I nodded again.
"You should be grateful for Angelica. She's the one who insists on proper contracts. If it were up to me, I'd just burn it out of you right now." He examined his fingernails casually. "But I have a feeling you wouldn't return Angelica's memory if I did that. Would you?" He didn't wait for an answer. "A little salt water will fix you up just fine," he said, almost compassionately. "I've studied all the known supernaturals. I probably know more about your biology than you do. You're a young one, you don't even know what you're capable of yet, if you don't screw up, that is."
I looked up at him through bleary eyes, my throat pulsing with pain. It felt as though a coal had taken up residence in my windpipe, and no matter how much I swallowed I couldn’t move it. Chad jerked his chin towards the ocean.
I crossed the boardwalk and knelt, reaching my hand into the water. The salt fairly zinged through my arm to my injured throat. I splashed the cool water onto my hot skin, and scooped the salt water into my mouth. The pain subsided but my throat still throbbed. The damage would probably take a few days to go away.
I returned to where Chad was waiting, relaxed against a tree trunk with full confidence that I would not run away. I opened my mouth to say that I would call the next day but my throat ripped at the effort and all that came out was a weak whistle of air.
"Sorry, I was probably a bit too hot," said Chad, tilting his head to the side. I heard it crack. "I'm still working on degree control."
"Everything ok here?"
I spun to see Nathan approaching from the direction of the Sea Dog.
"I got worried when I saw you leave with this character," Nathan said as he stepped into the privacy of the trees. "Just thought I'd check..." He saw my face. "My God, Mira, are you hurt? What the hell did you do to her?" He rounded on Chad.
"You've got yourself a hero, Mira? Isn't that sweet."
I went cold. Chad could expose me to Nathan, and then what? He wasn't even mine yet and I could already lose him.
Nathan closed in on Chad until the two were nose to nose. Nathan's voice went low, dangerous. "So you're one of those. A coward who likes to terrorize someone weaker and smaller than you?"
Chad burst out laughing. "Smaller? Obviously. Weaker? Only for now, but she is far from helpless. She doesn't need you to look after her, you stupid thug."
"Get out of here," said Nathan his voice laced with disgust. "I don't want to see your face here again."
Fear for Nathan clutched at my belly. Now I was less afraid of being exposed than I was of Nathan getting hurt. I grabbed his arm and pulled him back from Chad. I pulled a little too hard and Nathan staggered back. He looked at me with surprise.
Chad gave me a smug smile. "Good girl," he said, softly. "Smart little fishy." He stepped onto the boardwalk, giving me one last look. I could hear him chuckling as he walked away.
18
"Who was that degenerate?" Nathan asked.
"Chad Wendig," I rasped.
Nathan reacted to my voice. "What did he do to you?"
My neck felt like it had to have a handprint burnt into my skin, I didn't know if the salt water had removed the marks yet or not. Nathan stepped closer, peering at my face. His expression softened and settled somewhere between concern and curiosity. He lifted his hands and put his fingertips on the sides of my face. Surprised by the tender gesture and his gentle touch, my brain went blank and desire made my knees wobble.
He brushed the wet from my cheeks with his thumbs and tilted my chin up as though examining me for bruises. "Did that gorilla choke you?" he asked, his voice hardening. "Mira, that's assault. You need to report him and slap his ass with a restraining order."
I almost laughed but my voice was incapable. What came out was a squeak. "I don't think a piece of paper would stop him,” I wheezed.
Nathan blanched. "You're scaring me. Who was that guy? What did he want from you? Is he an ex? What did he mean by you're weaker only for now? Is he dying or something?"
He was asking questions but my mind was swimming, my skin was singing where his fingers were touching. I shook my head slowly, my gaze landing on Nathan's lips. I stepped closer, within the circle of his arms.
"Mira," he began.
I stepped up on tiptoe and kissed him. Whether it was right or wrong, I didn't think, I just did it.
I felt surprise go through him, but as my arms slid around his waist and I pressed my body against his, he melted. I deepened the kiss and he inhaled sharply at the touch of my tongue. A hand cupped the back of my head, and his arm wrapped around my shoulders, warming me, cradling me. A chesty growl came from one of us, but I couldn't say who.
"Mira," he breathed against my lips, kissing me back and trying to talk at the same time. "Mira," he repeated, seemingly incapable of more words. One hand went to my shoulder, the other to the back of my neck. He parted us gently. "You were just assaulted, as much as I... I mean," he stuttered. I kissed the corner of his mouth and he wilted. "Oh boy".
"Are you in love with Crystal?" I asked hoarsely, pulling back and looking into his eyes.
"Am I..." he repeated, blinking. "Why are you thinking about Crystal at a time like this? We should be taking you to the hospital, and then the police station..."
"No doctors, no police." I kissed the other corner of his mouth.
He closed his eyes and let out a kind of 'haaaa' sound, like he wanted me to stop but also not to stop. I couldn’t help but squeak out a laugh at the comic moment. He opened his eyes and gave me a lopsided grin. "You pick the oddest moments to let a guy know how you feel."
"Mira?" I heard Phil's voice call from the Sea Dog. "Are you out here?"
"Uh oh, gone too long," I mumbled, the vibration razoring painfully inside my throat.
"You don't have to go back to work." Nathan squeezed my hand. "We can explain that you were just assaulted and he'll insist you go to the hospital."
I shook my head. "I'm alright." I sounded like I had a bad case of strep throat. "I don't want to involve any more people." I turned and walked back to the Sea Dog. Nathan fell into step beside me, putting a warm hand against my lower back.
As soon as Phil saw we were coming, he called, "All ok?"
I smiled and nodded. Phil nodded too and then went back inside, the din of busy restaurant poured out of the open door. Nathan held the door for me.
I checked my appearance in the Sea Dog's little wenches room. The marks on my neck were barely visible. I buttoned up my collar up all the same.
"What happened to you? Everything ok?" Crystal said as we passed in the kitchen. Her arms were loaded with plates of steaming food.
"Just a little sore throat," I rasped.
"Oh geez, that came on fast. You poor thing." Then, "Phil, we ought to let Mira go home, she's not feeling well," she called over to Phil who was now sweating over the hot grill. "I can handle the floor on my own."
This statement could not be more false. The Sea Dog was not a large restaurant but it had more tables than could be handled by one person, and right now they were all full.
Phil bent to look under the stainless steel shelf where a couple of plates were sitting under the hot lights, waiting for me to serve them. "That true, Mira? We can manage if you need to go." Sweat poured down the sides of his face in rivulets.
My heart warmed at their generosity. "Thanks guys, I'll make it. Which table for these ones, Phil?" I picked up the hot plates.
"Atta girl," he grinned, relieved. "Table seven."
I knew I should have been thinking about what to do about Chad, but there was too much elation in my heart to think about the confrontation. Nathan was attracted to me without me using siren wiles. I was flying.
For the rest of my shift, Nathan endowed me with many concerned looks. I'd smile to reassure him that I was ok. He stayed even after all his buddies had gone, bellying up to the bar and ordering another beer. He rarely had more than three pints a night, but he was halfway through his sixth by the time the bar was clean and the
lights were powering down.
"Trouble with the missus?" Phil joked as Nathan stood, swaying. "I don't think I've ever seen you down so much lager in one night."
"No trouble with me," said Crystal, grabbing Nathan's coat from the coatrack and bringing it over to him.
"All's well," Nathan slurred. "Just playing guard-dog."
Phil and Crystal both looked puzzled. They looked at me at the same time and it took me a second to arrange my features in an appropriately matching expression of puzzlement.
"Well, I gotta get Bowser home," said Crystal. "Before he guards himself into oblivion." Then to me, "You coming?"
"Coming." I pulled on my jacket.
We bundled ourselves into Crystal's old Corolla and within minutes the interior smelled like a brewery.
"Here." Crystal tossed a package of throat lozenges over the seat to me. I popped one in my mouth, couldn't hurt.
Nathan was snoring before we'd pulled up outside his two-storey home on Dixie St. Crystal roused him. He gave me a bleary-eyed smile from over the seat back. "You're good, Mira. You'll be ok. G'night."
"Good night, Nathan." I wanted to thank him, but I didn't want to get Crystal asking questions.
She walked him to the door and went inside for a few minutes while I waited. In short order she returned to the car. I slid into the front seat, still warm from Nathan's body.
"Does he live here by himself?" I peered up at the big house.
"Right now he does. Sometimes he takes on a roommate. He renovated that house himself. You should have seen it when he bought it. What a dump. Look at it now." She pulled away from the curb and we headed home. Crystal yawned. "Did you know he built the Sea Dog for Phil?"
"No, I didn't know that," I said, my voice still scratching roughly.
"Yup, basically for free. Phil's house flooded in the big one and he lost almost everything. Insurance doesn't cover floods. Lotta people's lives were really screwed up after that flood. You remember, I'm sure."
I didn't, I must have been at sea, but I made a sound that could be taken for agreement.
"Anyway, Phil came up with the idea for the Sea Dog. He got some backing from the city cuz' they liked his idea. It wasn't really enough but Phil got the material and Nathan donated his time. The two of them had it up and running in less than four months. He's a hell of a guy, my Nate." Her voice was soft, introspective.
The words 'my Nate' made me swallow tightly. "How long have you guys been together?"
"Well, it might sound long-ish if I say since April. But really, it feels like we just started because he left in June for Great Bear and we haven't seen each other all summer. Kind of have to start over, you know what I mean?"
"Are you..." I began, feeling unsure about how to ask about the brunette woman. "Monogamous...ly... dating?"
She looked over at me, suddenly wary. "What do you mean?"
"Last time I checked the meaning of the word hadn't changed," I said.
"Well, of course," she said, as though I should know better than to ask. "Nathan is the perfect guy. Smart, kind, successful, a family-man. We haven't even slept together yet because he wants to wait. Can you believe that? What a sweetheart. I know a good thing when I see it. I'm not about to screw it all up. Even my folks love him."
"Yeah, but do you?"
"Absolutely," she said with fervor. She drummed her fingers on the steering wheel as she turned the car down our street. "Absolutely," she said again, softly this time. From that moment on I was invisible. She was so lost in her own thoughts that she didn't even say good-night.
19
My first thought when I woke up was of Nathan. I smiled. My next thought was of Chad, and my smile disappeared. I looked at the digital clock on my bedside table. 8:15. He was expecting a call in less than two hours, and if I didn't call...
"Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme," I rasped as I lay in bed, calling my siren voice forward. Nothing. I sounded like I'd been smoking cigars since infancy. My voice was ruined. I sighed. It would heal, mermaids heal fast, just not fast enough for today's meeting. If my voice was working I would have the upper hand. Chad was dangerous. I knew that now. But I didn't need to get close to him to use my voice on him, all I had to do was be near enough for him to hear me and far enough away that he couldn't stop me before I got the words out. It would take seconds only. Chad was obviously inhumanly strong and capable of producing heat and fire, but unless he closed his hearing off completely, he was more vulnerable to me than I was to him. Or at least, he would be if he hadn’t burnt my throat.
What if I just gave them what they wanted? Tell them I found the coin in The Boneyard and left them to it. Don't be naive, Mira. Chad knows you're a mermaid, you think he'll let you off the hook? He'll try to make you dive, like his own personal treasure hunting slave.
According to my mom, this was the fate of more than one mermaid who had been sloppy about her identity. I didn't know if she told me stories like that to impress upon me how important it was to keep my true nature a secret, or if there really were humans who had figured out how to enslave a siren. I shuddered at the thought. I had to nip this whole situation in the bud, but I needed my voice to do it. Which meant I needed more time.
I found Angelica's business card on my dresser and made my first phone call in close to a decade.
"Hello?" It was Angelica's voice.
"Hi, it's Mira."
"I'm sorry, who? Oh, no wait. Chad did say you'd be calling for him. Sounds like you’ve got a whopper of a cold. I find honey is good for sore throats. One moment please."
There were scratching noises and muffled talking, then, "Mira?"
"Chad," I said, my voice grating out.
"You sound terrible," he said, jovially.
"I'm not going to be able to reverse Angelica's memory right now. We have to wait for my voice to heal."
"I figured. That's ok. You and I can meet up and discuss the particulars of our little treasure hunt. I'll bring the contract. When your voice is better, you can give Angelica back what you stole from her."
"Fine," I rolled my eyes at the melodrama. "Graham Park?" Graham Park was a busy year-round fair-ground, I didn't think he'd misbehave there.
"How about Centennial by the Sea instead? Seven tonight. The picnic tables by the fountain."
Centennial was a park with four baseball diamonds and a soccer field. It was also right next to the ocean, which made me feel safe. I couldn't think of a reason to say no. "Fine," I said. "Seven." I hung up.
20
"Looks like you're healing nicely," Chad said as he sat down across from me. He glanced at my neck. "You don't even have any marks."
"Can we just get this over with?"
"Before we get to the location. Please consider just how much we need your abilities. Searching for treasure under the sea is a cinch for you. For us, it's an expensive, time-consuming, and often dangerous endeavor."
"What are you going to do, force me?” I glared into his black eyes.
"Mira, you're the one who started this conflict when you tampered with Angelica's memory. All we've ever wanted was to work with you as a partner. It's distasteful to suggest we would capture you and force you to do our bidding. Plus that sounds like a lot of unpleasant work. I don't think mermaids are easy to handle."
"I'm not interested in partnering with you, Chad. I'll tell you where I found the coin, and you go do your own hunting. Leave me out of it."
He pondered this. "Is there nothing that could entice you to work with us? I know mermaids are not drawn to money. Is there anything else?"
"Nothing you can give me," I replied, my mind's eye filling with Nathan.
He sighed and reached into his coat. I stiffened, but he pulled out an envelope. He took out two pieces of folded paper and opened them. He spread them on the table in front of me.
"Here's the contract, a copy for you and a copy for us. It's as basic as it gets. Sign, fill in the information and we're finished." He took out a pen and s
et it on the page. The contract included a photo of the coin I had sold to Angelica.
I pulled the contract closer and scanned it. It was short and precise, saying that I, Mira Belshaw, agreed to give them the discovery location of one 1927 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle coin and in exchange, a corporation named Radar Antiques INC would give me half of the value of any further coins found within 50 yards of the location. A space for exact coordinates had been left blank. The contract had already been signed by both Angelica and Chad. Under Angelica's signature was the title of Director.
"I can't give you coordinates," I said. "I'm a mermaid, not a GPS."
"In that case you'll have to show us exactly where in the ocean you found it so we can determine them for ourselves."
"I don't think that's wise," I said, as I filled in my name and signed on both copies. I took my copy of the contract, folded it and put it in my jacket pocket. "I found the coin in Devil's Eye Cove."
His eyes widened and locked onto my face. "No," he said, stunned.
I stood. "It was nice doing business with you, Chad. Good bye." I began to walk across the park towards home.
"Wait a minute." I turned to see him folding the contract and shoving it into his pocket as he caught up with me. "We can't dive there. No one can dive there. You know that. Without you, this information is useless."
"Why do you think I kept turning you down?"
Anger darkened his brow. "Why are you so stubborn? Those coins could be worth as much as a quarter of a million each, maybe more."
"You're asking me why I don't want to waste my time working with the fungus who almost destroyed my voice and who threatened my roommate? Newsflash Chad," I looked him in the eye, "you're the bad guy.”
He grabbed my arm and whirled me to face him, I lifted my hands to fight when something pinched me in the neck. My hand went to the pain and my fingers closed around the tiny dart. The last thing I felt was Chad sweeping me off my feet.
Sirens and Scales Page 93
