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Neri’s face softened. “There won’t be any horrible accidents.”
“Exactly. Because you’re coming with us,” Anna said. “You can be sociable and—”
“Aslan can watch me.” Neri crossed her arms over the bronze stars glittering on her chest.
I spluttered. “Excuse me?”
“You live in the garden. If my parents are so worried about me drowning, then you’ll hear me.” She smiled coyly. “I mean...it’s not like you have any plans tonight, is it?”
I scowled. “That was low, even for someone as short as you.”
She stuck out her tongue. “Sorry but not sorry. You know no one else in Australia. You’ll be there, and I’ll be safe with you.” She flicked a glance at my naked wrist. “You can get wet now. So it’s not like you can’t jump in and save me.”
“I-I’m not babysitting you, Neri.” I crossed my arms.
Anna nodded. “He already has a job, Nerida. We’re not going to ask him to watch you when you’re perfectly fine coming with us.”
Neri never looked away from me, her head tilting sideways a little. Her gaze sharpened, tearing through me, rifling through my sins. Finally, she muttered, “You can’t swim. That’s why you don’t want to watch me.”
“What?” My forehead furrowed. “Of course, I can swim.”
“Prove it.”
I looked at Jack for support. “I don’t have to prove anything—”
“You don’t have a cast on anymore, Aslan. Jump in the ocean. Have a cool off. Go swimming with Neri. She’ll show you the starfishes and clownfish and the parrotfish who absolutely love bananas. You can take one with you and have a cloud of fins surrounding you in a second.”
“I’m good. I don’t need—”
“’Course you do. It’s a great idea.” Jack headed toward the chiller and its contents. “I have no idea how you’ve lasted these seven weeks, working in the heat without a reprieve. You deserve to jump in and have a break.”
“Not interested.” Crossing my arms, I did my best to bottle up my sharp fury. I knew my temper came from fear, but I hated that I couldn’t contain it. Couldn’t stop my words from getting short or my heart from getting annoyed. “I have no intention of stepping foot in the sea.”
“Whoa, what?” Jack’s eyebrows shot up to his damp hair. “No intention? Like...ever?”
“Never.”
“Eh...” His gaze flickered to his wife, then back to mine. “I hate to remind you, Aslan, but you’re working with marine biologists. You have to know what that entails, right?”
“It means I continue doing what I’ve been doing.” I waved at the sleeping laptop. “I run your data. I look after the boat when you’re down there.”
Anna finished her Sprite and came toward me slowly. “That is just one of the many tasks we hope to show you. We’ve been waiting for you to heal, Aslan. You’ve done an amazing job with the computer and numbers side of our business, but that’s just the surface.”
“Literally,” Nerida said. “Beneath the surface is where the real work is.”
“And you guys can do that while I stay above it.” I fought the urge to run. “I’m not going in there.”
“You can say goodbye to your family down there,” Neri breathed, pouring her awful adolescent understanding all over my anger and making me explode.
Every muscle in my back tensed to stone. “I can say goodbye to them wherever I damn well want.”
“Not the way you need to.” Her eyes pooled with sadness. “Your body might have healed, but you haven’t even begun to attempt to heal the parts of yourself that we can’t see.”
I tripped back a step. “You know nothing.”
I hated that she echoed my own thoughts.
I hated that she could see me, even so young and naïve and, and...young.
Too young to have this effect.
Too young to have this power.
“I know enough that you were using your cast as a reason not to go near the water.”
“The fuck I was—”
“Aslan. Language,” Jack scolded. “Neri. Leave him alone.” Pointing at both of us, he barked, “No one has to do something they don’t want to do. Aslan will go into the ocean when he’s ready.”
“Don’t talk about me as if I’m not here,” I snapped.
Instantly, regret pressed on my shoulders. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to get angry or curse. I just...I don’t want to go in the ocean, and if that means I can’t be your assistant anymore, then...I don’t know what to say.”
“You don’t have to make a decision now,” Anna said gently, smoothing over the rough patch I’d caused. “You’ll change your mind.”
“I’ll work on the sea but not in it. That’s a hard line for me.” I backed up, trapped and itchy to run. “And I’m not crossing it. Ever.”
“It’s fine, Aslan—” Jack’s words were silenced by a loud splash.
My eyes ripped to where Neri had been standing.
She was gone.
Chapter Fourteen
*
Aslan
*
(Moon in Vietnamese: M?t trang)
“ARE YOU SURE ABOUT THIS?”
