No humans were nearby, but Pearlina scanned the area. This was their home, and she had to stay aware of her new surroundings. She swam to the closest dock, allowing it to conceal her. Her teeth clanked together as the structure blocked the sky light from warming her body. She tried to stop, but they moved on their own. The first part of her plan was to retrieve clothing for her new body. Then, the hunt for a human would begin.
The other females told Pearlina that clothing was inside the shelters of humans. Clothing would help her body adjust to the new temperature as soon as possible. Then, interact with a human. Get it to trust her. Lure it to the water. The sex of the human didn’t matter. All they needed was the sacrifice. A few hinted that the males were easier to bait.
Pearlina had no preference. She wanted to take the first one she found. Then the ceremony would be over. Returning home was the only thing on her mind so that she could prove herself to the troop. She thought of Syrene, wishing she still shared a connection with her sister. The human form muddled their communication. And anyway, it would never reach across the distance, even if she and Syrene were both in their natural forms.
Booming sounds crashed over her. She ducked under the water, expecting a human to appear and notice the naked figure in the water. Going back toward the rock wall wasn’t a choice. Her chest burned. She surfaced for air, careful to draw in a slow and quiet breath. No human grabbed her or revealed her location. When she realized she wasn’t in immediate danger, she waited. Pearlina could no longer feel her fingers or new toes. She needed to get out of the water, but with humans nearby and no clothing in sight, she wasn’t sure what to do.
Excited human voices pierced the air above her. It was only a matter of time before they spotted her. From her hiding spot, she peered at the nearest boat. Strange symbols etched the side. They looked like the markings on Zimra’s body.
Three humans appeared. A female and two males. They raced around the boat searching for something. One of them held a recognizable clear bottle with liquid inside.
When Pearlina was young, she scoured the cove for human items. At least she did until Daryah. Since then, she had wanted no connection with the humans. But at that moment, Pearlina moved toward the boat with rapt interest.
A high-pitched sound erupted from the female, and she flashed her teeth at one of the males. The other seemed unfazed and disinterested. Pearlina understood the feeling.
The female and one of the males, both strikingly dissimilar in looks, broke from the group and stood at Pearlina’s side of the boat. The female’s hair was pale, while the male’s was darker than the depths of the ocean. Pearlina held her place under the dock and watched them.
‘Where is my wallet?’ the second male asked, out of sight. ‘I swear it was here.’
‘Why do you need it anyway?’ the female asked. ‘Ben has money.’
‘Because, Carolina, I’m not going to rely on my brother,’ he answered.
‘Why not?’ the dark-haired male said. ‘You always do.’
‘Oh, burn!’ the female, Carolina, shrieked.
‘Found it,’ the other male said.
‘Why is it so warm today?’ Carolina asked. ‘It’s supposed to be fall.’
‘You complain about the weather no matter what time of year it is,’ the dark-haired male said before disappearing.
Carolina removed a layer from her body, revealing another set of coverings underneath.
Pearlina studied the human. To blend in, she needed the same. Her hands fisted at her sides as if she already held the clothing. Where else would she find coverings near the water? She wanted to walk on land in clothing so she wouldn’t get caught. If she could reach up to the boat and grab the covering from Carolina, she would be off to a good start. But that plan involved coming out from under the dock. If they noticed her, she’d have no way to explain herself. She wondered how the other Drywalkers retrieved clothing so quickly. Had she chosen the wrong part of the land to start her ceremony? Even if Pearlina came out from her hiding spot, she wasn’t tall enough to reach up to take it.
The opportunity slipped through her fingers as the female lifted it from the side, cradling it over her arm.
An object zipped by her face, landing in the water beside her.
Pearlina kicked away from it, creating a splash loud enough for the humans to hear. She ducked under the dock in time before the three humans glanced over the side of the craft. Her heart hammered in her chest, enough that she thought it would burst from under her skin. The world shifted on its axis. For the first time in her life, she was out of control.
‘Sorry about that,’ a female voice said. It wasn’t Carolina.
‘Mrs. Jones,’ one of the males said.
‘Hi, there!’ she chirped. ‘Harry, Ben, does your father know you’re on his boat?’
‘No, ma’am.’
‘I’m looking for my wallet,’ the hidden male said.
‘You’d better keep hold of that.’ Mrs. Jones let out a laugh that pierced Pearlina’s chest, pleasantly. It sounded like the song of the sky fliers. Birds. ‘Well, I’ll leave you all to it. I was going for a stroll when I accidentally kicked a rock.’
‘It’s a good thing you didn’t hit the side,’ the hidden male muttered.
‘It’s a good thing,’ Mrs. Jones repeated. ‘I might have had to explain to your father who I saw before damaging his boat.’
A long silence stretched on before several sets of the booming sounds thundered over Pearl’s head. Now she understood that the noise was humans walking above her.
The hidden male appeared. He shared the same pale hair as Carolina.
Syrene would never believe Pearlina encountered four humans within minutes of being near land. Yet, none of them were drowning in the water beside her.
Pearlina let out a breath. It was hard enough to breathe above water. She didn’t need her body to stop working before she completed her mission.
Slower movement shuffled above her, then stopped. A human groaned, and then Pearlina came face to face with a female one. The human’s upside-down lips curved. Her skin was dark, like Kaito’s, but not taut like his. Deep wrinkles creased the corners of her eyes and mouth.
If Pearlina ever came across a large predator, her reflexes always followed through for her. With one flick of her fin, she’d out-swim it in seconds. The same instinct came to her, but she still tried to keep afloat. Instead of withdrawing from the human, she shoved water away from her and kicked her useless legs.
‘It’s a good thing they didn’t see you,’ Mrs. Jones said. ‘Especially in your condition.’ She eyed Pearlina up and down.
Pearlina sunk below the surface but kept her head visible. Still, she couldn’t believe the water, which had given her comfort earlier, now only made a pit widen in her stomach.
‘You kids and your skinny-dipping,’ she said with a huff. ‘Though I’m not sure why you’re by the docks. I don’t want to pretend I know why you all do the things you do.’
Pearlina had no idea what to say, but she knew what she needed.
‘I need clothing,’ she said. The human way of speaking still foreign to her but the words came to her as if they were always there, waiting for her to release them from her mouth.
‘You came here without clothes?’ Mrs. Jones asked.
Pearlina nodded.
The human made a sound that reminded Pearlina of a dolphin’s click.
‘Can