Certainly keeps the humans away, Kellan said.
Ah yes, the boat that had come in, which Fray had tended to.
Fray....
I gotta go,Tobin said. But then he thought of something.Salem? Can I get you anything?
No, thank you....Then Salem paused.Actually, Aurin hasn’t eaten. He might be able to stomach something now he’s in freeform. If I could trouble you to please arrange something for him, I would appreciate it greatly.
Tobin smiled at him.Sure thing.
And I do apologise again for almost biting you when you arrived, Salem said.I heard the boat and was concentrating on hiding Aurin....
Don’t mention it. And your camouflage was great, by the way.
There is nowhere to hide here,he said.
We’ll work on that,Tobin said, an idea already forming in the back of his mind.I’ll be back.
With a nod to Kellan, Tobin went to the surface and climbed out onto the pier.
Fray was waiting, of course, and looked as if he’d been pacing. “Oh, thank fuck,” he said, letting out a long breath. He began to dry Tobin off with a towel. “How are they?”
“They’re okay. We need to get Aurin something to eat. Let’s go see what Otis has in the kitchen.” Tobin pulled on some shorts. “Where is Otis, by the way? I have an idea, and I’m gonna need Otis’s help.”
Twenty minutes later, they had a selection of fish and clams and were back on the pier, taking their clothes off, when Otis came trudging down from behind the police station carrying a damn boulder. It was seriously half his size.
“Is this big enough?” he called out. Then Pania appeared, following him while also carrying a huge rock. Not as big as Otis’s but way larger than Tobin could have ever carried.
Tobin laughed. “Perfect. We’ll go tell them you’re coming.”
Tobin and Fray slipped into the water, carrying their little netting bag of goodies. Kellan, Hendrix and Dylan were still there, and it was no surprise to Tobin that Aurin was half hiding behind Salem.
He wasn’t timid or embarrassed—he was vulnerable. And he no doubt felt a burning desire to find a dark cave where he could hide...
We bring food,Fray said, offering the bag to Salem.Kinda like ordering pizza to be delivered, only better.
Salem took the bag and started pulling at the drawstring.
Tobin thought he better explain the odd selections.We weren’t sure what you wanted or what Aurin would feel like eating, so we grabbed a bit of everything.
Salem showed the offering to Aurin, letting him choose. He almost took a clam, his tentacle pausing for a moment, but then his eyes brightened as he spotted something else and he quickly snatched it up.
Oh,Tobin began.That’s frozen, but...
It was the worst thing in the whole bag. A frozen fish fillet that Otis kept for the random hungry human fisherman. Certainly not the fresh stuff they kept for themselves.
Aurin began to pick tiny morsels of flesh off the fillet and eating them, slowly at first, then faster.Mmm, this is good.
Everyone stared at him because what the hell?
“Good” wasn’t the word Tobin would have used. He wasn’t even sure why he threw it in the bag. He just wanted to grab a bit of everything, and he figured it would thaw out at some point.
Those frozen fish fillets were terrible.
But Aurin was making short work of it, and Salem was clearly happy to see Aurin eat anything at all. Kellan was, too, despite looking a touch horrified at the same time.
Salem ate the much more sensible option of a clam.Thank you.
