“Hey.” Old Man Jenkins’s eyes lit up when he spotted me. “I caught the mermaid.”
Standing behind the vehicle, four EMTs gawked over a ragged cooler large enough for me to lie down in, their phone cameras flashing. Their expressions ranged from shock to awe to envy, and I crept over for a quick peek at his urging.
“Oh wow.” I whipped out my phone too. “That’s incredible.”
“What the actual hell?” Sloane bumped my shoulder, wiggling closer. “That was in the lake?”
“Someone dumped a pet,” one of the EMTs explained. “Happens all the time.”
“Looks like a koi,” another one said. “Might have outgrown its tank or even its pond.”
“That’s got to be three feet long.” Liam snapped a picture. “How much does it weigh?”
“Thirty-six pounds,” Old Man Jenkins bragged, patting the cooler’s side.
“I can see why you thought it was a mermaid.” It was such a vibrant fish. “It’s so colorful.”
A wide blue streak of scales lined its spine and orange-red splotches popped along its white sides.
“The fins are very mermaidlike too.” Sloane made a wiggly hand gesture. “Very swooshy.”
Wide palms landed on my shoulders as Rían leaned in to see too. “What will you do with it?”
“They’re an invasive species,” Old Man Jenkins explained. “It can’t go back in the lake.”
“Poor fishy.” Sloane shook her head. “It’s not his fault.”
“That’s why we’re going to ask around,” the third EMT said, “try to rehome him.”
Ornamental ponds weren’t as popular as they once were, but maybe they would get lucky.
“There’s a Fisherman’s Pro Shop two towns over that has massive tanks for showcasing native fish,” the second EMT mused. “Maybe they would be willing to house this guy as an exhibit on hownotto dispose of an unwanted pet and the effects one invasive species can have on an entire ecosystem.”
“We’ll keep our fingers crossed they take him,” I told him, and I knew I spoke for all of us.
With the mermaid mystery solved, we left Old Man Jenkins with the EMTs to finish their arrangements.
Outside the gate, Rían drew me onto the sidewalk under a tree. “Ana, what are your plans for the day?”
“Back to work on the deep clean of GSG.” I counted off the days on my fingers. “A muralist, Clary, will be here on Wednesday. I wasn’t counting on you lowering the wards so quickly, so I’ll have to stay closed for a week after she’s finished to make sure the building is clear of fumes.”
Even with non-toxic, low VOC paints, there were risks involved when it came to our feathered guests in particular.
“File for a voucher if you need help covering your losses. That’s what our emergency funds are for.”
“For Walshes.”
And I wasn’t one.Yet. A fact that might work in our favor.
“You’ve changed your mind?”
The careful way he asked, how his features didn’t shift an inch to tip off how he felt, confirmed how much my answer meant to him. But I had been thinking about something ever since I learned of Carmichael’s defeat. Something Rían wasn’t going to like very much.
twelve
“I can still sense Carmichael.”I took Rían’s hand and placed it over my heart. “I thought the connection would swap to Mercer or be severed when Carmichael left, but we still share a bond.”
“That can happen if the winner allows the loser to walk away.” Sloane frowned. “The people who were most loyal to them, or who choose to leave with them, retain the original bond.” She rubbed her jaw. “That means Mercer would have to hold a ceremony to extract vows of allegiance from those who remained with him to ensure it overwrote any loyalty to Sartori.”
