When he didn’t say anything else, I glanced over at him, trying to at least catch his eye. He kept his focus trained on the two mermen beside him. I tried to inspect Wrell and Greylin for any sign they were aware of what Therin was planning on doing, but they didn’t seem any different than normal.
I glanced back at Lelas.
She smiled, and I could tell she hadn’t heard anything of what Therin had said. My expression must have given me away. Her eyebrows knitted.“Is there something wrong?”
Should I tell her? What if I was being led into a trap? If I didn’t tell Lelas, then no one would know that I’d wandered off until morning, let alone with whom. That was ridiculous. No matter that Therin had pulled an act like my grandfather and pretty much pretended I was dead to him since he’d learned I was gay, I knew I wasn’t in danger from him. Even so, I wasn’t sure how to answer her in a way that wouldn’t fill in whoever might be listening that something was up. I gave her a covert thumbs-up, then mentally kicked myself. Like she’d have any idea what a thumbs-up is supposed to mean.
Lelas’s eyes darted down to my thumb, then back up to my face. Her brows furrowed deeper.
“I was starving. I’m just thrilled that we were able to get some fish again tonight.”If I’d ever hoped to grow up to be a spy, this clarified that such a career choice would never have been a viable option. A five-year-old could have done a better aversion tactic.
“I am only directing my words toward you, Brett. I can tell someone said something that upset you.”To her credit, and her possible future spy career, she kept her eyes trained on the feast in front of us.“I am assuming it was something Therin directed at you.”
I gave the slightest nod and lifted a hunk of flesh to my mouth, as if dipping my head for a bite.
“Are you okay?”
Another covert nod.
“Is there something wrong, or something in which I may be of assistance?”
I shook my head, not trying to cover it with some other action. What was I supposed to do for that? Bite into the side of the fish and rip at it like a dog?
“I trust that you will let me know if something becomes otherwise.”
I nodded again.“So, will there be kelp forests where we are going, or what will we make shelters out of?”
Lelas took my abrupt shift in topic in stride without so much as a hitch, and we kept up an easy flow of benign conversation for the rest of the meal. As soon as it was over, Syleen found Lelas and asked for her help with some sort of preparations. It seemed a little too convenient that she’d just happened to need Lelas when I would have loved to be able to steal her away for a moment before the tribe began to sleep. Of course, at this point I was likely to see conspiracy theories in everything, even in the small swarm of jellyfish that were drifting past the outer perimeter of the tribe.
Theblackness wasn’t like it had been during the hunt, since we still weren’t as deep as we’d been, thankfully. Even so, I swam slowly, not confident I wouldn’t somehow go the wrong direction and get so turned around I wouldn’t only miss the clandestine meeting with Therin, but require the tribe to come find me lost out in the deep.
I’d waited longer than I probably had to, but I didn’t want to take a chance I’d wake someone and have to explain why I was leaving the rest of them in the middle of the night. Now I was out in the middle of the ocean by myself, I realized how stupid worrying about being caught actually was. Why couldn’t I go for a swim by myself if I wanted to? There were no rules around going off on your own. Just because I felt like I was breaking a law didn’t mean I actually was. Even Therin, by-the-book Therin, wasn’t breaking any laws that I knew of. I doubted he’d be able to, even if he miraculously felt the desire. Still, this secrecy was so unlike him. It left me feeling like something big was going on.
When I was certain I was far enough away that the darkness could swallow up light before it reached the tribe, I focused on my hands and called the fire from within myself. Both of my hands ignited in blazing spears of fire. Startled, I called the fire back and shook my hands. Too bright.
Glancing behind me, I expected to see the cavalry coming to drag me back to the tribe. I rolled my eyes at my own stupidity. Nobody was coming. No one had even seen the brief flashes of fire. Did my overly dramatic streak come from my demon heritage like my moodiness, or was it part of the gay gene? I could imagine what Therin’s answer would be. Whichever it was, I knew for certain it wasn’t from the mer line, although I had to give Therin credit for this one. Meetings in the dead of night in a crevasse did have a certain dramatic flair. Focusing my attention once more, I called the fire to my hands, and this time I managed to keep it small enough that it merely looked like my hands were glowing, little flickers of flame shimmering mere millimeters above my skin.
The fire didn’t illuminate more than the few feet in front of me, enough to make it easier to see the landscape. It also had the effect of darkening everything outside of the flame’s reach, making it impossible to see if someone was actually coming to drag me back. Shaking off my paranoia, I kept swimming.
The crevasse was easy enough to find. I’d noticed it earlier when we’d passed it and had wanted to take time to explore. I now wondered if Therin had noticed my interest and had chosen this spot accordingly. Maybe it was just coincidence.
The chasm was a massive tear in the ocean floor. Rocky sand spread out as far as the eye could see, and then the crevasse appeared out of nowhere. It jutted this way and that, like a lightning bolt over the surface of the crust. Even in the daylight, I’d not been able to see the bottom of it as we swam over. It had looked intriguing in the daylight, with the rest of the mers around me. Now, alone in the dark, it looked sinister, as if some monster might thrust out of the jagged opening, snap its jaws, and drag me into its depths.
I had just started to wonder if I was going to have to dive down in order to find Therin when his voice flooded my mind.
“I am to your right, Brett.”
I looked toward my right but saw nothing outside of my spheres of light. After a moment, Therin swam forward, revealing himself. In the darkness, the light of my fire made his orange tail gleam as if it were really made of gold, the fine fibers of each scale causing the light to refract and shimmer around us. Even his long white-blond hair looked golden in the light.
“Do not speak yet. We should be far enough away that your words will not reach the tribe with your direction toward them, but let us not take the chance until we are within the crevasse.”He turned and swam back out of the range of my light.
I hesitated, not wanting to have to dive into the cracks without seeing where he was. I caught up and swam beside him, trailing just enough to let him have the lead.
We dove. A thrill shot through me as I followed him. He swam quickly, clearly enjoying himself, darting this way and that, coming close to colliding with a jagged outcropping of rock in the walls of the crevasse, then shooting away at the last second. We swam deeper, then flattened out, following the path set by the walls of the cavern, then diving once more. I was sure some of it was to make sure we were out of hearing range, but part of it was no more than enjoying the sensation of swimming freely. It reminded me of those first few weeks with Therin out in the open ocean, when we would just swim for the love of feeling the water around us, the strength of our bodies coursing through our blood. After the weeks of playing follow the leader on our path to the new temporary settlement, it was clear I wasn’t the only one who’d been starting to go stir-crazy.
By the time Therin came to a stop, I was fairly certain we’d doubled back and were closer to where we’d entered than we’d been for most of the swim through the crevasse.
As he stopped, Therin turned to me, his long hair flowing across his face before he whipped it behind him, and smiled.“Forgive the indulgence, Brett. I should not have taken the extra time. I have needed to swim. I thought I would arrive in enough time before you to do just that, but I feared you would get here and would think I had chosen not to come. Thank you for joining me.”
