“I’ve never had cooked crab before,” Rayna says, tossing the last crab shell on the substantial pile of remains they’d created during the course of their meal. The gulls overheard squawk their interest.

“Why would you?” Galen asks. “Live crab tastes better.” His nerves are on the verge of revolting. Rayna hasn’t stopped talking, Toraf hasn’t stopped glaring at him, and Rachel hasn’t stopped assessing him with worshipful eyes. It’s the longest meal he’s ever taken in his life, and he’s ready for it to be over.

Rayna gives Rachel an apologetic look. “Galen can be dense sometimes. He doesn’t appreciate how sophisticated humans are.”

Usually it’s Galen having to offer excuses for Rayna’s behavior. Guilt picks at him like tiny minnows. He glances at Rachel sheepishly. “It’s just that we don’t spend much time on land. We’re not supposed to.”

Rachel draws her knees up to her chin, scrunching her toes in the sand. “I see.” She stares into the dwindling fire, her body casting a small shadow beside her by a midmorning sun. Even the shadow has unruly hair. “I was hoping that we could get to know each other better. All of us. Friendships start out based on a lot less than—”

“We can’t,” Galen says quickly. He stands. “I wasn’t supposed to do what I did.”

“You regret saving me?” She says this without expression. Galen wonders if this is a learned reaction. He’s seen his brother Grom do it countless times, wear indifference like a second skin.

“No.” He runs a hand through his hair. “No. But staying on land like this, building a fire…It’s not what we do.”

“What exactly do you do?” She glances at his necklace for emphasis.

Galen clutches it. It looks bad, he knows. Wearing a human’s necklace and claiming that he doesn’t spend time on land. But it’s the truth. He frowns. “I didn’t steal it, if that’s what you mean.”

“Why would I mean that?”

Rachel is especially good at making him feel wrong, Galen decides. He doesn’t know where this conversation could be going, and it makes him uncomfortable. He glances, for what feels like the hundredth time, toward the waves beckoning at him. “We have to go now.”

Rachel stands quickly. So quickly that Toraf puts a protective arm around Rayna, which earns him an elbow to the ribs. “I’m sorry to beat around the bush,” Rachel says. “I’m just…trying to figure you out, is all.” She pulls her mess of hair around to one side. “And I don’t mean to get all up in your business. Honest to God, I don’t. But if I had to guess, being who—or what—you are, I’d say you found that necklace in the ocean somewhere. A shipwreck maybe?” When Galen’s mouth drops open, she smiles. “And if that’s the case, then it could be worth a lot of money.”

“Money?” Rayna says, testing out the word. She still hasn’t stood up, which means that she doesn’t intend on leaving with Galen. Nice. “Is that good?”

“To humans, it’s very good,” Rachel says. “Money is power up here on land.”

Galen crosses his arms. “We don’t need human power. As I said, we don’t spend much time on land.”

“Why not?”

Galen blinks. “Why not what?”

"Why don’t you spend much time on land? Don’t you care what the humans are doing? Because believe me, they’d care very much if they found out about you.” She waves in dismissal when he takes a step back. “Oh, sweet pea, that’s one thing you’ll just have to learn about me. I’m an expert secret keeper.”

Galen can feel his heart beat in his throat. He needs to get Rayna and Toraf into the water now. Rachel seems to sense his unrest. “Galen,” she says softly. “You saved my life. Why would I put you in danger?” She sits back down, as if to appear less imposing. How such a small human could seem so mighty in the first place is beyond Galen. “I think I could help you, you know. Rayna told me all about your laws. That contact with humans is strictly forbidden.”

Rayna bites her lip, but Galen knows it’s just a show of shame. There is no real shame swimming in Rayna’s veins. There never has been. “I totally get that,” Rachel continues. “The law protects you. And I think it’s a good idea for most of your kind to abide by it.”

“Most?” Rayna says, hopeful. Galen resists the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. They are showing this human too much of themselves.

Rachel nods. “We humans have a saying. ‘Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.’ Do you understand what that means?”

Galen steps closer. He nods. “Go on.”

Rachel picks up a stick and pokes the almost nonexistent fire. He wonders if she’s trying to seem unimposing again. “Humans are finding new ways to explore the oceans every day. If I were in your situation, I’d want someone to keep an eye on that.”

“I already have Dr. Milligan to—” Galen sucks in a breath. He’s said too much.

“Dr. Milligan?” Rachel says. He can tell she’s committing the name to memory. He doesn’t like that. “Well, I don’t know anything about Dr. Milligan, of course. I assume he is another human who knows about you? How many of us are there?”

“Just him. And now you.”

She nods. “Good. Now then. I’m sure Dr. Milligan has good intentions and all. And I’m sure he does help you watch the human world. But watching is only half the battle, sweet pea.”

Galen is not sure what a sweet pea is, but it sounds a lot like an endearment. He hopes The Human Rachel does not have the wrong idea, what with the fire and the crabs and his staying the night. But Rachel doesn’t seem to be in a romantic mood. Especially since she’s talking about war. “Battle? What battle?”

“What I mean is, say Dr. Milligan comes across some humans who found out about you? What would he do about it?”

“He would tell me.” In fact, some humans do know about them; it’s how he met Dr. Milligan in the first place, scuba diving with some human friends. They’d seen Galen. Captured him. Dr. Milligan saved him. Protected him from the humans. But this is a story that Rachel need not know.

“And what would you do about it?”

Galen crosses his arms. “I guess I would tell my brother about it. He’s going to be king one day. He would know what to do.”

“What does your brother know about humans?”

Next to nothing. Galen shrugs. “He knows enough.”

“I seriously doubt that, sweet pea. I’m sure he’ll make a great king one day and all. But if he doesn’t know much about humans, he won’t be able to protect your kind against them.”

“I don’t see how money would help.”

“Money, no. The power money buys, yes. I could make contact with those humans who found out about you. I could find out things about them, find out where they live, who their families are. I could bribe them to keep their mouths shut. Do you know what a bribe is?”

Galen nods. He does it to Rayna all the time.

This conversation is giving him a headache. Or maybe it’s the lack of sleep. Or maybe it’s that Rayna and Toraf are playing a game in the sand instead of listening to this exchange and offering their input on bribing. Not that their input would be particularly valuable at this point, what with Rayna enamored with Rachel, and Toraf enamored with Rayna.

Suddenly Galen feels bullied by this little stranger. He sighs and sits back down. Rachel is direct. Why shouldn’t I be? “Tell me this. Why would a human like you be interested in helping our kind? At least Grom has an interest in us; it will be his kingdom one day. I’m trying to figure out why you would care.” He meant to be direct, not mean.

His words seem to lance through Rachel. Overwhelming sadness returns to her deep brown eyes. “Those people who threw me overboard yesterday? They happened to be the people I cared about the most. Trusted the most. And they tried to kill me.” She shrugs. “You could say that right now, you’re the only friends I’ve got in the whole wide world. You and Rayna and Toraf. You showed up when I needed you the most. I want to do the same for you.” Her voice almost cracks at the end.

Galen is speechless.

Rayna is not. She looks up from her game. She has been paying attention the whole time. “Of course we want your help. You see how Galen fights against reason? It gets tiring, let me tell you.” His sister claps the sand off her hands. “Tell us about money. Tell us how we can get some of it.”

Rachel looks at Galen, triumph practically dripping from her face. “Your brother’s necklace has got to be worth a lot of money. If he’ll let me, I’ll take it and sell it. That is, I’ll trade the necklace for human money.”

“The humans won’t ask you where you got it?” Galen says. “They won’t question where you found it?”

Rachel grins. “Sure they will. But I’m a good liar. And I only deal with people who don’t ask too many questions.”

“If you’re a good liar, why should we trust you?” Toraf asks. Galen isn’t sure if he wants to applaud his friend, or punch him in the mouth. He could have used his help in the beginning of the conversation, but now that the issue is nearly settled, he can’t imagine why Toraf would want to stir up trouble by making more accusations.

“You shouldn’t trust me,” Rachel says flatly. “In fact, you shouldn’t trust any humans. I don’t think that’s news to you, though. But what have you got to lose this time? That necklace? I bet you have plenty more than the one necklace.” Before Galen can answer, she says, “And it wouldn’t hurt to have two human contacts watching the world for you. If I sell that necklace, you’ll have someone who can actually wield power in your favor, too. Always good to have a backup plan.”

Galen can’t find a single argument against her logic. He never had any intention of keeping the necklace anyway; he would have traded it to Rayna for something eventually. But the idea of trading it for human power is irresistibly compelling. Of course, he doesn’t completely trust this tiny, intimidating stranger yet. But she’s right. All he has to lose is a necklace. He doesn’t have to speak with Rachel ever again if he doesn’t want to. All three of them could disappear in the surf and never come back. Or he could take a chance, risk only himself, and possibly get the opportunity to offer all Syrena at least a small amount of extra protection.

Really, the question is how could he not do it?

Rayna stands, dragging Toraf with her. She yawns. “It’s settled then. Galen, give Rachel the necklace. Rachel, how long will it take you to sell it?”

“Once I get cleaned up and all, I can be up and running in two weeks, no problem.”

Galen’s not sure what “up and running” means, but he does recognize the word “weeks”. “It means fourteen turns of the sun,” he tells his sister, whose eyes are glazed with confusion.

Galen lifts the necklace from his chest and walks it over to Rachel. She accepts it gingerly, and for a moment, he thinks she may have been holding her breath. He holds his hand down for her. “We’ll meet you in this same place in two weeks,” Galen tells her, hoisting her up.

She nods. “I won’t let you down, cutie pie. You have my word.”

“Goodbye, Rachel,” he says, turning toward the alluring tide.

“Not goodbye, Galen. Until we meet again.”

But he’s already wading in the water, Toraf and Rayna close behind.