Fathom by L. Standage (spanish books to read .TXT) 📕

I rolled over to look for Samantha and found her empty, unmade bed. Her cell phone sat on the floor beside it. I sat up, frowning in confusion. What on earth could make Sam so eager to get up in the morning that she’d leave her cell phone behind? Then, of course, I came up with the answer: Seidon.

I got out of bed, threw my sweatshirt on over my pajamas, and went to the door. I paused. An uncomfortable dread at running into Calder flipped my stomach over. But I took a deep breath and set my shoulders. I couldn’t stay in this room forever. And anyway, I had nothing to be ashamed of. He was the one who was being a jerk.

I went downstairs. Eamon, Walter, and Uther sat in the living room. They chatted between themselves, each with a cup of coffee. Natasha stood in the kitchen, pouring herself a cup. They looked up at me when I appeared.

“Good morning, lass,” said Eamon. “Sleep all right?”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“Coffee?” Natasha asked from the kitchen, holding up the coffee pot. I shrugged and walked over, while Eamon, Uther, and Walter went back to their conversation about football. Natasha poured me a mug, adding a generous spoonful of sugar and some creamer. I took the cup and sipped it, glancing at Natasha sipping from her own mug. Did she think I was a mermaid, like Calder did?

“Can I ask you a weird question?” I asked.

“I work with merpeople,” she said with a smile. “There’s no such thing as a weird question.”

I smiled. “Okay. Um, you know I’m human, right?”

She chuckled through her nose. “I bet those are words you never thought you’d say.”

I had to laugh. She continued. “And at first, no. I thought you were a mermaid.” She leaned closer and dropped her voice. “These guys aren’t very good at being forthcoming. Especially Eamon. All he said about you was ‘she isn’t what we thought.’ I took that to mean you were a merworld civilian, not special ops like Delfina.”

“Oh. He couldn’t just come out and say, by the way, Olivia is human?” I whispered. Natasha shrugged.

“Like I said. He’s terrible at blunt communication. It’s very un-Irish of him.” She smiled and winked. I chuckled as the conversation Samantha and I had with Eamon when he first confirmed the existence of merpeople rose to my mind. He hadn’t been forthcoming then, either. She patted my shoulder.

“Don’t worry. We’re not going to toss you or Samantha out in the cold or anything.”

I smiled from behind my coffee cup. “Thanks. Speaking of Samantha, have you seen her?”

“Out on the patio.” She pointed a thumb toward the back door. I crossed the room and went out back.

Samantha sat on the first step with her camera strap around her neck. She leaned back on her elbows and laughed toward the sky. Seidon, as I had suspected, sat beside her with a large bottle of water propped beside him.

“And I said, no I’m the prince of Whales,” said Seidon. He and Samantha both cracked up laughing.

“Prince of Whales!” she said.

“I waited for three years to use that one. Ever since I learned there’s a real place called Wales and human who’s the prince of it. I’d like to meet him one day.”

Samantha laughed again and looked up at me. “Hey, Liv.” She snapped a picture of me.

“Hi.”

“Nice day.” Seidon nodded toward the ocean, where the seagulls squawked, and the ocean and sky were pristine blue. Down by the water, a few people strolled, waded, or swam. Sam took a picture of the shore and patted the space on the step beside her.

“You okay?” she asked as I sat down.

“I’m fine.”

“I was about to come out and yell at him for being so rude last night, but Cordelia told me to stay in the house.” Sam looked at her camera to review pictures. “Couldn’t really say no, could I?”

“No, you couldn’t,” Seidon agreed, and lifted the water bottle. “She’s pretty used to having her orders obeyed.”

How about a change of subject? “You and Cordelia kind of look alike. Are you related?” I asked, finding my chance to ask a question I’d had since the first time I met them. He swallowed his gulp of water.

“Not really,” he said, wiping a drip from his chin. “She does resemble my family, but she’s married to my cousin twice removed or something.”

“She’s married?” The thought hadn’t occurred to me. Cordelia seemed more like the feministic, career-oriented type.

“Oh yes. Her husband is also a captain in our military, but he hates the surface.”

“She and Calder left a few minutes ago to make a grocery store run,” said Sam. I wrinkled my nose. Count on my best friend to bring the topic back around to a guy.

“Apparently, everyone wanted him out of your way for a while.” Seidon and Samantha exchanged a smile as if they shared a delectable secret.

“He was acting pretty humble this morning, before you came down.” Sam looked at me with a cocked eyebrow. He was? Huh. Wait, no. I didn’t care.

“Yeah, well…whatever,” I said. “Can we talk about something else, please? I’ve been wondering something. Well, a lot of things really.” I looked around Samantha’s back at Seidon. “Can I ask?”

He took another drink. “Of course.”

I smiled. Where to begin?

“Okay.” I thought for a second. “Have you ever been on land before?”

“No. I’ve only been to the surface. Once. It was very brief and I was just a child. I like it here. It’s nice. Feet are easier to get used to than I thought.” He looked down at his own and wiggled his toes.

“Probably because feet are normal.” Samantha gave him a playful shove.

“I said I got used to them.” He nudged her back. “Not that they’re normal. They are very, very weird.”

Samantha and I laughed.

“Which came first, the fin or the foot?” I asked. Sam laughed again. I smiled, but leaned around Samantha, my curiosity bursting. “No, seriously, I want to know. How