“Will you really get his address for us?” A shred of hope crept into my heart.
“That way, you girls can go together. Keep each other safe. I don’t want you goin’ and tryin’ to do this on your own.”
I jumped as the town’s clock tower rang out four times. Breena’s face flashed through my mind, as did a pang of guilt. Yet again, I’d spent an entire day stowed away in this workshop while she fought to find the answers she so desperately needed.
“I promise I won’t,” I said, meaning every word. I debated using his name, but something about that felt unnatural now. What I was about to say would be just as foreign, but in some odd way, it felt right. “Thanks… Grandpa.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
CUCUMBER SANDWITCHES
Before meeting up with Breena, I’d stopped by the sea and wet the cloth my grandfather had given me with salty water. I’d stayed in the safety of the rocks, not ready to have my skin peeled off again so soon. When I pressed the damp rag to my palm, a burning relief washed over me. I held it there for several moments as I took in the misty horizon. It’d been a foggy day in Barthoah, and the nip of the festering breeze coming off the sea felt like home. I wondered if it felt like home to me in the same way the song I sang last night and the memories it evoked felt like home for Breena.
When I peeled the cloth off my hand, the bright red mark across my palm was now a faded pink. I pressed my curious pointer finger into the wound, and the tenderness that resided there just minutes ago had all but vanished. I supposed the sea did wonders for my skin and bones just as much as it could break and distort them. It was the sea’s ever complicated sense of balance that had been impossible to ignore as the years passed me by.
“I thought I told you I’m not running out of a restaurant again,” Breena whispered as she attempted to catch up to me. I headed for the large double doors in front of us, reading the entrance sign as I did. This eatery had been one I’d been eyeing since my first walk through the town center. The stone of the building was a faint pink, the windows laced with bits of colorful glass.
“And I told you we won’t have to. I’ll explain once we’re inside, I promise,” I said, noticing the way the light refracted off the beautiful pieces of glass as we approached. One of them projected a blue beam onto my arm, and for a split second, it made me miss seeing color on my skin. I missed the blueish purple scales that trailed up my arms and differentiated me from my sister’s pale, pearlescent ones.
“Alright,” Breena relented. “I’m trusting you, but you better not embarrass me like that again.”
“I’ll probably end up embarrassing you somehow, but not because we won’t have the means to pay.” I held open one of the double doors for her, tapping a nail on its thick wood.
“You’re not going to be absolutely terrible to the people who serve us again, are you? I won’t suffer through that again. I still feel bad for poor Kylan.” Stopping in her tracks in the entryway, she demanded an answer from me before going inside.
“Absolutely terrible?” I asked. I hadn’t beenthatbad. “I prefer to think I’m an acquired taste.”
“No, you’re just rude.” Breena dug her shoulder into me as she walked past.
“I’ll be kind, I promise,” I said, promising this woman something for the second time in a few minutes. I felt like it was all I’d been doing since arriving on land, and it was about timeI kept one of them. I would be more than kind; I would be an absolute delight.
Walking into the eatery after her, I let the door close softly behind me. As I stepped forward, sweet and savory aromas hit my nose: cinnamon tea, spiced rum, and I believe I detected a hint of fruity jelly. Strawberry, maybe?
The place was just as pleasant on the inside as it was on the outside. Light poured in from every angle but the far wall, where sounds emanated from the kitchen. Handcrafted figurines sat on wooden shelves that lined the wall closest to the door. When I looked closely enough, I even saw a ceramic mermaid—a more aesthetically pleasing choice than a siren I supposed.
“Hi, can I help you?” someone behind us asked. Breena whirled around to answer the man, but I beat her to it. When we both jumped to answer, he smoothed his hand down his smudged apron.
“Hello, sir! We’d like a table for just the two of us, please. Thank you oh so very much,” I said with a large smile plastered across my face. This man screamedhuman, but I’d be kind to him all the same. A promise was a promise, and I supposed my grandfather was a human and he wasn’t all that bad. He was the reason Breena and I were standing in this beautiful restaurant in the first place.
Breena’s head swung to me as she narrowed her eyes suspiciously. I was doing exactly what she wanted, yet she still wasn’t happy.
What did this woman want?
The man took us to a table by the front window, perfect for watching people passing by on the street. He set down two glasses of water and left us with a stiff parchment with the meal options for the day written on it. While Breena read off our options, I debated how I would tell her about my grandfather. I suppose it didn’t matter to her; we would both be going ourseparate ways after this. Still, for some odd reason, I wanted her to know about him, and not just because we needed him for our plan on Wednesday. I wanted her to know about him in the way that Breena wanted to tell me her brother’s name.
“So, are you going to tell me,” Breena leaned in, “why we won’t have to run this time?”
“We have coin now,” I said, moving a glass cup over the wooden table toward me. I took a sip and peered out the window to a couple of children by the town fountain. “My grandfather gave it to us. He’s also going to?—”
“Your grandfather?” Breena asked. “Why didn’t you tell me you have family here?”
I stared at her and sucked my lower lip into my mouth. I bit down and glanced up to the ceiling as I thought about how to explain this situation, how I’d been meeting up with him instead of helping her find her pelt.
“Because you didn’t know about him,” Breena answered for me. “Is this good news?”
“Yeah, I think it is. He’s actually going to help us. He owns the glassblowing shop in town, and I ran into him when I was following the fisherman. When he saw me, he recognized me and, well, we got to talking. He gave me coin and told me to come back, so I did. I was there today. He told me the fisherman would return on Wednesday and that he is the captain of the Indigo Tide.”
“He is?” Breena asked, her already large eyes widening.
