Page 73 of Cursed Waters

Her palm suddenly dropped, slamming the ornament down on top of a neatly folded pile of… were those ocean silks? They looked old—dried out—and were a darker color than the ones worn in the Pacific.

Claira’s breathing seemed to stop as she stared down at them. “Are you—?” I started to ask when she swiped an arm over the setup, sending both the ornament and the pile of silks down to the mess of trash and bottles on the floor.

“I’ll meet you outside,” she said curtly and stormed out with the force of a deadly typhoon.

“Claira, wait!” I called after her as I fumbled with the keyring. I disconnected the one for the aquatic center, pocketed it, and shoved the rest back under the bedroll.

Before I got up, I took one last look at the ocean silks unraveling over the floor and blinked.

That was strange. They looked small enough to fit a merfry.

25

Claira

Icy water numbed my fingers as I ran my bikini top under the faucet. My thumbs worked idly over the stretchy material, rinsing away traces of salt water while my mind tormented me, flickering through the most painful chunks of my day.

The chilling gloom at the bottom of the harbor. The restrained strength of Barren’s grip locking around my neck. Waves of Aleena’s bleach-blond hair draping over Leander’s shoulder. Wishing I had the antidote for whatever sweet poison she’d whispered into his ear.

Just an hour ago, those were my brain’s choice torments. Wounds so fresh their pain ran too deep for words. But that was before Kai had unknowingly led me to Papa’s alcohol-ridden trash den.

The heavy stream of water stole the bikini top from between my fingers as the image of my mother’s hairpin glinted in my mind’s eye. A relic from my former life, impossible for Papa to have.

Or so I’d thought.

It had taken me months to summon the courage to throw my old belongings out. To move forward and let the salt water dispose of my past. Sure, I’d chosen the spot where Dad had found me, but the ocean was vast, and the waves were powerful. Plus, it wasn’t like Papa would have visited the place where he’d tossed out his daughter as carelessly as he now tossed down empty bottles of liquor.

At first, I thought it had to be a re-creation. Some second hairpin he’d kept hidden away for himself, because, well, it was the only reasonable explanation. That is, until I saw the ocean silks folded into a crisp, brittle square underneath it.

The same ones I’d worn the terrible night he’d abandoned me.

“Is the salt washing out okay?” Kai’s voice bounced playfully off the tiled walls and empty showers. Energetic as ever, he sounded seconds from exploding from excitement overload.

“Yeah,” I called back, angling my voice toward the short hallway connecting the left side of the aquatic center’s bathrooms to the right. Water gurgled as I fished my bikini top from the bottom of the sink. “Just a second. I’m still getting changed.”

Teaching a merman to swim like a human… How had I agreed to something so silly?

Oh, right—Kai. His lilac eyes had grown into shiny moons—so damned hopeful and expectant—making it impossible for me to say no. Hell, he actually had me believing it would befun. The greatest idea ever!

Geez, if he ever found his way into undersea politics, the other kingdoms had better watch out.

But I’d agreed to his silly whim, so here I was. Getting ready to swim. Again.

At least I wouldn’t have to drag my tail around or worry about magic and curses messing everything up. Not that he would turn on me like a brute. If Kai’d been the one to discover my secret, he’d have been all “whoa!”and “dude!”

No hostility. No questions about sea witches.

Honestly, I almost wished it had been him. Then maybe my stomach wouldn’t feel so horribly knotted. The thought of what Barren might do now that he knew my secret was constantly tapping at the back of my mind. I was still surprised he’d taken me back to the warehouse, though the unsettled silence during the drive had done little to ease my fear of him suddenly changing his mind, deciding to steal me away instead.

Kai was different. A bubbly dolphin among a sea of cold-blooded sharks. We hadn’t been friends long, but it wouldn’t take anyone long to recognize his bright character as genuine. The innocence radiating from his easy smiles was this blinding thing, and once you saw it, you justknewhe didn’t have whatever it was that made merfolk so damned cruel. Though after my fight with Aleena, was I any better than the rest of them?

Glancing up at my reflection in the mirror, I smoothed back my hair, examining the angles of my face.

A beautiful monster hiding behind human flesh.

What else was I capable of?

Beside me, my tank top and swim wrap were already drying, strung over the sides of the neighboring sinks. I pulled on my wet bikini with a sigh and secured it with a double-knotted bow. No more accidental flashings.

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