by Eve Langlais
“You said you found him in a tank with other fish. Could he have gotten there by accident with a catch?”
Adexios shook his head. “Each one was specifically handpicked to ensure only quality seafood for the length of the trip.”
“So, he snuck in after.” I knelt down and observed the prisoner’s lack of clothing. The legs weren’t fused together, and yet I could tell he kept his genitals tucked away. “Male, but not a merman. Not a pure one, at any rate.” Could be a hybrid. They had a tendency to favor one parent over the other, but later generations tended to have more mixed characteristics.
“I figured that due to the lack of a tail. But given his appearance, I’m going to make a guess and say he’s from Atlantis,” Adexios stated.
I nodded. “Seems most likely. They’re the only ones on record who have this kind of blending of aquatic and human traits.” The tattoo on the fish man’s chest also gave it away. An inverted trident pattern.
“Why would an Atlantean hide with our catch?”
“Spying, obviously. The question is what, or who, is he spying on? Is he just watching the cruise, trying to ensure that no one tries anything when we dock on his island? Is he looking for information on a particular guest? Or is he part of an effort to sabotage?”
“Why would anyone sabotage? Have they not heard of me? It’s bound to happen before the cruise is over.” Adexios knew his limitations. His father Charon might be the greatest boatman known in all the planes, but alas, his son didn’t inherit that gene. Still, my nephew kept trying.
“I hear they won’t let you near the controls for the ship.”
Adexios nodded. “They figure if I’m captain in name only, we might not run aground or get pulverized by a storm.”
“You do realize you have witches, demons, a kraken, and a shit ton of other magical folk aboard, right?”
“If only they were enough to stop what will surely happen,” Adexios said with a mournful shake of his head.
“Don’t be such a pessimist. It doesn’t always end in a ship sinking.”
“Do we need to list the ways it can go wrong?” Adexios exclaimed, flinging his hands above his head. “Or have you forgotten our family vacation?” He turned his gaze on me. “Remember the swan ride at the amusement park?”
I did. The chain had suddenly gotten caught, and everyone got dumped into what had turned out to be a baby-alligator-infested pond.
“You still whining about that? Those little teeth were no worse than a nipple clamp.” Valaska laughed as she joined us, the sound boisterous just like the rest of her. Think tall, wide, and blond with some Viking blood, and you’d have Adexios’s wife. The complete opposite of him, and yet theirs was a love match. She was also the Sushi Lover’s head of security.
Her and Adexios’s match had resulted in children. A pair of tiny robed beings who currently stood wraithlike by Valaska’s side. Cory and Kelly. My great-nephews or nieces. It was never actually specified.
I held open my arms. “Come say hi to your uncle.” I no longer feared little people since raising Ian.
When I rose, I had a child perched on each hip, their weight pleasing, their fingers clutching the treats they knew I kept in my pockets. A man should always have something sweet within reach. A trick all librarians learned early on.
The cowls of their robes hid their faces, but not their new size. “You’ve grown.”
“We are getting strong on the blood of our enemies,” Cory stated.
“You sound like your mother.”
“They both like to bash things,” Valaska confided.
“And what do you prefer, Kelly?” I asked.
“Books.”
“A child of knowledge.” My heart swelled with joy.
Then popped.
“I don’t read them. I eat them. With peanut butter and jelly. Mom says its ‘cause I’ve got special dietary needs.”
“That’s weird,” whispered Cory. “Everyone knows you have PB and J on steak.”
They were both delightfully strange. A perfect fit to the family.
Valaska leaned over the tank. “When are you gonna let me question him?”
That led to a big sigh from Adexios. “We discussed this. You don’t understand fish men.”
“Leave me Sweets to translate. I’ll get him to talk.” Adexios’s blood-thirsty wife belonged to the Amazonians, a rough bunch of women who’d carved out a spot of their own in Hell that even Lucifer didn’t step foot in.
“How about you all leave, and I have a chat with the fellow?” I said pleasantly. I handed the children off to Adexios. The tiny people in the robes grumbled before snuggling their dad.
“I can stay and help,” Valaska offered.
“Afraid I’m going to have to call special privilege on this one,” I said with a shake of my head.
“You think this fellow might have information that affects Hell?” Adexios didn’t hide his skepticism.
“Yes.”
“I thought Lucifer wasn’t allowed to screw around on Earth because of the treaty with his brother.” Adexios rolled a child to his back to hang on monkey-style, while the other remained curled in his arm. He always kept one hand free these days. He’d finally learned that danger could lurk anywhere.
“The situation appears to not be of his making. He’s just keeping an eye out as it might affect Hell.”
“Whatever it is, don’t sink the ship. I’ll never hear the end of it,” Adexios grumbled as he stalked off.
Valaska paused. “Are you sure?”
“I’ve got Sweets if I run into trouble.”
The sea monster wagged its bobble eye. I kept a benign smile on my face as I watched my nephew and his family leave. Only once the door shut did the expression drop as I turned to the tank.
Atlantis had sent a spy. Not good. They’d been sunk for misbehaving centuries ago. I would have thought they’d learned their lesson.
I looked at Sweets. “I’m guessing you told Adexios to fetch me.”
The eye bobbled.
“Good thinking. That tattoo on his chest? Means he’s part of King Rex’s elite guard.” King Rex being the current warlord in charge of Atlantis. Which meant the spy probably didn’t have a tongue, so he couldn’t talk. Audibly, at any rate.
The king could speak mind-to-mind with his loyal subjects. His guards being the most steadfast. Having their tongues removed was part of that honor. If they got caught, they couldn’t reveal a thing.
As we’d already conjectured, there could be many reasons King Rex had sent a spy. Keeping an eye on the maiden voyage to his shores. Perhaps we provided an easy passage back for a soldier returning from his mission. Or did this spy have an interest in someone on board?
Atlantis had been known to steal people before in the interest of keeping their bloodlines from stagnating. But I didn’t burden Adexios with that knowledge. He had enough to handle already.
The eyestalk skimmed the water and agitated the fish man. The prisoner took a few swipes that Sweets dodged. She returned to blink wetly at me.
“No weapons on him?” Interesting. “Could they be hidden somewhere that he could access if he got out of the tank?”
Sweets bobbed around, looking.
I chuckled. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. He won’t be getting out of this tank to use them. We are going to need some help cracking open his head to read his thoughts, though.” I could probably find a psychic or two on board. Heck, Ian was now married to a seer. Maybe Sasha could read minds too. Problem being I couldn’t have just anyone privy to the secrets we might reveal. I needed someone I could trust.
“You watch over him while I fetch someone who can help us.”
The stalk plumped with pride and glared at the cell’s water surface.
I used the utility elevator to get to the roof in time to still catch some of the fire dancing. Naked bodies moved to music only they could hear. Young and old, all shapes and sizes, but I only had eyes for one. Her body was rounded in a Venu
s shape, full-hipped and breasted, her expression alight with joy.
Something I used to see when she came to visit me at the library. Happiness she’d exhibited the last time I saw her when she kissed me before everything went to shit. How could I have been so blind? So shy. So stupid. She could have been mine for the taking.
Odd how I’d been in love with Dorothy for so long and yet had never seen her naked. And now, my first time, she writhed for the devil.
It didn’t seem right to stare, and so I put my back to the dancing, resisting the temptation. I remained with my back to them even after I knew they were done. I waited for Dottie to join me by the rail. Her face shone with perspiration, her robe loosely belted.
“What happened to dancing naked by the moon?” she teased.
“Was afraid someone would laugh at my dangly bits bouncing, and they’d shrivel so far I’d never see them again.”
The ribald jest took her by surprise. I could see it, but then laughter shook her, a rich and throaty sound.
“I can’t believe you just joked about turtling.”
“I can’t believe you laughed instead of slapping me.”
Her lips curved. “Did you know my granddaughter thinks me a bit of a prude?”
“You?” I shook my head. “I heard a rumor you were the one who began the whole naked coven dancing thing back in the day.”
“It got the dark lord’s attention much better than the chicken sacrifices.” Her white teeth gleamed.
“Speaking of the dark lord, I need your help with something.”
“If you say your zipper, I will toss you off the ship.”
“I shouldn’t have to ask. If you want it, you know how to get at it.”
“Sexy. It’s a wonder I can keep my clothes on,” was her dry reply.
“When I am seducing you, you’ll know it.” I winked. “But that’s not why I’m here. Can I borrow you for something?”
“What for?”
“I can’t say. Too many eyes and ears. I can only show you.”
Her eyebrow arched. “You’re not helping here.”
“I promise it’s not sexual. But it is wet.” I couldn’t help that last bit.
Once more, I got a deep laugh. “I’m curious, old man. Lead the way.”
“Old?” I arched a brow. “Anytime you want to test my stamina…”
“It’s not about stamina but skill,” she purred.
The challenge was almost too much to bear. I might have done something about it then and there, except I had another priority. Did the presence of a spy mean danger to the ship?
I couldn’t relax and seduce her until I knew for sure. I guided Dottie down to the fish man’s cell. However, I didn’t think to warn her about Sweets.
The eyestalk bobbed in front of Dorothy. It glared.
“Don’t move,” I advised in a low tone, noticing Sweets’ jealousy.
“This is your big problem?” Dottie asked. “A machete should take care of it.”
Sweets blinked rapidly.
“She doesn’t mean it, sweetheart.” I soothed the monster. “No one is cutting off your beautiful stalk.”
“Are you baby-talking the eyeball?” muttered Dottie.
“You might want to be nice around Sweets,” I suggested in an almost whisper. Then to the sea monster, I said, “This is Dottie, an old friend. Who was just joking and promises to be nice.”
The stalk wound around me to glare.
“You don’t have to like her,” I said, “but she can help us crack into our prisoner’s head and see what goodies he’s hiding inside.”
The tentacle wavered and fluttered its lashes some more.
I shook my head. “No, you may not crack his head to see what’s inside. Your methods will kill him.”
The stalk drooped.
“Be a good girl, and you can have him when we’re done.” The eyeball straightened. “Will you bring him to the bars so Dottie can touch him?”
“Don’t know what you expect me to do. I might have magic, but I can’t read minds,” Dorothy stated.
“I know you can’t, which is why I want you to scry instead.”
“That requires a focus object. Is he wearing something I can use?”
“Nope. All we have is the fish man himself.”
Dottie pursed her lips. “I admit, I’ve never tried it with a living thing before. I don’t know what effect it will have on him.”
“Meaning?”
“Loss of mental cognition. Possible bodily combustion. The creation of a temporal rip that allows an alien entity to possess it and infiltrate our world.”
“Yadda. Yadda. The bottom line is you can use him to scry.”
“More than likely.”
“Will you do it?” I took the time to ask.
“What happens if I say no?”
I rolled my shoulders. “Then I’ll see if I can find someone else on board who can help me. Hopefully, they don’t hear anything untoward that forces me to kill them.”
“Still protecting that secret.”
“Protecting the dark lord from things he doesn’t want to hear protects us all.”
A sigh escaped Dottie. “True.”
“Will you do it?”
“Of course, I will. Just give me a second to gather some supplies.”
It took more than a few seconds to find everything we needed. More like a few hours. Huge bag of salt. Black candles, which proved hard to locate since the witches aboard were hoarding them for sex magic rituals.
I could only stand by and watch as Dottie created a large circle on the catwalk around the vat, dribbling salt in an oval rather than a circular shape. She used more salt to create a pentagram with candles at each point. Once done, she sat crossed-legged in it, bowed her head, and said, “Okay, I’m ready. Bring him to the surface so I can touch him with the spell.”
Sweets darted into the water, but only when she went to wind herself around the Atlantean did he react. His webbed fingers slashed—extending previously hidden claws—and a ribbon of blood stained the water as he scored the sea monster’s flesh.
“Sweets!” I made to go to her aid.
Dorothy hissed, “Don’t you dare break my circle.”
I could only watch as the tentacle curved into the cell, agitated. Sweets didn’t make a sound, but her pool of water trembled, and the water in the fish man’s cell got rough, too rough to see.
When it cleared, Sweets had the Atlantean wrapped in a noose and yanked so his face pressed into the grate.
“Aren’t you just a lovely and tough gal,” Dorothy crooned. “I can see why Shax is fond of you.”
The water in Sweets’ vat shivered.
“Don’t steal my sea monster.”
“Afraid she’ll like me more?” Dottie winked. “Sea witches have an affinity with the ocean’s creatures.”
Librarians, too.
Dorothy turned serious and reached out for the fish man. She placed her hand on his cheek and hissed some words.
I sensed more than saw the summoning of magic. Scrying, contrary to what some might believe, was a difficult thing to cast. Throwing air as a weapon or shaping water as a tool, those had form and required just the will to make them happen. Scrying meant capturing the resonance of something, going in blind to pull on the miasma that surrounded things both alive and not. Digging into the unknown, uncovering memories. An inert object was difficult. Retrieving from a mind that was not receptive to intrusion…that took some mad skill.
A cold wind blew through the room, rippling the hair, swirling into a mist over the body. It hung there. Waiting.
“Ask,” Dottie murmured. “Ask a question, and it will answer.”
“Why are you here?”
The reaction proved instantaneous. The fog spread out, a huge moving swatch in the air. It took on shadows, then ripples that became dimensional and colored.
An image appeared.
I saw the fish man holding a spear and kneeling in front of a thron
e. A flicker, then that same fellow was stealing aboard the Sushi Lover. Another flicker. Escaping the pens and stalking the ship.
Looking for something.
Looking for someone.
There was a disturbance in the vision, feedback that caused it to ripple and waver. The body in the water thrashed, trying to break free. When the images returned, and I looked again, we’d obviously missed a section because we saw our captive firing a corked bottle into the ocean. Sending a message about what to whom?
“What does that message say?”
The vision began to swirl—
Ploof!
The fish man’s body exploded and splattered us with guts. No more questions.
I eyed Dottie through a hanging hunk of green slime. “That offer to share a shower is still open.”
6
Dorothy: It doesn’t matter how old they are, men are perverts.
I should have said yes just to see if Shax meant it. However, covered in a fish man’s guts, and not feeling romantic, I shook my head.
“I’m afraid I need to be somewhere else shortly.”
“What do you think we saw?” he asked.
My shoulders rolled. “Obviously, a spy for the king. Not sure what he was looking for. He had some kind of shield over that part of his memories.”
“Meaning we still have no answer. I’ll have to advise Adexios to be cautious.”
“And while you’re doing that, I’m going to check on my granddaughter.”
I left Shax, knowing I’d have to hurry. I could feel the clock ticking. The cruise ship had entered DJ’s Locker, the home of my daughter and son-in-law.
My dear daughter wouldn’t react well to finding her mother cheating on the memory of her father. May his soul rot in Heaven. How the man managed to remain so disgustingly good being married to me was a mystery. The only untoward thing he ever did was marry me. And there were times I wished I’d never eloped.
But then, Shax might not have grown into such a delicious example of a man.
Delicious? The very idea had me gnashing my teeth. Had I entered my horny hundreds again?