The Stranger

Part 1

Galen dangles the necklace in front of his sister, swirling tidbits of seaweed in the water around them. “This is mine,” he tells her, shaking it closer to Rayna’s face. “If you take it again, I’ll tell Father about all your human treasures.”

Rayna crosses her arms, her sleek silver fin twitching in irritation—the brunt of which she turns on Toraf, their best friend. “What kind of Tracker pupil are you?” she demands. “You didn’t sense that he was in my cave? Stealing my things?”

Galen is careful to hide his grin. Toraf knew he was in Rayna’s precious cave of human relics. Not because Toraf is training to be a Tracker—and a promising one at that. No, Toraf didn’t have to sense Galen creeping around in Rayna’s treasure trove. Because Toraf was with him the whole time.

“Leave Toraf out of this,” Galen drawls. “He’s still learning his Tracker skills.” He can tell Toraf doesn’t like him minimizing his abilities, but he’s not quite proud enough to admit his involvement in this matter, so he keeps his mouth shut. Like a good minnow. “Besides,” Galen continues, “Toraf is my best friend. Why would he tell you anything?”

Rayna grabs Toraf’s forearm and pulls him to her. Toraf  grimaces, torn between the pleasure of being pulled toward the Triton princess and the pain of being put in the middle yet again.

“He is not!” Rayna insists.  “Tell him, Toraf. Tell him you’re my best friend.”

The scowl Toraf gives Galen brims with indecision. Galen doesn’t sympathize. The choice is obvious. Toraf can nurture his romantic feelings for Rayna when the time is more appropriate—which won’t be for five more seasons, when they all turn eighteen. “That’s not the point,” Galen drawls. “The point is, you stole this necklace from me and I stole it back.”

Toraf’s expression relaxes as Rayna’s attention shifts from him to her twin brother.  Galen knows the look on her face so well. She’s changing tactics. The anger recedes, replaced by a tide of sadness. Or at least, a good imitation of sadness. “You should have given it to me,” she says. “You knew I wanted it since we found it. How selfish can you be?”

“I found it,” Galen says pleasantly. “It was the only thing I found on that old wreck. I can’t help that it was the best. You swam away with almost more than you could carry. I think you’re the one being selfish.”

Rayna’s lower lip juts out and threatens to quiver. “I’m the one who got it all cleaned up and shiny again. It didn’t look half as nice when you had it.”

Galen holds up the necklace, allowing all of Rayna’s hard work to glisten as he turns it in the fingers of afternoon sunlight stretching down at them from the surface. Before, he thought the medallion was plain, a bare gilt disc on the end of a handsome braid of gold. Beautiful, but simple. Now he sees the outline of a human symbol—one he’s seen before in the Cave of Memories. Two lines intersecting each other in the middle. Other symbols dance around it, fine carvings outlining tiny colored rocks around the rim. Some are possibly the marks of human words though Galen can’t make out a single letter Romul taught him. That could be because Rayna has restored the thing to within an inch of its life. Such great care she took in polishing off the green crust of many seasons in the belly of the great ship. With the layers of green she also kneaded away the outside markings.

Galen has no idea what the lines mean; the subject had yet to come up with his mentor Romul during his lessons in the Cave of Memories. But the Cave of Memories is vast, and the collective memory of Archives like Romul is even more so. Romul would not need to see the necklace to know what the symbols mean. Which is a very good thing, since Father will wear a whelt in my fin if he finds out I explored a human shipwreck—and especially if he finds out I let Rayna come with me. 

Galen grins at his sister. “Thanks. It looks great.” He pulls the necklace on. The medallion takes up a large portion of his chest, the weight of it resting against his heartbeat.

Rayna clenches her teeth. His sister is lovely, Galen knows, but when she clenches her teeth she looks like an agitated puffer fish. “I’ll trade you. Anything you want in my cave.”

“Not a chance.”

Rayna grabs Toraf’s hand, instantly setting him on edge. “Toraf, tell him. Tell him that I need that necklace. Tell him how hateful it is for him to keep it.”

Toraf turns on Galen, writhing under Rayna’s scrutiny. “Come on, tadpole. It’s her favorite treasure. And truth be told, it looks ridiculous on you. Very feminine.”

“Your fin is feminine.” Galen shrugs. “I’m keeping it. That’s final.” At least for now. Who knows what Rayna will be willing to do for it? He’d be an idiot to give up such a valuable bartering tool so early in what he knows will be an entertaining game. He could make her dig for some tasty oysters. Or net his favorite kind of tuna—which can only be found in Poseidon territory. Or better yet, he could trade it for peace and quiet. A day off from his sister sounds very tempting right about now. Right about always.

But it doesn’t mean he has to flit around wearing it like a prissy human.  Toraf is right; he does look ridiculous. Galen turns to swim away, fighting the urge to take it off. “It’s a necklace,” he says, almost to himself. “It was made to be worn.”

Despite Rayna’s protesting growls, Galen keeps swimming. He senses Toraf following him. Normally he would stop and wait for him to catch up. But Toraf is currently enchanted by his sister; he just might try to take back the very thing he helped him find only days ago. His friend is loyal, but sometimes his heart betrays him.

Galen stops. Toraf stops, too. Rayna didn’t follow; she obviously trusts in Toraf to do her bidding. Which irritates Galen even more.

“It means more to her than it does to you,” Toraf says quietly. “Why can’t she have it?”

“I’ll eventually give it to her. Just not right now.”

“She did work hard on making it shine.”

Galen raises a brow. He’s seen his older brother Grom do this, and it always makes him look more intimidating.  “You should have thought about that before you helped me take it.”

Toraf grimaces. “Well. I’m taking it back.” He eases toward Galen.

“Obviously you’ve grown too accustomed to the luxury of teeth, tadpole,” Galen says, “if you think you’re going to swim over here and take it from around my neck.”

Toraf considers.

“Besides, if you even try, I’ll tell Rayna you helped me. And I’ll tell Father where her cave is.”

“You wouldn’t.”

No, he definitely wouldn’t. His sister might be infinitely annoying, but those human things have been one of the few sources of happiness for her since their mother died. Galen would never take that from her.

Still, it doesn’t hurt to give Toraf something to think about. Plus there’s the issue of actually catching Galen. True, Toraf’s fin is bigger than Galen’s. But the young Tracker knows Galen is faster. So fast that Toraf knows his time is better spent comforting Rayna than chasing a tail that will soon be out of sight.

Galen can see from his friend’s expression that the disagreement has been stalled for another time. He takes the opportunity to leave, the necklace getting heavier which each flick of his fin. But somehow he suspects that the weight is wrapped more around his conscience than his neck.