Whenever I haven’t seen her in a long, long time, I sprint up to her, maybe pee a little—a moment of weakness, on my part—tail wagging as I jump all over her. She smiles at me and tells me she missed me too.
Does she tell Ordus she missed him? No.
Does she sneak Ordus her food when no one is looking? No.
Does she rub his head and call him a good boy? No.I’mthe only good boy around here.
She once called me the bestest of all boys, and my Queen Mate is not a liar.
The waves are strong today. Cindi always comes out into the water to sit and stand on her board whenever it is like this. It makes my job harder, because there are always more threats and greater risks with her out in the open.
The plank floats closer. My warning growl renders it still. I stretch my paws out so it sees my claws. I take my duty very seriously.
It drifts closer once more. I lower to my haunches.
“Leave now. This is your last warning.”
It swayscloser.
The audacity.
“Do not test me,” I growl, peeling my lips back.
This time, when it moves, I pounce, tearing Cindi’s potential attacker to shreds until it’s littered over the sea floor. It was not a worthy opponent.
Satisfied the threat has been eliminated, I straighten to stare down my nose at the plank. “If you want blood, you will see blood.”
23
Cindi
Surfing would be a lot more relaxing if I didn’t have to keep an eye out for Vasz the entire time. The fucker likes to graze his teeth over my foot.
Whenever I’ve been sitting on my board for too long, he likes to take a nip. It scares the shit out of me. He hasn’t done it in a week, but I don’t trust the little prick one bit.
When I get mad at him, he acts like I’ve cussed out his entire bloodline. He has a pair of killer puppy dog eyes he shoots me with every time I tell him off. It makes me feel like a complete ass after.
It’s unnerving how almost humanlike he can be.
I check the surrounding water again before letting my eyes drift shut, bobbing along to each wave.
Aside from the constant fear I may lose a limb because of Petroleum Jelly’s boredom, I’ve been stuck on this island for five weeks, and I wish I could say I’ve hated every moment of it.
My arm hasn’t felt so goddamn good in years. With the relaxed island lifestyle combined with whatever it is Ordus’suckers do to me every night while we sleep, I’m reminded the baseline for the amount of pain a person should be in is zero, not five.
Assuming I’m not calling in a sick day—which has been happening far too often lately—I’ve got a routine down pat: wake up in Ordus’ many arms, eat, surf, read, eat, surf again, eat again, maybe workout, maybe tinker away in the workshop to try to rebuild the boat’s engine.
If I’m not doing any of that, I’m making the island my own.
I’ve tried planting some fruits and veggies to see if I can get something to grow, but I’m not an agricultural specialist, and I’ve never had much of a green thumb. I’m trying to build an irrigation system to see if that does anything as well. My efforts are probably pointless because of the whole Curse thing. Still, I like the challenge.
I also have plans to explore some type of renewable energy source. Somehow, Ordus managed to find me a book on it. So far, without a lab to make half the stuff I need, I’ll need to go really old school and summon my inner Faraday.
Even though my arm is better, I haven’t been pushing it too much. I’ve been coming up with ideas of things to make, like a swing, hammock, shelving, and other random stuff, and then Ordus puts it together.
Ordus has been giving me my space—Vasz most definitely has not. He’s the definition of a Velcro dog. Whenever I lounge around the beach, he drops a coconut on me to throw. For hours. He literally doesn’t stop. Ever. If he’s panting to the point that he’s foaming at the mouth, all he needs is a ten-minute nap, and he’s rested and ready to go.
The Coconut Princess has developed this new thing where he refuses to chase fish through the underwater tunnels for his meals. He now requires all fish be prekilled and served to himby me on one of my plates, and he refuses to start unless I praise him first.
