Page 21 of Between Salt and Serenades
As much as I wanted to see my family, I couldn’t fathom the risk of never seeing them again because I was being stupid and impatient. Breena’s words from this morning echoed in my mind as I took myself back to my spot in the shade, safe from the sea. Who knew what would’ve happened to me if I let the transition fully take hold.
I sat down once more, patting the new skin on my thighs to gently soothe the itching that came with regrowth. I pulled my knees into my chest and rested my cheek on one of them. Letting my gaze fall back on the Indigo Tide, I tried to remind myself why it was that I was here in the first place.
Movement caught my attention as a man stepped out of the vessel of interest. This man, I recognized him from our time on the ship. He was young, tall, with copper hair and arms that swung loosely as he walked. He was dressed head to toe in white and had a black bag hanging around his left shoulder. The human smiled at people as he passed them, and I wondered what kind of sick joke this was. Did he know he was trying to pull one over on everyone, or did he simply not realize? Or maybe thepeople around him were also in on it, all humans planning and plotting the destruction of my home. And doing it with a smile, no less.
The fisherman hopped off the end of the dock and took the path lined with short shrubs that would lead him into town. I stood and brushed loose pebbles off my skirt, giving him some time to distance himself before I followed. As I took my first step, my pupils turned to slits, and I stalked the man who would lead me to Breena’s pelt.
A brass bell on the door chimed as I slinked into the shop. My eyes searched the entire room until they landed on the fisherman. I’d given him a few minutes’ head start, kneeling in the street and pretending to adjust my slipper as I’d kept my eyes on the door. After I’d felt enough time had gone by, I’d found myself in a little market bustling with hungry humans.
The fisherman grabbed a paper-wrapped sandwich from a man he’d called Erwell then headed for the front door once more. I stared behind the counter at all the different types of foods I’d never seen before. I knew I would be hungry in the next few hours, and I wondered how Breena and I would go about acquiring food this time. I didn’t think we could pull off what we had this morning again. We either needed to find another solution or eat what was left of the soggy rice Breena had cooked. I preferred not to do the latter.
The chime rang again as I left the market empty-handed. I hoped wherever the man was going next would prove to be more useful than the short sandwich adventure he’d just lead me on.
My head swiveled left, then right as I determined which direction he’d gone off in now. It didn’t take me long to find himheading into yet another store, this time one called “Muliver’s Glass Masterpieces”.
I waited outside the door for a moment so as not to cause suspicion, wondering what the chances were that there were two glass blowing shops in Barthoah. Leaning on the stone building, I pretended to look at the pink flowers billowing out of the planter box next to me. When I felt I was in the clear, I gingerly opened the door to the shop in hopes I didn’t draw attention with my entrance.
“Hello, sir,” the sailor said as he approached the front counter. He glanced around at the art filling the place as he stuffed a wrapped sandwich into his jacket pocket. “I’m looking for a glass sailboat for my mother’s birthday. Would you be able to discuss custom boat pieces with me?”
A gift for his mother?
It seemed like a rather sweet gesture for a man like him. A false man of the sea, that was.
“I sure can,” the older man behind the counter said with a bob of his head, already moving to the other side of the counter.
I made my way to the opposite side of the store as them, doubting I was going to gather useful information on Breena’s pelt while in a glass-blowing store. I didn’t feel the need to listen to the two of them talk, but I positioned myself in the corner behind a glass case holding a few of the shop’s larger pieces. From where I stood, I could keep my eye on the fisherman and the door, all without having to lift my head from behind the glass showcase.
The men spoke for a while, the older of the two making gestures towards different pieces of warped glass. He looked up at me a few times, to presumably check on how I was doing, but the fisherman didn’t pay me any mind.
As I tuned out the muffled sounds of chatter, my attention was stolen by the colored glass. Inside the case, three large,blown pieces sat on carved wooden stands. The first one was a detailed depiction of an anchor layered in pesky barnacles, the next was a swirling blue wave, and the last was a shimmering fin of what looked to be a siren. I stared at the fin for a long moment, forgetting far too quickly why I was in the shop in the first place.
My eyes took in the detail of the work, and I wondered if the older gentleman had made this piece himself, or if there was someone in the back crafting the marvelous art of my people. They reminded me much of my father’s work, and seeing these whole pieces of glass before me, not broken and roughed up by the sea, I realized everything I had within my chest at home was nothing compared to what I saw before me. While the fragments of art I had found scattered through the sea were a reminder—a beautiful torture—they had lost most of their luster, dulled by their time treading against sand and salt.
“Thank you, sir. I’ll be back on Wednesday to pick it up. She’s going to love it!” the fisherman from the Indigo Tide chirped to the shop owner as he made his way to the door. I cleared my throat, adjusted my skirt, and prepared to follow this man to yet another destination. A minute after he was gone, I attempted my exit.
As I put my hand on the doorknob to leave, a weary voice called out, “Miss?”
“I have to go!” I said, not turning around to look at the elderly gentleman behind the counter as I cracked open the door and took my first step out of the shop. My eyes remained glued on the back of the fisherman’s head.
“You look just like him, you know.”
I froze as the older man’s voice hit the back of my head. My target grew farther and farther away as I debated whether I was curious enough about what this man was saying to let my only lead slip away. My hand held the door open, and I remained astatue in my mid-step position. The sailor pulled his sandwich out of his pocket and began eating it as I let him get away from me.
I slowly turned around, noticing the sound of my heart as it beat noticeably louder. I wonder if this mysterious shop owner could hear it.
“I look just like who?” I asked, my stomach rising into my throat. My gaze fell on his blue eyes and trailed down to the soft, knowing smile that lifted his full cheeks.
“Lock the door, will you? I want to show you something,” he said. With his jolly smile, he didn’t look very threatening, but I sure as depths wasn’t about to lock myself in the room with him.
“I will not lock the door, and you’re going to tell me something useful in the next five seconds before I walk out of here. I was kind of in the middle of something.” My words cut like a sharp knife through the air.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I’m getting ahead of myself.” His already pink cheeks began to redden. “I’m the owner of this shop, and I am the husband to Liselle… and the father to Sidven.”
My blood froze in my veins when this stranger uttered my father’s name.
He chuckled and said, “I told you, you look just like him.”
“You’re my father’s… father?” I sputtered, looking him up and down. He looked human, that checked out. I looked closely and noticed that his eyes were ice blue. I always assumed my father had gotten that trait from his mother—a siren—not his human father. But as I took the rest of him in, he didn’t share any other feature that resembled a creature of the deep. His smile was warm, his skin kissed by the sun and splattered with faint freckles and age spots, and his hair was a mixture of white and black. His face was full and jovial, and his eyes, while ice blue, were large and full of wonder.
