They weren’t even compatible. Achromos and his kind were so far different from each other, they would never fit.

He didn’t think, at least.

His achromo swam over to the edge of the cave, muttering the whole time while she dragged herself out of the water. Arges leaned against the edge, a little farther away from her this time so she wouldn’t throw a rock at him.

“You were saying, achromo?” he asked, chuckling. “You would kill me if I gave you the chance?”

She ignored him. Instead, she stomped to the back of the cave. And not for the first time, he wished he understood what she was saying. Without her gestures, he could only guess.

Putting all his weight on his arm atop the stone, he tilted his head to the side as he watched her. “The People of Water are more cunning than I thought,” he said for her, his voice low and soothing. “This one kidnapped me and none of my people came to get me. They probably don’t even care that I’m gone.”

Of course, he knew this to be the truth. He’d returned to her home, making certain that the achromos wouldn’t cause any problems for his own people.

And he was frustrated to find they didn’t care that she was gone. Not a single one of them appeared to be gathering a search party, or even attempting to find out what happened to her. They were all just going about their day, doing the same things they did every single day that he’d observed them.

Did they not realize she was gone? He had a hard time believing it.

But then again, the achromos rarely made sense to him. If they didn’t care that she had disappeared, then it wasn’t his problem.

“I should probably try to escape,” he kept going, eyes narrowing as she finally reached the back of the cave. “If he leaves for even a second, I’ll swim out of here to my death, most likely. Because I am an idiot. But it would be better than staying here like a pet for him to stare at.”

And then she did something he had never expected.

She moved the massive length of her wet hair to the side, reached for the back of her silver skin, and pulled it in half. He watched, awed, as she peeled that second skin off and revealed lovely, pale flesh beneath it. He’d never seen an achromo so bare, and certainly never so close.

She was smooth, the long line of her back revealed with twin valleys of muscles rising along the sides. Those muscles flexed as she pulled the skin right off of her arms.

Then she looked back at him and her face turned bright red. He hadn’t known they could do that either. Some of his people could change their color with emotions, but he could only make his skin light up.

Flinching at her glare, he told himself the reaction was only because she changed color so rapidly.

She flicked her fingers at him, indicating that he should turn around. But he didn’t want to. He wanted to see the rest of her body, if only to know how different they really were. Obviously she had mounds on her chest, unlike his people. But what if the achromos hid terrifyingly ugly bodies underneath all the scraps of fabric they wore?

Again, she turned her fingers in a circle and pointed at him. He tilted his head to the side and watched her.

She let out a huff of frustration and then bent down to pick up another rock. It didn’t escape his notice that she held the strange silver skin to her chest, as though shy about him seeing her body.

Hadn’t she already seen all of his? He wore no coverings like the achromos did, although most of his more... private appendages were tucked inside his body.

Frowning, he did as she asked. If she wanted privacy, he could give her that. But if she used this opportunity to attack him, she would be very surprised at how quickly he could move.

Instead, he heard the quiet sound of her breathing as she struggled to get the second skin off her body. A few stomps suggested she’d pulled it off her tails as well, which was as strange to think as it was in practice. Why would she be peeling off that skin? Clearly, it kept her warmer.

Finally, he couldn’t take it any longer. He turned around, half hoping to catch a glimpse of what that silver skin had hidden. But she’d wrapped a large swath of fabric around her body, revealing only those ugly fins and just a few inches of her tails before the rest of it was covered. She even had it over her head as she placed the silver skin out on the ground.

His achromo turned to look at him and grunted when she realized he was staring at her again. She said something, although the words were quiet, and he didn’t think they were a threat. Not this time, at least.

He narrowed his eyes and watched as she picked something up from the small box in the corner and then approached him. Was this some kind of trickery again? He would not be toyed with.

She sat down on the edge of the water and he got the briefest glimpse of more pale, smooth skin as she crossed those fins. He winced at the movement. “Doesn’t that hurt?” he asked, before remembering she couldn’t understand him.

She couldn’t respond, anyway. His achromo had one of the tools he’d brought her in her hands. Flicking it on and off, she moved it back and forth between her hands before holding it out to him.

Arges did not take it. He knew well the dangers of the achromos’ weapons, and he had no interest in them. Apparently, it was not the right response. Again she gestured with it, then pointed at herself. Pointed at the weapon, pointed at herself, then pointed at him.

“Do you want more junk?” he asked, his lip curling in disgust. “You want me to bring you more broken things?”

She clearly had no idea what he was saying, but he understood her request.

“All right, achromo.” His gills flared again before he could stop them. How could she know it was the correct mating ritual for her to request that he bring her treasures? “I will bring you more junk.”

With a flick of his tail, he sank beneath the waves and fled from that golden light. Fled from the thoughts in his mind where he had thought, for a moment, she might understand what she asked.

OceanofPDF.com

Eleven

Mira

Mira had no idea how long she waited for him. Only that she stared at the wall for hours on end before she had the first whispering fear that he might not come back. And maybe, just maybe, now was the time for her to plan her escape.

She’d tried to search through all the gear for flippers. Any kind of swimming fins would do, but unfortunately, she had little luck. Most of the items left down here were rusted beyond repair. And even then, there was nothing made of rubber or plastic.

How old was this place?

Given a little more time, she might be able to parse it out. But she was more likely to sit and wallow at this point.

She’d officially reached the “depression” stage of being kidnapped days ago. Denial had taken quite a while, and then she wasn’t sure if now this was acceptance or if she was back to drowning herself before he came back.

Eyeing the glowing yellow water, she had to admit, death by drowning at this point sounded better than what she was doing now. There were a few fish in there today—if it was day—and she could only guess that was because her undine hadn’t been around in a while. Otherwise, they all scattered for many hours.

She’d tried counting once. There were tiny marks on the floor where she’d used a pebble to scratch out every minute that ticked by. But then she’d gotten bored with all that about six hours in and abandoned the project.

Even now, cross-legged on the floor with the console panel’s base ripped open, wires decorating the ground around her, she couldn’t find the curiosity to keep digging. Apathy hung over her head, dripping down the back of her skull and into her spine with wet plops.