Beka put down the piece of lobster she’d been about to eat. “I’ve brought samples from a variety of spots to a friend of mine at the University of California at Santa Cruz. They have some amazing, state-of-the-art labs there, and I’m expecting him to call me with the results within a couple of days.” She gave him a strained smile. “You can tell your father I’m working on finding the answer as fast as I can.”
Kesh saw no point in mentioning that he and his father hadn’t spoken in six months, and popped a delicate oyster into his mouth instead. It tasted of the sea, salty and smooth with the essence of the ocean. He gazed longingly for a moment at the waves whooshing quietly against the shore before yanking his attention back to his companion. This was his place now, and he was not going to lose it. In the end, he would rule it, taking it one piece at a time until he owned it all. Destroying the sea he’d come from and could no longer have would simply be an amusing sideline.
“Once you find out what is contaminating the home waters in the trench, what do you intend to do about it?” he asked, as if only out of idle curiosity. “Do you have some kind of plan?”
Even in the darkness of the summer night, he could see the blush that stained her high cheekbones a becoming pink, like the inside of a shell.
“Well, it depends on what is causing the issue, of course,” she answered.
Kesh shrugged. “Surely it is some Human taint, brought about by their encroachment on our world.” A hint of bitterness crept out to color his voice. “We should never have allowed them to drive us so far into the depths, hiding like frightened fish from the relentless teeth of the shark. We are the predators here, not they.”
“I wouldn’t call Selkies predators,” Beka said. “They’re tough and strong, and beneath the sea they are a match for almost anything, but fortunately, they are a peaceful race.”
“And see where that has gotten them,” Kesh sneered. “Chased from their own homes by the poisons of others.”
Beka put a comforting hand over one of his, scooting closer to him on the blanket. “We don’t know that’s true,” she said. “I know you’re worried about your kingdom, but I promise you, I’ll do everything I can to help.”
Kesh draped his arm loosely around her shoulder and gave her his most charming smile. “Perhaps we can work together on the problem, my dear Baba. I have a feeling that we would make a wonderful team.” His chuckle echoed across the sand and into the warm night, and below the moon-kissed waters, small creatures scurried to hide in the safety of the reef’s jagged landscape.
*
FRONDS OF KELP danced coyly around her ankles the next day as Beka floated far enough below the surface that only a faint light filtered down to illuminate her task. Not that she needed much light for what she was about to attempt. Only her own powers and some luck. A lot of luck, probably.
Collecting samples wasn’t getting her anywhere. It was time to try something a little less passive and a little more Baba Yaga. Magic. The very thought made her stomach churn and shoulders tighten under their slick neoprene covering; her breath reverberated harshly through the regulator between her lips.
Calm down, Beka, she ordered herself sternly. You’ve spent years training to do this. Even Brenna admitted that you have power. The other day you calmed a crazy-ass storm. You can do this. She tried not to think about how difficult it was to work magic under this much water or to hear Brenna’s voice echoing in the back of her mind, tone pitying. “Don’t worry, dear, you’ll get the hang of it eventually. I’m sure you will.”
The Selkies and the Merpeople couldn’t wait for eventually. They needed her to fix this now. So water or no water, she was going to try.
There was no way to use any of her magical tools down here, and she didn’t have the luxury of time to spend getting into the right mind-set, as she normally would for anything this tricky. But she didn’t intend to try to fix the entire crisis right now—just see if she could mend one small part of it. If that worked, she’d come up with a way to address a larger area.
The biggest problem was that she still didn’t know what she was dealing with. Knowing the cause to any issue always made it easier to come up with a solution. But since she was still no closer to finding the answers, she was desperate enough to try anything. Despite the tingles of fear and trepidation that made her fingers shake as she wrapped them gently around a limp and pallid pink starfish.
Even in the dilute light trickling down through the layers of water, she could see that its color was off, and it drooped in her hands instead of being taut and muscular. Poor thing. Its life energy had dwindled so low she could barely sense it, although she could feel the mysterious illness it carried like a low-voltage buzz humming through her fingertips.