Of Poseidon (23 page)

Galen swims for a long time. He won’t look at me, won’t talk to me. I know better than to talk to him. After a while jet lag, near death, and the security of Galen’s arms all team up against me. If I weren’t underwater, I’d yawn. Instead, I close my eyes. . . .

“Emma! Emma, can you hear me?”

The slap to my cheek startles me awake. “Huh?” Not my most attractive moment. I rub my eyes. I’m cradled in his arms, princess- style. The stars come into focus. When did we surface?

Billions of beautiful stars on a clear night. Fish Prince Charming holding me. It’s probably the most romantic moment of my life.

Galen ruins it by growling. “I thought you were dead. Twice.”

“Sorry.” It’s all I can think of. Oh yeah, and, “Thanks for saving me.”

—-1

He shakes his head. Obviously it’s not my turn to talk.

—0

—+1

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“I wake up and you’re gone,” he says, his jaw tight. “Then you don’t answer your cell phone.”

I open my mouth, but his eyes widen. Still not my turn then.

“I told you to never get in the water alone—” And that’s my cue. “I don’t take orders, Highness.” Oops.

I can tell by his glower that I’m the opposite of smart.

He takes several breaths. Then several more. I wait for him to start hyperventilating. He doesn’t. Instead, he grabs my chin.

Hard. Eyeing my mouth, his expression softens. Releasing my chin, he peers down into the water beside us.

Then he pulls us under.

Still holding me like a bride over the threshold, we descend faster than a free- falling elevator. But it’s the I-know- something-you- don’t-know smirk on his face that has me almost squirming.

Finally we stop. He nods behind me, then changes to Blended form. By default, I dread turning around. And I’m right. I press myself into Galen, but he won’t let me get behind him. A whale. A ginormous one. And since Galen’s Blended, I’m the only one it can see. “What are you doing, Galen? Get us out of here.”

“You’re the one who wanted to go swimming. Alone.

Change your mind?”

“I said I was sorry.”

“You also said you don’t take orders—”

“I was just kidding.” Ha ha.

He snickers, materializing. “He won’t hurt you, Emma.”

-1—

“He’s getting closer. Galen.”

0—

“He’s curious about you.”

+1—

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“You mean about how I taste?” And why isn’t Galen speed-ing us away yet? Lesson learned already!

“No,” he laughs. “Although, I’m dying to know that myself.” I whirl on him. “That’s not funny. At least you can blend.

Get us away from him. Please.”

He shakes his head. “He won’t hurt us. He’s a Knobby. Humans call them sperm whales. They eat squid mostly. I’ve never heard of one attacking our kind. He’s just coming over here to investigate— I swear it.” With one hand, he turns me around in his arms. The gigantic fi sh is so close I can see his eyes, which are about the size of my whole head. “Talk to him,” Galen whispers.

I gasp. “Have you lost your mind?” The trembling in my voice matches the trembling of my body. Galen’s nose nudging my neck calms me— a little.

“Emma, talk sweet to him. Tell him we won’t hurt him.” We won’t hurt him? “You tell him. You’re the fi sh.”

“Emma, he understands you. He doesn’t understand me.”

“Galen, let’s go. Please. I’ll do anything you want. I’ll never step foot in the water again without your permission. Ever.” He turns me around again and lifts my chin with his thumb.

“Listen to me, Emma. I would never let anything happen to you.

I’m trying to show you how special you are. But I need you to calm down.”

He grabs my face, doesn’t let me turn away. Locking eyes with me, he strokes my hair. Brushes his fi ngers against my cheek.

Presses his forehead against mine. After about a minute, I do calm

—-1

down. He smiles. “You stopped shaking.”

—0

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I nod.

“Are you ready to turn around?”

My gulp is involuntary. “Is he close?”

Galen nods. “He’s right behind you. Emma, if he wanted to eat you, he would have done it already. You’re only afraid of him because he’s so big. Once you get past that, it’s like talking to a goldfi sh.” I don’t get a chance to mull over the comparison because he whirls me around so fast, it startles both me and Goliath. “Talk to him, Emma.”

“What do I say to a whale, Galen?” I hiss.

“Tell him to come closer.”

“No way.”

“Fine. Tell him to back up.”

I nod. “Right. Okay.” I lace my fi ngers together to keep from wringing my hands raw. Even more than terror, I feel the insanity of the situation. I’m about to ask a fi sh the size of my house to make a U-turn. Because Galen, the man- fi sh behind me, doesn’t speak humpback. “Uh, can you please back away from me?” I say. I sound polite, like I’m asking it to buy some Girl Scout cookies.

I feel better in the few moments afterward because Goliath doesn’t move. It proves Galen doesn’t know what he’s talking about. It proves this whale can’t understand me, that I’m not some Snow White of the ocean. Except that, Goliath does start to turn away.

I look back at Galen. “That’s just a coincidence.”

-1—

Galen sighs. “You’re right. He probably mistook us for a 0—

relative or something. Tell him to do something else, Emma.”

+1—

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“Galen, can’t we just—”

“Tell him.”

Goliath has put some distance between us. Now he only looks as big as a single school bus instead of three. The little movement it takes his enormous tail to fan him away reminds me of a fl ag swaying lazily in a gentle breeze. “Wait,” I call out.

“Come back. You don’t have to leave.”

When that whale stops, when he turns around, when he lumbers toward us again, the doubt leaves my body like water from a busted hydrant. Goliath comes so close that if he opens his mouth we’ll be sucked in. He’s ugly. His giant noggin makes him look like a bobble head. And he forgot to fl oss; there’s a squid tentacle the size of my arm fl apping out the side of his mouth. Hopefully it’s not still alive.

But I’m not afraid anymore. Galen is right. If Goliath wanted to eat us, he would have done it already. Those huge eyes seem gentle, not like the feral emptiness I expected to fi nd. Not like the blank, mechanical stare of a shark.

“Talk to him,” Galen murmurs again, tightening his hold on my waist.

I do more than that. Galen lets me ease from his arms but holds my wrist for safekeeping. With my free hand, I reach out and touch Goliath’s nose— or at least, the vicinity of his nose.

“I was afraid of you, because I thought you would eat us,” I tell him. “But you won’t eat us, will you?”

While I’m not expecting Goliath to start speaking with a French accent or anything, a small part of me expects him to

—-1

communicate back to me somehow. Still, the way he shifts quietly

—0

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with the current speaks decibels. He’s not tense or still, like a cobra ready to strike out. He’s calm, curious, serene.

“Listen. If you can understand what I’m saying, I want you to swim away in that direction,” I say, pointing to my right,

“and then come back here.” Goliath does exactly what I tell him to. Nofreakingway.

My new friend follows us to the surface when my lungs get tight. On the way, Galen points to diff erent fi sh to see if they all understand. As we pass, I call out my instructions. “Swim that way, swim in a circle. You swim fast, you swim slow, you swim straight down.” They all obey.

By the time I— and Goliath— refuel on oxygen, enough fi sh surround us to fi ll a swimming pool from top to bottom. Some jump out of the water. Some nibble at my toes. Some swim through my legs or between me and Galen.

They follow us until we reach shore. There are so many fi sh fl itting in the shallow water that the surface looks like it’s getting pelted with rain. We sit on the beach and watch them play.

When the seagulls start to take notice though, self- preservation wins over curiosity, and my fan club dwindles.

“So,” I say, turning to Galen.

“So,” he returns.

“You said I’m special. How special am I?”

He takes in a breath and lets it out slowly. “Very.”

“How long have you known I’m a fi sh whisperer?” He doesn’t get my joke. But at least he understands what I’m asking.

-1—

“Remember when I told you Dr. Milligan saw you at the 0—

Gulfarium?”

+1—

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I nod. “You said he recognized my eye color and thought I might be one of you.”

Galen rubs his neck, won’t look me in the eyes. “That’s pretty much true. Your eye color was signifi cant. Especially since Syrena aren’t supposed to be consorting with humans.” He grins. “But he really got excited about the way you interacted with the animals there. He said you bonded with them. All of them.”

I gasp. Not just my imagination then. Not a fl uke. I’d convinced myself the animals were trained to be friendly to visitors. But didn’t I notice they weren’t friendly to everyone? Didn’t I notice they seemed to single me out, pay me exclusive attention? Yes, I noticed. I just didn’t acknowledge that it meant anything. Why would I? What does it mean?

And why didn’t Galen tell me this before? “You kept it from me. Why? Does Toraf know? And Rayna? And how can I talk to fi sh, Galen? Especially when you can’t? And if Dr. Milligan saw me doing it at the Gulfarium, then I could do it before I hit my head. What does that mean? What does any of it mean?”

He chuckles. “Which question do you want me to answer fi rst?”

“Why did you keep it from me?”

“Because I wanted to let you adjust to the fact that you’re not human. You have to admit, it would be a lot to try to absorb all at one time.”

I nibble on that for a minute. I detect some BS in there

—-1

somewhere, but what can I say to that? He’s right, even if he is

—0

—+1

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lying. I nod. “I guess that makes sense. So what about Toraf and Rayna. Do they know?”

“Toraf does. Rayna doesn’t. And by the way, if you want everyone to know your personal business, just tell Rayna.”

“Why don’t you want her tell other Syrena about me?”

“Because what you have is a gift of the Generals. The Gift of Poseidon. So technically, you’re my enemy.” I nod without understanding. “Yeah. No.”

He laughs. “When the generals made their peace agreement all those millennia ago, they made provisions for the Syrena in the form of certain gifts that would ensure their survival. Each house has a diff erent gift. Yours shows that you’re of the house of Poseidon.”

“Is that why you make me get out of the water when you sense someone close? Because you could get in trouble for hanging out with me?”

He nods, thoughtful. “You could get into trouble, too.

Don’t forget, your house sits on the shore of Triton territory.” So we’re enemies. The battle in his mind isn’t between good and evil. It’s between the house of Triton and the house of Poseidon. Which I couldn’t possibly care about. But I can’t change who I am and neither can he. If he won’t kiss me because I’m of the Poseidon house, do I really want him to anyway? Yep, yep, I do.

Since I’ve inched myself to the verge of blushing with thoughts of kissing Galen, I decide on more neutral questions to keep the

-1—

heat at bay. “But how does talking to fi sh ensure our survival?” 0—

Did I just say “our”?

+1—

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Galen clears his throat. “Well . . . whoever has the Gift of Poseidon can ensure that we always have something to eat.” Swallowing the instant bile, I shake my head. “You’re saying that I can talk to fi sh . . . to kill them . . . and eat them. . . .” Galen nods. “I mean, you might not have to ever use your gift for that. Right now, we’ve got plenty to eat. But I think the generals must have anticipated the humans overstepping their boundaries and invading the waters. I think eventually, maybe as soon as de cades from now, we’ll need the Gift of Poseidon in order to feed ourselves.”