Page 29 of Storm and Sea

“—to the beach without anyone seeing. Yes. That will work. Okay.” Atreus ignored him. “Right, you stay here behind the shelves and don’t make a sound⁠—”

“Atreus?” a voice called from the front of the store. “Who are you talking to?”

His heart sank. He didn’t hear the bell. Giovanni was back.

I was talking to myself. That’s it; nobody here at all.

His mind supplied him with excuses. No, that wouldn’t work. If Giovanni came back here and saw Nyel, he’d know Atreus was lying. He couldn’t lie (more than he already was). Couldn’t risk breaking the trust he’d garnered for so many years.

Everything he’d built for himself flashed before his eyes. He could lose it all.

“Atreus?”

“B-be right there!” Atreus called.

In one fluid motion, Atreus shoved Nyel. The sireno yelped as his head smacked the wall.

“What are you doing?” he whimpered, then choked as Atreus shoved a forearm under his chin.

“You listen, and you listen good,” Atreus growled, putting pressure on Nyel’s throat, simultaneously silencing and pinning him. “This is my life you’re playing with. You understand that? My. Life. These humans don’t know what I am. And it better damn stay that way. Follow my lead and do exactly as I say. And whatever you do — Don’t. Get. Wet.”

Atreus took an extra second to glare into those wide brown eyes. The flecks of gold shimmered even in the artificial human lights.

“Because if you do, I will not take the fall for you. I won’t sacrifice everything I’ve built to save you. Do we understand each other?”

He hoped that Nyel understood what he didn’t have time to explain—should he be exposed, Atreus would not save him. He’d watch the humans tear him apart.

Nyel nodded, his skin losing what little color it had.

“Good.”

And with his heart racing, Atreus stepped from the storeroom, motioning for Nyel to follow.

He was about to risk… everything.

Atreus’s scent was easy to follow. When someone was stressed, their scent changed and grew more potent. Following the invisible trail with his nose, Nyel detected the nerves that had rolled off Atreus as he walked down this same path only a few hours ago. He was likely worried about the rain, which, to Nyel’s displeasure, started the moment his feet hit the sandy shore. Luckily, he found a torn piece of human plastic and draped it over himself. There wasn’t much to be done about his bare feet, but there weren’t any humans around. Evidently, they didn’t care for the rain either.

The scent led him to the back entrance of a weathered two-story building, its wooden exterior showing signs of age. A wooden board hung with human symbols etched into it. Though Nyel couldn’t read them, one carving vaguely resembled a whale taking a nap.

Whales don’t sleep like that.

Nyel laughed to himself. He should have been terrified. He was in human territory, surrounded by land dwellers who would rip him to pieces if given half a chance. But fear couldn’t compete with the raging excitement that pulsed through him as his feet touched the solid ground. Once the rain stopped, he would explore this place from top to bottom.

If my parents knew where I was.

He paused when an even scarier thought struck him.

If Nephi knew…

He shivered. Nyel was positive that Nephi’s anger was more about hating humans than caring about his safety. Still, he didn’t want to be on the receiving end of that resentment.

Careful to keep his fist covered, Nyel rapped his knuckles on the door. It took several tries before a lock clicked, and the door creaked open, revealing the source of the stress-infused scent. Dark, sparse freckles dotted Atreus’s sun-bronzed skin, trailing down his neck and disappearing beneath the collar of his tattered charcoal shirt, which clung to his corded arms. His shorts were ripped in several places, and he held a towel in one hand as though interrupted mid-task.

Nyel wasn’t sure what he expected. For Atreus to smile? Greet him? He wasn’t expecting anything like, “Good to see you,” but he didn’t foresee the look of pure terror as Atreus’s eyes widened and darted to his transformed feet.

“Nyel!?” he shouted, then lowered his voice, looking around nervously.

“Hey,” Nyel said with a timid wave.