Page 28 of Blood of the Sirens
Barrett grinned, flashing a bit of fang at me. Our teeth didn’t always change with us when we surfaced. “Oh, you know, here and there. You’d be surprised how careless humans are with their things.”
He shrugged and selected a large pair of blueish leg coverings I had seen many other men wearing. I went to the same box and picked out one for me, but darker.
“Those should work. You’re probably only a size or two bigger than me. Oh! Don’t forget these!” Barrett threw a bright orange scrap of fabric at me, and I caught it in reflex. I frowned, not sure what it was for. Well, if Barrett said I needed it, I would have to believe him. I stuffed it and the jeans into his bag. Now to choose footwear and a shirt.
There weren’t too many options, since only a few of the footwear were as long as my feet. The only pair long enough was made of a beige canvas material. Into the bag it went. There was a ball of white fabric in the footwear that I left there. Perhaps it was like the orange fabric, and crucial to wear.
The shirts all looked much too small. Barrett shrugged his shoulders apologetically. We simply weren’t the same size, and most of the clothing was meant for him, after all. Eventually, I found a black shirt that hung nicely off my frame, and we were ready.
“This bag is waterproof, so everything will stay dry on the swim over,” Barrett explained, and we left the crumbling shack behind and dove back into the ocean, heading directly toward the shoreline.
I kept a wary eye on the beach, but it seemed deserted. There was only one road and no human structures nearby. Once on the beach, he explained, “This part of the island is anature reserve; that means humans aren’t allowed to live here. They are trying to keep the land safe.”
Thinking back to the massive buildings and filth of the human city I’d been in the other night, I could see why that might become a problem. At least some humans possessed a modicum of intelligence.
Like my Jesse.
Barrett threw my clothes at me, pointing things out about them as I struggled to dress. “See the numbers here? They indicate size. Try them on to make sure they fit. The humans call them jeans. Wait! Put this on first.”
He threw a small orange bit of fabric at me. I watched carefully as Barrett showed me how to put the clothing on. It looked like it took an incredible amount of balance as he stood on one foot and deftly slid the other leg through the small holes in the garment. A tiny, tiny garment that went over his human reproductive parts.
“Why do we wear the smaller garment under the larger one? Doesn’t it cover it up?” The orange bit of fabric in my hand easily stretched, but I didn’t see how it would fit any part of me.
Barrett laughed. “Underwear, Merrick. You need it so your human dangly bits don’t get caught in the metal of the zipper.”
I would have to take his word for it. I stretched out the orange underwear and matched my legs up with the holes. I only fell once before I got my legs inside. Unhappily, I yanked it up over my dangly bits. I frowned, feeling tight and stifled.
He chuckled and turned to continue dressing. “Relax. You’ll get used to it.”
I highly doubted that.
I put on the jeans, proud that I only stumbled, but didn’t fall. They seemed to fit fine. The black shirt wentover the top. Barrett beat the extra sand off me and helped me put the odd white coverings on my feet.
“Socks, Merrick.”
Socks. Fine. Then the shoes. Human clothing had so many odd steps to it.
“Do you plan to bring the hunters here as well? This seems far away from the ritual site.” I followed behind Barrett as we climbed clumsily up the sand dunes and toward the road.
“The remoteness is part of it,” he answered. “It’ll give the hunters a chance to literally get their legs under them and practice where the humans won’t stare.”
He pointed up ahead. “There is a boat there that travels between where the ritual takes place and here. There are always many humans coming and going, so they will not notice extra people. Not even a group of hunters.”
Barrett showed me how to ride the ferry and even how to use human money. He had a wad in the bag, which he carried on his back. Apparently, you didn’t need to pay to get off the island, but needed the money if you were traveling to it.
Another human rule I didn’t understand.
The boat was odd. Hearing the rushing of the ocean and seeing it cut effortlessly through the waves was simultaneously exhilarating and frightening. I worried the entire time that water would splash up and hit Barrett or myself, thus exposing us. Barrett laughed at my worries.
The other humans crowded around us closely, and I drew my arms in. It was hard to maintain one’s own space against the crush. I stared at a female who had short, bright pink hair sticking straight up. She wore spikes on her neck and wrist. An older lady next to her only came up to my chest and talked endlessly about a cat named Simon. The female with pink hair smiled at her, but the grin seemed pained.
“Humans come in all shapes and sizes and differentskin tones. They color their hair and depending on where they’re from, they speak differently, too,” Barrett lectured.
“Speak differently? How do they all communicate? Is there a common language?” I asked.
Mers all spoke our own language from birth, but we also learned the human language as well. I’d thought there was only one.
“This language is whatthesehumans speak. I’ve heard many other tongues.” Barrett said.
