Page 3 of Not So Stranded (Delaney’s Sea Monsters #3)

Seriously?” Kit glanced at the other one. “You don’t mind?”

They leaned on a boulder and rested their arms on top of it. “I suppose.”

It wasn’t eager participation, but he’d take it. “What’s your name?”

“Zenori.”

“Nice to meet you, Zenori. I’m Kit.”

All he got was a nod, but again, he’d take that as approval to keep going.

Kit found a large rock beside the filling lagoon and sat down there in the sun. Which was when he realized he still had to test the water so he could get his first drink in nearly eighteen hours.

“Here,” Hiaka said, “let me do that, so you can get all nerdy about us.”

Kit handed over the test kit, and couldn’t resist asking, “How do you know about water test kits?”

Hiaka huffed a laugh. “Get ready to have your mind blown.” They looked Kit right in the eyes and smirked as they said, “One of my parents is human.”

Kit gasped. “Human? You’re half-human? Oh, my god…”

As Kit’s mind whirled with questions, Hiaka just chuckled and set about testing the lagoon’s water.

All the mud from Hiaka and Zenori and the debris from the blockage had already washed down the creek, so the water was clear again.

Hiaka didn’t even seem to need the instructions from the kit as they set it up.

Kit looked to Zenori, who shook their head. “I am pure cecaelia.”

“Fascinating,” Kit whispered. “I mean, it’s happened before, but not for thousands of years, you know?”

“What’s happened before?” Hiaka asked.

“Homo sapiens breeding with other hominids. It’s not my area, but I know there have been records of Homo sapiens with Neanderthals and, um…

” he waved a hand, his memory failing him.

“There’s another one that starts with a D, but anyway, relationships and breeding between the peoples is not unheard of.

I’m just so amazed that we haven’t heard of cecaelia. ”

“Well, haven’t all the others died out? You’re talking about what’s been learned from bones and whatever. Besides, I don’t think we’ve been here that long.”

“Haven’t been here?” Kit had to ask. “What do you mean?”

Hiaka held up the test and declared, “The water’s totally drinkable.”

Kit went over and filled his jug, suddenly desperately thirsty. “Thank goodness. All of my water was on the boat.” He held the jug in one hand and gulped down the crisp, cool water.

“I mean,” Hiaka said, “that cecaelia aren’t native to Earth. We’re aliens.”

Kit didn’t mean to, but he absolutely spit out his mouthful of water as Hiaka’s words registered. Thankfully, neither Hiaka or Zenori were close enough to get splashed.

Aliens! He was standing there talking to not some new species of hominid but to actual real aliens from another planet.

“Oops, I think I broke him.”

“Humans are so delicate.”

Kit held up a hand. “I’m fine. Everything’s fine.” Sitting down again seemed like a good idea, though. “I mean, I came here to study turtles,” he said on a laugh.

“You cannot study us,” Zenori said with a deep frown. “No one can know about us.”

“Oh, no, I didn’t mean I would study you now. I’d love to know more about you, of course, but I realize I can’t share anything with anyone else. No, I… I couldn’t do that.”

As amazing as all of this was, Kit sobered immediately at the very idea of what would happen if the world in general let alone the scientific community were to find out about Cecaelia.

There were a lot of scientists who might be trusted to take a hands-off approach, but nothing would stop those who heard the word “alien” and went hunting for “the truth.” With no guarantee of safety for these two people and however many others there might be, Kit had to keep this secret to himself regardless of how exciting it was. Lives could depend on his silence.

“Yeah, I won’t say a word about you to anyone.”

Hiaka tsked at him and exited the lagoon to stand in front of Kit. They set down the packed-up test kit and placed their hands on his shoulders. “Don’t get all mopey on me. You get to know everything you want to know. You’re special.”

Kit found himself pulled into a hug and had to smile as he wrapped his arms around Hiaka’s bare torso.

Their skin was sort of rubbery like a dolphin’s but also soft like a human’s, too.

Kit looked to Zenori, wondering if their skin would feel different, only to have Zenori squint at him.

Chuckling, Kit wondered if that was Zenori saying he wasn’t going to get hugs any time soon.

“And hey,” Hiaka said as they pulled away and got back into the water, “I’m really impressed that you haven’t asked me about sex between cecaelia and humans.”

Kit laughed as he felt a blush burn his face. “Well, if we’re going to talk about anything…”

“We’re both hermaphroditic,” Hiaka said, “but being half-human gives me an advantage because I can host the fertilized eggs. Zenori can’t host because their body temperature is too low.

There’s been speculation that a caste of cecaelia were left behind and presumed to die out because they couldn’t host their own eggs. ”

“How did they survive?” Kit asked, feeling like a kid hearing a fantastical story.

“We found other hosts.” Hiaka grimaced before dunking briefly underwater. “I have memories of my ancestors using various animals to host their eggs.”

Kit didn’t want to imagine that, but he could understand that the drive to procreate might cause someone to do something heinous out of pure desperation. “I assume the hosts survived the experience?”

“Oh, yeah. They were drugged comfortable for two weeks or so and set free afterward. Horrible, I know, but…” Hiaka shrugged like they understood, too.

“And now you no longer have to do that because you’re half-human. Which I assume raised your body temperature so that you can host, right? Hold on,” he said as he realized something else. “Did you say you have the memories of your ancestors? What do you mean?”

“Exactly that,” Zenori said. “I can recall moments from the lives of my ancestors from seven generations back. The memories act as guides for life.”

Kit could only sit there and blink. Seven generations of memories? That they could recall whenever they needed guidance? He should sit down. Oh, he was already sitting down.

“He’s so cute when he gets all blinky.”

“Perhaps these concepts are too much for his level of intelligence.”

Kit snorted and that helped snap him out of it. “I’m amazed and maybe a little envious and just so very curious. What’s it like to have an ancestor’s memories to inform decisions or use like a how-to guide?”

“Awkward,” Hiaka said at the same time that Zenori said, “Often inaccurate.”

Intrigued by Zenori’s answer, Kit asked, “How are the memories inaccurate?”

Zenori cocked their head and frowned. “Perhaps that is the wrong word.”

“Out-dated?” Hiaka offered.

Nodding, Zenori continued. “My ancestors’ memories say breeding should be perfunctory. That I should not remain with my partner after completing fertilization. That the one who seeks the host should do so alone.”

“But meeting me changed all that,” Hiaka said with a grin.

The fond expression on Zenori’s face as they gazed at Hiaka told Kit that the two of them might be a newish couple, but they were attracted and committed to each other.

“How did the two of you meet?”

Hiaka started to speak, but Zenori talked over them. “There is a place we all visit from time to time. We met there.”

“Like a holy place?” Kit shifted on his rock, totally intrigued. “What’s your religion like?”

“Cecaelia don’t have a religion. The place,” Hiaka said with a little stink-eye thrown Zenori’s way, “is an underwater colony where our ancestors once resided. It’s a hub of all available knowledge because of the elders who live there and share their histories.”

“Wow,” Kit said. “So you both took this journey and found each other there.”

“Yeah, we’ve been bumming around the ocean getting to know each other and looking for a place to breed.” Hiaka held out their hands, seeming to indicate the lagoon.

“Oh!” Kit stood up and stepped back. “While I’d love to know all about that, I don’t want to get in the way or be intrusive. Let me just refill this jug and I can get out—”

“We’re not going to do it now,” Hiaka said on a laugh. “Just that’s why we picked this place.”

Zenori said something in another language, and Hiaka rolled their eyes. “It’s still a safe place,” Hiaka said sternly with a glare at Zenori.

Kit held up his hands. “Seriously, I don’t want to get in the way or cause any issues for you. If you want or need this place, then we can come up with some way for me to get water without being invasive. Maybe I could signal from the forest? Give you time to—”

“Zenori,” Hiaka said like a warning.

Kit watched as Zenori took a deep breath and sighed it out again. “You can come and go as you please, Kit. Your presence will not be intrusive or invasive.”

“If you’re sure,” he said as he looked between them.

“We’re sure,” Hiaka said definitively.

Zenori only nodded.

Kit accepted that, though he did wonder if he might be asked to scoot on back to the beach at some point for privacy’s sake.

If he could remove himself from gawking at the leatherback turtles as they laid their eggs on the beach so as not to stress them out, then he could leave his neighbors alone just the same.

“Well, thank you. And, hey, if there’s anything I can do to help once the babies are here, please let me know. I can, um… Oh, I have fishing gear! I need to figure out where the best place to do that might be, but I could fish for us, if that would help.”

“Why not leave the fishing to us,” Hiaka said, “and you figure out what to do about those.” They pointed behind Kit.

Spinning around, Kit just managed to see a very large rat scurry into the underbrush.

“Right. Yeah, I think I can make a snare. And a lot of noise to scare them away. Oh, a fire, too! That’ll help at night.

” He got up and peered into the wide mouth of the cave that he’d been sitting in front of.

“This could be a good place for a fire, if it has ventilation. Seems dry in there. Could use it for storage. Er, well, not that you have things to store.”

“Do you need a place? You could move in there.”

That was sweet of Hiaka to offer, but Kit could tell from the slightly scandalized look on Zenori’s face that the two of them were not on the same page when it came to Kit sticking around.

“Thank you. Really. But I’m okay on the beach.

My tent survived the night perfectly. If I’d moved more things onto the beach from the boat, I’d actually be just fine.

But I’ll happily stop in and visit my neighbors as often as I can without being really annoying,” he said with a grin to soften his rejection of Hiaka’s offer.

Kit could see that Hiaka was disappointed, but he definitely didn’t want to cause a problem for the couple by letting his curiosity get the better of him.

Hiaka was right that this was a unique opportunity for Kit and he was absolutely going to cherish every moment he got to spend with the two of them.

He’d just have to make sure he didn’t become a nuisance.