"This wasn't just a fluke occurrence, Jed. There's more. And they live somewhere near us. We could get more."
Jed, leaning on his kitchen counter with the phone to his ear, looks warily at the sliding glass doors that lead to his pool outside. He can see his wife on the pool deck, feet in the water. "What's wrong with one we got?"
"Nothin'. But the one that girl saw was probably looking for the one in your pool. And the one that bit me. They're both searching for her, I know it. There's probably more."
"Well, what are you saying? You want to catch them?"
"If we don't, someone else will. If someone else gets them on the news and we come along behind them claiming we discovered them first, who do you think they'll believe?"
Jed is silent, thinking.
"Early retirement. College for the kids. Nice houses, extravagant vacations. Buying expensive things just because we can. Isn't it all worth it to just put a little more effort out now, then enjoy the spoils later? This is what we do for a living. We catch and sell fish. It's tedious, backbreaking work, but, for once in our lives I think it's all finally going to pay off. We can do this. Just think of them as really big fish worth really big money."
Jed looks at his wife. He told himself he wouldn't let her fall in love with the child, but its too late now. She'd hate him if he gave the girl to scientists, put her in a museum, a side show attraction, or whatever else his brother had planned.... but Mick was right. Money is options. He could give her everything she ever wanted. They could do anything.
He turns away from the pool beyond the glass. "What do we do about the kids? The ones you saw with the boy."
"I didn't think of anything yet. But if they know what he is-"
"They have to if he's really the one that bit you. And you said they were looking at boats."
"Yeah."
He hesitates. "We'll think of something."
"Does that mean you're agreeing to help me?"
He's silent for a moment. "I'm not stupid, Mick. What do you need me to do?"
YOU ARE READING
Beached
FantasyWhen a girl swims out to sea to rescue a figure in distress, she quickly realizes that the reason as to why he was in distress was quite different from the reason she had in mind. He wasn't drowning. Julia finds herself tethered to the mysterious st...
