Page 53 of Echoes of the Tide

“What are they?” she asked, reaching out for the tip of a fin and gliding her hands along the smooth surface.

“Your people call them whale sharks,” he said with a soft snort. “They are not whales. But they are quite friendly.”

“How did you know they were here?”

“I am part of the ocean. I know where many things are.” He moved them with a flick of his tail, shifting them closer to the giant whale sharks.

There were tiny fish clinging to their sides. Sucker fish, she realized. They were attached by the mouth, but didn’t appear that they were eating at the sharks. In fact, it seemed like they all lived together rather symbiotically.

“Do you want to ride one?” Maketes asked.

He didn’t just ask what she had heard. There was no way that he’d asked if she wanted to ride a whale shark.

“Excuse me?” she tapped her ear. “I don’t think I heard you correctly.”

But that grin was back. The one that said he knew what she was thinking. “Yes, you heard me right. Do you want to ride one, kefi?”

She didn’t have to think hard. There were a few seconds of hesitation before she blurted out, “Yes, yes, I very much want to ride one.”

The look of pride on his face made her glow. She could feel her heart thundering in her chest, and there was a strange feeling twisting in her guts. Like she wanted to kiss him again. Like she wanted to grab onto his face and let him know how much this moment meant to her.

He didn’t give her the chance.

They were suddenly arcing above the whale sharks, twisting and looping until they were right above them. She had never swum like this before. With such ease and such ability.

She hadn’t swum that much in her life at all, though. She wasn’t an engineer, nor was she someone who had access to the water. So having him doing the swimming for her made it feel like she was flying. He had her back to the whale sharks, so she looked up at the rippling water above their heads.

The moon was just visible above their heads through the water. And somehow, it was even prettier than the sun. The silver light cast rays throughout the water, turning her skin grayand the whale sharks to look like ghostly, ethereal beings as one of them passed over her head.

Maketes held her hand in his, just like he had with the other shark, pressing their palms to the pale belly as it passed. It was so huge, and it made her feel so small to be around these creatures who had been here for ages.

Then she gasped, sucking in air through the tube as they were falling. Sinking through the water until Maketes shifted her into the crook of his arm and their backs hit something sturdy and strong beneath them.

She looked over at him, seeing the soft smile on his face. “Are we...”

“Yes, we’re lying on its back.”

Ace sat up as quickly as she could without pulling the tentacle out of her neck. Then she could see where they were. There was a massive creature underneath her, its head stretching so far out of her reach. So large. The blueish body beneath her was speckled with little white freckles, but she was here. Sitting on the back of a whale shark as it swam throughout the water.

She let out a sound that might have been a giggle, she wasn’t sure. She’d never made that sound in her life.

Pressing her hands to her mouth, she stared wide eyed at the undine beside her.

He reclined with his hands behind his back. All those muscles were flexed, tightening the moment she looked over at him as though he wanted her to see how muscular he was. Perhaps he did. Then those fluttering gills at his neck gave him away.

“This is really happening,” he said. The note of pride in his words made her feel so good. “You’re welcome. Again.”

She threw herself at him. And sure, it wasn’t as fast of a movement underwater as it would have been in the air, but she still did it. She landed on his chest, her hands tracing every bitof him that she could reach, his ribs, petting through his gills before she grabbed onto his face and gave him a kiss that seared her right to the bones.

He let out a little groan, the sound echoing through her entire being as he held her against him. “We can’t keep doing this. The beast beneath us will get angry.”

“I don’t care, let it.” She kissed him soundly, lingering with her teeth and tongue until she had to yank herself away from him. Because she couldn’t miss a moment of this.

The shark beneath them moved with such grace, it was almost like they weren’t moving at all. And as she braced herself above him, lifting on her hands, she could feel her hair billowing around her head. The glasses on her face only made it a little awkward to see. The water distorted a bit beyond the lens, but there was so much here that stunned every sense.

“Wow,” she whispered. “This feels like a dream.”

“It’s no dream. This is the real sea that you’ve never been able to see before. It is an honor that I was able to bring you here today.”

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