As we walk away from the tank, I grab Jen’s arm to stop her. The light in her eyes falters. “We won’t get in trouble, will we?”
“If anyone sees them in the same tank, we will.”
“Should we get her back in her own tank, then?”
I consider the pair. Erie’s lying on Niku’s back, tracing the scars on his side. I may be the world’s biggest dick for separating them in the first place, and I may be the stupidest person in Oceanica for letting them back in together, but not even I have the heart to tear them apart right now.
My shoulders sink. “Leave them. We’ll come in early.”
Jen turns, but I touch her arm again. “Do you need a drink? I need a drink.”
“Meet you at the Porch?”
I shake my head. “We need to talk without everyone else. The Irish pub on Flagler?”
She nods, and we go our separate ways to meet up there. By the time I arrive, she’s sitting at a table with a beer. The waitress comes over when I sit; I order a beer and two shots of whiskey.
“I don’t know about that,” Jen says.
I look her straight in the eye. “You talked to a mermaid today, and she talked back.”
“Good point.”
The shots arrive. We clink them together, hit the bar, and down them. Despite her lack of beer knowledge, Jen can do shots like a pro. She drops her empty glass in mine and takes a sip of her beer. “So, what do we have to talk about without the rest of the interns overhearing?”
“First, we’re trainers now, not interns. Second, we are so fucked.”
Panic crosses her face. “You said we could go in early to separate them. No one has to know.”
“And you better not tell anyone, because then we’re fired as well as fucked.” I take a drink of beer. I need another shot—the last one isn’t working fast enough. “I’m not talking about getting in trouble with Corporate, although that will certainly happen if anyone finds out. I’m talking about being really, truly in trouble.”
Jen lifts an eyebrow. “Is it against the law to keep a Mer and dolphin together?”
“That’s not what I mean.”
“Then spit it out.”
Another big gulp, and I motion the waitress for another round. I drain my glass as I try to figure out how to tell Jen I’ve just condemned her to death at the hands of a Mer. “When you think of Io—Erie—whatever . . . what do you imagine?”
Jen peers at me like I’ve gone crazy. “I imagine a mermaid with magenta hair.”
“Ariel or velociraptor?”
The look doesn’t leave her face. “What kind of question is that?”
“A very important one. Do you think of her as a predator or a pet?”
“I don’t know. I think of her as Io. Depressed, won’t eat, Iodine.”
“Depressed,” I echo, and when the next round arrives, I take a big swig. “Predators don’t get depressed.”
“What’s this about?” Jen covers my hand with hers. “What’s wrong?”
Her eyes are such a deep shade of brown. I’ve never seen a redhead with eyes like hers. Maybe she dyes her hair? I don’t know—I’m doing whatever I can to not think about how much trouble we’re in. “There was this trainer at Oceanica, right at the beginning. Her name was Hannah Michaels. She had eyes like yours.”
Jen sits back, suddenly cold. “Let me guess, you slept with her.”
“What? No. I was seventeen. She was, like, thirty, or something. She’d been a trainer at Orca World. Years of training under her belt.” I sip my beer and stare at the grain of the table wood as I recall Hannah’s easy smile. Her fearless nature. The kind-hearted teasing because I was young and awkward and boss’s pet. “She claimed her Mer was tame—that she’d made friends with it. Her Mer was more like a pet than a predator.”
I take a deep drink as Jen runs her fingertip through a wet circle on the table.
“Hannah’s ‘pet’ killed her during a show. Jumped right onto the platform and pulled her under. Ripped her fucking face off. She thought they were friends.”
Jen’s silent, her gaze lost in her beer for a full thirty seconds. I finish my drink. “You can’t think of Erie as a friend, or a pet. As soon as you do, you’re dead. She’s a predator. A velociraptor. A killer.”
Jen spins her glass, watching with eyes as dull as Radon’s. She’s trying to reconcile depressed, vain Erie with the idea of getting her face ripped off. “But—”
“No.” I grab her hands, pressing them into the cold glass. “No. I almost died two weeks ago because Maddy forgot how dangerous the Mer are. If you’re going to work with me, I need you to keep your wits about you. I don’t want to end up unconscious in the hospital again, or worse. Got it?”
Her face pales, and she swallows. I’ve probably ruined the most exciting day of her life, but hopefully, it’ll keep us both alive.
“Another shot?”
“Yeah.” Her head dips forward, hair falling to cover her trembling lips. “Yeah, I could do another.”
When I walk into the holding room the next morning, Erie’s curled up around Niku’s dorsal fin, sleeping. His eyes are closed, but when I get closer, they snap open and he bares his teeth at me. I swear he’s more pit bull than dolphin.
I salute him and decide to fish the necklaces from Erie’s tank before I separate them. I’ve just pulled the bag out when Jen enters. She glances once at the pair, and her shoulders sink as she turns away. She’s not imagining a velociraptor.
“Here.” I hold out her stolen necklace as I descend the stairs, and she takes it with a soft word of thanks. “You may not want to wear it around Erie again. And don’t call her Erie with anyone else—as far as they know, she’s still Iodine, and she doesn’t speak.”
Jen runs her fingers over the dolphin pendant without acknowledging me. I feel like I’ve deflated every bit of happiness she’s ever had. Unfortunately, it’s time to destroy any remaining threads, because I’m sure this separation will go as well as the first—only, this time, we’ll know what Erie’s screaming.
Before we can start, Jen grabs my shoulder. “How did no one know they could talk before now?”
“You saw Argon’s introduction to Ray and K. Silence is one of the first things they learn.”
A derisive huff leaves her. “So people won’t think they’re human.”
“They aren’t human.”
“They have a language.”
“So do dolphins. Do you think dolphins are human, too?”
Jen hugs her arms to her chest and gazes into the tank, sulking. I tap on the glass. “Morning, Erie. Niku.” He swims to the other side as she groggily raises her head and peers around. When her magenta eyes land on me, she uncurls from her dolphin.
“Finn?” That otherworldly, soft-yet-high-pitched voice again, muffled slightly by the glass.
A wide smile pulls at my cheeks, because despite the fact I’m absolutely fucked, a mermaid just said my name. Hopefully, if I keep smiling, she’ll do as I ask. “You ready for breakfast, beautiful?”
She points to herself. “Erie.”
“I know, sweet.”
She shakes her head and jabs herself in the chest. “Erie.”
All I can do is chuckle. “I know, Erie. Let’s get you back in your tank and get you some breakfast.” I fish the green necklace that didn’t fall into the tank out of my pocket, and her wide eyes follow it. “Open the tube, Jen.”
The glass slides up, and Erie glances around, panicked, before swimming to Niku. She wraps her arms around him.
“Sorry, sweetness. Time to go back.” I point at the tube, and she shakes her head. I hold up the necklace, and her arms tighten. Bribery won’t work—time to use threats.
I pocket the necklace and climb the stairs to the platform. They watch me, probably wondering what I’m about to do. When I grab the electroshocker from the wall, Jen speaks.
“Finn, you can’t.”
“I will if I have to.” As soon as the shocker’s in the water, Erie starts yelling Mer words at me. I turn to Jen. “Tell her to get into the tube.”
Jen knocks on the glass to get Erie’s attention and points at the tube. “Please, Erie, just go in. Don’t make him hurt you.”
Erie says something to Niku. She waits a moment, as if listening to his reply, though he doesn’t click, or whistle, or make any of the other noises associated with dolphins. Then she hangs her head and swims toward the tube.
“Attagirl,” Jen says and motions her on. Erie glances at Niku before she hunches her shoulders and swims in. I relax and take my finger away from the button as I watch Jen close the door behind her, and Niku—angry pit bull Niku—rips the electroshocker from my hands and the wall. I stumble and nearly fall in the water.
“Shit!” That’s an expensive piece of equipment. He beats it against the side of the tank like a toy. Goddamn dolphin.
“What happened?” Jen says, but Erie’s about to panic in the tube, so I point to it.
“Get the other end open.”
She scrambles to open the door while I scrutinize Niku and the ruined piece of equipment I’ll have to fish out of his tank. Fuck. Corporate’s gonna be pissed.