The Stranger Read online

  As unreasonable as it sounds, Galen wants to be sure she’ll be okay. Not just that she wakes up, or breathes, or keeps food and water down. Those are all good signs, of course, but they’re not enough. Even the simplest creatures of the sea can do those mindless, effortless things. They do it without joy or feeling or emotion. They do it in order to exist. But Galen wants more from this tiny woman than that. For some reason, he wants to know that she’ll not only exist, but that she’ll actually live, be happy again.

  Galen pokes the fire with the long stick he found. What if she never was happy in the first place, idiot? An even better question would be, why do you care?

  But it’s not enough to make him get up. Instead, he pokes some more until some of the thick twigs and beach grass collapse, causing some of the fresh brush he’d put on top to sizzle.

  It’s the sizzling that wakes her. Her eyes open and find his immediately. Galen feels like an upright icicle, frozen in place, somehow waiting for her permission to move, to thaw. To do anything other than stare back at her. She doesn’t torture him for long, though.

  She sits up and stretches, giving him a rueful smile that doesn’t reach the depth of her dark eyes. Still, there’s something more than mere existence pooled in those dark orbs, in that guarded smile. Yes, there’s overwhelming sadness. But Galen figures she has plenty to be sad about. Who would be ecstatic to have been thrown away by your own species? Galen can take the sadness.

  Because there’s something else in her eyes—strength. Not only that, but calculation. He can tell her thoughts are piercing the future, sizing up the situation, making plans.

  Oh yes. Even now she studies him, her face tilted to the side as she works to make her hair more manageable. He wonders why she doesn’t just cut the mess off. But he doesn’t figure he’s qualified to talk about it with her.

  “Good morning,” she says.

  He nods.

  “Did you make this fire?”

  Again he nods. The little woman seems to be getting impatient. Galen wonders if females of all species share this particular trait.

  “I know you can talk,” she says.

  He stands. “I’m going to go get us something to eat. Do you like fish?” Galen is starving, but then, a growing Syrena always is.

  She blinks up at him, letting her gaze linger on the gold necklace still draped on his chest. He wonders what she’s thinking. He resists the urge to cover the medallion with his hand. Would she be foolish enough to try to take it? Does she know what it is? He doesn’t know the nature of humans all that well, but he’s well acquainted with greed—he sees it on Rayna’s face all the time. This human does not have greed in her eyes.

  She clears her throat and gives him a weak smile. “I happen to love fish.”

  Galen can’t decide if her words carry a double meaning. This human might be more than he bargained for. “I’ll be right back.”

  He walks down the beach, far enough away that she can’t see him remove his covering in the darkness. When he dives in the water and his fin twists into shape, he sighs in relief. It feels good to stretch, to get the sticky beach sand off of him, to feel lighter. On land, he feels like a rock with legs sometimes. So heavy and slow. Down here, he feels like part of the current, moving without effort, turning with ease.

  Drifting with the morning tide, he makes half-hearted attempts to be as fast as his prey. In the distance he hears a pod of dolphins scaring up their morning meal and considers joining them. But dolphins are too fast for him to follow after such a long night. He decides crab might be the best choice, since he has no net and no bait and no energy. Capturing crabs requires stillness and patience. Two things Galen is more than willing to give right now.

  As his hand closes around a retreating crab claw, he senses Toraf’s pulse. Worse than that, he senses Rayna’s. And they’re heading straight for him. Just perfect.

  Getting out of the water would be pointless now that Toraf has focused in on his pulse. Besides, with Toraf’s Tracking skills, he sensed Galen long before Galen sensed him. Galen doesn’t care that his friend found him—in fact, he could use his input in this especially weird situation—but why did Toraf have to bring Rayna?

  Why, why, why?

  After re-donning his palm branch covering, Galen sits on shore and waits, scraping the rest of the raw flesh from the crab shell in his hands. He’ll have to find more to cook over the fire for the human stranger. It’s not likely she’ll have a taste for anything live.

  When Toraf and Rayna surface, Galen waves them over.

  Toraf stands over him, close enough to drip saltwater on his legs. “You’re still wearing that necklace, minnow? And why are you all covered up with plants?”

  Galen runs a hand through his hair. “I didn’t have time to take the necklace off. What I mean is, I didn’t have time to put it anywhere.” It occurs to Galen that the two were following him for just that reason—hoping he’d try to hide the necklace so they could steal it back. This game could last for an entire season if he let it.

  Rayna crosses her arms. “Sure you did. You had time to make a net for yourself out of palm branches.”

  “It’s not a net, and I only made it because…” Galen stands. “Come see what I’m talking about.”

  The sunrise creeps quickly beside the surf, but there’s still enough darkness to clearly see the illumination ahead of them. The closer they get to the fire the more antsy Toraf gets. When he sees the stranger nestled in the sand beyond the flames, his eyes nearly bulge out of his face. “You’re mating with a human?”

  Rayna gasps. “Mating? You’re only thirteen seasons old, Galen!”

  “How stupid can you be, minnow?”

  “Did you make the fire or did she?” Rayna asks.

  Toraf’s eye get wider. “Did you already … you know…?”

  Galen rolls his eyes. “Triton’s trident, will you two shut your blowholes? We. Are not. Mating. I saved her from drowning, squid breath. I stayed with her last night to make sure she was going to live.” Well, mostly.

  “Oh, they generally die right away when they’ve drowned,” Toraf explains. “She’ll definitely live.”

  Galen snorts. “Is that right? Maybe you could tell me what they eat. Since you’ve decided she’ll live.”

  Toraf nods in all seriousness. “Humans eat sand. That’s why they spend so much time on land.”

  Before Galen can answer, a flash of light reflects in Toraf’s eyes. “Who’s there?” a voice calls from behind them. The human stranger has lit a stick with the fire and is closing the distance between them. Galen is surprised she had the strength to finally stand. Maybe she’ll live after all. “Is that you … Uh, I guess I don’t really know your name,” she says. “Little boy?”

  Little boy? Toraf mouths to Galen.

  Galen shrugs and pushes past his friend and his sister. “It’s me,” he calls back. “And … some of my friends have come also.”

  “Oh nice,” Rayna hisses. “Now we’re all breaking the law.”

  “Since when did you care about the law,” Galen says over his shoulder. He meets the stranger halfway.

  “Oh. There you are,” she says. “Did you find anything edible? I’d give my big toe for a pizza. And my whole foot for a bottle of water.”

  Galen’s not sure what a pizza is, but the fact that she’s asking about food at all makes him feel guilty. Still, the water part has him concerned. “Not yet,” he says, feeling his face contort with the lie. “But if you need water, it’s right there.” He nods toward the waves in what he hopes isn’t a condescending way.

  The stranger smiles at him. “Oh sweet pea,” she laughs. “I can’t drink saltwater. And after my ordeal today, I don’t think the gulf and I get along, do you?”

  Galen blinks. It would seem to him that she and other humans do not get along.

  She winks up at him. Her behavior is getting stranger with each breath she takes. “Who knew guardian angels had fins instead of wings?”
/>   She’s gone mad. Except for the part about fins. He’d been hoping he could convince her that she’d hallucinated that part. But she knows what she saw. Before he can protest, she holds up her hand. “No, no, don’t you worry about that. I don’t know who you are, or what you are, and I don’t care. Not one bit. I won’t tell a soul about you, I swear.”

  Galen steps back. Dr. Milligan warned him that some humans might say that. To earn his trust. He glances at the waves beside him. It would be so easy for him and Toraf and Rayna to disappear in the surf. To leave this human and the danger she represents, the threat she poses right now, standing here saying that she knows his secret. That she remembers everything.

  “My name is Rachel,” she says suddenly, as if to distract him. “What’s yours?”

  “His name is Galen,” his sister sings, “and this is Toraf, and I’m Rayna. Why are your fingernails red?”

  Galen is torn. Should he run toward the tide, or choke his sister first? He doesn’t have time to make the decision. The human puts her free arm around Rayna—while Toraf’s jaw drops to his toes—and leads her back to the fire. “It’s so nice to meet you, Rayna,” Rachel the Human says pleasantly. “This is called nail polish. On land, we paint our fingernails to make them look pretty. Would you like me to paint yours for you sometime? Of course, I don’t have any with me, but we can pick some out at the store. There are all sorts of colors you can choose from.”

  This appears to delight his sister. Not good.

  Toraf punches him in the arm. “Idiot! You’ve let that nasty human kidnap Rayna. Do something.”

  “Come on,” Galen says through clenched teeth. “You go sit with them. I’m going to go find the hum—er, Rachel—something to eat. Don’t let them leave the fire.”

  “You think?”

  But Galen is already heading in the opposite direction.

  * * *

  “I’ve never had cooked crab before,” Rayna says, tossing the last crab shell on the substantial pile of remains they’d created during the course of their meal. The gulls overheard squawk their interest.

  “Why would you?” Galen asks. “Live crab tastes better.” His nerves are on the verge of revolting. Rayna hasn’t stopped talking, Toraf hasn’t stopped glaring at him, and Rachel hasn’t stopped assessing him with worshipful eyes. It’s the longest meal he’s ever taken in his life, and he’s ready for it to be over.

  Rayna gives Rachel an apologetic look. “Galen can be dense sometimes. He doesn’t appreciate how sophisticated humans are.”

  Usually it’s Galen having to offer excuses for Rayna’s behavior. Guilt picks at him like tiny minnows. He glances at Rachel sheepishly. “It’s just that we don’t spend much time on land. We’re not supposed to.”

  Rachel draws her knees up to her chin, scrunching her toes in the sand. “I see.” She stares into the dwindling fire, her body casting a small shadow beside her in the midmorning sun. Even the shadow has unruly hair. “I was hoping that we could get to know each other better. All of us. Friendships start out based on a lot less than—”

  “We can’t,” Galen says quickly. He stands. “I wasn’t supposed to do what I did.”

  “You regret saving me?” She says this without expression. Galen wonders if this is a learned reaction. He’s seen his brother, Grom, do it countless times, wear indifference like a second skin.

  “No.” He runs a hand through his hair. “No. But staying on land like this, building a fire … It’s not what we do.”

  “What exactly do you do?” She glances at his necklace for emphasis.

  Galen clutches it. It looks bad, he knows. Wearing a human’s necklace and claiming that he doesn’t spend time on land. But it’s the truth. He frowns. “I didn’t steal it, if that’s what you mean.”

  “Why would I mean that?”

  Rachel is especially good at making him feel wrong, Galen decides. He doesn’t know where this conversation could be going, and it makes him uncomfortable. He glances, for what feels like the hundredth time, toward the waves beckoning at him. “We have to go now.”

  Rachel stands quickly. So quickly that Toraf puts a protective arm around Rayna, which earns him an elbow to the ribs. “I’m sorry to beat around the bush,” Rachel says. “I’m just … trying to figure you out, is all.” She pulls her mess of hair around to one side. “And I don’t mean to get all up in your business. Honest to God, I don’t. But if I had to guess, being who—or what—you are, I’d say you found that necklace in the ocean somewhere. A shipwreck maybe?” When Galen’s mouth drops open, she smiles. “And if that’s the case, then it could be worth a lot of money.”

  “Money?” Rayna says, testing out the word. She still hasn’t stood up, which means that she doesn’t intend on leaving with Galen. Nice. “Is that good?”

  “To humans, it’s very good,” Rachel says. “Money is power up here on land.”

  Galen crosses his arms. “We don’t need human power. As I said, we don’t spend much time on land.”

  “Why not?”

  Galen blinks. “Why not what?”

  “Why don’t you spend much time on land? Don’t you care what the humans are doing? Because believe me, they’d care very much if they found out about you.” She waves in dismissal when he takes a step back. “Oh, sweet pea, that’s one thing you’ll just have to learn about me. I’m an expert secret keeper.”

  Galen can feel his heart beat in his throat. He needs to get Rayna and Toraf into the water now. Rachel seems to sense his unrest. “Galen,” she says softly. “You saved my life. Why would I put you in danger?” She sits back down, as if to appear less imposing. How such a small human could seem so mighty in the first place is beyond Galen. “I think I could help you, you know. Rayna told me about your laws. That contact with humans is strictly forbidden.”

  Rayna bites her lip, but Galen knows it’s just a show of shame. There is no real shame swimming in Rayna’s veins. There never has been. “I totally get that,” Rachel continues. “The law protects you. And I think it’s a good idea for most of your kind to abide by it.”

  “Most?” Rayna says, hopeful. Galen resists the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. They are showing this human too much of themselves.

  Rachel nods. “We humans have a saying: ‘Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.’ Do you understand what that means?”

  Galen steps closer. He nods. “Go on.”

  Rachel picks up a stick and pokes the almost nonexistent fire. He wonders if she’s trying to seem unimposing again. “Humans are finding new ways to explore the oceans every day. If I were in your situation, I’d want someone to keep an eye on that.”

  “I already have Dr. Milligan to—” Galen sucks in a breath. He’s said too much.

  “Dr. Milligan?” Rachel says. He can tell she’s committing the name to memory. He doesn’t like that. “Well, I don’t know anything about Dr. Milligan, of course. I assume he is another human who knows about you? How many of us are there?”

  “Just him. And now you.”

  She nods. “Good. Now then. I’m sure Dr. Milligan has good intentions and all. And I’m sure he does help you watch the human world. But watching is only half the battle, sweet pea.”

  Galen is not sure what a sweet pea is, but it sounds a lot like an endearment. He hopes Rachel the Human does not have the wrong idea, what with the fire and the crabs and his staying the night. But Rachel doesn’t seem to be in a romantic mood. Especially since she’s talking about war. “Battle? What battle?”

  “What I mean is, say Dr. Milligan comes across some humans who found out about you? What would he do about it?”

  “He would tell me.” In fact, some humans do know about them; it’s how he met Dr. Milligan in the first place, scuba diving with some human friends. They’d seen Galen. Captured him. Dr. Milligan saved him. Protected him from the humans. But this is a story that Rachel need not know.

  “And what would you do about it?”

  Galen crosses his
arms. “I guess I would tell my brother about it. He’s going to be king one day. He would know what to do.”

  “What does your brother know about humans?”

  Next to nothing. Galen shrugs. “He knows enough.”

  “I seriously doubt that, sweet pea. I’m sure he’ll make a great king one day and all. But if he doesn’t know much about humans, he won’t be able to protect your kind against them.”

  “I don’t see how money would help.”

  “Money, no. The power money buys, yes. I could make contact with those humans who found out about you. I could find out things about them, find out where they live, who their families are. I could bribe them to keep their mouths shut. Do you know what a bribe is?”

  Galen nods. He does it to Rayna all the time.

  This conversation is giving him a headache. Or maybe it’s the lack of sleep. Or maybe it’s that Rayna and Toraf are playing a game in the sand instead of listening to this exchange and offering their input on bribing. Not that their input would be particularly valuable at this point, what with Rayna enamored with Rachel, and Toraf enamored with Rayna.

  Suddenly Galen feels bullied by this little stranger. He sighs and sits back down. Rachel is direct. Why shouldn’t I be? “Tell me this. Why would a human like you be interested in helping our kind? At least Grom has an interest in us; it will be his kingdom one day. I’m trying to figure out why you would care.” He meant to be direct, not mean.

  His words seem to lance through Rachel. Overwhelming sadness returns to her deep brown eyes. “Those people who threw me overboard yesterday? They happened to be the people I cared about the most. Trusted the most. And they tried to kill me.” She shrugs. “You could say that right now, you’re the only friends I’ve got in the whole wide world. You and Rayna and Toraf. You showed up when I needed you the most. I want to do the same for you.” Her voice almost cracks at the end.