Flipped Off by Zenina Masters Read Free Book Online Page A

fist when she was done, but her hair was an even cascade down her back.
    She picked up the shirt he had given her and grinned before she tore it in two and used her talent to shape it into a bandeau with a strap to support her breasts and a wrap skirt. Both were easy enough to move in and discard if she wanted to swim.
    She left Adam’s quarters and headed to the galley. He had a tray in his hands, and she could smell the coffee. Lorai snagged the coffee and headed for the deck. “I need some fresh air.”
    He followed her up the steps, and she took a seat on one of the benches in the aft, looking out over the open water.
    Adam sat with her while she ate, and when she set the last bowl down and put her empty cup on the tray, he took her hand.
    “So, while you were out, did you miss me?” He smiled.
    She sighed. “I did. My dreams were of my mother, and the weather was cold and bitter.”
    “Where is she?”
    “I don’t think it has a name. It is on the edge of the northern sea where the wind howls and tries to pull her from her cliff. She stands firm.”
    “You mentioned that she is against the rocks. Is she sleeping?”
    Lorai squeezed his hand. “She is doing what the lone giants have always done when their mates die. She is becoming part of the earth again. I think she might be trying to become mobile again, but that might be more hope than truth.”
    “May I meet her one day?”
    She smiled. “Yes. She is looking forward to it.”
    He shook his head. “You really love her.”
    “Of course. I was raised primarily in the sea. My father showed me how to change shape, and my mother showed me the mysteries of the land. It was just us and other fey until humans came into our area.”
    “Your mother didn’t swim?”
    Lorai chuckled at the memory. “She walked on the bottom of the sea. She sank. Everywhere she went with us, she had to walk or my father would carry her.”
    “She was stone?”
    Lorai tried to describe it. “It is more like hardened rubber. The calcification occurs once the giant stops moving.”
    “How large is your mother?”
    “In her normal form, she is eleven feet, but in her human form, she is about my standard height.”
    “You can change your height as well?”
    She laughed. “Of course. I can’t change my mer form, but I can change my human one. I am only ten feet tall in my giant form. You probably have one, too. You just didn’t know it.”
    He looked at his hands and tried to get taller. She could tell by the way he stuck his neck out.
    “Wait until we are on the land. You need the contact with soil to manage it.”
    He slumped in disappointment. “Tease.”
    She laughed. “Thank you. It has been years since I have had someone to taunt.”
    “How many years?”
    “Well, the last time I took a lover, pantaloons had laces.”
    His eyes widened. “Right. How much of a lifespan do you think we will have?”
    She shrugged. “Anywhere from two hundred to two thousand years. There haven’t been too many of my particular type of fey, and I still talk to my grandfather on occasion. He can’t move, but if I have a decade, he can tell a joke.”
    “Wow. That is a whole different outlook on time.”
    “Change is the most difficult thing. This last century has been a whirlwind, and I have needed to keep myself tethered to the human world, which means they have had me in their sights.”
    “Was it hard?”
    “It was trying. I was attempting to make a living, and they would come in to take pictures with me, paw at my merchandise and leave. Their laughter gave me my youth back, but it was a hard price to pay.”
    “Wait, what? Your youth back?”
    “Oh, right. Well, I suppose you should know. After my mother died, I lost interest in the world and began to wither into a sea hag. I was nearly dead and pulled myself up onto shore to let the elements have me. I was rescued by some women, and they hid me from their husbands and brought me food. Their joy in being able to help me