“You said you can feel who is watching us,” Leo replied.
“It’s a family thing,” Zia quickly explained. “I can feel my adoptive family watching over us.”
Leo looked at her and was relieved, yet confused. Her adoptive family was giving them plenty of space to be alone, yet they were keeping tabs on their conversations. Were they waiting for Leo to do something? Was it all a setup? Was that Zia’s warning?
“Why would they be watching us that carefully?” Leo finally asked.
Zia opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She closed her mouth, thought something, and then tried again. But nothing came out.
“Yes or no questions, sorry,” Leo told her as she had tried to answer. “Are you allowed to be alone with me?”
“Yes.”
“Are they waiting for me to do something to be able to kick me out of here?”
“No.”
“Is this a setup?”
Zia’s eyes went wide again. She tried to speak, and no words came out. She shut her mouth in a pout, and she was beyond frustrated. Leo couldn’t get close to as mad as she was about the situation. It was obvious she wanted to tell him stuff and wasn’t able to.
“Are you being forced to spend time with me?” Leo really didn’t want to know the answer, but he had to ask. With all the strangeness with Zia, that was one of the likely reasons.
“They can’t force me to like you, and I’m sure they have nothing to do with the connection between us.” At least she could tell him that, even if Leo was now staring at her in shock instead of the other way around.
“You feel it, too?” he asked in a whisper, like he had heard her wrong and didn’t want it to be untrue.
“And that’s why you have to leave,” she replied, not hiding the sadness in her voice. “They will…” Her words were gone again. It was like once she thought a thought, then she couldn’t say it.
“They will do what?” Leo asked desperately. The game of yes and no wasn’t getting him anywhere fast. “They will punish you?”
“No.”
“They will punish me?”
“No.” Zia looked as frustrated as Leo felt. “Let’s try this. I will describe something else and see if you can get the word you need.”
Thinking for a moment at what she said, Leo nodded. He didn’t have any suggestions. He wasn’t sure it would work, but it was better than doing nothing.
“When you go to school and pick up a pencil to write with, how would you tell someone to do that?”
“Write with your pencil?”
“No. Try another word for write.”
“I don’t know.” Leo stared at her expectant face. She was trying, and he had to also. “Use your pencil.”
Zia grinned. “That’s it.”
Leo thought about it a second, putting it back into the conversation they were just having about the Mavkas trying doing something to Zia if they knew about the connection. “They will use us?”
“Yes.”
“Then I need to take you out of here.”
Leo was certain that was his mission. If the Mavkas were following her around, monitoring her every move to use her, then he would have to free her. She had nothing tying her to the Mavkas. Mer law was simple: if you wanted to join another clan, you could. Most of the time the clans didn’t mix, but Sam would keep her safe. That was the thing about Sam. He didn’t specifically like being a Siren, but he cared for all mer.
“Be my mate, and then you can get out of here,” Leo blurted out without any grace whatsoever.
Zia smiled, but then it turned to a frown. Tears began to well up in her eyes as she quickly stood and hurried back to the chairs. Leo followed her to find that she was already crawling across the chairs to leave. He had to follow that way also to not disclose her secret spot.
“I can’t,” she told him before running away.
Leo wanted to chase her, but stood there in shock instead as he watched her run away. The man he had suspected of following them stood up from the opposite side of the room and walked after Zia, but not without first glancing at Leo.
Staring after the girl of his dreams, Leo was confused. She seemed like she liked him, but she wanted him to leave. She admitted she felt the connection, too. He thought she would be happy that he would take her with him, but instead, she ran away. It made no sense. And now he had to go back and explain it to Sam. They were supposed to be looking for something, but he had a feeling it wasn’t a mate. He hadn’t done any searching of anything, and they only had days left. Sam wasn’t going to be happy.
7
Sam stared at his friend in shock. Part of the whole reason they wanted to leave the Siren was because neither one of them wanted a mate. It was hard to believe Leo had asked the Mavkas girl he had known for less than three days to be his. Sam hadn’t been expecting that.
“Let’s try that again,” Sam said, needing clarification. He held out his hand to make the blood connection between them.
Leo gripped his hand like they were going to arm wrestle as he stood face-to-face with Sam.
‘I can’t explain it, Sam. There’s just something about her. From the first time I saw her, I felt it. Really, there isn’t anything more I can give you on that.’
‘And because you felt this, you want to be her mate and bring her back to the Siren even though you’re facing death if we don’t get our act in gear and find what my father is looking for?’
Sighing, Leo looked at his friend. Sam had no idea what Leo was thinking. He was supposed to be searching for something to save his life, not chasing a girl around. While it was technically allowed, the mer clans didn’t mix. Leo was in enough trouble as it was, and Sam was certain his father wouldn’t be happy to take on a Mavkas mer. He’d see her as a spy.
‘Once I bind myself to her, she will be considered a Siren. Your father would have to accept her.’
Sam wasn’t certain of that.
‘Didn’t you say she ran off? I’d take that as a no.’
Leo shrugged.
Breaking the connection, Sam walked back to the clear wall looking out into the dark ocean. He had nothing. There was no evidence in Min’s office, and there was nothing suspicious about anything in the Mavkas world. In fact, there was very little to the place at all. It was possible whatever he was searching for was outside. Sam planned to spend the next day exploring the area beyond the pods, but that was going to be hard with all the mer swimming around. They seemed to either fear, or be transfixed by, his blue tail. He wasn’t going to be able to snoop too much.
“We aren’t done,” Leo told Sam from behind him.
Turning around, Sam raised an eyebrow at his friend. Leo wasn’t typically assertive… like ever. That alone made Sam hold out his hand for him. Leo took it, making their silent connection return.
‘There’s magic on Zia. She can’t tell me what she thinks freely. She’s being forced to hide a secret.’
Now that Sam could work with. Hiding secrets was enough of a lead that maybe he could back Leo’s crazy idea.
‘How can you be certain she isn’t just dragging you along like I am with Cate?’
‘They are following her around to make sure she does what they want. You can’t tell me that if someone was in on it that they would need to do that.’
Leo did have a point there.
‘And it doesn’t add up,’ Leo continued. ‘Something makes her different than the rest of them. I didn’t see it before, but I’m beginning to see it now. She doesn’t act like them.’
‘Like how?’
Sam needed more information. Leo was already looking at punishment from Sam’s father—he knew adding a mate wasn’t going to make much of a difference there—but Sam still needed to know more. Leo was his friend, and more than anything Sam wanted to keep him safe, but he also wanted him to be happy. Leo was certain it was his last few days alive. If chasing after his dream girl would make him happy, Sam kind of had to go along with it. But if Leo had more info
rmation that could save them, Sam wanted to know that, too.
‘She knows about the outside world. She talked about being in school and using a pencil. Do you see those around here? And she called this place an apartment. How does she know what one of those are? She’s had to have been outside this place. She told me she was adopted by Min and his family when hers was gone, but she never said where they went.’
Leo was making lots of good points. All of that would make Sam question everything from her also. But if Leo was correct in that she was unable to answer questions, how could they find out more?
‘I know you don’t get it. But, Sam … I have to save her. I need to save her. I know that my time is limited. Your father sent us here as torture for my final week alive. I get it. But I can’t just let her stay here. She’s in trouble. I just know. We need to save her and take her with us. If I bind to her, then we can do that. The Mavkas can’t keep her because the Siren are higher up. She would be free to come with us.’
Sam nodded, but wasn’t completely convinced. He was pretty certain Min’s daughter, Cate, was sure that Sam was going to want to bind to her, too. However, he had no intention of doing that ever. Every time Cate mentioned binding, Sam just played along. What if that was the case with Leo? Sam had met Zia only once. He wasn’t certain she could be trusted, or if she was just playing Leo. They needed more information.
‘We can’t rush this—’ Sam began before Leo cut him off.
‘Rush this? We only have four days left.’
‘We can’t be sure her intentions are good.’ Sam held up his free hand to get Leo to not interrupt again. ‘I get that you feel something. It isn’t that I don’t trust you. But we need to be sure she isn’t just trying to trick you. We have to be able to talk to her before you do something crazy like bind to a mer of a different clan.’
‘I told you, she can’t talk about it, and doing a yes and no game takes forever. We don’t have time to get the whole story.’
‘She can’t talk out loud but what about like we are talking now. Can’t you try that first?’
Leo nodded. ‘I can do that. But once I confirm that she isn’t a spy sent to ruin us, can I please ask to be her mate? I have like four more days to live, at least let me live them out happily.’
Sam nodded, releasing his friend’s hand. If she wasn’t a spy, he couldn’t deny Leo a bit of happiness, but Sam wasn’t going to quit looking for something. With a mate or not, Sam was going to save Leo. He was his friend, and he wasn’t giving up.
Leo walked to breakfast alone the next day. Upon waking, Sam decided to forgo breakfast and search the area outside. Sam was convinced there was something to find, even if Leo thought it was a lost cause. He did offer to go with Sam, but he said it was better for Leo to meet up with Zia.
The breakfast area was already filled with people when Leo arrived. There were way more gathered than the day before, and it was probably good that Sam was using the time to look outside. It seemed possible that all of the Mavkas were inside. Leo joined the back of the line, waiting for the food as he casually observed the people. Zia’s light green hair wasn’t anywhere to be found.
Making it to the front of the line, Leo was disappointed she wasn’t there to help him figure out what every food was. He kept glancing up for her every few moments, hoping he hadn’t scared her away permanently. Without a clue as to what any of the foods were, Leo took a piece of everything. He’d try it all since he found out that some of the stuff tasted like real food. Now if only his new female friend would show up, she could tell him ahead of time what everything was.
Leo found a table and took the corner seat to himself. All around him groups of people sat together talking. Leo stared at his food, but listened. Since he remembered what silence sounded like, he was a little bit interested in the voices around him. Leo glanced around as he searched for the voices of the people he heard the clearest. It was a shrill female voice, and a much softer one. Next to him were two groups that included males who were talking. He wasn’t focusing on their conversations. Casually, Leo looked around the room again. It took several glances, but he found the pair of girls. When he glanced a second time, he could make out exactly which one was which. It was strange to find the clearest conversation he heard was from someone sitting three tables away, and at least another ten feet away beyond that. Zia and Sam were both right about the acoustics in this place. He’d never given it a second thought.
“This seat taken?” Zia asked as she seemed to magically show up at Leo’s empty table.
Leo shrugged. “Well, I was planning to save it for my dozen friends, but it seems none of them got the invitation.” Leo smiled at Zia when her face broke into a smile, and she laughed. It was the first time he had heard her laugh, and he was already racking his brain for a good joke to tell her just to get her to do it again.
“Are you getting used to the sand beds?” Zia asked as she sat down next to him.
“I don’t think anyone can truly get used to sleeping on sand. It just gets stuck in all the wrong places.” And that was the truth. Leo had accidentally slid his head off the blanket he slept on the night before and woke with sand plastered to his skull.
“Oh, you get used to it,” Zia told him.
“Like you?”
“Like everyone around here,” Zia replied as though she didn’t understand what he was trying to get her to admit to. “Are you up for a tour outside the pod today?”
He had expected to pull her back to the quiet alcove and tell her his plan, and have her show him the answers he needed to reassure Sam. Instead, she wanted to leave the pod to go where they couldn’t speak, but just swim around. Yes, Leo needed to hydrate his fin, but it was still weird. She didn’t hint at wanting to talk to him.
“I was hoping we could just hang around today like yesterday.”
Zia looked at him like she was lost. “Well it would be strange to give you a second tour of this place, but if that’s what you want …”
Leo glanced around the room, specifically to where those two girls had been seated that he could hear. There had to be someone there listening in on them. To his surprise, no one was there. The girls were gone, and no one else sat at the table. Leo glanced around the room. There was no one paying attention to Leo and Zia as they talked, and the guy from the day before was gone.
“Is there someone else?” Leo asked, knowing Zia would understand what he was saying as he scanned around.
“You’d like someone else to give you a tour?” Zia suggested.
Now it was getting frustrating. She said she was the only Zia here and he knew he was with the same girl, but it was feeling like someone had taken away the Zia he had spent the day with previously. Leo watched her as she ate. When she smiled back at him, the smile didn’t reach her eyes, and he scanned around the room again. People were clearing out, but he still didn’t see anyone watching them.
“I wasn’t looking for a new tour guide,” Leo replied.
“So we can go for a swim?”
Leo didn’t know how to answer. He really needed to get her alone to talk, but that didn’t seem to be something she wanted to do. He’d have to play her game for now.
“Sure. Let’s go for a swim.”
Zia let Leo go first into the water, and he barely had enough time to turn around before she was zooming out of the pod and beside him. It turned out that swimming wasn’t that bad of an idea. Like all mer, Siren needed the water as much as they needed blood, and Zia could see the relief on Leo as she dashed by him. Her orange tail glowed in the water like the few Mavkas who were also enjoying the water courtyard, but his tail was the perfect shade of blue. She had wanted to see it since she had first met him and she was completely right that it was perfect like Leo. Pointing down, Zia waved for Leo to follow.
Leading the way around the courtyard, Zia stopped to point out the various edges of everything. She hoped he was paying close attention. They weren’t kidding about being swept off to sea if you a
ccidentally left the pod. When she was finally sure he would be safe, Zia made her way back to the center of the area. There were actual seats, which weren’t on the floor like inside, and people sat around like usual. Zia typically only came out to refresh her tail. It was the first time for her to just sit. Leo followed and sat beside Zia. It was strange for the both of them. Zia found it easier to just glance around rather than stare at the mer beside her. Her feelings for him were only growing now that she had seen his night human side.
After lounging around for a while, Leo glanced over at Zia, who he had been doing his best to avoid looking at her. She pretended not to notice as he now watched her instead of watching the various mer as they played around out in the water, or the ones that were doing their daily work.
Zia was content to sit around, but she felt the pull in her mind. Lan was going to be outside soon and staring at them. She was sure to finally be punished if he saw her not making progress. Zia tapped Leo’s hand to get his attention off the world around him that he had been diligently staring at until the moment she turned to him. She motioned for him to follow, and they went back inside. Leo went first again, and Zia came in right behind, accidentally bumping into him.
“What’d you think?” she asked
“Different than I’m used to. You weren’t kidding about being caught if you left the barrier,” he added.
No, she wasn’t kidding, and it was good to see her tour had made a point.
Zia nodded as they walked back to the main area. Lan was still gone, but she was sure he wasn’t far away. He was like a puppy who follows you around constantly. Zia had wanted a puppy as a child, but she sure didn’t now. When she moved to sit at one of the tables, Leo ignored her and walked to the alcove outside of the main room. He sat down in one of the low chairs, out of her view. Zia wasn’t sure what to do. He seemed mad at her. She had a feeling it was because she was trying not to be alone with him. Every moment alone led to her wanting more from him. It was a dangerous game. He needed to be able to leave when the time came, and if she let her feelings out, he would get caught just as she did.
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