Beside him, Emma sighs in her sleep. Galen stiffens. Emma. Who will watch Emma while I’m gone? Toraf hasn’t returned from searching for Paca. Rachel can watch her on land, but if Emma gets in the water, she’s as good as gone. Not that she looks up to practicing any time soon, exhausted as she is. But Emma is practically made of defiance and stubbornness and resilience, and everything else that could possibly make his life difficult. If she wants to get in the water, she will.

That only leaves one person. Rayna.

21

THE CHANNELS on the TV continue to change even after Rayna stops pressing the button on the remote. She slides down the front of the couch, planting herself on the floor. “Four hundred channels and nothing worth watching. Unbelievable,” she mutters.

I glance up from where I’m sitting in the recliner and fold the page of my book. “You could help me practice. They wouldn’t have to know.” I don’t even feel like practicing. It just seems I should get in the water on principal, since Galen told me not to. And especially since he left me with a babysitter.

She throws me a sideways glare. “Fat Lips would know. He can sense me from anywhere, remember? And he’d snitch to Galen. He would know something’s wrong if you and me got in without my brother.”

I shrug. “Since when do you care about getting in trouble?”

“Since never. But Galen said if I kept you out of the water, he’d teach me how to drive his car.”

Jackpot. “I happen to know how to drive. I could teach you.”

“Galen said I wasn’t allowed to ask you, or the deal’s off.”

“You didn’t ask me. I offered.”

She nods, biting her lip. “That’s true. You did.”

I set the book on the ugly glass coffee table and squat next to her. “I’ll teach you how to drive if you let me get in the water. You don’t even have to get in.”

The way she raises her brow reminds me of Galen. “You’re wasting your time trying to change if you ask me. You’re half human. You probably don’t even have a fin in there.”

“What do you know about the half-breeds?”

She shrugs. “Not much. Enough to know that if you’re one of them, there’s no point in trying to change. No one is going to accept you. At least, no Syrena will.”

I decide not to take offense. I don’t put much stock in her opinion anyway, and she won’t care if she offended me or not. Rayna can be counted on to say what she’s thinking. Taking offense would waste everyone’s time. Besides, she’s still here. If she thought of me as an abomination, she wouldn’t have anything to do with me, would she?

“That might be true. But if it were you, wouldn’t you want to know if you could change?”

She considers, then shrugs again. “Probably.”

“So we have a deal?” I say, holding my hand out for a shake. She eyes it and crosses her arms. I set my hand on the couch, feeling awkward, wondering if she even knows what a hand shake is.

“You’ll teach me to drive your car if I let you get in the water?”

“Uh, no. I’ll teach you how to drive Galen’s car if you let me get in the water. You’re not touching my car without a license. A real one, not some shiny plastic thing Rachel made between afternoon talk shows.” Even if Galen doesn’t have insurance, he’s got enough in his wallet to buy a new one. I, on the other hand, have just enough in savings to cover my deductible.

Her eyes go round. “You’ll let me drive his little red one? The combustible?”

Why not? I nod. “Yep. The convertible. Deal?”

She grabs my hand from the couch to pull us both up. Then she shakes it. “Deal! I’ll go get the keys from Rachel.”

*   *   *

I pull over on the dirt shoulder of the most abandoned road in the farthest hem of the farthest outskirt of Middlepoint. The rearview shows me nothing but our dusty trail disappearing like phantoms into the trees on either side. Ahead of us, a mail truck stops with flashing lights at the only mailbox on the whole stretch. When it passes us, the driver tips his cap our way, eyeing us as if he thinks we’re up to no good—the kind of no good he might call the cops on. I wave to him and smile, wondering if I look as guilty as I feel. Better make this the quickest lesson in driving history. It’s not like she needs to pass the state exam. If she can keep the car straight for ten seconds in a row, I’ve upheld my end of the deal.

I turn off the ignition and look at her. “So, how are you and Toraf doing?”

She cocks her head at me. “What does that have to do with driving?”

Aside from delaying it? “Nothing,” I say, shrugging. “Just wondering.”

She pulls down the visor and flips open the mirror. Using her index finger, she unsmudges the mascara Rachel put on her. “Not that it’s your business, but we’re fine. We were always fine.”

“He didn’t seem to think so.”

She shoots me a look. “He can be oversensitive sometimes. I explained that to him.”

Oversensitive? No way. She’s not getting off that easy. “He’s a good kisser,” I tell her, bracing myself.

She turns in her seat, eyes narrowed to slits. “You might as well forget about that kiss, Emma. He’s mine, and if you put your nasty Half-Breed lips on him again—”

“Now who’s being oversensitive?” I say, grinning. She does love him.