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

that the perfume would persist. I knew that tsùges̈sss would not be able to resist this kind of decadence.

For the first time since modification, I was finally able to observe my body. I inspected my arms, much darker and intricately patterned compared to the bronze of the rest of me. As one of the few in my community with residual species’ markings in human form, my back was solid pitch and the top of my arms was covered in a pattern of onyx scales down to the back of my hands.

My fingers explored the surfaces of my human form from my smooth feet to the hair covered legs and feminine parts. The rear of my human body was fleshy around the hips and thighs, and there were some divots and striations in the skin that were slightly darker than the surrounding area. My belly was full and slightly rounded, and the breasts above them were quite the mystery. Having spent my life as part of a species more akin to reptiles than mammals, they were a bit of a shock to my senses.

I continued to skim my body up the smooth skin of my neck and then through the lush, black mane of hair. Having had nothing like it before, I was unsure of how to manage it. And what was its purpose? Practical or decorative?

Then, I touched my fingertips to the ears that now protruded in cartilage flaps rather than close-cropped holes. I found my nose, much the same, having transformed from nostril slits to a fleshy mass in the middle of my face. The eyelids over my closed eyes were soft and bristly where they met with lashes. So unlike the brille that had protected the eyes of my born body. Last, I felt my lips. They were soft and plump except across the arch on the left side where I was marked.

The scar from my childhood that blemished my born body, a slash from lip to chin, was still present in my human body. I startled to find this and was unsettled. Physical presentation was an important part of success in the land trials, and humans were quite shallow. They would not often associate with an anomalous member of their kind.

I ran a finger along the healed gash and relived the moment. The net, the scrambling fish, the fisherman, and the fear in his eyes. I’d nearly died that day as a curious, young creature. As much as I’d writhed and twisted my abnormally forgiving joints, I was hopelessly trapped for an eternity that only a child can imagine. Even dislocating my shoulder hadn’t made me slim enough to slide through the net’s holes. It was the fisherman’s fear that gave me the scar but also that cut the cords of the net and set me free. I was haunted even now by the pain and procedure of my mother popping the joint back into place as we both cried.

As much as I hated the feeling, I was renewed by it. The fisherman taught me how dangerous the humans could be, and it was my duty to learn from them and protect my people from their malice.

After a bit of scrubbing, I felt clean and new and removed the cloth plug to drain the water. The hair atop my head dripped onto the washroom floor even after I patted it dry with the dry fabric swaths provided by the inn. This concerned me. I hadn’t seen a single wet-haired human in the city, and I had no idea how to address it. In the meantime, I went to my satchel and removed items of clothing like those that I’d worn from the hospital.

The top was easy enough, but when I inspected the bottoms, I was unsure of how to cover each leg simultaneously. At first, I laid them on the floor and tried jumping in and then pulling, but I just got tangled and then toppled over. Then, I tried one leg in with the other in the air and crashed onto the floor. I leaned on the bed next and found that if I lifted my legs into the air, I could pull the clothing over both legs at once.

I took a moment in front of the mirror to straighten the wrinkles with my hands and felt satisfied, only lingering to check my eye color. They’d looked a broody blue underwater, but on the surface they were a beautiful crystal gray color. Clear and bright.

Now that I was clean with an improved mood, I addressed the device again. Rather than contacting Penny, though, I saw that I had a message. Luckily, opening contacts sent to me was intuitive. The simple text read.

Find me behind door one hundred twenty-eight. -Darius

***

I knocked on the door at room 128 and received an answer from a tall human with tawny eyes; dark, plaited hair; and skin that was several shades deeper than my own. I hadn’t seen much variation in skin tone at the tsez̈ø, so this made his appearance intriguing. He had the look of a creature in poor health. His frame was muscular, but the skin was stretched taut and a bit sallow. His eyes were sunken in their sockets with dark bags underneath.

As intriguing as I found his appearance, his scent sparked even more curiosity. It was evident that he was not human just as I was not, but there was a hint of some foreignness. Something earthy, rich, and fresh, and he lacked the distinct salty scent that my people had hidden beneath their human fragrance.

Even so, he had symmetrical features and a rather attractive, confident demeanor about him. He also had “tattooing” displayed along the ripples of his arms. Thick bands of a deep and almost iridescent ebony trailed his forearms and biceps up to his short sleeved t-shirt. I even noticed a band of color peeking out of the top of his shirt around his neck. Just