Page 24 of Magic Potions and the Merman's Lure

I give him a skeptical look. I know nothing of the diet of Aquanas. “Most of it is restaurants and little stands that cook up whatever is caught from the sea. Are you okay with eating fish and things like that?”

Hell, for all I know his best friends might be fish and he would be insulted at the idea of eating them. Despite his fangs, Aquanas could have an entirely plant-based diet, or add the occasional invertebrates like sea slugs and shellfish.

Ro gives me an incredulous look and bursts out laughing so loudly that it startles me with its vibrance and volume. He’s laughed in quiet chuckles often, but this is the first time I’ve heard him truly and fully laugh and it touches something within my heart. There isn’t a trace of mockery in it, just pure delight. I give him a wry smile as he scoops my hand up and presses a kiss to my palm. His breath is exquisitely warm, but it is nothing compared to the heat that lingers beneath the amusement within his gaze as he looks up at me.

I know I’m blushing when he finally releases my hand and straightens. “I guess that means you’re okay with that diet,” I mumble in embarrassment.

His smile widens, and he gives my hand in his possession a quick squeeze. “Do not be embarrassed, Keri. We have not spoken of Aquana diet, and there is no way for you to know. It is a fair question. It just surprised me since there is not much else to eat but the creatures that occupy the water and the tastiest ones include fish. Call the taxi, and while we wait, I shall tell you of the many foods we enjoy.”

“You don’t have to wait. All I need to do is open the app,” I point out as I pull my phone out and locate the app on it.

He watches curiously, and for a moment I can’t imagine what his world is like without the sort of technology that I always have at my fingertips to enjoy.

“It is a short telling,” he warns, “but it is sufficient to say that we eat almost everything that can be found. We have different ways of preparing it and combining what the seas offer, though we consume our meals in the raw form, which I do not think you would like. Seals are fine eating, and dolphins when we catch one. Finned fish, shelled fish, kelp, seaweed, shark, it is all a part of our diet. It is especially pleasing to wrap cut fish in seaweed with various bits of vegetation and meat mixed together. We keep our food in little pots in cool, dark areas of our home where it will keep for many days, and when we eat, we pull the pots and pinch a bit of everything we desire and eat it with pieces of the seaweed. It is like nothing else.”

“I don’t know. Sounds a little like sushi to me,” I tease.

Ro grins back, but there is such an obvious look of homesickness on his face that an idea occurs to me, and I break out in a smile.

“All right. Meet me after work. I know just where we can go.”

Chapter 15

Keri

I fidget impatiently, waiting for the hours to pass until I escape the confines of the library. There is not much that requires my attention since Lynn took care of all the tasks that I normally space throughout the day. At this point, as far as my assigned duties at the library go, I’m nothing more than a glorified babysitter. At least it gives me more time for the leg of research I’m pursuing. Lynn’s notes from the line of inquiries I gave her to look into sits to the right of my elbow so that I can take them home and look them over tonight.

I tap my foot as I pull out the grimoire I’ve been studying for the last few days and my notebook. This book has been more difficult for me to get through than most. My trouble with it isn’t due to the subject matter. Everything within the pages is not only fascinating but also extremely informative. It is no wonder that the council decided to hide this volume in the vault, though it’s equally a pity for all the valuable information it contains. The mage who wrote this volume was an exceptional magician and an accomplished alchemist. Just reading what little I have has filled pages upon pages of my notebook not only with notes taken directly from the grimoire but also with some of my own thoughts and ideas to try.

My trouble with the text lies in one area alone—one eye-straining and headache-inducing area. As brilliant as the man was, his handwriting is atrocious. I can barely make out some of the faded words, especially now that I have gotten to this section regarding the occult matter of water and the sea, and the denizens within. I smile because not too long ago I would have taken that latter as representing immaterial beings. I never would have believed that Aquanas, or any other species, shared our world with us in the most literal sense. Strange that something so well-known became lost so easily. It has given me a new appreciation for the old grimoires and how what might have once been considered figurative may not have been.

This section on water is exceptionally interesting. The prima materia, the higher essence of water that shapes the world by its transmutation. Gerald Vancourte continues to speak of how aquatic entities are by nature specialists of transmutation, their primal connection to the element allowing them to break down and reform as they contain within their material form the substance of this power. This is what allows them to venture among men. Although each species appears to have differences, there are things in common—every night the sea reclaims that which belongs to it, and every day when the moon is full, that which is of the sea remains locked within it.

I bite my lip, recalling that Ro will soon have to return to the sea. He will never be able to go far from it no matter how much he wants to because he will always have to return to it at least every twenty-eight days whether he wants to or not. According to this book, aquatic species experience any intense interrelationship energetically with the sea’s daily pull. Given that line of reasoning, and what I know of the supplement from talking to Ro as well as a pair of kelpies who visited the library the other day, it works by blocking that specific energy connection. The side effects are bad, however. I can’t even imagine the pain that they suffer when they are forced to return to the water. I definitely can’t imagine anyone actually wanting that when it’s clear that separation from the sea causes such vicious withdrawal.

It makes me wonder what other side effects the supplement has. Are they dangerous? Do they worsen over time from taking it? If so, I’m glad that Ro ran out. Even if our time is limited this evening, I would prefer to spend what little time I can with him rather than know that he would suffer—and in the long term perhaps in ways that no one yet knows.

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