Catch of a Lifetime

by Judi Fennell

  As was he. He didn't have a clue where Angel had gone, and any fish he'd tried to ask had taken one look at him—and his passenger—and had swum the other way. The little tuna-shits.

  If he didn't have this stupid hitchhiker, he'd show them about swimming away from him…

  Instead, he'd come up with another way to find her: let her find him.

  The one plus to those scaredy-fish swimming from him was that they wouldn't be able to keep their gaping mouths shut. A shark carrying a Human on his back was sure to hit the gossip pools. All he had to do was float tight and wait for her to show.

  The kid slid sideways on his back. "Yep, this is the place, but I don't see her."

  Neither did A.C. But then, he was only working with one good eye.

  He angled that eye downward. This was where the kid had found her? Why? What had she been doing here? There was nothing here. Not a guyout, not a mound, not even a pockmark in the earth's crust to take a nap in. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch.

  The kid slid again, and A.C. felt one of the little digi ted appendages leave his dorsal.

  Probably trying to keep the stupid hat on his head. They'd had to stop four times to retrieve the damn thing, or the kid had started wailing.

  When they'd recovered the hat the last time and the kid calmed down, he'd explained that his mom had given it to him before she'd left him with his dad. A.C. had wanted to tell the kid that he'd leave him too if he kept acting up like that, but he hadn't wanted to add cry ing to the wailing. Besides, he only had to put up with the annoying pup for just a little longer.

  The kid grabbed hold of his fin with the other hand and tried to kick a leg onto his back, succeeding this time in damaging one of A.C.'s gills.

  The Hammer rolled his good eye, then lowered his tail to get the kid back where he belonged. Not for any thought of being nice; more so that he wouldn't end up with a dislocated fin. This Mer better be worth it.

  "Uh, Mr. Shark?" The kid tapped A.C.'s neck.

  Good thing he was sensitive to vibrations, although this kid's squirming was sorely testing his patience. "Yeah?"

  "Why is the water starting to turn in a circle like a potty?"

  A.C. didn't know what a potty was, but circling water—especially here—could only mean one thing.

  Fuck. He wasn't going to stick around to find out if he was right.

  Giving a moment's thought to flinging the kid at the whirlpool to save himself, A.C. came up with a better plan. Escape first, but if he didn't make it, the kid could be used for something more than lunch, like saving his life for real.

  "Hang on, kid." A.C. whipped his tail hard enough to do the quickest one-eighty he'd ever done—only to see every seabird within a twenty-mile radius head straight to shore.

  Nah, he wasn't pinning his hopes on a kid.

  Especially once the reprisal of the wailing started. No way were they going back for the hat. They'd never make it and the kid would be too dead to need the hat— and not because of him.

  A.C. whipped his tail harder, but the water began to circle faster.

  He ramped up his speed.

  The water sucked him backward.

  He strained to break free from its pull and had made it a few feet when the water changed direction and a voice he remembered all too well rose from the deep.

  "Well, well, well, A.C. Hammer."

  A.C. wasn't afraid of anything in the sea. Not Great Whites, not Bull Sharks, certainly not Hammerheads, not even Harry.

  But her? She scared the shit out of him.

  The water spun him around. There, in the middle of the vortex, with four obscenely pulsing tail flukes fan ning out, floated his worst nightmare: the Denizen of the Deep and the mother of all sea monsters.

  Ceto.

  ***

  Remembering Angel's warning about manatees, Logan kept the throttle low while navigating out of the marina, concentrating on something other than the huge fucking ocean out there. And hurricane season. And the shark.

  He would get Michael back. There was no other option.

  The shadow of a seabird passed over the front of his boat. A seagull.

  Hmm…

  Well, why the hell not? If there were such things as mermaids and talking flamingos, why not talking seagulls? What did he have to lose?

  Logan leaned out from beneath the hardtop and hol lered, "Hey! You! Up there!"

  The bird didn't hear him. Or didn't understand him.

  "Hey! Bird! Down here!"

  A couple of boaters looked at him funny, but Logan didn't care. He wanted his son back, and if the gull could help, he'd ask. He didn't care how abnormal he sounded.

  The gull swooped out of the sky and onto the wind shield, wings still spread as it waddled up to the top and peered over, its pale eyes staring at him, beak clamped shut.

  "Can you help me?"

  The sea gull cocked its head sideways but didn't answer.

  "You can understand me, right? You don't speak Spanish or anything, do you?"

  The bird cocked its head the other way but still didn't say anything.

  Logan felt like an idiot. "Great. I am losing my mind. I'm asking a bird for help." He shook his head and ex haled. Now what?

  "That'll be avian to you, bub." The bird's yellow beak got a little too close to his nose, and Logan pulled back—and smiled.

  "You can talk."

  The bird nodded. "Yes. And how you knew that is going to be a topic of discussion at our annual symposium."

  "Look, Mr. Avian. I don't have ti—"

  "Actually, it's Mr. Gull. Taylor Gull."

  "Okay. Fine. Look, I need your help."

  "You need a lot more than my help. Try getting some manners." The gull hopped over and landed on the con sole, one webbed foot covering the compass. "So, what do you want and how did you know I speak?"

  Logan didn't care for the gull's attitude but needed his help too badly to tell him to stick a clam in it. The bird—avian—would probably love to do it anyway.

  He made one more turn, then they were heading for open water. "I met a mermaid named Angel and—"

  "Ah, Angel!" The gull seemed to smile—could they do that?

  Probably. They were able to do a lot humans knew nothing about. What was one more anomaly when they could think and speak?

  "How is she? Did she get that Coalition job she wanted so badly?" The gull clapped his wingtips over the top of his back—another anomaly. "Ah, but of course she did if she's letting you see her. How won derful. It's about time you Humans learned that you're not the only fishers in the sea. Mers were here long before your kind got a clue about the wheel. Beautiful creatures, Mers. And they don't eat avians either, though I do applaud your fellow citizens for not going after seagulls." Taylor resettled his wings and did a three-step tap dance off the compass. "So, what is it you need besides manners?"

  Logan gritted his teeth and checked their heading. Ginger had said they were going east. He adjusted the wheel accordingly. "A shark kidnapped my son and I need to find them."

  "A shark kidnapped your kid? Buddy, are you listening to yourself? Sharks aren't kidnappers. They're killers."

  Logan couldn't even comment. A killer. As if he didn't know.

  "So. You met Angel? I bet that's a story, huh? I mean, it's not as if you can just toss a line over and hope to catch one." Taylor brushed his beak under his wing.

  "Actually, that's how my son found her."

  One eye opened beneath the wing. "No shit?" He pulled his head out. "Wow. Talk about bad luck. So that's why she's talking to you, eh? What? Did you hold her captive? Try to sell her to science? I swear, you Humans would put the gods on display if you had your way. It's a wonder they let you inhabit the planet."

  "Look, can we examine the theology of avians later? My son's missing, and I'm hoping you can point me in the direction of wherever the shark"—and his son—"went."

  "Oh, is that all?"

  Taylor flipped his head onto his back, then righted it. Loga
n had never paid much attention to that move before he knew birds could talk, but now… it was really annoying when you were trying to hold a conversation.

  "So, can you?" Logan ground out the words, trying really hard not to lose it. Everything—his composure, his patience…

  His sanity was already gone.

  "Well, since you're a friend of Angel's, I'll see what I can do. Hang on."

  With one flap, the bird soared skyward and, in another example of what-the-hell-had-happened-to-the-world, the bird put his wing over his eyes, shielding them, yet still managed to remain aloft.

  Friend of Angel's? Logan thought about correcting him but decided against it. It was her fault this was hap pening in the first place—

  But, actually, it wasn't. It was Michael's, if Ginger was to be believed. And who knew if a flamingo would lie? Certainly not him, and he'd thought he'd seen ev erything during his days with the troupe. Showed what he knew. The ironic thing was, those days now seemed normal compared to this.

  Suddenly, in another what-the-hell-is-happening mo ment, hundreds of sea birds came barreling toward land, squawking and cawing in a massive cloud of wings and near-collisions. Taylor got lost in the throng as they flew over the Mir-a-Mar.

  Then the gull dropped below the horde, his black tipped wings flapping insanely to keep himself horizon tal as he coasted around the back of the boat, landing on the seat behind Logan.

  "Whew! That was close."

  "What the hell's happening?"

  "Something big. I couldn't get a straight answer out of any of them, but something is going on out there, just an hour or two up ahead. I'm betting that's where your shark and your son are. If you want to save him, you're going to want to turn 'er up full throttle."

  Logan did.

  And prayed he wouldn't be too late.

  ***

  Angel never swam so fast in her life, not even when try ing to outswim Harry.

  Okay, maybe equal to when she'd been trying to outswim Harry for her life. But now that she was swim ming for Michael's, even Mariana hadn't been able to keep up with her. She'd left her sister trying to catch her breath somewhere near Spanish Cay.

  Worry fueled her. What had compelled Michael to get on the back of a hammerhead? Was he still alive?

  She kicked harder and saw a pod of dolphin heading toward her from the east. Good. Dolphins were Human friendly. They'd help her.

  And then she saw who it was.

  "Princess!" the head of her brother's Council Guards called out. "Your presence is requested in Atlantis—"

  She didn't slow down. "Captain Brackmann, tell my brother I'll be there as soon as I can, but I have a job to finish first."

  She was in trouble anyway; what was another infrac tion? She wasn't going to leave Michael out here. She was his only hope.

  The dolphin swam up beside her. "I'm sorry, Your Highness, but my orders are to bring you in."

  It was futile to argue. The Council Guards were trained to obey one commander and one commander only—the High Councilman. Her brother. Who could be one stubborn Mer and had a huge shell on his shoulder about her doing this in the first place. But she couldn't leave Michael.

  She also couldn't outswim a pod of highly trained dolphins.

  And then she remembered the final test all Council Guards must undergo before being accepted into their current positions: dolphin swim encounters with Humans. Her father had implemented those surveillance squads selinos ago. That training would bolster her argu ment—as would the fact that dolphins hated sharks.

  "All right, Captain, but there's a Human child in jeopardy with a hammerhead up ahead. I want to save him. A child, Captain. We can't let the shark kill him."

  The dolphin studied her.

  "Really. Come with me to see for yourself."

  The dolphin studied her some more, all the while keeping pace with her. "Fine. We don't need the balance upset any more than it already is. We'll follow you."

  "Good. Let's go." Angel kicked her tail harder, and the captain whistled. Within seconds, all ten cetaceans were lined up behind her in perfect V formation.

  The shark, whoever he was, was in serious trouble.

  Chapter 33

  A.C. WAS IN SOME SERIOUS SHIT.

  "Ah, A.C. We meet again." Ceto swirled her finger in the water, and the whirlpool circled him closer to her, and, ironically, that stupid hat closer to him. "And who do we have here?"

  "Do you know Angel?" the kid asked, leaning off to get his damn hat.

  "Pipe down, kid." A.C. tried swimming backwards, but the current was too strong. So, yes, he'd planned to eat the kid, but at least he'd make the death quick. Painless even. Well, after that first bite. But Ceto? She was known for stretching torture out over eons. No one deserved that.

  "I do know her, child," Ceto answered, her tails seeming not to move at all. Yet somehow she was closer despite A.C.'s attempts to get away. "Who are you?"

  "I'm Michael." The lucky S-O-B actually got the hat and managed to stay on A.C.'s back. "I want to see Angel. She promised she wouldn't leave me, but she did."

  A smirk settled on Ceto's lips as she met A.C.'s gaze. "Altruism, darling? How unlike you."

  A.C. thought about playing it tough but knew he didn't have a prayer of getting away from her —not that he'd prayed in a long, long time, rest Mama's dear, departed, speared-by-a-Human heart.

  There was only one way to deal with Ceto. Pander. At this point, he just wanted to get out of here with his life. "Yeah, well, you know… It's a kid. What are you gonna do?"

  "Yes. That is the question, isn't it?" Ceto slapped the surface of the water, and a bloom of jellyfish rose around her.

  A.C. rolled his eyes. Ouch. That portside eye still stung.

  Just like the jellyfish.

  He stopped the eye-rolling.

  "I'll just relieve you of your burden, A.C. I'm sure you'd be much happier back in the depths. The sun does awful things to a shark's skin, I'm told." She wiggled her fingers at the largest jellyfish closest to her. "Concord, my majordomo, will escort you." She smiled at the kid. "Come here, child."

  A long jellyfish tentacle snaked through the water, up under A.C.'s belly, then once around his tail.

  Then another, this one circling in the other direction.

  For the first time ever, A.C. wanted to stay on the surface. Knowing Ceto, if he went down, he'd never see the light of day again.

  He tried another tactic. "Look, Ceto, the kid's mine. I'm sure we can come to some kind of reasonable ar rangement if you get your henchfish to let go." He swung from side to side, but the tentacles held firm.

  "But that would call for me to be reasonable, and whoever said I was?" She twirled her finger in a circle, and the cnidaria started winching his tentacle in—along with A.C. "As a matter of fact, I distinctly recall a time you told me I was most unreasonable."

  Damn him and his stupid shoot-off-at-the-mouth youth. He'd had to pick Ceto to challenge. It was amaz ing he was alive to be terrified of her.

  And with good fucking reason.

  His days were numbered.

  ***

  Ceto lifted Michael off the idiot's back, encouraged to see there was no fear in the child's brown eyes. Not black like hers, but close enough. She wanted to pull him into her arms and hug him. Brush her lips across his forehead, stroke his hair, and hold him to her. It'd been so long since she'd held a child.

  The Council and their foul rules. None of them knew what it meant to be the bearer of life. Not a single one. Yet they took that from her…

  She'd never forgive them. All she'd ever wanted was to have a child in her life.

  Michael was going to be that child.

  He hadn't screamed when he saw her, proof that he was the one for her. Once she showed him where he'd live for the rest of his life, in a castle, surrounded by tropical fish and warm gentle waters, he'd be excited to stay with her.

  "Hello, Michael."

  "Hello. Where's Angel?"

&
nbsp; Angel. Fisher's princess. The hope of Humankind, if the new Mer ruler's latest venture was to be believed.

  And this Human wanted her.

  It made Ceto sick to her stomach. The Mer was fully capable of bearing her own young. Angel didn't need this one. Ceto was going to make sure he wanted to stay here with her.