Read Dead in the Water (Gemini: A Black Dog Series Book 1) for Free Online Page A

eyes clear of their hazy film. “That’s not possible.”
    Aunt Dot would have a heart attack if I didn’t check in soon. She had expected me home the day after my impromptu trip to Wink, and since she was my next-door neighbor, she had probably been sitting in her bathrobe on the front porch staring down the dirt road leading into town, waiting on my pickup to round the bend until well past her bedtime.
    Calling her at this hour was out of the question. She hated email and thought cell phones were brain cancer waiting to happen. My cousin Isaac, her youngest son by five minutes, lived beside her. I would text him to explain the situation as soon as Harlow left, and he could pass on the information when he met his mom for breakfast the next morning. It was too little, too late, and yes, somewhat cowardly, but it was the best I could do at this point.
    Once the gong in my skull stopped ringing, I squinted up at Harlow. Curls spilled over her shoulder, and the light fixture cast a golden halo around her head like an angel fallen from Candy Land. “How did you get in here?”
    “I bribed the overnight manager.” She rolled a thin shoulder that caused her yellow mesh top to slide down her arm, revealing a black bra strap. “He was cheap, and it was worth it.” A heavy pause. “I owe you one.”
    “No.” Debts made me uncomfortable. “You really don’t.”
    “Why did you do it?” The question came out stilted. Maybe she wasn’t sure she wanted the answer.
    “You had my car key.” I worked up the energy to smile. “What else was I supposed to do?”
    She braced her forearm on the mattress beside me in a dent that made me wonder if she hadn’t been sitting just so for a long time before I woke. “I told you where I left the fob.”
    I wrinkled my nose. “You thought I was going to stick my hand down the boot of a kid I barely know?”
    “I’m not a kid.” She toyed with the ends of my hair, using her thumb to scratch off mud flakes that drifted onto the sheets. “I’m sixteen.”
    Sixteen . Had I ever been that young? Four years separated our ages, but Harlow’s wardrobe pushed the envelope of decency and her personality sparkled. My pantsuits and frown lines left me dull by comparison. “Is it rude of me to ask—?”
    “What’s a nice mer like me doing in a place like this?” She cracked a smile. “I’m on the mermaid equivalent of Rumspringa. I get a year to walk on land before I decide if I want to hang up my fins and embrace life on two legs for good.”
    “I didn’t realize that was an option.” The tradition wasn’t one I had ever heard of before.
    Pursing her lips, she mashed a mud flake into dust against my mattress with her thumb. She shook her head once, seeming to decide against whatever she might have confided. Her next words closed the topic of mer traditions and started a new one. “I meant what I said earlier. You risked your life for me.”
    “A lot of people did.” The teen scoffed, but I insisted, “It was a team effort.”
    “They would have let me die,” she said matter-of-factly. “I messed up. Big time.”
    I didn’t disagree on either point. “Why is that?”
    “I’m not what I pretend to be.” She flicked a piece of dirt off her nail, and her tone sharpened. “But you already knew that, didn’t you?”
    I pushed upright, wincing as my temples throbbed from the sudden motion. Either that or the persistent, gnawing hunger raking claws across my abdomen. “I didn’t touch you.”
    Relief flickered across her features. “Then please don’t.” She scraped her even front teeth over her bottom lip. “If you saw inside me, you wouldn’t like what you found half as much.”
    “I doubt that.” The vote of confidence made her twitchy, so I shifted gears. With thirty-six hours’ worth of sleep purring in my tank, I was itching for news. “You look good. Their medic does excellent work.” I didn’t see a mark on her. “How did everyone else