Stolen Dream

Chapter Seven

It took a week for Novo to gather the information that Keyvon had requested. During that time, Keyvon had been subjected to daily visits from his father's endless stream of mermaids that he was to meet and choose a mate from.

It wasn't that simple, and his father, of all merpeople, should know that better than anyone. Mirek had been with his true mate from his youth and hadn't been the same since she had died when Keyvon was just a boy.

Life was dark and dull without your other half. Merfolk didn't just marry anyone. Not unless they didn't have a choice. They searched for as long as they could for the one individual who could spark something in them that would bring them to life in a way that no other could.

"What have you learned?" Keyvon asked, once more in the hive-like housing where the researchers lived and worked.

"The partner's name is Herbert Grey. He's apparently quite well-off and has several properties."

"Anything near water?"

"His main address appears to be just a short distance from the ocean in Miami, Florida. He also has holdings in the Bahamas, a cabin on Lake Sampson, also in Florida, and owns several acres of land in Tennessee with a creek running through it."

Researchers were good at their jobs. They gleaned information in a variety of ways, but the most accurate and interesting was their connection to human databases. It hadn't been an easy feat to find out about electricity, computers, the internet, and so forth. It had been even more difficult to learn how to work with it and find ways to set it up underwater in ways that couldn't be traced. They'd tapped into a trans-Atlantic hub of sorts and built their computers from parts scavenged from sunken ships. They had put together secured containers to keep water out of the machines while still allowing them to be accessed.

It had taken many years to perfect, but now they had fairly easy access to everything humans knew and did. They were slowly training some of their youth to work with the computers in the hopes of accessing even more information.

They needed their own hackers.

Keyvon thanked Novo for his time and help before taking his leave. He would go first to the Bahamas to see what he could find out from the locals near there before working his way to Miami.

They were a dead end.

Florida was a long distance away, so Keyvon didn't waste any time once he was sure the Bahamas wouldn't help him get closer to his quarry. The next stop was Florida and it was going to take him awhile to get there.

There was no time to lose.

He swam from dusk straight through until dawn, using every bit of speed and stealth available to him to cover the distance as quickly as possible without giving his presence away to the few humans he noticed along the way.

"Slow down, would you?"

Keyvon stopped dead and turned to face the stranger approaching him, impressed that she was nearly able to match his speed despite not being built for it the way he was. She was small and obviously well-muscled enough to make up the difference. He also wasn't travelling at top speed. It wasn't easy to maintain for significantly long periods of time. "Who are you?"

She held up one hand, the other went to her side while she sucked in air. "Just a sec," she breathed.

Keyvon waited impatiently for her to recover.

She pointed to herself. "Milly."

"I'm Keyvon."

She nodded. "I know. I was told you'd be heading this way and to catch up to you to give you a message."