Chapter 15

Mila had never before minded the closeness of others. She had lived together with ninety-nine of her kinsmen and the first-born. Depending on the space available, many of them had nearly lived on top of each other like sardines.

Mila had even lived among other species. She had stayed in several places such as hostels where it was necessary to live amongst humans and others. It hadn’t been a big deal. She’d always had an unspoken connection to her people. They could see through each others’ eyes if necessary, providing comfort and escape if it became uncomfortably crowded in the shared living space. They could hold entire conversations and private jokes without ever opening their mouths.

Now Mila’s head was entirely her own, but her space was not. She stood inside the door of the little cabin, letting Jed examine the room they were to share.

“Lookie at that stove, cher. Must be the same age as me.” Jed whistled and laughed at the little potbelly stove. “Built us to last back then, didn’t they?”

Mila’s brows pulled together. “Nothing on the surface lasts.”

Uncomfortable thoughts started to race through her mind and she quickly pushed them aside. It was not for her to contemplate mortality. She lived by the will of her god.

Jed didn’t seem at all put off by her frown, smiling coolly at her. “So, how do you wanna do this? You want the cot while I take the floor?”

Chivalrous to a damn fault, he was. “No need. You can have the cot. I’ll take the tub.”

Without waiting for his response, she turned on the water and began stripping down to her undergarments. Before she could blink, he’d whipped around, putting his back to her. A gentleman.

As soon as the water turned clear, she stepped into the tub and sank down.

“You don’t even need to heat up the water a little?” He asked softly, his voice uncharacteristically strained.

“No,” Mila stretched lazily. “I like the cold.”

When the water had risen high enough, she sank back without so much as a “goodnight”.

She listened closely. She was certain at some point in the night Jed had gotten up, curiosity overriding his sense of decency to the point he needed to check on her. He’d hardly made any sound at all though and had gone back to the cot before she could open her eyes.



“So what kind of ceremony do mermaids do for the harvest moon?” Winnie asked the next morning over breakfast.

Another wolf pack was already arriving. Their eyes flicking distrustfully over Mila, Jed, and the unicorn. This pack had brought with them some livestock, still bleating and clucking indignantly at being brought away from their home.

Jed had put his back to most of the curious gazes, looking only at the people at the table to which he sat. He didn’t eat any of the food being offered, but had instead bled the elk the night before. It was cold and congealing quite quickly in a bucket, but he didn’t seem the least put off by it as he drank a small portion from a mason jar. The wolves had looked horrified, but Mila gave a tiny shrug. To each, their own.

“Has it got something to do with the tides?” Jed asked, also politely curious about Mila’s plans for the coming event.

While the wolves would no doubt hold a party, racing about in wolf form, and having playful fights, Mila hadn’t divulged any of her own plans. Partly, because she’d made up her mind on the spot to do it even though it wasn’t really necessary.

Mila shook her head, finishing off a bite of porridge. “No, if you’re deep enough in the ocean, you don’t even notice the tides. When I lived in the ocean, we performed it fairly regularly, but we had to decrease the amount on land. It’s a sacrifice to our god.”

Winnie paused, her cherubic face paling slightly. “Sacrifice?”

“I’m not going to hurt anyone,” Mila giggled, Jed and Dillon chiming in at Winnie’s blush. “I’m just going to flay myself by the light of the moon while singing.”

That shut the boys up. Dillon’s eyes bugged out of his head while Jed’s jaw opened and closed like a fish. They appeared to be waiting for her to yell ‘just kidding’.

When Mila didn’t meet their expectations, Dillon was the one to press. “What to do you mean by ‘flay yourself’?”

Mila was taking another bite of porridge, but she left the spoon in her mouth to pull out her daggers in a swift motion that made Winnie flinch. The twin blades were slightly curved, shining silver in the morning sun. The handles were crystal, a bloody color that looked uncomfortably like the blood in Jed’s jar.

Mila balanced the blades on one hand while she put the spoon back down into her bowl. “I mean that I slice away the human flesh as ceremony and spill my real blood.”

She slid one of the blades along the tip of her right index finger, while the other rested on her forearm. A small well of blood glinted on the blade. The unicorn bleated softly, tossing his head.

“This isn’t real,” She smiled at the red liquid.

Before she could smack him away, Jed lowered his head to her hand, flicking his tongue over the tiny cut. “Tastes real enough.”

Mila gave him a small shove, wiping her finger off on the wooden picnic table, though it wasn’t like a little saliva would hurt. The cut was already healing, her body was so full of water, it barely took a moment for it seal back up.

“But it’s not my blood. This stuff is only part of the human illusion. Cut a little deeper and you won’t hit bone, but my real skin.”

It took Winnie and Dillon a little longer to digest that. Dillon gulped down a fistful of bacon before responding. “So you’re like one of those movie aliens.”

Mila chuckled. “Yeah, something like that.”

“Why would you need to cut yourself like that?” Winnie was frowning. “Why does your god need blood?”

Mila stared dumbly at the little she-wolf who dared to question her god. “Why do you need to change fully into a wolf and run around at night? It’s tradition.”

“How do you know that’s what your god wants?” Winnie continued to frown.

Mila glanced around, but realized no one present could agree with her how stupid that question was. In fact, many wolves were angling toward them again, straining to listen. Even the alpha table had ceased their talks with the newcomers in order to listen in.

Mila shook her head disparagingly, slipping her blades back into their sheathes. “I’ll explain it when I do the ceremony. Apparently, you need a history lesson.”