Page 121 of Cursed Waters

“Do you think it’s going to make me press the button again?” The man standing beside her asked, his human hands fumbling over the countertop.

“Darn right I’m going to make you get the button!”I called back—not that humans were smart enough to understand me. But I’d noticed Bradley always paid better attention when I started firing off commands.

Giving the woman the stink-eye, I shuffled over to the door and waited.

The miserable woman let out a deep sigh. “They don’t pay us enough for this.”

“At least we haven’t received any complaints?” Bradley offered, and the woman next to him snorted.

“Maybe I’ll be the first. God, why is it staring at me like that?”

Enough of this—I needed to get upstairs!“Bradley!”I barked. When Bradley didn’t immediately start moving, my eyes narrowed.“Brad! Brad! Brad!”I shrieked and screamed again and again. My neck bounced, and my voice chirped until his face flushed and he scurried around the counter as fast as I knew he could.

Mmhm, now that was the kind of hustle I liked to see!

Although he was human, I wouldn’t have minded inviting Bradley into my harem. His teeth were the brightest shade of pearly white I’d ever seen and large enough to make a sea lioness swoon! Really, what more could anyone want in a male?

When he got to the elevator to press the button for me, he was gulping down breaths, showing off those alluring chompers, and my face flushed all the way to the tips of my whiskers. Goodness, those teeth were perfect.

“Thank you,”I projected with a nod, even though I knew he couldn’t hear it. The doors opened, and I waddled inside, pressing the symbol Kai had taught me with the tip of my nose.

“I don’t get it, Ana,” Bradley started mumbling on his walk back to the counter. “If it’s smart enough to press the buttons on the inside, why can’t it just—?” The doors shut, and I felt an exhilarating rush as the box took off.Zooooom.

By the time the doors opened again, my head was buzzing like I’d been out surfing waves through the swell of a storm.

I hustled down the hallway, heading to Kai’s room first, and shifted my jaw until I had the angle of the square in my mouth just right. I swiped my nose over the door handle and was rewarded with a satisfying click as the mechanism turned green. Nosing the door open, I let myself in.

This was strange. Spitting the square out on the floor, I scanned the room. The pillows were all picked up and hidden from our fluff battle earlier, but there was no sign of Kai.

Annoyed, I made my way through the open door that joined our rooms together and waddled to my cold box. Nosing it open, I checked to see if Ren had left me any food as an offering and… empty.

No fish? This wasn’t like him at all. Ren was always leaving me romantic gifts of chilled fish!Rude. The door to the cold box slammed shut as I made my way back to Kai’s room next door. I scooped the square back up and headed down the hall.

When I got to Ren’s door, I gave it a good whack with my flipper. Then another. Were they not all waiting on the other side for me to show up?

Irritated, I barely kept myself from gnawing the square into pieces as I headed back to the elevator. Booping the bottom symbol with my nose, I waited for the box to come to collect me.

Zooooom. What a rush!

“It’s back again,” Ana muttered as I shuffled through the elevator doors. Bradley let out a shaky breath, but I was too annoyed to flirt with him right now.Sorry, Bradley!

The first thing I did when I got outside was look for Ren’s car. Parked exactly where he’d left it earlier, its inside was completely empty. Spitting the key out on the sidewalk, I tried the beach again. Bitterness filled me when I noticed the piles of clothes littered in the distance.

“Without me!”I shrieked, and a crowd of foraging seabirds shot into the air in every direction.“Seriously, guys?”I couldn’t believe they went to get the trident and left me behind!

Bounding through the sand, I slid right into the surf on my belly. That mermaid had to be all over the three of them right now! She must have planned it!

I didn’t care so much about the shiny one they called Lee, butmyRen andmyKai? Oh, she was going to be seeing stars when I got my flippers on her! Freechia would never forgive me if I let Big Brother end up with such a shameless harlot!

I resurfaced for a quick breath and dove right back down, heading for deeper water. Merfolk had strange systems for marking their territories, so I squinted around, looking for some sign or direction, but everywhere I looked was more sand and rocks.

I was passing a school of tasty-looking herring when a tiny voice gasped,“Lady mermaid… Beautiful lady!”The words took off, multiplying in a hundred little echoes. Innumerable pairs of little eyes turned to me all at once until the entire school was staring me down.

Lady mermaid? Well, I wasn’t a mermaid, but Iwasbeautiful. I’d give them that.

“It has been a long time,”the voice squeaked, and I straightened up in the water, letting my tail hang below me like I’d seen Freechia’s tail do occasionally before.“Are you lost, beautiful lady?”

With flattery like that, perhaps I wouldn’t stop to eat them.

---