Kings and Thieves

Chapter 26

Chapter 26

The waves lapped greedily up her waist as Lyla slowly introduced her skin to the water. It wasn't very deep, but dark and daunting. If she hadn't been so nervous, perhaps the coolness might have even been refreshing.

Ari's head popped up a second later, and he shook his wet curls like a dog, spraying her with droplets. He beckoned for her to follow him, and Lyla softly kicked her feet, trying to be as quiet as she could while propelling herself through the ocean.

They swam towards the docks of the fish farm, only about twenty-five yards down, and approached the seal pen first. The whiskered animals flapped towards them curiously, poking their soft noses through the holes of the cage.

Lyla's job, she soon realized, was mainly to be quiet and hand Ari his tools as he furiously picked at the large chained padlock on the door. She watched his quick, deft hands as they twisted this way and that, and tried to identify a pattern in his movements so she could learn.

"They're going to make a lot of noise swimming out," he murmured, just quietly enough that the wind covered his voice. "So we're going to try to open all of the doors at once. And then we get the hell out of here. Got that?"

Lyla nodded, wondering how often it was that Ari and Aveline did things like this. A lot, if Ari's practiced movements were any indication. He moved onto the fish tank.

Their job was to unlock five pens, and Ari was on the third when they approached a large plastic tank filled with leaden algae water.
Lyla flipped wet hair off of her forehead as she peered into the tank; nothing alive was there that she could see. She touched a finger to the enclosure as Ari began working at the lock.

"What's in here, Ari?"

Ari lifted his head, his sopping curls dripping into his eyes. "Well-"

A pale face popped up right on the other side of the tank wall, cutting off Ari's response. Lyla nearly screamed, her hand shooting over her mouth to catch the sound before it could come out.

As soon as her mind registered that it was a mermaid, Lyla scrambled backwards.
She'd heard enough stories about the creatures to know that they were dangerous, but she'd never seen one this close before, and couldn't help but stare at the finned woman, whose violet eyes had locked onto hers.

Somehow Lyla had expected the mermaids to look evil, or darkly provocative, somewhat, but the siren's expression was only curiously pensive as she tilted her head to gaze at Lyla. A second later, two more materialized beside the first, their multicolored hair interweaving with strings of floating seaweed.
Their thick, iridescent tails caught onto slivers of moonlight and shimmered a million different colors. Each pair of eyes were huge and piercing, pictures of delicate, haunting beauty.

There was something about them that was familiar to Lyla, but she couldn't figure out what it was.

She put a soft palm to the divider between them, wondering if her hand looked the same.

"Don't," Ari cautioned sharply from next to her. Lyla jolted- she'd almost forgotten he was there. "The attention only encourages them."

Lyla opened her mouth, and then closed it, not quite knowing what she wanted to ask.

"It's unlocked," Ari informed her. His expression was unreadable.

"That's five?" Apprehension filled her, bringing her back to the present as she remembered what she was supposed to do next.

"Aveline's got the remaining two," Ari confirmed. "Remember, as soon as it's open, get out of the way."

The task was easy enough. Lyla took a breath and swam over to the seal pen. Ari would let the the mermaid and the fish out; all she had to do was open the door for the seals. It would be painless and quick.