Fathom L. Standage (books for 8th graders .TXT) 📖

we can’t get our point across with the songs, or if we can’t rush off to the nearest air pocket. If I were to try to read someone’s mind from across the room, it would be hard to understand. It’s difficult to explain.”

“Can you read human thoughts?” Sam asked.

“No. But I’ve heard that humans can hear us, if we concentrate hard enough.”

Both Sam and I sighed in awe.

“Here, Liv, take a picture of us.” She handed me her camera and leaned closer to Seidon. He looked at the camera like a deer in headlights. I burst into laughter.

“You’re supposed to smile, Seidon,” I said.

“Really? I didn’t smile in the other pictures.”

I looked at Sam. Other pictures?

“That’s because they’re supposed to be candid,” she said quickly. “Just regular life, not posed or anything. Now smile.” She grinned at the camera. He shrugged, wrapped one arm around her, and smiled. I took some pictures, then handed the camera back to Sam.

“So,” she began, “what if one of your kind wanted to stay here?” She clicked through the pictures on her camera, trying—and failing—to sound casual. I rolled my eyes and leaned back on my elbows. Seidon took another drink of water.

“We’d have to stay out of the ocean for several months,” said Seidon. “It’s not easy, but it’s been done. After the first month or so, our gills seal up and our blood starts turning red. The full transition takes several months. We know it’s complete after our telepathy is gone.”

“Wait, Calder must have thought that’s what happened to me. He still thought I was a mermaid even after seeing my red blood. What color is yours?”

“Blue. See?” He showed us his fingernails. I watched as Sam held his fingers and examined his purplish nail beds.

“Wouldn’t that make your skin blue?” she asked, not letting go of his hand. I stifled a snort. Could this flirting get any more obvious?

He laughed. “Do I look blue to you?”

“No.”

“Look,” said Seidon, pointing to her hand, “you’ve got some blue blood too. Look at your veins.”

“No, human blood is always red,” I said, not caring if I sounded like a know-it-all. “The veins just look blue. It has to do with certain wavelengths and the way the eye catches light and…” I stopped as Sam feigned nodding off. I laughed.

“Is your blood always blue?” I asked Seidon. “It doesn’t react to oxygen or anything?”

“No, it’s always blue. I’d prove it, but I’d rather not, if it’s all the same to you.”

“No, I believe you.” I smiled, trying to think of something else to ask him while we were on the subject, but Sam spoke.

“After your seven days are up, you’re going home?”

“I have to,” he said, a gentle hum lowering his voice. “I was only supposed to come for this one week. I’m…needed at home.” He spoke with humility, as though he were the “Prince of Whales” by obligation instead of by right.

“Not very many of your people stay on land, do they?” she asked.

He shook his head. “No. After the full transformation is complete, it’s really difficult to get back, if not impossible. If we stay, we’d have to have a very good reason to live on land for the rest of our lives…or at least for several years.”

Sam gazed back at him with an endearing pout. The “three’s a crowd” discomfort hit me so hard, I had to look away.

“So—I cleared my throat—“did anyone say what we’re supposed to do now? We got your vessel back and we got the file. What happens next?”

“I’m not sure,” said Seidon, breaking his eyes away from Samantha’s. “Cordelia said we would discuss it over breakfast. She and Calder should be back soon.”

Sam and I went upstairs to change out of our pajamas before breakfast, where I confronted her about her and Seidon’s behavior.

“We’re just friends, Liv,” she said without looking at me.

“You do realize he’s not human, right?”

She sighed in annoyance. “Yes, I know. Geez, Cordelia gave me the same spiel this morning.”

“She did?” I asked in surprise. “When?”

“Just before she and Calder went to the store. I got up before you and went downstairs to hang out with Seidon, but he wasn’t down yet, so I asked Cordelia about him.”

“What did she say?”

“Basically that Seidon has duties and I was wasting my time.”

“And she’s right.”

Samantha made a huff of frustration and scowled at the ceiling. “All I did was ask if he was awake. Seriously, everyone’s freaking out over nothing. I’ve known him for three days. We’re just friends.”

“Okay, okay. I’m sorry.” I held up my hands in surrender. “You’re just a really friendly and outgoing girl. Maybe everyone else is mistaking it for something else.”

“He’s really cool, Liv. And funny and interesting and nice. I’m just having fun being his friend and finding out what his world is like. Is that a crime?”

“No,” I said. “I just don’t want to see you get hurt when he has to leave.”

Samantha sighed. At first, I thought she’d agree with me, but...

“You don’t have to worry about me,” she said in a small voice. “And maybe he won’t leave. Maybe he’ll be able to stay longer.”

“No, you can’t think like that. I used to think like that—that a guy would change for me if I wanted him to—and look where it got me.”

“Seidon is not Landon,” Sam said with a severe frown. “Stop comparing him to every guy we meet.”

“I wasn’t!”

“Yes, you were. It’s the same with Calder. You’re scared to death that someone is going to hurt you the way Landon did, and it’s made you turn every boy into a scumbag. Remember my dad? The one who left my mom because he couldn’t hack it as a father? It sucks. I get it. But it doesn’t mean everyone I meet will one day leave me.”

I gaped at her. Was I really doing that? Treating everyone like they could one day betray me? My heart cracked. But Sam wasn’t finished.

“I like Seidon, okay?” she