By thetime the four of us arrived back to the rest of the tribe, everyone was gathered for the daily meal. We stopped in enough time to gather a few plants and roots, but only enough to not arrive empty-handed. Not surprisingly, Wrell, Greylin, and Therin had brought back enough meat to satisfy everyone. As we added our small contribution to the smorgasbord, it was almost more embarrassing than if we’d brought back nothing at all.
I looked over at Syleen, expecting a dirty look or a frown, some type of judgmental expression. Instead, she was in a deep conversation with Zef and didn’t notice us swim up, much less our lack of adequate contribution.
The afternoon playing with the dolphins had left me in one of the best moods I’d been in for days. I was feeling more like a member of the tribe than ever.
I’d been in such a rush to join the circle before Syleen noticed us that I hadn’t paid attention where the twins chose and just took my place beside Lelas. Looking over to my right, I was jolted to see Therin looking back at me. For a second I couldn’t think what to do, but then nodded. He offered a smile and a slight nod in acknowledgement. He looked like he wanted to say something, but gave another nod and turned back to Greylin, who was on his other side.
Greylin looked around Therin, his blond braid floating out from behind him at the motion.“Greetings, Brett.”
“Hey, Greylin.”I motioned toward the piles of fish and crustaceans.“You guys did a great job on the hunt today. Thanks.”
He didn’t acknowledge the praise.“How was your day?”
I couldn’t keep the happiness from my tone.“Awesome! We played with a pod of dolphins all afternoon. The twins taught me how to communicate with them. It was such a blast.”Might as well keep up pretenses.
Greylin’s eyebrow arched. He was probably trying to decide if I had burst into flames, taking the family of dolphins with me, or if “blast” was one of my strange human words.
Therin also turned at my words.“Thetwinstaught you how to communicate with our fellow mammals?”
I looked down, my eyes refusing to meet his. As frustrated as I was with him, I hated looking weak in front of him.“It had been a while since our lessons. I was a little rusty.”
He considered my words.“If I am to understand your meaning, the ability returned?”
“Yes, it did.”I wanted to add that it wasn’t any thanks to my dad helping me get used to living among the mers, but I kept the thought to myself.
Therin’s face darkened, and he looked away. Maybe I hadn’t kept the thought to myself. Well, fuck it. He also hadn’t been any help teaching me how to direct my thoughts either. If he overheard more thoughts than he needed to, it was his own damn fault.
I returned my attention to the girls, who were busy eating, but I was pretty sure Lelas had caught the exchange. I tried to think of something to say to start up a conversation, some funny quip or remembrance about the day, but my brain drew a blank. Spending the day with the twins had proved they were nice enough but lacked the humor gene even more than the other mers I’d spoken to. Hell, they made Lelas look like a standup comedian.
I reached out, grabbed a clam from the pile, and began prying it open. As I did, Lelas caught my eye.“Are you okay?”
Knowing that anything I said would be privy to the rest of the tribe within hearing distance, if that’s how it worked, I just nodded. I was okay. I’d given up on a close relationship with Therin. I was fine with that. And honestly, we were at least better than we were previously. I was going to make a better effort to not let things out of my control affect my happiness. Even if my moodiness stemmed from my demon patronage, that was a hell of a lot better than the murderous compulsions I should have inherited. That in and of itself was enough reason to be happy.
Thirty-Three
BRETT WRIGHT
Trueto Syleen’s word, we took off the next morning. I half expected her to set the pace twice as fast as we’d been traveling before. To my surprise, she didn’t.
While I couldn’t say I was thrilled to be on the move again, after the day before, it was more bearable than it had been. Especially after my trip to the surface and knowing that it was only a few more days before we’d arrive at our destination.
Several times throughout the day, I felt eyes on me, and I’d look over just in time to see Therin look away. I could tell he wanted to talk, probably scold me for taking a risk and going to the surface again.
By midafternoon, he’d looked over so often, I was tempted to swim over and get whatever conversation he was hoping to have out of the way.
We stoppedearlier than normal, and Syleen sent us out to gather food once more. While our current situation was nothing like the fasting surrounding the hunt, we also hadn’t been eating as much as we normally did. The feast the day before had been unusual. We didn’t take the time to stop at the end of each day and go hunting for fish. We’d nearly become vegetarians over the past few weeks. For her to have two days in a row where we took time to find meat was a welcome surprise.
Somehow Therin and I ended up sitting next to each other once more at the meal.“Brett, I need you to listen.”
I turned to Therin at his words, but he rushed on in a hurried manner. He wasn’t even looking at me; he was turned toward Wrell and Greylin.
“Do not reply to me now, as you are not yet able to direct your thoughts. I need you to meet me after the other members of the tribe are at rest. Return to the chasm we passed nearly a mile before we settled for the night. Wait until you are certain the rest of the tribe is asleep, and then meet me there.”
I was so thrown off by his words I didn’t even attempt to respond.
“Do not bring Lelas. Come on your own.”
If I didn’t know Therin as much as I did, I would have thought he was planning to kill me. As it was, I had no clue what was going on. It sounded like he wanted us to do something we shouldn’t, which didn’t seem like him. I doubted he’d ever found a rule he didn’t instantly fall in love with.
