SeaChange (15 page)

“Does your government allow for non-hereditary leadership?”
Heidi asked, curling up on a sofa across from Leta. “Perhaps it’s as simple as
offering the population some say in how they’re governed.”

Jake nodded. He poured three glasses of wine and handed one
to each of the women before taking a seat on the other end of the same couch as
Heidi. “After observing human society for the last seventy-eight years, I’d
come to much that same conclusion myself. When I returned, I wanted to talk to
my mother about setting up a governing council. I was thinking three seats,
with the monarch as the titular head, but with two councilors elected by the
entire colony to serve with her.”

“Mother will never accept that,” Leta protested. “Give up
some of her gods-given powers? Utterly inconceivable.”

“It beats being overthrown in a bloody coup,” Heidi pointed
out. “And it sounds as if that nearly happened.” A loud yawn turned the last
word of her statement into an incoherent shriek. She winced, rubbing the back
of her neck. She hadn’t noticed how tired she was, how much all her bruises
were beginning to hurt. When she was active, or with Jake, it was almost,
almost
,
possible to forget about the shooting.

“Heidi is recovering from a concussion,” Jake informed his
sister. “She needs to rest.”

Leta smiled sympathetically. Despite her spoiled princess
air, there was a sweetness about her that came through on occasion. She seemed
so young, it was hard to believe she was nearly a hundred years old. “Your
bruises look very painful. I’m sorry you were hurt.” She turned to Jake. “Perhaps
you can show me to my room,
hermano
. We can talk more in the morning.”

Jake laughed. “This is your room,
chica.
There’s only
one bed on this boat. I’ll get you a pillow and a blanket. Fortunately, that
sofa is fairly comfortable.”

Heidi felt as if she should offer to take the sofa, but then
Jake would have to as well, and he was way too tall to fit.

“Really?” Instead of turning up her nose, Leta looked
intrigued. “How versatile.”

“There’s limited furniture in the human sections of our
settlements,” Jake told Heidi with a wry grin. He reached out a hand to haul
her to her feet. “What we do have is handmade or scavenged from shipwrecks, and
is pretty restricted to the humans, unless we’re having dinner together or
something. Most of us sleep on the sand in our caves, or in dolphin form if we’re
out in the open ocean for some reason.”

“I’d love to hear more,” she said around another yawn. “But
I really am fading fast. Good night, Leta. I’m very glad I got to meet you.”

“Good night, Heidi.” Leta ran over to give Heidi an
impulsive little hug. “I’m delighted to know you, as well.”

Jake followed Heidi into the cabin, then went back to the
salon with a spare blanket and pillow while Heidi brushed her teeth. A few
moments later he joined her in bed.

Half asleep already, Heidi nestled into Jake’s arms. It was
the first time she’d just slept with him, with no expectations of sex—at least
she didn’t think he’d try anything with his sister just a few feet away.

“Hard to believe I was ever that young,” Jake mused, lacing
his fingers through hers and settling in beside her. “Sorry if she was rude at
times.”

“She’s okay,” Heidi murmured. “Reminds me of the undergrads
I used to teach. ‘Til I remember she’s three times my age.”

He dropped a kiss on her ear. “It’s literally a different
world, Freya. Though you’d have made a magnificent mermaid.”

It was maybe the nicest thing anyone had ever said to her.

* * * * *

“But I need clothing, Che.” They’d just finished lunch up on
the sundeck and Leta was sulking. “Why can’t you take me into the village to
purchase some?”

“Because there are guys with guns looking for an excuse to
kill him, maybe?” Heidi crossed her arms over her chest and glared. “He told
you to come back when the shooting was over. What part of that didn’t you
understand?”

Jake grinned. Heidi had a real knack for handling his sister’s
tantrums.

“I didn’t think he was serious,” Leta said, her lower lip
quivering ominously. She lounged in the sun wearing one of Heidi’s sporty black
bikinis with a white mesh cover-up, which had been in the suitcase recovered
from her campsite.

“Well, he was. You want to know how he made a living after
your uncle kicked him out? By catching bad guys. That’s dangerous work. So when
he says he absolutely cannot take you into town to go shopping, he means it.
Maybe tomorrow. For now, we’re stuck sharing.”

“And Heidi is being very generous,” Jake added. “Most of her
things were destroyed. She doesn’t have a lot of clothing left.”

“By these same evil men you are trying to catch?” Leta’s
head tilted sideways, and Jake’s breath caught at the sight of her, all grown
up and lovely. He’d missed her changing from adolescent to woman—though she
still had some growing up to do emotionally.

“Yes,” Heidi replied. Her hair had faded today to a muddy
brown color, about halfway between the artificial black and her own. In her
white denim shorts and pink tank top, she looked younger than her
students—until he looked closely at the bruises, which had begun to turn yellow
and green as well as purple and black. He’d convinced Leta to be far away from
the boat tonight—he wished he could get Heidi to do the same. Even while he
admired her courage, he couldn’t help the sick knot of terror that weighted his
stomach at the thought of her being in danger.

“I am sorry,” Leta said, biting her lip. “I didn’t know.”

Heidi smiled. “It’s okay. You didn’t do it. But you can’t
put people in danger just because you don’t like my clothes, all right?”

“Of course.” To Jake’s surprise, Leta scrambled to her feet
and began to help clear away the dishes from lunch. “I am sorry for intruding
at a difficult time.”

There was a slight thump to the starboard and Jake turned
just in time to hear, “I’m sorry. I wasn’t expecting you to have guests.”

A heartbeat later, Wen shimmered into view next to the aft
starboard rail, barefoot, dressed in jeans and an untucked black dress shirt.

“Wen?” Heidi said with a start. “Oh, hi. You just missed
lunch.”

Leta dropped the sandwich platter, which fortunately was
plastic. “Who are you?”

Jake laughed. “Wen, meet my younger sister, Leta. Leta, this
is Wen. I used to work for him, once upon a time.”

“And now we merely work together on occasion,” Wen said with
a courtly bow. “Delighted.”

“Likewise, Mr. Wen.” Her voice had dropped to a purr that
Jake didn’t recognize for a moment. Gods, was his sister actually
flirting
?
With
Wen
?

A slight pop sounded next to Wen and suddenly Steve was
there too, dressed in denim shorts and a black T-shirt, with a large duffle bag
slung over his shoulder.

“Either of you guys hungry?” As soon as introductions had
been completed, Heidi picked up the tray Leta had dropped. “I could rustle up a
few more sandwiches.”

“I could eat,” Steve said agreeably. “Let me come give you a
hand.”

Jake started to object, then realized he was being stupid.
Marinucci was not going to hit on Heidi down in the cabin. He probably just wanted
to stow the firepower somewhere safe.

“Actually, we should all go below,” Wen noted. “Our—prey may
decide to look in on us. We know they have an airplane.”

“Good point.” Jake stood, gathering up the last of the
leftovers. “Let’s go.”

“My brother is lucky to have someone as wise as you to
direct him,” Leta purred, taking Wen’s arm as they moved toward the stairs.

Wen proffered a courtly elbow, but deftly maintained his
distance. “But I don’t direct him at all. Merely advise.” The flash of panic in
the man’s dark eyes was the funniest thing Jake had seen all day.

“Unhand my betrothed. At once!” Immediately following that
bellow was a splash, and a naked man scrambled up from the swimdeck.

“Niko!” Leta screeched and ducked behind Wen. “How did you
find me?”

“It’s a fucking circus around here today,” Jake muttered,
crossing to stand between Nikolaos and Leta. Off to the side he heard Heidi
gasp, then chuckle, while Steve and Wen immediately took up defensive postures.

Heidi had to force her eyes away from the naked, angry man,
who stood on the deck with water running off his very fine physique. His hair
was a lighter shade than Jake’s or Leta’s, but his features had the same clean,
aquiline lines, and he had the same strong fluidity of motion that both the merfolk
possessed. So this was Leta’s fiancé. Damn, in Southern California Niko would
have to beat the girls off with a stick. Even pissed, he was gorgeous.

“Che. I should have known she’d come to you. A traitor, just
like her brother,” Niko spat.

“Is this liable to get bloody?” Steve had already been
partway down the stairs, so his head was on a level with Heidi’s elbow.

“I have no idea,” she answered. “I think they’re supposed to
be engaged, but she doesn’t want to marry him, so she ran away.”

“Sounds like a soap opera.” The DEA agent murmured, “Hold
this.”

He handed Heidi the duffle bag and produced a handgun from
behind his back as he passed her, coming back up the stairs.

Meanwhile, Jake was talking to Niko. “Calm down, Nikolaos.
Either you rein in your temper, or things are going to get really messy really
fast.”

“Your friends would shoot me?” Niko seemed to register the
gun in Steve’s hand, and he backed up a step.

“Only if you get violent first,” Jake assured him. “You want
to just come inside and talk, then nobody needs to get hurt.”

Niko looked around, taking a moment to study each of them,
then nodded. “Fine.”

Heidi saw each of the men relax their posture just a
fraction. “I was about to make some sandwiches,” she offered. “Niko, would you
like something to eat?” Her Midwestern roots were definitely showing. Solve all
social problems with copious amounts of food.

Niko gazed at her for a moment then offered a tight smile. “Thank
you. That would be good.”

Jake clapped the other merman’s arm. “Then welcome aboard.
As soon as we get below, we can talk. Heidi—do you think maybe you can find our
guest a pair of pants?”

“Pretty soon we’re going to run out of clothing,” she
muttered, heading down the stairs.

“I gotta start hanging out on boats more often,” Steve
mused, following her. “It’s a lot more interesting than fishing.”

“I don’t know. Fishing is beginning to sound awfully
appealing.” All the drama was making Heidi’s head throb. She went through to
the master cabin and set Steve’s duffle bag carefully on the bed. Based on the
weight, it contained more guns than clothing. She pulled a pair of Jake’s board
shorts and a T-shirt out of a drawer, and returned to the salon just in time to
see Jake close the door to the stairs.

“Now. Tell me why you were following my sister.”

“Jake, let the man get dressed before you interrogate him.”
Heidi tossed Niko the clothes. She was getting tired of trying not to notice
the other merman’s…endowments. While he didn’t set off the same tingles she
felt when she looked at Jake, it was still kind of distracting.

Jake grunted an assent and they all looked aside while Niko
pulled on the garments.

Before Jake could pounce again, though, Niko took the
offensive, turning to Leta. “Why did you run, dearest? I thought you were happy
planning our wedding?”

“Happy?” Leta screeched. “I felt like a dolphin caught in a
fishing net. I
told
you I wanted out—you, my mother, everyone—but none
of you listened.”

“Well, you certainly didn’t act like it. You didn’t seem
trapped last week, when you lured me off to that deserted beach.” His voice
lowered. “I’m sorry if the sex was too intense for your tastes,
princess
.
All you had to do was say so. You didn’t need to run away.” He flicked a glance
at Wen. “Certainly not to another man, and a human at that.”

“Whoa, there. That’s way more information than I want to
know about my baby sister,” Jake interjected. “And she didn’t run away to
anyone, except to me.” Turning to Leta, who still cowered behind Wen, Jake
raised one eyebrow. “I thought you said Mother was forcing this wedding?”

“She is,” Leta insisted, but her gaze sank to the carpet. “Though
I might have agreed…in the beginning.”

“Fuck.” Jake scrubbed a hand across his face and sank onto a
chair.

Heidi moved over to the galley corner of the room and began
to assemble sandwiches, her eyes still fixed on the others more than on what
her hands were doing. Steve, who had tucked his gun back into the holster at
the small of his back, joined her and started a fresh pot of coffee. The man
behaved relatively normally—for someone who could teleport.

“Our wedding would help mend the rift that has emerged among
our people,” Niko said directly to Leta. “But that is not why I proposed. I’ve
waited decades for you to grow up. I see now I didn’t wait long enough.”

“Stop right there,” Jake interrupted. “Leta, is this just a
case of cold feet?”

“No, my feet are quite warm, thank you.”

Heidi laughed. “Jake, you’ve been hanging out with humans
too long. Leta, what he means is did you just get nervous about the wedding? Is
that why you left home?”

Leta nibbled daintily on her full lower lip. “Perhaps. But I
do want to experience life on land, like Che has. I am not ready to be, as they
say on television, tied down.”

“Where did you watch television?” Jake asked.

Heidi set a plate of sandwiches on the table and motioned
everyone over.

“At that resort on Catalina Island,” Leta said. “I go there
sometimes to ‘hang out’ with the tourists. I love the dancing and volleyball.”

“Of course.” Jake shook his head and moved over to sit at
the table beside Heidi, pulling Leta by the wrist to sit next to him on the
three-person bench. That left Wen, Steve and Niko squished into the other side.
Steve carried over the coffee pot and a handful of mugs, then managed to
insinuate himself between Wen and Niko.