Tangled Tides (The Sea Monster Memoirs) Read Online Free PDF Page A

convince, me or yourself?"
    I didn't have an answer. My comment replayed through my mind and I realized what a stupid, random thing I had said. Jeez, Yara, keep your big insecure mouth shut. Treygan stared at me so intently that I wondered what else he could see in me—or if he saw anything at all. Maybe he was just looking through me like my mother used to do. "I can't hear your thoughts anymore."
    His eyes didn't even flicker. "We're not underwater."
    "That's the only time it works?"
    "Yes."
    At least my thoughts were my own again. Thankfully, he hadn't heard that I considered him borderline hot. He already came off as too full of himself, jutting his chin out when I asked a question and constantly squeezing the bridge of his nose like I gave him a headache.
    "You have a wide nose," I mumbled.
    "You have a narrow mind," he shot back.
    "Well, you could really use a haircut."
    Another eyes-closed nose pinch. "If you tame your attitude, I'll cut my hair."
    "Why are you so concerned with my personality?"
    "Why are you so concerned with my appearance?"
    I opened my mouth to deny giving a crap about his appearance, to tell him I didn't find him the least bit attractive, but the untrue words refused to come out.
     
     
    F inally, silence. I thought she would never shut up.
    How could one soul be so important, yet so impossible? In the old days it would have been simple: drag Yara through the gateway, show her our world and she would never want to return to human life. Then again, if the gate was open, we wouldn't need her.
    I floated at the edge of the drab dock, waiting for Rownan's radar to kick in so he'd make an appearance and I could get back to my mission. If all went well, we wouldn't step foot on land. Yara would be so furious she would beg me to take her away from Rownan.
    "What do we do now?" she whined. "Float here all day waiting for clothes to magically appear?"
    Her question made my skin prickle with irritation. Sarcasm was a lost art that Yara hadn't come close to mastering. "Rownan will be here shortly."
    Her eyes bugged like a Black Moor Goldfish. "What?"
    I didn't elaborate. Perhaps if I stopped answering her questions she would stop asking them.
    "What do you mean, Rownan will be here? How could he possibly know where we are? He can't see me like this."
    I heard my son-of-a-psycho half-brother approaching before I saw him. Better to ignore him until the last second. "He won't see you naked unless you get out of the water."
    "You know what I mean. I'm a freakin' mermaid."
    Rownan's boots stomping down the dock diverted her attention. I wondered how much she truly knew about him. How much did I even know about him anymore?
    "Yara, baby!" he shouted. Baby. How nauseating.
    "Oh, my God," she moaned under her breath. Her eyes darted around the water. "Rownan, this isn't what it looks like. I—"
    "I've been so worried about you," he interrupted.
    Reluctantly, I turned my head to see my nemesis squatting at the edge of the dock. Our eyes met for the first time in over a decade. My jaw tightened, as did his.
    He reached out for Yara. "Let's get you home."
    "The storm—I—something horrible happened," she said, not taking his hand.
    "It's all good. No worries," he assured her in a tone so fake it made my skin crawl.
    She kept one arm pressed tightly to her chest while the other treaded water, then she shot me a smoldering glare. "He kidnapped me. I've been turned into a mermaid."
    Rownan looked at me with shock and a hint of panic. Only a daft half-breed like him wouldn't have noticed the change in Yara's hair color, or her hallmarks and tail shimmering below the surface. He still believed her birthday was tomorrow. Chalk one up for keeping secrets.
    Yara's bashful mumbling interrupted our brotherly stare-down. "I'm not wearing any clothes."
    Rownan took off his coat, holding it open as it waved in the wind. "I won't look until you're covered. Sir, will you turn around while my girl gets out of the water?"
    Sir?