My belly full, I continued into the well lit streets of the quiet town. My first human interaction had gone very well. I’d eaten well, paid without too much fuss, and learned to call people ‘hon’. A car drove past and I jumped, nearly dropping my precious bag of food. I knew about cars. And machines. They were land-boats, was how Dane explained it to me. But seeing it in person was a whole other experience.
Hearing them was way more shocking.
Land boats were loud.
I frowned, looking around. There was very little happening here. Nobody was drilling for oil or dumping waste in the water. I needed to be where the people were if I was going to make use of my time on land.
And I needed a place to rest. My feet were not used to walking. They were starting to ache.
“Hotel. That’s what I need. Thank Triton I’d paid attention to some things in class,” I muttered to myself.
“Are you looking for the bus stop? It’s easy to miss if you don’t know where to look.”
“I’m sorry?”
An elderly man was staring at me. He pointed up. There was a sign above me. It said New York.
“Is this New York?”
He shook his head with a chuckle.
“You lost, girlie?”
“I need to go to New York,” I decided. Even Mers knew that was the center of two-legger land. Or one of the centers, anyway. “Hon,” I added, figuring it was only polite.
“You’re all the way up in Maine, girlie. That’s a long trip. But the bus will get you there eventually.”
I wanted to ask him what a bus was but I didn’t.
Play it cool, like Arctic water, Tri. You’ve got this. Kind of.
“It’s cold to be waiting outside. Bus won’t be here for an hour at least. You all right?”
“Yes, thank you,” I said. I had my chips. And the waitress had given me a bottle of water, tucked securely in my backpack. Another use for plastic I had marveled at. “It will be a full hour?”
“Something like that. Don’t wander off too far, though, because there won’t be another one until tomorrow.”
I nodded and gave my thanks. Two-Leggers were incredibly kind, I decided. So far, no one had screamed ‘Mermaid’ and tried to put me in a cage. That was a win as far as I was concerned.
I walked a bit further down the block, fascinated by the shop windows. I looked in each one, wishing they were open so I could go inside and look at everything. Specifically, I wanted to touch things.
Objects felt completely different when your skin was dry. I’d noticed in the res-too-rant. It was such a strange sensation. And the weight of it all! Even my clothes had weight!
But I would get used to it, I reasoned with myself. I ran my fingertips over the glass in front of me. I was staring into a pet shop, with toys and small beds and stacks of canned food and pictures of adorable small teegers and canines everywhere.
“Puppy food,” I read aloud off some of the products I could see. “Kitten mix.”
There was so much of everything! Under the Sea, we had to make what we used. If someone was particularly skilled at making things, they sold directly to the rich. But everyday average Mer would not buy their familiar food in a can.
I smiled, deciding Beazil would eat the whole can. The kittens and puppies, too, whatever they were.
A rumble caught my attention, and I gasped at the whale-sized shape moving toward me.
“Is that . . . the bus? Triton!”
I ran toward it, using my stick to keep from falling down again. I stood there, trying to catch my breath as the doors opened. A man in a uniform stood there.
“Going to?”
“New York City.”
“Did you buy a ticket online?”
“I . . . uh . . . no?”
“’Kay, that’ll be . . .” He fiddled with a little machine and looked at me. “One hundred and eleven.”
“Dollars?” I asked, realizing how stupid I sounded.
“Yes, dollars,” he said, giving me a funny look.
I nodded and pulled out the folded paper money in my pocket. I stared at it, finding a hundred dollar bill and handing it over. I had some smaller bills from the res-too-rant. I showed them to him and he took a ten and a one.
“You okay to be traveling alone? You special needs?”
I wasn’t sure what he was asking, but I knew what it sounded like. It sounded like he didn’t think I was smart. Still, I clearly needed to be more comfortable handling money. Everything cost money here. It made things both much simpler and a lot harder.
“I’m fine. I just can’t . . . see that well in the dark.”
“Sure, kid. Just do me a favor and sit up near the front where I can keep an eye on you.”
I nodded, feeling grateful.
“And don’t take your bag off when you sleep or get up. Keep that thing glued to you.”
I had no idea what ‘gloo’ was, but I nodded anyway.
“Okay. Thank you.”
He nodded, and I climbed onto the nearly empty bus, taking a seat by the glass in the second row. The bus rumbled back to life as the driver used a lever to shut the door.
And then we were off. I gripped the edges of my seat as the whole bus lurched forward. The sensation was beyond strange, not at all like hitching a ride on a familiar or a friendly dolphin. I stared out the window into the darkness, the reality of my situation finally starting to hit home.
Only a few hours ago, I’d been a candidate in the Academy with good friends around me. Now I was, at least temporarily, a dropout. I was alone in the middle of a very strange land. I was far from my friends and anything familiar. And even though two-leggers had been friendly so far, the bus driver’s words had made an impression on me.
He thought I needed protection to stay safe. And he thought someone might try and take my bag. Everything I owned was inside it, so the thought was chilling, to say the least.
This wasn’t like home. I couldn’t scavenge oysters if I got hungry or find an empty cave to sleep in. I needed money. I had to hold onto it.
I closed my eyes, dozing off with the backpack strapped to my chest. It was oddly comforting to wear it like that. It felt like armor. Or cuddling an otter. When I opened my eyes a little while later, the bus was almost half full. I ate a little bit, deciding to save the rest for the morning. Then I closed my eyes again, trying to imagine what Beazil was doing right now.
And then something odd happened. I felt the world shift as I slid through space. I blinked, looking around in shock.
I was there.
I could see the stable. One eye saw things in flat black and white, but the other . . . I experimented with focusing on one eye at a time. The other eye saw things that a normal eye couldn’t see. Colors, energy, and what looked like a glow that was either cool or hot, signifying safety or a warning.
I was looking through Beazil’s eyes.
And he wasn’t alone.
Dane was there, talking to him. It was muffled, but I could hear him as clearly as if I was in the same room. Which I guess I was.
My heart filled up as I listened to Dane telling my familiar I would be okay. That I would come back. That Dane would make sure he had plenty to eat in the meantime.
The bus jolted, and I opened my eyes, the connection lost.
But I could find it again. I would.
And all of a sudden, I realized I wasn’t quite so alone after all.