Beka’s jaw dropped. “Mine? Why would anyone burn down a whole lab to stop me from getting my test results?”
“You’d know that better than I would,” he said, his voice dry. It hadn’t escaped him that she had only told him a fraction of what he’d wanted to know. “But it is worth considering.” If for no other reason than if the fire was in fact targeting Beka’s work, she could be in danger.
“There was that storm,” she said, “but I don’t see how that could have anything to do with this.” She shook her head, a strand of golden hair drifting into the nut-brown contents of her mug. She yanked it out with a scowl and dried it on her dress, unmindful of the stain. As usual, Marcus had no idea what she was talking about.
“Besides, nobody knows I’m here except the people who sent me,” she added.
“And me,” Marcus pointed out. “And whoever saw you going out on my father’s boat every day, if they knew about this secret job of yours.” He wanted to reach across the table and shake her awake. “You’re too trusting, Beka.”
“And you’re too suspicious,” she snapped. “I have bigger worries right now. Like what am I going to do about getting more samples? Not only do I have to find another lab to do the tests, I have to collect all the material again. Which would have been easier if I hadn’t just sent Fergus home.” She bit her lip.
Something that looked suspiciously like a tear trembled at the edge of her dark gold lashes, and Marcus heard himself say, “I’ll help you.”
He wasn’t sure which one of them was more surprised.
ELEVEN
KESH SHOOK HIS head. “How unfortunate,” he said to Beka in his even, lightly accented voice, only the slightest hint of a smile escaping to swim sharklike around the edges of his lips when she wasn’t looking. “All that hard work lost. Such a pity.”
Beka made a face, staring out over the darkening bay. The lingering remnants of another splendid sunset cast a copper glow on the gentle ebb and flow of the waves and picked out golden highlights in her hair. Kesh took a moment to admire her as he congratulated himself yet again for finding such an elegant solution to a tricky situation. His father should have made him king after all. The senile, crusty-gilled old fool.
“It’s a disaster, that’s what it is,” Beka said gloomily. She didn’t even move away when he slid closer and put one comforting arm around her. “I’m right back where I started, with nothing to show for it. Your father and Queen Boudicca are going to think I’m the most incompetent Baba Yaga in the history of Baba Yagas. Gah.”
“Surely not,” Kesh said in his best imitation of kindness. “I doubt that even the old Baba could have solved this problem.” He shuddered a little at the thought of the former Baba. He was not afraid of much on sea or on land, but that one . . . she made his spine twitch. “It is merely one of the mysteries of the wide world, destined to remain unsolved. The Selkies and Merpeople will adjust to their new homes. The weak will die, as they always have. No one will blame you.”
Now she shifted, backing off to stare at him in amazement. “I will blame me,” she said. “And it doesn’t matter, because I’m not giving up.”
It was Kesh’s turn to stare. “Surely you are not serious. You told me yourself that all your hard-won bits and pieces are gone, swallowed up in a fire. And there is no guarantee they would have shown you anything even if they had not been. You have no clues, no answers. Your helper has returned to his rightful place in the sea. It is time to accept the inevitable and move on to other things.” He put one hand on her knee to suggest what those things might be.
Frustratingly, she ignored him as if he had not spoken. Kesh was not accustomed to being ignored.
Beneath his calm exterior, his temper boiled like lava, although nothing showed on the surface except his usual boyish charm. If the twinkle in his deep eyes suddenly hinted at sparks as hot as the blaze he had started in the laboratory, Beka seemed not to notice.
“I’ve been thinking about this ever since I got the phone call from Bran,” she said, animation returning to her tone as she spilled her plans out as if they were pearls instead of the foolish schemes of an inexperienced girl who had no idea what she was up against.
“I’m going to dive and get some more samples, but this time, instead of just sending them to a lab, I’m going to do some magical experiments on them as well. Maybe I’ll be able to determine something that way. Just because I couldn’t get a handle on the problem underwater, where working magic is more difficult, doesn’t mean I won’t be able to sense something pertinent once I’m in the school bus, with all my tools.”