“I am sorry to have caused you concern.”

  The creature rocked with what Jamie understood was amusement. She might not be able to find a face, but she could still hear its emotions, and something of its thoughts.

  “It is why we asked for you,” the Pinnacle said. “You can hear the thoughts, and send your own.”

  “How did you know?”

  “We read your file.”

  “But it’s not in my file.”

  “It is not in your Odyssey file, Jamie Kleay.”

  “That’s not—”

  “—your official name. We know. But, then, we did not read your official file.”

  Jamie was out of her seat, weapons drawn, and backing toward the door, but the rock person did not move, and its servants made no move towards her, either.

  “Unlike those from whom we obtained the file, we mean you no harm, but we do need your help.”

  That made her hesitate, one hand on the door.

  “I cannot protect you, if you cannot give me more detail on the threat,” she said.

  “Then it is a good thing we do not need you for that.”

  Jamie felt along the door’s edge until she had the control pad beneath her fingers, and then she waited, fingertips hovering above it.

  “What do you need me for?”

  “The people you know as purple divers have not been invited to this conference. They asked us for help.”

  “You don’t strike me as brokers.” It was out before Jamie could stifle it. Again, she felt a wave of amusement from the creature.

  “That is a mistake many people make. Just because we are made of stone does not mean we are slow, or raised under a rock. We obtained your records from Selicourt without their knowledge, and tweaked the biometrics they had on record.”

  “You lied to Odyssey.”

  Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

  “We were not entirely truthful with them, no.”

  “They will put you in breach of contract.”

  The level of smug Jamie was sensing went up several notches.

  “They can try.”

  “What do you mean?”

  The smugness toned down.

  “We have other matters of interest to them. I believe we can come to an agreement, but it is your help we require now.”

  “Does the task pertain to your personal well-being and safety?” She felt the living rock hesitate, knew when it was somewhat less than honest in its reply.

  “Of course.”

  “You aren’t really in any danger, are you?”

  “Not from the water, no,” the creature assured her, and again Jamie felt the evasion in its answer.

  “Do you need me, or not?”

  “Yes. We need you.” That reply, at least, was the whole truth.

  “Very well, what do you want me to do?”

  “We need you to call the purple divers to the conference. We need you to tell them they must reveal their secondary form to the attendees, and we need you to translate between them, and the gathered worlds.”

  “How do you know they will hear me?”

  “They have not always been confined to this world,” the Pinnacle replied. “Nor are their communications limited. Representatives asked for our help in finding you.”

  They had? Jamie shook the question away, aware there were more important matters at stake.

  “Very well,” she said. “When?”

  “We have a tour of the reef booked in an hour.”

  “You were very sure of my assistance.”

  “We did our research.”

  “Odyssey will complain.”

  “I don’t see why. They will be paid for your protection of our interests, and you will earn them a significant bonus. Once our contract with the divers is complete, and they have regained their voice to the worlds, we will need to speak with your Odyssey. I believe our areas of interest intertwine. Are you willing?”

  “And the threat to you?”

  “We have our own security. If you will focus on the task to hand, we would be suitably gratified. Consider it a duty of protection, just not exactly the kind of protection for which you thought you were being hired.”

  And so she did. For one thing, it enhanced Odyssey’s reputation, and, for another she had been wanting to make Selicourt pay for the atrocities it had committed in its pursuit of profit. This way, she managed both.

  Typically, Lassiter remained unimpressed.

  “You have some explaining to do,” he’d said, once the conference was over, and the purple divers had revealed themselves to be another intelligent form of shapeshifter. Mermaids, indeed! Jamie hadn’t heard so much hogwash in all her life, but if it made the reporters happy…

  “I put everything in the report,” she said.

  “Except that you lied about Askreya being your home world.”

  Ah, yes, there was that.

  “And you’ve been giving us a false set of biometrics every year since you joined.”

  Jamie sighed. That was only partly true. The fact that her biometrics shifted with the form she chose to take wasn’t entirely her fault—even if the form she chose wasn’t exactly the one she’d been born with. Lassiter ignored her sigh, and continued.

  “Just because you’ve made Odyssey the first name for protection and client confidentiality, once more, does not make you immune to the consequences of hiding things from the company.”

  Jamie scrubbed at her cheeks. The patina of scales she’d thought a result of the nanites had not disappeared, when the nanites had been flushed from her system. She should have realized it was a bad idea to mess with her bios.

  “What can I say?” she said. “A girl has to have some secrets.”

  “Not anymore, she doesn’t,” Lassiter declared.

  Jamie hid her smile behind a glare. Well, they could try.