“WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE’S ON LAND? STILL?” ROD SWAM
from one side of the High Councilman’s office to the other in what was sure to be record-breaking time, scat-tering the shoal of synchronized damselfish he’d hired for his wife’s surprise party who were rehearsing in the corner.
Mariana backed out of her brother’s way, bumping up against the sideboard that held busts of all the previ-ous High Councilmen and almost knocking the newest addition off. She hadn’t wanted to be the bearer of bad tidings for just this reason. She’d known Rod wouldn’t react well.
Angel was so going to pay for this.
Mariana righted their father’s likeness. “Yes, Rod. But she was in the water last night, so it’s no big deal. She’ll be back in before her time runs out.”
Rod turned around, creating a strong enough whirl-pool that the blennies snoozing in an alcove were sent twirling onto the coral beds on the ledge below. That had to hurt. “How do you know this, Mariana, when none of my informants knew where she was?”
She swished her hands to create a current to help the dazed fish back into their home. “It wasn’t that hard to figure out, Rod. She’d taken her sea-pak and her notes.”
“That was two days ago.”
Mariana gulped. Oh, Hades. The crappie was going to hit the net now, for sure. Angel owed her. Big time.
“I spoke to her.”
Rod spun around, this time disturbing the school of young sea horses who were trying to learn English. Probably not the best day for them to be here.
“You spoke to her? And you didn’t think to bring her home?”
Mariana planted her hands on her hips, careful not to grip too hard. Scattering scales were a dead giveaway of tension, and she didn’t want her brother to know how worried she was about this entire situation. For Angel’s sake, Rod’s, and her own. There was still the matter of her current project that she didn’t want to come out.
“You know as well as I do, Rod, that you can’t make Angel do anything she doesn’t want to do. Especially when it comes to Humans. What is it about those beings that’s so entrancing?”
Rod stopped swimming, and a strange look crossed his face. “You wouldn’t understand.”
Damn straight she wouldn’t. And she never wanted to find out. But whatever the draw was, it got Rod to slow his whirlpool-inducing tail whips down to a soft flutter. The group of starfish holding onto the wall for dear life took a collective inhalation of relief.
“We need to get her back here.” “Good luck with that.”
“I’m serious, Mariana. I don’t have time for this. I should have left yesterday. We have to find some way to get her back. Soon.”
“I’m serious, too, Rod. She’s got it in her head that by doing this, she’s going to find some magic formula
to sell Humans on your idea of a Mer-Human Coalition for the betterment of the planet. You and I both know that’s a long shot for some far-flung date in the future, but Angel’s convinced she can initiate a change now by starting off with the children.”
Rod pinched the bridge of his nose. “Gods save me from independent thinkers.”
Mariana snorted. This from the guy who’d basically told the gods to shove it if they were going to take his throne away for marrying a Mer-Human Hybrid.
And he wondered where Angel got the attitude from. “She needs to get her tail back here. Now. We’ll work
it out when I get back from the Middle East in a calm, rational manner, not like some rebellious teenager.” Rod leaned on his massive desk—the work of some Human named Bernini. Did he get the irony, or was it just her? “She better not hear you call her that, Rod.” Frankly,
Mariana wasn’t too thrilled with the term, either. “She is an adult, you know.”
“And as an adult she should know better. This exactly proves my point why she’s not the Mer for the job.”
“No, this proves that you’re hogfish-headed about giving her a chance.”
“What in the gods’ names are you talking about, Mariana?” Rod gripped the sand globe on his desk, his eyes narrowing, and maybe… just maybe… he puffed up a little in size. High Councilmen could do that— become whatever size they wanted. Part of the package when one became the Mer ruler.
It was one big power trip, if you asked her.
“It’s just that you’ve been interviewing everyone but
Angel for this position. She’s just as qualified, if not
more, than many of the people you’ve interviewed.” What was she doing defending Angel? Mariana didn’t want her sister out there any more than Rod did, but, really, Angel deserved a chance at the job as much as anyone else, and for Rod to not even talk to her about it amounted to discrimination.
Rod dropped the sand globe on his desk, the water delivering it to the marble with a soft plunk. “Fine. Get her back here, and I’ll give her the damned interview.”
“An unbiased interview.”
“Whose side are you on, Mariana?”
Mariana swam up almost into his face. He might be the High Councilman, but he was still her brother. And this was their sister he was talking about. “Oh, I’m firmly on Angel’s, Rod, make no mistake about that. You can’t cut her out of the lineup because she’s your sister and you don’t want to lose her.
This time she was certain that he grew bigger. “That’s not why—”
“Bullsharkshit.” He didn’t scare her. She was one of the few who would talk to Rod like this since he inher-ited the throne. Reel, of course, was another, but since he wasn’t around much anymore, it was up to her to make Rod see reason. Even if she did agree with him on general principle.
“Of course it’s why you’re doing it, Rod.” She flipped her tail sideways and floated away from him. “Look, we all have to live with Reel’s decision to stay with Erica on land and have a mortal life span. You’re not the only one it’s hard for, you know. But you can’t hold Angel—or any of us—too closely or you might end up pushing us away.”
Rod lost the High Councilman demeanor he wore like a badge of honor, returning to normal size and resting his tail against the desk. “I know, Mariana, but…” He cleared his throat. “That doesn’t make it any easier to accept Reel’s decision. Or Angel’s.”
She flipped over and swam back to him. “He’s happy with it, and that’s what we have to remember. Give Angel a chance to do this in a way you can monitor, Rod. Right now she’s off, unsupervised, getting into gods-know-what kind of trouble. Bring her back. Give her an interview, a fair hearing. That’s all she wants.”
Rod put his arm around Mariana and pulled her close. “How’d you get to be so smart, sis?”
She hugged him back. “It swims in the family. That’s why we have to believe that Angel knows what she’s doing.”