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“You’ll get used to it after you jump in,” I said simply, joining him at the side of the pool. Seven feet at the deep end—not bad. “But first, we should probably—” Too late. He’d already jumped, his body flopping forward with a hard clap of water.Damn. “—go over a few swim tips.”
I hadn’t even told him the most important rule of swimming like a human: not choking yourself and burning your lungs by trying to breathe in the chlorinated pool water.
I gathered a giant breath and jumped in after him. The water hit like an icy whip crack, and I shook the chill off as I hit the bottom of the pool.
A swell of cloth from Kai’s damned button-down rippled beside me, and I wasted no time seizing him by the collar. One hard kick off the tiles, and we both shot up. As soon as our heads popped over the surface, his lips spewed water with the force of a sprinkler.
“Sorry, sorry,” I got out after gasping for new air. Using my legs as propellers, I steered toward the shallow end.Geez—I’d always thought I was a decent swimmer with legs, but keeping two bodies afloat waswork.“Forgot to remind you about the breathing thing.”
“It tastes—” Kai started to sputter, and a cough interrupted him, forcing a geyser of water from his mouth. “—sobad.”
“Yeah, well, that would be the chlorine.” And the stale urine, if those baby swim lessons the aquatic center advertised on its bulletin board had met bi-weekly like the flyer said. Not to mention parasites, considering how long the pool had sat abandoned. But he was used to sucking down nasty-ass salt water, so what harm could a few new microbes do?
My toes skirted over the pool’s bottom, and I braced Kai up beside me by the shoulders. A string of coughs had him vomiting water like a fancy courtyard fountain, and I clapped a hand over his back to help coax the rest out.
“You can’t put your head under water without holding in a big breath first,” I advised, fixing a collar flap stuck to the side of his cheek. “Plugging your nose helps, too.”
I pinched my nose, but he was too busy hacking up his delicate mortal lungs to follow my demonstration. “Or maybe don’t put your head under at all.”
Steady gulps signaled the end of his coughing fit, and when he turned to me, his eyes glistened with tears.Damn—I was a horrible instructor already. A couple of powerful kicks got me going, and I led us over to the side of the pool.
“We having fun yet?” I teased with a light nudge, hoping he’d crack a smile.
“Oh, you know it,” he chuckled, though his voice was shaky, like he was trying to keep more water from retching up. I whacked between his shoulder blades when we reached the edge, and another stream came right out.
“Oof, sorry, Kai. Better out than in.”
He pulled up on the tiles and gave me a sort of nod with his chin that also looked like he might be working up a hairball. “Thanks. Just, uh, g-gimme a minute.”
Poor thing. “No hurry. Just let me know when you’re ready.”
Leaving him at the side of the pool, I paddled a few zigzags while recalling the steps Gram had taken when she taught me to swim. If only I had my laptop, it would be too easy to search up the best way to instruct children.
“Okay,” he said with a relaxed breath. “I think I’m good.”
Wading back over, I hummed as I took hold of the wall beside him. “This might be a good place to start, actually. Here, grab on to the side with both hands, okay? Then you’ll kick your legs back like you’re trying to float on your stomach.” I showed the move with a rapid push off the tile, and my back end floated right to the top. From there, an easy paddle kept my legs hovering near the surface. “And there you have it. Remember, head up. Chin above the waterline, or you’ll start choking again.”
He studied the movement of my legs until a spark of determination lit in his eyes. Spreading his arms like he was searching for the perfect width to grip, his long fingers pressed into the tile. “Let’s do this! So, I just… kick?”
His feet pushed off the bottom of the pool and popped up, his legs locking into stiff lengths of driftwood behind him.
To his credit, he floated for a second, caught in the weightless struggle between buoyancy and gravity. And then gravity won.
His ankles started sinking, and rather than alternating kicks like I’d shown him, he went with hip movements instead. He swung them from side to side in a rapid motion, like he was a sea snake trying to skim over the water’s surface.
Only, he wasn’t a sea snake, and human legs weren’t supposed to bend that way. Gravity pulled him further, and when his chin slipped under the water with a bubbling gasp, I pushed off the side of the pool to help.
“Chin up, chin up!” I gave his junk a wide berth as I slipped my arms under his legs and stomach. Balancing him on my forearms, I pulled him level with the surface. “What’s that weird thing you’re doing with your hips? You’re supposed to alternate kicking your feet. Weren’t you watching?”
“Instincts kicked in,” he wheezed, bubbling out the words with half a mouthful of water. I shifted my arms underneath him, and he clawed for the side of the pool like he wasn’t sure if I could keep his face above water.
“Your instincts?” What kind of instinct wasthis?Did he know how ridiculous he looked with his stiff legs and ankles pulled together like he was trying to mimic the movement of a shark’s tail or something? Even now, his hips were shimmying back and forth in a weird sort of pelvic dance.
A grunt of frustration sent his hips doubling their efforts, and I burst into laughter. “No offense, but your instincts could use some work. Why are you moving like that? You’re not a damn shark, Kai!”
A vagrant laugh cut through his throat. “Never been to the Pacific, have you?” he managed through heavy breaths, his face straining with concentration.
I cocked a brow. What did that have to do with anything? Of course I’d never been to the Pacific.
