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I shoved my feet in my boots and poked my head around the curtain, watching Leander disappear down the hall. His movements were so stiff. Accidentally broke a box full of plates, my ass. How hadn’t I realized his father had been the one to injure him sooner?
“Psst.”
My head whipped toward the noise. Echinea’s head poked out from across the hall, her hand waving at me like she was welcoming me over.Uh oh.Dread filled me as I suddenly remembered how close everyone’s quarters were here. I really hoped she hadn’t heard our exchanges just now. Or when Leander screamed when I touched him last night. Or any of it at all, really.
“PSST,” she whispered louder, her hands signaling wilder than a lighthouse beacon.
I flashed a thumbs-up and crept out of Leander’s room like a spy carrying out a covert mission. When I got across the hall, Echinea’s eyes were rolling. “You act really weird for a grown-up.”
“Oh.” Straightening my spine out, I walked the last couple of steps. “I thought we were trying to be sneaky.”
A tiny hand latched on to mine, tugging until I slipped through the curtain. My eyes darted around, going straight to the bed tucked in the back of the room. It was larger than Leander’s, with even more pillows and room at the foot of it. A crate was pushed up against one corner, a half-eaten bagel surrounded by crumbs sitting on top of it.
“Come on, come on.” Echinea’s foot tapped until I followed her over to a second curtain. It hung from the ceiling like a tiny circus tent, and when the flap lifted, it revealed a second bed hidden underneath. Shells and corals sat over the blankets, sorted into little piles around the pillows. She dove in, and I crouched down, folding my legs underneath me so I could take a seat next to her inside.
Something poked at me, and I pulled a long seagull feather out from under my rear. Setting it down beside me, I noticed that there were holes poked into the top of the curtain, letting in just enough light to look like starlight. “Wow, it’s really pretty in here. I bet you collected all this stuff all by yourself, didn’t you?”
Ignoring the question, Echinea settled down in the center of her bed. After she had fluffed up all the pillows sitting around her, she threw me a deadpan look. “You know why I brought you here.”
“I, uh,” I stammered. Was this kid serious? “To show me your collection, right?”
“No, the riddle!” Her eyes went wide when she realized just how loudly she’d yelled the words. She reined her enthusiasm back a little and leaned in closer. “The riddle. Do you have the answer now?”
“Oh, right, the riddle,” I said back, mirroring the volume of her whisper. “I actually do think I figured it out.”
Echinea’s eyes lit. “Really?” she gasped, her body bouncing up and down on the pillows.
I only half-regretted staying up so late last night teaching Kai how to play the board games we’d found at the aquatic center. With checkers being his favorite, I’d had plenty of time to think about the riddle while simultaneously destroying his pawns. It was crazy that even after twenty games, he never did manage to beat me.
“Oh, I can’t wait to tell Poseidon!” As soon as the words left her lips, Echinea’s hands shot up, clapping over her mouth like she’d just spoiled the biggest secret ever.
“Poseidon?” I asked, wondering what she could mean. I gave her time to answer, but she kept her hands clamped down on her mouth, her head shaking wildly. “Oh, I see. It’s like a game you’re playing? Make-believe?”
Her eyes narrowed as her hands dropped. “Nuh-uh, it isn’t! He’s really real! I saw him.”
My eyebrows shot up. “Sawwho?”
“Poseidon,” she whispered, hissing out the S sound like I was really starting to frustrate her. But I truly didn’t know what she meant.
“Echinea, I don’t know who you saw, but it wasn’t Poseidon. Poseidon isn’t around anymore.”
Her hands went wild. “Ididsee him! He had black hair down tohere, and these crazy white eyes, and held a trident up in the airthis high, and he told me his riddle and told me if I got it right, he would give me agift.”
I was speechless. Totally speechless. I wrestled with my words before saying, “That wasn’t Poseidon. Echinea, I know being on land must feel like a big adventure right now, but just like underwater, you shouldn’t talk to men or women that you don’t know. You do know that? Your papa is a captain, so I know he must have taught you about strangers, right? How you’re not supposed to go near them, especiallygrown-ups that ask for your help or promise you things?”
Cheeks puffing, her face seemed to light with anger.
But I was angry, too. Angry that some weirdo had gone up to a young girl and offered her a gift, turning it into a game by asking her a riddle.Fucking creep.
The tent flap pulled back, and I looked straight up with a gulp. A mountain stood above me, casting a shadow over us that felt a hundred times darker than the tent had been.
“Hello—um, sir.” You were supposed to call captains “sir,” right? It was something I should have remembered, but with the eyes above me teeming with such a furious rage, I couldn’t think well enough to recall. I took a deep breath. “I hope you heard some of that.”
He mirrored my breathing like he was attempting to calm himself down. Whoever the white-eyed man was, he wasdeadwhen Echinea’s father found him. “I did. Echo, please see your friend out. It’s time to have a talk about all this wandering around you do while I’m on duty.”
The glaring look Echinea gave me was more sea monster than human girl, menacing enough to spike a chill through me. Without waiting for an escort, I mouthed “sorry” and turned to crawl out. As soon as I made it to my feet, a firm hand clapped over my shoulder. Echinea’s father and I shared a meaningful look before I slipped back into the hall.
Feeling a bit nauseated, I headed for the end of the warehouse. They hadn’t rolled up the main doors for the day yet, which was strange, considering how early they’d raised them the morning before. Either way, I needed some fresh air after what I’d just heard, so I headed for the side door.
