He is not innocent. Not at all. There are dark shadows in his eyes. Hurt. Fear. Pain. He knows the horrors of the world. He is alone and lost and broken.
Yet here he is smiling at a stranger over a song.
What a strange and bewildering person.
He taps his foot to the beat of the music. Then he starts to sing along. Off key and too fast, but with so much enthusiasm that somehow it’s still utterly captivating. I could listen to him for hours.
I feel my lips twist up into a smile.
Suddenly he stops singing. His pretty eyes widen and he clamps his hand over his mouth. The music continues to play unaccompanied.
“Oh my god!” he exclaims, muffled by his hand. “I can’t believe I was just singing to a siren! That must have sounded awful to you. I’m sorry for assaulting your ears!”
A soft laugh escapes me, and I shake my head. “I liked it.”
Slowly, his hand lowers. A pink flush spreads across his cheeks. “Really?”
I nod.
“I’d love to hear you sing one day,” he says.
My smile falters. “I’m out of practice with doing it without enchanting people.”
He nods. “Yeah that must be tricky.”
He sounds calm. He looks completely unruffled and not at all threatened. I swear Lello said he is an ordinary mundane human who was dragged into the paranormal world just a couple of weeks ago. How is he taking everything in his stride so well? He is a very strange person indeed. Baffling. I don’t think I have ever met anybody like him, and that’s got nothing to do with him being human.
“Can I join you?” he says.
I blink at him.
“In the pool. It looks lovely, and it is boiling out here.”
I float back away from the edge to give him room. He grins at me and something about the expression makes my stomach feel all funny.
He jumps in carelessly. Limbs all unaligned. The splash it creates is enormous. I look up into the blue summer sky and watch the water he disturbed rain back down. Waves slosh against the side of the pool. That was quite the entrance.
It seems quieter with him under water. Even though the music is still playing. I look over at the house, but nothing has changed there. Sammy is just loud, I guess. His presence takes up room.
He hasn’t come up yet. I thought humans needed to breathe air? And why is he churning the water so dramatically down there? I watch the white foam he is creating. Birds are singing and there is a slight, pleasant breeze. It’s a lovely day.
He still hasn’t come up. Does he want me to join him underneath? I dip down to see.
He is floundering and thrashing. His eyes are bulging. What is he doing? I swear he is the most confusing man I have ever met.
Oh. Does he not know how to be in water? Is he drowning with no one holding him down? Or currents to snare him or weeds to tangle him?
My heart thuds against my ribs. I reach out and wrap my arms around his flailing body. The contact makes me shudder. I’ve not touched another since…I can’t think about that now.
I lift him to the surface and tug him along to the edge. His hands grip the edge of the pool and he sucks in a huge wheezing breath. Then he splutters and coughs up some water. Then he breathes heavily again.
I hastily back away.
“Thanks!” he gasps. “I didn’t know it was the deep end.”
I stare at him while he continues to cough and heave in lungfuls of air.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
