In fact, what was his background? Did they have colleges under water?

“What are you grinning about?”

“I cannot help feeling joy that you have chosen my company over his.”

“Uh, it’s not about that, Artur. It’s just that the last time I was in the harbor I didn’t notice anything was wrong, so this time—”

“Yes, yes.” He waved her perfectly logical explanation away. “Whatever your rationale, you will be with me for the rest of the morning, while the biped pushes his papers around and makes numbers.”

“Careful, pal. I was almost pushing papers and making numbers with him.”

His smile widened. “My point. You are not.”

“This isn’t a contest, you know.”

His smile slipped away and all at once he looked like the predator he was. “Everything is a contest.”

“Hmmph. I am going to swim now. Try to resist the urge to take a chomp out of my butt.”

“I shall try, but I make no promises.”

She grinned; she couldn’t help it. “Okay, that came out wrong.” She dipped a toe into the water, then walked in a couple of feet, enjoying the breeze. She knew she felt chilly to other people, but one of the nice things about being a hybrid was that she didn’t feel much cold. Which made sense, because there were plenty of places in the ocean that were quite cold. It was also the reason Jonas constantly gave her shit when she wore tank tops in November.

“Wasn’t it great of Jonas to get my boss out of our way?” she said suddenly. “He really helped us out there.”

“You choose your allies well.”

“He’s not an ally, he’s my… you know. Jonas.”

“As I said.”

“He really took one for the team, taking Dr. Barb out for breakfast. I’ve worked for the woman for six years, and I’ve never seen her eat. It must be like taking your speech teacher out for drinks. Weird.”

“That is for Jonas to fret about,” Artur pointed out, slipping into the water beside her and easing out of sight. In her mind, he finished the thought: Not you or I.

“That’s the team spirit,” she muttered, and ducked under the water. It took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust—Boston harbor wasn’t exactly the clear azure of Cabo San Lucas. She kept a wary eye out for large clumps of seaweed—just the feel of the stuff on her skin made her… well, it made her skin crawl! And when it got in her hair… nightmare.

Maybe that’s why she considered the sea a living thing, an entity all on its own. Because so much of it was so alive. Just swimming through it, she could feel how alive it was. It wasn’t just the smell or the taste or the texture… or, rather, it was, but it was all of that and more.

She understood intellectually how the bipeds could use the ocean as a garbage dump, but could never get it emotionally. But then, they used the atmosphere as a garbage dump, too. You just couldn’t count on any of them to—