The Penny Drops (Sea the Depths Book 1) by Karmon Kuhn (warren buffett book recommendations TXT) 📕

close enough to smell her. There was the finest hint of salt and a sharp clinical scent. The smell of an artificial, medical calm.

“You need to wet your hair all the way.” She pointed to the running tap.

I leaned down under the faucet of the large tub. At one point, she sat on the edge of the tub, and her fingers grazed my shoulder. With her hands that close to my neck, I thought of Darius’ claws clenching my throat and whipped my head away. It hit the white wash basin and water flooded my nostrils until I coughed.

“Geez! Are you okay?” she asked and stood up. “Here’s a towel.”

I began to dab at my face and hair as she leaned under the running water. I noticed that she held a pair of sleek, silver scissors tightly in her palm. And, even though water periodically ran into her eyes, she kept them trained on me. Her suspicion made me uneasy.

“Let’s go ahead and cut yours before we dye it. That’ll save some time.” she said, pulling the towel off my head and laying it around my shoulders. She pointed at the edge of the tub for me to sit, and I obeyed.

She held the scissors to the hair that had fallen at my chin and hesitated. “Is that a good length?”

“You choose, Penny.”

She let out a puff of air. “No. I think I’ll just cut it to your shoulders.”

I watched strands fall onto my lap and the floor in front of me.

“Have you cut hair before?” I asked her.

“Yeah. I do hair sometimes for extra cash.”

Her strokes and snips were quick, but occasionally, her gentle maneuvers became rough. The pull on my hair hurt, but I didn’t assume it was intentional. Perhaps, she just had a heavy hand.

“So . . .” Penny began and then cleared her throat, “You were on a mission, and I kind of get that. But, what exactly were you going to do with me, if you hadn’t found out about all of this . . . stuff?”

Again, she held the scissors still. Too near my throat. I provided a slow answer, “I would have dressed you in a compression suit, taken you to my juz̈uṣùs̈, and then brought you to my instructor at the tsez̈ø.”

“And, what? You were going to leave me there? At the zezo or whatever?” Her hand didn’t move.

“Honestly, yes, Penny. I thought that my people would talk with you and then return you home, so yes, I would have delivered you and then left you there.” Her eyes widened. “But, it was in good faith! I’ve believed in this tradition my entire life! And, as soon as I learned that something was strange, I left! I came to you!”

“But why me? Why did you pick me? Of all of the 7 billion people in the world, why did you choose me?”

“I . . . I liked you. I like you still. It came naturally. You were receptive to my bonding, and you were kind to me.”

“I still don’t understand all of this. Why the hell do you guys want humans so badly?” she asked and then looked directly into my eyes.

“There are many reasons that we have a tradition of human contact. Primarily, there are just so many. Fierce predators of animals on land and sea. In modern times, humans pollute the water in which we live, and the impact of that is devastating. And also, our ability to change is meaningful in itself. No matter where this ability came from, it is the best way that we can protect ourselves and grow our knowledge of the world. Even so, I don’t understand what they’re doing at the tsez̈ø. What they are using our gift for . . .”

“Why don’t you just approach humans in your real bodies?” she asked.

I stared at her and waited for her to consider the sheer idiocy of the question. When her expression didn’t change, I said, “You saw Darius. How powerful and magnificent he is . . . or was. He was sick, Penny. Imagine the majesty of us when we are healthy. Do you think that humans would accept that?”

“Like, what . . . humans would be too vain to live on a planet with you guys?!” She lowered the scissors and put her hands on her hips, looking indignant.

“No! If Darius had meant to kill us, he would have crushed our skulls between his fingers! Even he, who is weak among my kind, could have easily destroyed us both. Humans would recognize the threat of that power. And, my people would be annihilated. Our numbers are not high enough to survive an attack like that. Even with our technologies.”

Her face became pensive. “So, you guys are scared of people?”

“Of course! Humans are a powerful force and have the population size to survive massive casualties.”

This news silenced her, and her eyes squinted in thought. She began cutting my hair again. When she’d finished, she spoke only enough to teach me how to mix the hair dye.

As we applied it and waited for it to cure, we sat on the side of the bathtub, she spoke again, “Is Natalie your real name?”

“Natalie is my human name. It fits well into the English language and is easy to pronounce for most Americans,” I answered.

“What’s the name you were born with?”

“Names are not given in my community the way that they are here. We earn new names as we age. My human name is as much my name as the first name that I received when I was young. It just signals that I’m older and have begun my land trials. My most recent name before this was Essehi.”

“Huh.” she answered, scrunching up her brow. “Do you want me to call you that instead?”

“No. I like Natalie.”

“I do too,” she answered, “It’s a nice name. It’s something I liked about you right away. I had a friend when I was little who was named Natalie.”

“I’m glad