“I do not mind,” Fergus said, grinning at the dark-skinned boy. He leaned down and whispered, “Can you keep a secret? I am actually a Merman from an undersea kingdom; that is why I have webs between my fingers.” He held up one bare foot and said in a more normal tone, “Toes, too, see?”
Tito’s face was a study in conflicting awe and disbelief. “I never heard of a Merman,” he said, dubiously. “I thought there were only Mermaids. And they’re made up.”
Fergus snorted. “If you do not have any Mermen, how would you get more Mermaids, eh? As for made up, well, maybe they are, and maybe they are not.” His grin grew wider, and the boy matched it with one of his own.
“If you’re a Merman, how come you don’t have a tail?” he asked.
“Because then your friend Marcus might mistake me for a big fish and bring me in to market,” Fergus said with a laugh. “I do not think I would like that.”
“I’m finding something fishy about this whole story,” Marcus said, but he was smiling too. “You’re as bad as my da with the ridiculous fairy-tale nonsense. Let’s get this show on the road, shall we?” He turned to Beka and Fergus. “I gave the guys the day off, since we were just going out for a few hours so you can dive. Can you give me a hand casting off?”
Tito gave Fergus one more admiring look and trailed Marcus up to the front cabin. The other two started releasing the ropes that kept the ship attached to the dock.
“Really?” Beka said under her breath to Fergus. “A Merman from an undersea kingdom?”
Fergus winked, eyes twinkling in multiple shades of green like the changeable ocean. “He did not believe me, did he?” He coiled the last rope neatly and used a gaff to push the boat away from the old wooden dock. “And it made him smile. I think this is a good thing.”
Beka sighed. She hoped the boy was winning his battle, but either way, she was all in favor of giving him a great day out on the water if that’s what made him happy. The fact that Marcus was going out of his way to help the kid made her see him in a different way. Maybe he wasn’t such a grumpy pain in the butt after all.
Of course, that might mean he was only that way around her, which was kind of a drag. But considering that when he’d met her, she’d just sliced a big hole in his net and let all his fish get away, and then followed that up by bribing his father to let her use the boat when Marcus didn’t want her to, she supposed she shouldn’t be surprised he wasn’t all that pleased to have her around. Maybe she should have baked him cookies or something. Or had Chewie bake them . . . she sucked in the kitchen.
Once at the dive site, Marcus stopped the engines and he and Tito came back to watch Beka and Fergus put on their wet suits and double-check Beka’s tanks. They double-checked Fergus’s gear, too, even though they’d both done so before they’d gotten on the boat. You couldn’t be too careful when you were diving. If Beka got into trouble, Fergus had to be ready to jump into the water at a moment’s notice; even a five-minute delay could be fatal. Of course, as a Merman, he didn’t really need any gear, and Beka wasn’t all that likely to get into trouble she couldn’t handle, but still, when there were witnesses, it was best to go through the motions.
“Wow,” Tito said, bouncing up and down on his toes. “That looks so cool. Are you going to find pirate treasure down there?”
Beka and Fergus exchanged looks. Of course, the supposed sunken wreck she was going after didn’t exist. Or rather, there was a theoretical ship that had been lost in that area many years ago, but she had no real expectation of finding anything from it—she wasn’t even looking. But seeing the expression on Tito’s too-thin face, she was suddenly determined to bring up something a twelve-year-old boy would find exciting.
Marcus raised a quizzical eyebrow. He’d seen her hauling up small bags, but he had no way of knowing she’d been collecting specimens instead of booty.
Crap. Where the heck was she supposed to find treasure?
“Well, not exactly,” Beka said cautiously. “I’m following up on a legend about a Spanish ship that was sunk by pirates, though, and there was supposed to be a lot of gold on board. So you never know. All I’ve found so far are bits and pieces that might turn out to be something.”
Marcus rolled his eyes. “Don’t get your hopes up, Tito, my man. We’re a lot more likely to catch a nice tuna to take home to your mom than Beka is to magically stumble on some pieces of eight.”
Oh, bite me, Mr. Crabbypants. With a smile at Tito and a glare for Marcus, Beka lowered herself into the effervescent waves of the welcoming sea. She was going to bring back something cool for that boy if she had to swim back to shore to get it.
*