Excerpt of Fish out of Water
“That’s a lovely name, my dear,” James says. “Astrid. Ah, yes, it rolls of the tongue just so. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go get a room made up for you.”
With that, James walks back inside, leaving me alone with… Astrid.
“Um...” I glance at her. “Is there anything I can get you?” Pants, perhaps? Or is she one of those girls who lives in her swimsuit. If a flowing white shirt that falls halfway down her thighs could be called a swimsuit. Maybe it’s a nightgown? “If you want, I can see if I have any clean clothes that might fit you.”
She blinks at me, trembling slightly from the chill. Astrid may be regal, but she look so vulnerable standing here soaked to the bone.
“Okay,” I amend, “maybe not fit you. But hopefully clean-”
Thunder crashes in the distance, and Astrid jumps. Then she glances back at the ocean.
Whatever she sees back there strikes a cord with her, because she takes off running into my house without looking back.
Goosebumps break out on my skin, and I get the eerie feeling that I’m being watched.
Looking back, I see a green-tinted water cyclone spinning on the ocean.
Thank goodness that wasn’t there earlier.
Shaking my head at my own jumpy nerves, I follow Astrid inside. But so does the feeling that there is something fishier than ocean water going on here.
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