Page 4 of Dry as a Fish (Chaos God Sugar and Spice Companion Shorts #3)

No one reached out to physically stop me, but I heard the group erupt into chatter as I strode into the teal-lit hallway.

"Wait, please wait," I heard Delphon call from behind me, but I kept walking.

Then a warm hand landed on my shoulder and I spun to face whomever touched me, my hands clenched into fists.

I blinked as I realized it was Delphon, only he had legs now, and a sarong around his waist, his buddies all behind him all wide eyed and at a slight distance like they were watching him tip toe up to a sleeping cow at night to try to tip it over, not realizing that he was about to get stomped to the ground.

I glared at him, and Delphon removed his hand from my shoulder like I was a hot potato.

"Your tail can shift into legs," I stated the obvious.

"Please, can we talk?" Delphon asked.

I pursed my lips and looked at him. "You want to talk. You just molested me and kidnapped me, and now you want to ask me if we can talk."

The fact that he was asking now put a different spin on the situation.

"I had to kiss you to give you air," Delphon ran a hand through his sea green hair. "I wasn't going to let you drown."

"You were the only one keeping me underwater," I said, crossing my arms, feeling rather surprised that my kidnapping had turned into a discussion. "If you wanted to let me breathe, you could have let me go so I could stay on the surface."

He hesitated, then dropped his hand to his side. "I apologize for grabbing you and frightening you."

"You did more than that," I said.

"I..." he looked as if he were struggling. "If I left you at that school, you would have died eventually. You're a mundane. I couldn't leave you there once I realized you were my..."

"What happened to Chad?" I said, narrowing my eyes as I interrupted his justifications.

"Who?" Delphon asked.

"The guy who you dragged in the water first," I said, realizing that who was an accurate question as Chad wasn't actually that guy's name.

Delphon hesitated for a moment before speaking. “He was on the list.”

"We drown the males who are on the list," one of the group behind him said.

Delphon shot a glance back at him.

I sucked in a breath and took a step back.

I didn't like Chad, or whatever his name was, but that didn't mean he deserved to die.

I mean, I felt like he definitely deserved to die a little for how insane he was being following me around and ignoring my repeated attempts to get away from him and the fact that he threw his drink on me as an excuse to feel me up, but that didn't mean I really wanted him dead dead.

I just wanted him to leave me alone and not be a creep.

That being said, I was definitely in danger if these guys so casually spoke about drowning people like they were culling baby roosters on an assembly line.

I should feel afraid. Yet, as I stared at Delphon, at the blood still trickling down his neck, the part of me that should be terrified hummed with a song I couldn't quite hear.

"Guys, let me talk to her alone," Delphon insisted.

"Or you could just take me back home," I said.

All of the guys behind Delphon looked at each other, and the reality of my situation sank just a little bit deeper.

Maybe he had taken his hand off my shoulder because there wasn't anywhere I could go.

He dragged me an unknown distance underwater and then dumped me on the shore of a moon pool.

That pool could be the only way in or out of this place.

"You don't want to go back to the school," Delphon said softly. "Will you please just hear me out?"

"I didn't say that home was the school," I muttered, feeling that sudden welling of sadness I'd tried not to deal with, tried not to look at.

Home was a place that was lost to me, lost by my own choices, lost by an upbringing that didn't give me any other choice than to run away because they wouldn't let go of their idea of who they wanted me to be.

Delphon straightened his spine, his eyes brightening. "I can take you back to the mundane," he said, his tone more enthusiastic. "I can take you back home."

It took me a moment to register what he was saying, as I didn't expect it. They made it clear at Orientation that there was no going home, and here he was saying that he could take me there?

"What's the catch?" I asked.

"Have dinner with me," he said.

"Have... dinner... with you, and you'll take me back home to the mundane realm?" I asked, still not believing what I was hearing. Orientation had been brutal.

"I'll take you back home regar-" Delphion started to say.

"Dephon, you can't!" one of the peanut gallery chimed in. "She's your heartsong! You can't just let her go!"

"I'll take you back home regardless," Delphion insisted, glaring at his friend. "But wouldn't you rather go home well fed?"

"Delphion, you idiot," one of the others said.

"I'm not going to trap her here," Delphion hissed at his friend. "First off, there is no way I'd do that to her, and second, you know what my parents would say about that."

I wanted to go home.

I missed it so much. Another shiver rolled through me as the wet fabric of my dress stole a little bit more of my body heat.

If I went home like this, dressed like this, it would be like jumping out of the fire into the frying pan.

My parents weren't going to honor kill me for running away and returning like this, but things would go a whole lot easier if I came back looking modest.

"You don't even know my name," I said.

"Delphion!" another one of the peanut gallery groaned.

"I would love to know your name," Delphion said.

"I'm Sloane and I'll have dinner," I said. "But first, I need a change of clothes."