She closed the phone gently and laid it down on the table as if it were a pet snake that had suddenly turned around and bitten her without warning.
“I take it there’s a problem?” Marcus said, his voice gentler than usual when dealing with Beka.
She wrapped both hands around her beer mug. He could see the slight tremor she used the action to try to hide. “That was my friend Bran; he works at the university lab where I brought all my samples. He’d given them to some of his students as an extra-credit project. They were hoping to have the results this week.” She heaved a sigh. “He just called to tell me that the lab burned to the ground late last night. Took everything I collected with it. I’m going to have to start all over again.”
“Shit,” he echoed, taking a swig of his own beer. “That sucks. Do they know what caused the fire?”
“Could have been an accident; some student forgetting to turn off a piece of equipment that then overheated,” she said, discouragement etched into her face as deeply as the names on the table between them. “Or maybe even arson. I guess they’re considering all the options.”
“Could it have anything to do with your project?” Marcus asked. He knew as well as anyone how much collateral damage the government was responsible for, one way or the other.
Beka’s jaw dropped. “Mine? Why would anyone burn down a whole lab to stop me from getting my test results?”
“You’d know that better than I would,” he said, his voice dry. It hadn’t escaped him that she had only told him a fraction of what he’d wanted to know. “But it is worth considering.” If for no other reason than if the fire was in fact targeting Beka’s work, she could be in danger.
“There was that storm,” she said, “but I don’t see how that could have anything to do with this.” She shook her head, a strand of golden hair drifting into the nut-brown contents of her mug. She yanked it out with a scowl and dried it on her dress, unmindful of the stain. As usual, Marcus had no idea what she was talking about.
“Besides, nobody knows I’m here except the people who sent me,” she added.
“And me,” Marcus pointed out. “And whoever saw you going out on my father’s boat every day, if they knew about this secret job of yours.” He wanted to reach across the table and shake her awake. “You’re too trusting, Beka.”
“And you’re too suspicious,” she snapped. “I have bigger worries right now. Like what am I going to do about getting more samples? Not only do I have to find another lab to do the tests, I have to collect all the material again. Which would have been easier if I hadn’t just sent Fergus home.” She bit her lip.
Something that looked suspiciously like a tear trembled at the edge of her dark gold lashes, and Marcus heard himself say, “I’ll help you.”
He wasn’t sure which one of them was more surprised.
ELEVEN
KESH SHOOK HIS head. “How unfortunate,” he said to Beka in his even, lightly accented voice, only the slightest hint of a smile escaping to swim sharklike around the edges of his lips when she wasn’t looking. “All that hard work lost. Such a pity.”
Beka made a face, staring out over the darkening bay. The lingering remnants of another splendid sunset cast a copper glow on the gentle ebb and flow of the waves and picked out golden highlights in her hair. Kesh took a moment to admire her as he congratulated himself yet again for finding such an elegant solution to a tricky situation. His father should have made him king after all. The senile, crusty-gilled old fool.
“It’s a disaster, that’s what it is,” Beka said gloomily. She didn’t even move away when he slid closer and put one comforting arm around her. “I’m right back where I started, with nothing to show for it. Your father and Queen Boudicca are going to think I’m the most incompetent Baba Yaga in the history of Baba Yagas. Gah.”
“Surely not,” Kesh said in his best imitation of kindness. “I doubt that even the old Baba could have solved this problem.” He shuddered a little at the thought of the former Baba. He was not afraid of much on sea or on land, but that one . . . she made his spine twitch. “It is merely one of the mysteries of the wide world, destined to remain unsolved. The Selkies and Merpeople will adjust to their new homes. The weak will die, as they always have. No one will blame you.”
Now she shifted, backing off to stare at him in amazement. “I will blame me,” she said. “And it doesn’t matter, because I’m not giving up.”
It was Kesh’s turn to stare. “Surely you are not serious. You told me yourself that all your hard-won bits and pieces are gone, swallowed up in a fire. And there is no guarantee they would have shown you anything even if they had not been. You have no clues, no answers. Your helper has returned to his rightful place in the sea. It is time to accept the inevitable and move on to other things.” He put one hand on her knee to suggest what those things might be.
Frustratingly, she ignored him as if he had not spoken. Kesh was not accustomed to being ignored.
Beneath his calm exterior, his temper boiled like lava, although nothing showed on the surface except his usual boyish charm. If the twinkle in his deep eyes suddenly hinted at sparks as hot as the blaze he had started in the laboratory, Beka seemed not to notice.
“I’ve been thinking about this ever since I got the phone call from Bran,” she said, animation returning to her tone as she spilled her plans out as if they were pearls instead of the foolish schemes of an inexperienced girl who had no idea what she was up against.
“I’m going to dive and get some more samples, but this time, instead of just sending them to a lab, I’m going to do some magical experiments on them as well. Maybe I’ll be able to determine something that way. Just because I couldn’t get a handle on the problem underwater, where working magic is more difficult, doesn’t mean I won’t be able to sense something pertinent once I’m in the school bus, with all my tools.”
“How clever,” Kesh said through gritted teeth. “But how will you dive without your Merman assistant?” He tilted his sleek head, the picture of regretful disappointment. “I would take you out myself, but of course, I have no boat sufficient for such a task.”
“Oh, that’s no problem,” Beka said. A slight breeze off the water picked her hair up, making it float around her shoulders in silky waves. “Marcus said he’d help me.”
The copper goblet Kesh was holding made a slight crunching noise, covered up by the sound of the breakers hitting the beach. He set it down out of sight, lest Beka spot the finger-shaped indentations now marring its classic lines. “Oh?” he said, not quite growling. “I thought the two of you did not get along.”
Beka shrugged, taking a sip from her own goblet and nibbling on a bit of salmon, her usual healthy appetite obviously returning as she cheered up. “I’ll admit, when I first met him, I thought he was a jerk. I would gladly have run him down with my Karmann Ghia, if I hadn’t thought it would dent the poor baby. But it turns out he’s got hidden depths.”
Kesh snorted. The only hidden depths he was interested in were the ones where he could conceal his unexpected rival’s dead and mangled body.
“No, really,” Beka said, blissfully ignorant of the sudden homicidal turn of her companion’s thoughts. “He’s taking care of his sick father even though he can’t stand the man; you’ve got to give him credit for that. He spent twelve years in the Marines, and Chico, that’s the sailor who’s been with his dad for years, told me that Marcus has all kinds of medals stowed away in his gear that he never tells anyone about.”
“Medals, foolish Human tokens,” Kesh muttered under his breath. “Let him kill a whale with only a spear and his bare hands, and then tell me of shiny medals.” His sharp teeth pulled a raw clam from its shell, tearing it into shreds that he swallowed to wash the bitter taste out of his mouth. This was not going as he had planned.
“And he took this boy with cancer out on the boat for the day. I couldn’t believe how patient Marcus was with him.”
“It almost sounds as though you l
ike this Human,” Kesh said with a sneer. “You are the Baba Yaga. He is not for one such as you.”
Beka blushed, or perhaps it was just the reflected light from the bonfire he had built from piles of gnarled and crooked driftwood, glowing off her high cheekbones. “Don’t be ridiculous. He still treats me like I’m an annoying, ditzy pest that he only puts up with because he has to. And I know he’s not planning to stick around forever; he’s told me a bunch of times that he’s only here for as long as his father needs him. But I had to tell him at least part of the truth, and he’s willing to help me because he thinks that whatever is causing the problem in the water might be related to why the fish aren’t showing up the way they’re supposed to. Enlightened self-interest, I guess you could call it.”
“Self-interest indeed,” Kesh scoffed. “That is the only reason Humans do anything. Has it not occurred to you, Baba, that almost all of the imbalances that you are called upon to fix in nature are caused by Humans? And that this one is likely to have been as well. Why clean up their messes for them? Why not simply let them reap the rewards of their callous disregard for our beloved oceans?”
Beka’s lovely face showed her every emotion, as usual: shock, sadness, doubt, and a touch of reluctant agreement. Kesh pounced the moment he saw it.
“There are many of us who feel that the Humans have been allowed to wreak destruction on the seas for far too long. Perhaps, instead of running around picking up after them as if they were children who never learned to play responsibly with their toys, you might consider joining with those of us who would punish them for their harmful ways instead, and teach them better manners when they are guests in places that do not belong to them.”
“Us?” Beka said, a touch of sharpness in her voice that caught him by surprise. “Who is us?”
Kesh shrugged. “Some are my people, or other denizens of the magical places under the sea, where we water dwellers were forced to stay behind when most of the paranormal creatures of the world passed into the greater safety of the Otherworld during the great exodus. Others are magical folk who stayed here by choice, or visit periodically from the Otherworld, although those grow fewer every year as the Humans encroach even further on the rare untouched places left for our kind.”
“I see,” Beka said slowly. “And what kind of ‘punishments’ do you and your friends use to teach these pesky Humans better manners, pray tell?”
Sensing a sudden hint of danger, Kesh backpedaled rapidly. “Nothing drastic, my dear Beka, I assure you. Merely little things, like driving the fish away from their established routes, so that the fishermen will get discouraged and go find some less dangerous trade to ply, one that does not involve the careless and wasteful deaths of thousands of dolphins and turtles and others of our marine brethren, as well as an ongoing threat to all Merpeople and Selkies.”
“Look, Kesh, I don’t approve of some of the techniques that commercial fishermen use,” Beka said, looking troubled. “But there are Humans who are trying to change things so that such tragedies don’t happen as often. And many of these fishermen are good people, just trying to support themselves and their families in the way they learned from their fathers. If you drive the fish away, those families will suffer.”
“And what of the suffering of our families?” Kesh rebutted, letting more anger into his voice than he’d intended. “Are you too Human to care about them too?”
Beka rocked back as if he’d slapped her, and he immediately softened his tone. “I apologize if my words seem harsh, dear one; I am simply concerned for the well-being of my people.”
Not the fools who had stayed behind to follow his father like a mindless school of fish, of course, but those who had more wisely chosen to throw their lot in with him. There were not many, as yet, but once he could demonstrate that he was a strong leader, capable of inflicting harm upon their enemies, more would come. They would carve out a new kingdom upon the parched dry land until he could build up enough strength and numbers to return to wrest his rightful place as king under the sea from the hands of his weakling brother. One way or the other, the Baba Yaga would help him with that plan, whether she intended to or not.
“I understand that, Kesh,” she said, patting him on the arm. “But depriving the fishermen of their livelihood isn’t the way to go about it. Please tell me you’ll send the fish back where they belong.”
She gave him a bright, encouraging smile. His fingers itched to slap it off her face, but he smiled back charmingly instead. “As you wish, darling Baba. I am certain that if we work together, we will be able to come up with solutions that will satisfy us both, and still keep those entrusted into your tender care safe from Human carelessness.”
An innocent sideways glance accompanied his next question. “No doubt you have some clever plan to fix everything, if you cannot find the answers through your exploration of the damaged areas near the trench where once my people swam so freely?”
He knew she did not. And when she once again began to doubt herself, and her ability to solve the problem, he would be there to console her, whispering his own clever suggestions in her ears.
Beka scratched her nose pensively. “Actually, I was thinking about that earlier, and I had an idea. It’s kind of a long shot, but I thought I would start doing some research on the kind of damage I’ve been finding on the plant and animal life, and some of the symptoms that have been showing up in the children and elderly sea people who have been affected by this poison.” She perked up again as she put her plan into words. “Maybe I can find records of similar instances, something that will give me a clue to what would cause this kind of mutation. I’m not sure why I didn’t think of it before; I guess I was just so certain I’d be able to figure it out right away. Still, it gives me another avenue to follow, and that’s good, right?”
Kesh raised his glass to her. “You astonish me, my dear Baba,” he said with complete honesty, and no little irony. “I had no idea you had it in you.”
This was bad. Very, very bad. If she started looking in the right direction, it would not take her long to find the answers she sought. And that would be the ruination of all his careful plans. How very unfortunate indeed. Such a pity.
He reached into the basket of food he had packed so carefully for their romantic picnic on the beach and pulled one special container from underneath the extra black linen napkins folded into intricate, dainty shapes and the last unopened bottle of vintage California wine.
“We should celebrate,” Kesh said solemnly, placing the beautiful lacquered box on the blanket in front of Beka. He opened the lid with a flourish, displaying the glistening red fish that lay inside on a tranquil bed of light green seaweed salad. Together, they glowed like jewels under the rising moon. “I brought this especially for you. It is a delicacy prepared by my finest chefs.” He smiled almost as brightly as the moon itself. “I caught the fish myself, as a gift.”
Beka ducked her head, hiding her answering smile behind the golden fall of her long hair. “Thank you, Kesh. I’m honored.” She held out the box in his direction so he could take a piece.
“Oh no, darling Baba,” he said, soft as the whispering undertow that hid beneath the calmest surface. “I brought that for you. I would not think of depriving you of one precious morsel.” He leaned forward and plucked a delicate sliver of fish out of the container with slender, slightly webbed fingers. “I insist you eat every last piece,” he said, placing it into her mouth with tender care. “I promise you, it will change your life.”
* * *
BEKA CLOSED THE final collection bag carefully and placed it in the waterproof sack with the others in the bow of the dinghy. As she turned to sit down again, she took a moment to look across the small vessel at her companion. Marcus was so large, he seemed to take up most of the space in the tiny boat. Not that there was an extra ounce of fat on him, but between his height, wide shoulders, and broad chest, not to mention all those muscles, he took up a lot of room. The power of his personality only
added to the impression.
Yet he was also amazingly graceful. She’d already seen him moving around the Wily Serpent in the carefully orchestrated dance of the fisherman, but underwater, he’d been a revelation. Although Marcus told her he hadn’t dived since he’d left home at eighteen, it was clear he hadn’t forgotten a thing. He’d gone down with her the first two times so she could show him the blighted patches of giant kelp, and other evidence of the poisoned area, and he’d had no trouble keeping up with her even when they dove to the very edge of the depths she could handle. As a Baba Yaga, that was very deep indeed.
Now they both sat and recovered from their efforts, Beka with her wet suit rolled down to her waist over a crimson one-piece suit, and Marcus in only tiny trunks that hugged his slim hips and lean bottom in a way that made it easy for Beka to wait for the Serpent to return from its rounds and fetch them on its way home. She glanced at him from beneath lowered lashes and surprised him looking back at her the same way. They both laughed, a little sheepishly.
“Thanks for all your help today,” she said, shifting carefully to sit across from him. “I’ve got enough new samples to make another start on some of the research I want to do, although I’ll definitely want to go back down again tomorrow if that’s okay with you.”
Marcus scowled, but for once his grim expression wasn’t aimed at her. “I can’t believe some of the damage you showed me. It just doesn’t make sense that it is worse down deep than it is near the surface. That suggests something like an oil spill or chemical contamination from careless transport.” He shook his head, one lock of wavy hair flopping into his eyes in a way Beka found ridiculously endearing. “And I’m happy to help, especially if the answers lead us to something that would explain the reason the fish have disappeared.”
A spasm of guilt made Beka wince. She was still struggling to deal with Kesh’s admission from last night. She really liked the Selkie prince, and she knew he was doing his best to protect his people from what he rightfully saw as the Human threat, but she couldn’t allow him to purposely throw off the natural balance as he’d been doing. Distress from her divided loyalties had kept her up tossing and turning most of the night, almost feverish with worry. Even now, her stomach was twisted into knots and she shook her head at the apple Marcus offered her. Hopefully Kesh listened to her, and would send the fish back where they belonged, and she wouldn’t be forced to choose between her new friend and her responsibilities as Baba.
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