “Listen,” Chaz whispered as he scanned the canal.

  “Come on, man. Enough for one night.” He wanted to go. Enough of this.

  When Chaz jerked his head toward him, the sharp look in his face rattled AJ. “When I say listen, listen. How are we ever gonna do this if you don’t pay attention? Now get ready. If I call you, come quick.” Chaz crouched, then stole to the end of the truck, net in hand.

  “This dude is a loony tune.” He slumped against the seat and let his eyes drift shut.

  When the truck door opened and Chaz got in, he snapped awake.

  AJ rubbed his eye. “What time is it?”

  His hand on the ignition, Chaz looked out the side mirror. “I don’t know. After eleven.”