“Something called a sandwich! I got two. One for me, one for you,” she said, a proud smile plastered to her face.
What is up with these people and their sandwiches?
“And how did you go about getting these?” The words from my grandfather about illegally acquiring food echoed in my head. I took one of the sandwiches from her anyway and motioned for her to sit on a bench near the tower. We both made ourselves comfortable and began unwrapping the paper packaging on our laps.
“Well, we don’t really need to get into that.” She lifted a slice of compressed bread and took a look at the contents of her sandwich before taking a bite.
I shook my head with a shrouded grin and peered into my own sandwich. I didn’t know what half of the things inside it were, but the green leafy stuff looked way too similar to kelp for my liking. Breena seemed to be enjoying it, though, so I sucked it up and took a bite.
Definitely not kelp.
I now understood the sandwich situation. This thing was delicious.
“Did you find anything?” Breena asked. I swallowed my bite reluctantly and wiped a few crumbs from my mouth before responding to her.
“Yeah, I sat at the docks for a while, and I followed a fisherman from the boat we arrived on. It’s called the Indigo Tide, by the way. I followed him into town and then to a few shops, but I lost him. I couldn’t get any more information on him, but I know he’ll be going back to one of the shops on Wednesday, so I’ll be waiting for him when he does,” I said, leaving out the part about meeting my dad’s father and being unable to return to the sea. She didn’t need to know that I had more reasons than one to stay on land for a little while. I’d let her feel guilty for keeping me here as punishment for getting me kidnapped by the fisherman in the first place.
“And when is Wednesday?”
“Four days from now. It’s Saturday today.”
“Okay, that’s not too bad,” she said before taking another bite of her sandwich. She chewed for a few minutes before saying, “I saw a fisherman at the Honey Spot.”
The look on Breena’s face paused my chewing. I lowered my sandwich into my lap and brushed the breadcrumbs off my hands as I waited for her to continue.
“I also followed him. I followed him out of the shop and to his home.”
“You what?” I shouted, attracting the attention of nosey humans passing by. Breena swallowed and winced, keeping her eyes on her thighs.
“He didn’t catch me.”
“And what if he had?” I grew physically hot at the thought of her locked away in some man’s home. A human man, at that.
“I could have broken every bone in his body.” Breena met my eyes now, determination painted across her face. “I’m not a frail thing, you know.”
“I know more than anyone here how true that is,” I said, holding up my bruised wrist, a perfect handprint matching hers wrapping it. “But that doesn’t mean you should follow a strange man back to his home. Alone. What if he’d been the one to have your pelt? Hmm?”
Her silence confirmed everything I suspected. “Yeah, you wouldn’t have been able to break his bones then, would you?”
“No.” Her lip curled over her sharp canines as she shook her head. I used my pointer finger under her chin to make her look at me.
“Don’t give them a reason to keep you. Walking right into their home is all they need,” I said, my cool skin clashing against her warmth. Why did I want to touch so much more than just her chin? I wanted—no, needed—to grab her by the face like I had on the ship and make her understand how her getting caught would have wrecked me.
Wrecked me?No, not wrecked me. It would have been irritating to say the least, but nothing she could ever do could wreck me. She was a selkie, a practical stranger. I reminded myself of exactly that.
“I know. I just… I just want to find my pelt already. It hurts to be away from it like this. My soul has been torn into two, and he hasn’t even claimed it yet. Can you imagine what it will be like when he finds it in that trunk?”
“I can’t, and I don’t have to, because it’s not going to happen. If he claims you, I will end his miserable life,” I found myself saying, once again betrayed by my own mouth.
“Why would you do that?” she asked. Sea breeze blew a piece of her hair into her face, and I found myself tucking it behind her ear. Her shock at my touch made me drop my hand faster than my eyes could capture.
Why did I just do that? Stranger. She’s basically a stranger, Sid. Remember that.
I grabbed hold of my sandwich and shoved the bread into my mouth, focusing my attention on the people who passed by. It took all my strength to ignore the odd feeling in my stomach that screamed at me, as if the entire thing had been full of excitable minnows.
When I swallowed, I covered my ass and said, “Because I want to return home too, you know. I made you a promise. I intend to keep it.” I still couldn’t meet her gaze, my face too hot, my palms too itchy. Was I ill?
“Well, then I guess I should be grateful you keep your promises,” Breena said. “Or should it be the sea I should be thankful for? For making it too painful for you to return to it.”
