SEAMONSTER: An Aquarathi Novella (The Aquarathi) by Amalie Howard Read Free Book Online Page A

up for rental so I took it, just to figure things out.”
    “How did you pay for it?”
    “Cash. I withdrew funds.” She lifts her head and exhales sharply. “ That’s how he found me. How could I be so stupid?”
    “You’re human, and we all make mistakes.” I stroke her temple with the pad of my thumb, ignoring the fact that I’d just lumped myself in with the humans. “Seriously, how is that guy your fiancé?”
    “Ex-fiancé,” she murmurs. “ I broke it off months ago, after I found out that Marco wasn’t who I thought he was and that he and his father had been extorting my father for years. We were supposed to be married after I turned eighteen. I guess my father tried to make a stand after I broke off my engagement. And he got killed for it, right in front of me. Marco still wants to get his hands on the family business, and get his father off. He won’t kill me, at least not now, but he will once he gets what he wants.”
    “He sounds like a great catch.”
    Anya smothers a muffled laugh against my shirt. “I was an easy target,” she says quietly. “When a guy notices you, and only you, it can go to your head. You don’t see past anything but how much they want to be with you, and the attention is … intoxicating. It’s blinding. And then you think you’re in love, but you’re really in love with the idea of love. And then when they have you where they want you, they kill your father and threaten to kill your sister and take everything away. People are horrible, manipulating liars.”
    “Not all of them,” I hear myself say.
    “You tell me the name of one good person that you know.”
    “You’re a good person,” I say.
    “You don’t know a thing about me, Speio.” She pushes away and walks toward the tank where the lone shark is swimming. She watches the shark’s motions as if they’re hypnotic. “I tried to kill a man. I tried to kill Marco. I wanted to kill him. And I tried to kill myself because I’m a coward looking for the easy way out.”
    “But you didn’t.”
    She turns to face me, her fingers sliding against the glass of the tank. The ten-foot shark swims by lazily, eyeing her like she’s tasty morsel. “No, because you saved me.”
    “You and I were in the same place for a reason,” I tell her , walking over to where she’s standing. “You said they threatened to kill your sister. Would you want to leave her alone with someone like Marco? How old is she?”
    Anya’s eyes are wide. “Eleven. She’s in protective custody, too.”
    “Just as you were?” I say. “From what you’re telling me, I don’t think Marco is the kind of guy to take losing so easily, and if you were his ticket to a billion dollar fortune, what’s to say that your sister won’t be once you’re gone?”
    The color drains f rom her face as she considers what I’ve said. “But she’s only eleven.”
    “And your Marco sounds like the kind of psychopath who will wait a few years until he can seduce her, too.”
    Anya slumps against the tank. “Oh, God, you’re right. What do I do, Speio?”
    “When’s the trial?”
    “In two days.”
    “Then we hunker down and wait them out,” I say. “That’s our only option for now.” That, or I change into Aquarathi form and tear the guy’s head off. He’s already rubbing me the wrong way, and from what Anya’s telling me about how he’s been manipulating her, I have to stop myself from running back to her house and showing him what real bullying is like. I exhale slowly, releasing my clenched fingers one by one.
    Anya eyes me. “Why are you doing this all of this? I was some random girl you pulled out of the ocean. You should just walk the other way. Get yourself out of this mess while you still can.”
    “Trust me, Anya,” I say, leaning against the tank beside her. “I can handle Marco.”
    “But why? Why do you want to handle Marco? Most people would run in the opposite direction.”
    I don’t know what she wants me to