Olympic Cove 2-Breaker Zone (14 page)

The glimpse into what was effectively an
alien culture was fascinating. “I never asked you what you did,” Nick said
apologetically.

Aidan shrugged. “I’m a ranger. We police
the pod’s territory, keep mers safe,
stop
fights, that
sort of thing.” He frowned. “And now we guard the pod from the ilkothella.”

“Ilkothella?”

Aidan’s expression darkened further.
“Sea wolves.
They’re mermaids who’ve been turned into these
hideous monsters with huge shark teeth and venom. We always thought they were
legends, but in the last few years they’ve been swarming out of the Gulf of
Mexico. I guess they’re kind of the mer equivalent of human werewolves.”

“Werewolves?
But those
aren’t real.” Nick hesitated. “Are they?”

“I don’t know. Ilkothella are real,
though. I’ve killed enough of them to know.”

“Jesus.” He felt a shiver go down his
spine. The way Aidan had said it so simply was chilling. “That can’t be easy.”

“No, it’s not. But it’s my job to
protect the pod, and I’ll do it until—” He broke off again, shifting
uncomfortably in his seat. “Look, can we not talk about this right now?”

“Yeah, sure.”

The rest of the drive was quiet.
Atlantic Rentals turned out to be located right on the beach town’s main drag,
and a rather harried blonde showed them through to Marcia Kuttner’s office. To
Nick’s relief, his credit check went smoothly, and after paying a surprisingly
reasonable deposit he received a set of keys in return and a folder of
paperwork about the cottage, including Wi-Fi passwords.

Juggling the keys and folder, he
remembered what else he wanted to ask. “We’re going to need some food,” he
said. “I don’t suppose there’s a supermarket around here?”

Ms. Kuttner leaned back in her office
chair, thinking. “There’s a Publix just off Route 17.
 
Crestwood Mall is a little further down if
you need anything else,” she said. “Such as, oh, bathing suits?”

He caught Aidan’s smirk out of the
corner of his eye. “Sorry, yes, we’ll do that.”

“That being said, the other cottages are
going to be empty for at least the next two weeks. If you have to swim
au naturel
, I suppose you could do it
now and get it out of your system.” She glanced at Aidan, allowing herself a
wry smile. “Some folks just aren’t meant for clothing.”

Yeah, if I
looked like him, I wouldn’t ever wear clothes, either.
“We’ll try not
to offend anyone,” he said.

Her smile turned a shade warmer. “That’s
probably for the best. Thank you, gentlemen, and enjoy your stay.”

With that, they headed back out onto the
sun-drenched boulevard. “We’ll stop off at the Publix on the way back and do a
stock-up,” Nick said, squinting at the buildings around them. He recognized the
silvery saltbox of The Lady’s Touch across the street. “Is there anything else you
want to do while we’re here?”

“Seriously?”
Aidan spotted
something over Nick’s shoulder and his entire face lit up. “There. Can we go
there?”

Nick turned and saw the familiar green
and white sign with its smiling mermaid. There was something insanely
meta
about the idea of taking a real-life merman into that
particular establishment. “Yeah, I could use a latte. Let’s go.”

****

Note to
self—mers and coffee do not mix.

Nick had bought Aidan a Frappucino on
the theory that a sea-dweller wouldn’t be used to hot drinks. In retrospect, it
wasn’t the smartest of moves. Between the caffeine and sugar, the mer was now
wired tighter than a hyperactive six-year-old, as reflected by the sheer amount
of weird food Nick had had to remove from his cart at Publix.

“Are you sure I can’t have that cereal,
because it looked really pretty, all those little colored pebbles like fish,
but I bet they don’t taste like fish,” Aidan babbled, bouncing lightly in his
seat as Nick turned onto the small road leading to the cove. “I’m glad you
didn’t get any fish because I can catch you really, really good fish. I can’t
cook it, though, and I don’t understand why humans cook fish, because it tastes
so good when you catch it fresh, but I guess humans can’t always catch it
fresh, right, especially if you live far in on the land.”

With a certain amount of relief Nick
pulled into the driveway of their new cottage, eyeing Aidan once the car was in
park. “I don’t think you should have any more caffeine,” he announced. “Or
sugar. Or pretty much any kind of processed food ever again.”

Aidan grinned manically. “I really like
you, you know that? You’re always worrying about other people. That’s so nice.
Can I have some of that pie when we get in? I always wanted to try pie.”

Nick managed to get the buzzing mer to
help him carry the groceries into the cottage, Aidan asking rapid-fire
questions about everything from freezing techniques to packaging decoration as
he put the food away. Afterwards, they headed over to Ian’s to retrieve his
luggage and Norma. The place was empty except for the terrier, which jumped up
around their legs as they walked in, barking cheerfully and licking at their
knees.

“Oh, you’re such a good little furball,
aren’t you? Yes, you are!” Aidan chattered, dropping to his knees and stroking
Norma’s head. “I used to have a moray eel who liked to have her snout rubbed
just like you.”

The blissed-out terrier rolled onto her
back to give him access to her belly. While Aidan was occupied with tummy rubs,
Nick went into the guest room and quickly repacked his clothes, grabbing the
Rod from the closet. “Uh, hi,” he said.

The snake shivered,
then
twisted to focus on him.
Hello, Nicholas. Have you started your
lessons with Chiron yet?

“No, and I was going to ask you about
that. What kind of lessons are we talking about, exactly?”

Pythia flicked her tongue thoughtfully.
You’ll
learn how to use the Rod for diagnosis and determination of treatment, of
course. And they really should start immediately. I’ll summon Chiron—

“Whoa, wait. I’m just moving in to the
cottage next door. Plus I have a merman on a caffeine and sugar high from hell
and I’ve got to calm him down first. Can you give me a couple of hours to get
settled?”

Hm.
Well,
what’s
a few more hours after millennia of waiting, I
suppose. Wake me when you’re ready to begin.
The snake froze,
turning back into a wooden carving.

As it turned out, mer metabolism burned
through both sugar and caffeine at an accelerated rate. “Wow, I’m tired,” Aidan
said, blinking hard as they brought everything back to their cottage. “You
don’t mind if I take a nap, do you?”

“Be my guest,” Nick said. Like Ian’s
cottage, his new place also had guest rooms, each outfitted with a
comfortable-looking double bed. The master bedroom at the rear, however, had a
ridiculously luxurious king piled with pillows. He could easily imagine the mer
sprawled naked across the sheets, hard and ready to play.

Ignoring the enthusiastic agreement in
his boxers, he headed into the kitchen to finish putting away the last of the
groceries. After fitting a six-pack of beer into the refrigerator door, he closed
it and yelped at the extremely unexpected shape that was standing behind it.
“Jesus Christ!”

“Wrong pantheon,” Chiron said, studying
the kitchen layout. “I saw Finned Thunder snoring on the couch. You wear him
out already?”

Nick glared at the centaur, waiting for
his racing heartbeat to slow down. “Are you always this much of a douche?”

“Pretty much.”
Chiron
straightened up, folding his arms across his chest. “But enough with the
bromantic banter. We need to get to work on your Rod skills, doctor.”

“Okay, fine. Wait here.” With another
glare, Nick stalked into the master bedroom where he’d left the staff. Grabbing
it, he could feel the carved wood tingling under his fingers.

The golden snake raised her head,
blinking at him.
Oh, good, we’re finally getting started.

“Apparently.”

Pythia tutted.
You
don’t sound pleased, Nicholas.

“Yeah, well, I don’t like my instructor
sneaking up on me and scaring the shit out of me.”

Ah. You’ll get used to Chiron’s ways
soon enough. Under that gruff exterior is the heart of a great physician.

And a complete dick, Nick grumbled to
himself as he headed back into the kitchen. He found Chiron giving the bottle
of wine on the counter a longing look. A sarcastic comment about drinking
before five was on his lips when Pythia turned quickly, flicking her tongue
against his wrist.

Don’t taunt him, Nicholas
.
Somehow he knew he was the only one
hearing her now.
He’s lived in a half-existence for millennia, unable to experience such
simple pleasures as eating or drinking. You don’t have to like him, but show
him mercy on this one point.

Nick flashed on the undead pirates from
Pirates of the Caribbean
, and shuddered.
Fine, I’ll cut him some slack. But if he
keeps mouthing off to me, I’m hitting back.

“Okay, so where do we start?” he said to
the centaur.

Chiron tore his attention away from the
wine. “We’ll do a review of basic examination skills to start with, and then
we’ll go through the steps of diagnosis.”

“I already know how to examine a
patient.”

“That’s just fabulous.” Chiron nodded at
the staff.
 
“But do you know how to do it
with the Rod?”

“Uh.
No.” He hefted
the Rod and waved it in the air. Nothing happened. “Do I have to say something
to activate it?”

“Like?”

“I don’t know.
Some
kind of spell or a chant?”

Chiron pinched the bridge of his nose.
“The Rod isn’t a magic wand, you dumbass. It’s a diagnostic tool that makes an
MRI scanner look like a dowsing rod.”

“Oh.” Nick eyed the staff with new
respect. “So it’s like some kind of ancient Greek tricorder?”

“Not a bad analogy,” Chiron said. “At
its heart, the Rod is an instrument. How well it’s used depends on the skill of
the user. And I’m here to teach you those skills.”

Nick hefted the staff, feeing the low
thrum that ran through it. “If this is a diagnostic tool, it probably should be
used by a top-notch diagnostician.”

“Exactamundo.”

“One little problem. I’m not a
diagnostician.”

 
“Not yet, but you will be. Welcome to
cross-specialization, Dr. Gardiner.” He turned his head and gave a loud,
piercing whistle.
“Hey, Aquaman.
In here.”

Aidan poked his head around the corner
after a moment, blinking sleepily and scratching his stomach. “You whinnied?”

“Smartass.”
Chiron waved
the mer over, positioning him in front of Nick. “Pull up the shorts on your bad
leg and show us where the stupid human stabbed you.”

Obediently, Aidan tugged up the shorts
leg until the healing scab on the outside of his thigh showed. Chiron nodded at
Nick. “Now, the doctor here is going to touch the Rod to the puncture wound.”

Nick angled the staff so that the tip
rested over the scab. “If this hurts, tell me,” he murmured to Aidan.

“Stop fussing. Mers are tough,” Chiron
said briskly. “Now, I want you to close your eyes and focus on the wound. Try to
see it in your head.”

Feeling more than slightly ridiculous,
Nick closed his eyes. To his surprise a highly detailed image of the thigh’s
inner structure appeared in his mind. “It looks like a 3-D anatomy plate,” he
said. “Okay,
that
is cool.”

“I’m glad you approve,” he heard Chiron
say. “Narrow your attention more. Look for the puncture track through the
muscles.”

A slender tunnel stood out like a livid
slash through Aidan’s thigh muscles, fascia, and skin. “I see it.”

“Good. How does it look?”

“Pinkish grey, shot through with a lot
of red.”

Chiron snorted softly.
“Even better.
Means it’s healing cleanly. Play around with
the focus, see if you can turn the image along various axes, zoom in and out,
that sort of thing.”

It took Nick a few minutes to get the
hang of it, but eventually he was able to focus on a microscopic section of the
puncture as well as zoom out for a wide-angle view. “This is amazing. I could
have used this back at Memorial.”

“I think your colleagues might have had
issues with you bringing a snake-wrapped staff into the ER,” Chiron said drily.
“Not to mention your patients.”

Nick opened his eyes, the image
dissolving. “Okay, so the Rod acts like a portable PET scanner.”