A security officer lazily sat in front of a monitor, clicking through the various empty docks. Tonight the waves were softly rolling against the docks, the ships stood like columns in a hallway. The phone behind him started ringing loudly and he twisted around to take it. He didn’t see a slight shadow of a barefoot boy in a soaked navy hoodie and faded jeans tangled with seaweed strands dart across the screen. It was so quick no one would notice until the authorities requested the footage.

The bedraggled boy quickly found some dry civilian clothing in a dumpster. He was discreet in discarding his old clothes. He checked out the new red and black zip top sweater in the reflection of a waxed porsche. The owner shouted at him to move away and he followed the steady stream of people until he smelled freshly baked cookies wafting out from a supermarket. The doorbell tolled softly as he entered the store. He took a deep breathe through his nose and was about to find the source when commotion unfolded in front of him.

A pixie-like malnourished girl who was barely taller than the countertop was next in line to cash out. In one hand she clenched some much needed calories in some granola bars and in the other she held some grimey coins. She was alight with the possibility of having some sustenance today.

The cashier instead of ringing her up, stepped out of his booth. He leaned down to her skeletal frame and gave her a Cheshire cat smile. “Where did you get those, dear?”

She withdrew her hand protectively. He was singling her out in front of the whole store. Her voice was coarse and stuttered. “I found them.”

The man laughed drawing to his full height and with one mammoth hand, slammed her head against the countertop. The child’s hand immediately moved to where she’d been abused, her eyes wide in awestruck horror. Her words tumbled out in a shriek. “I did. I did find them. I didn’t take them from anyone and I’m not stealing from the store.”

From where he was standing by the shoplift monitors, he felt the tiny sinewy web snap behind his eyes. The clerk was lifted off his feet by an unseen force and slammed headfirst through the bulletproof glass that guarded the windows of the supermarket. Tendrils of ice snaked out from two liter pop bottles and bound him hand and foot. The liquids were tentacular and the occupants of the mart simultaneously erupted into chaos.

The girl was curled into a ball, her hands wrapped in little vices around her food. Customers started streaming out of the store in droves and she felt someone lift her and set her inside the cashier’s booth. Once, the store had cleared out, the girl could make out the boy’s features.

“You,” she said incredulously, “you helped me. I thought I wouldn’t get it.” She showed him her food and smiled. He breathed in the faint mouth rot smell of her teeth and tried to return her affections. He opened one of her granola bars and fed it to her.

“You need to eat more. You won’t be able to keep up with the fish. What’s your name?”

She spoke with a full mouth, “Alia, it’s not my full name, but it’s what my mom and my friends when I went to school used to call me. I think it’s better than Alexandria. I wish I could go back to school.”

A bright beam of light illuminated the store and a floating robotic police bot roved to them. It spoke in monotone, repeating the same thing several times, “Are either of you hurt? Will either of you need assistance finding your parental guardians?”

The boy looked confused as to what to do. Alia shielded him.

“It doesn’t understand back so you can’t talk to it. If it didn’t see it we could just leave.”

The boy brushed aside Alia’s hair. “It’s ok,” he said softly, “I’m Stewart by the way. I live in the ocean.”

“Can you take me with you back there? I don’t like sleeping outside. Do they have a school?”

“Yeah, there’s a school where you learn all the names of the fish and different currents and numbers.”

The rubble was eventually cleared out by more bots who stopped by, Stewart and Alia quietly slipped away but were followed by the bot who kept repeating the same statement it had asked earlier. They only made it to the next block when a dozen police vehicles simultaneously stopped and abruptly shined lasers and lights on the duo.

Alia’s hands shot up. “I didn’t mean to eat the food without paying.”

The squadron burst into a chorus of laughter. One of the goons spoke up, “You’re not in trouble in the least, social services should be happy to have you. You’ll be easily taken care of.”

Alia turned to Stewart, “Why do they want you? You’re nice.”

As they exchanged glances a voice boomed from above, “Stewart, son of Poseidon, I call upon you to join and serve the common good. You will be mine to mentor.” A man with a cape and a trident floated down until he landed on the nearest police cruiser.

“Uncle Walter,” Stewart acknowledged his family with a nodd. “I see you found me before I did you. The waves send their greetings. My mother’s illness took its toll on her and she is no more,”

“The water weeps for her. Come, we shall honor her in proper--”

“NO!” Alia said abruptly, “He’s mine. You can’t take him.” She threw her arms around his slight build.

One of the officers started to pry her hands off him. She continued kicking and screaming.

Stewart turned to his uncle, “Is there not a place for her among us. She has a fire which may serve us well. She would be a burden to anyone. She deserves--”

The crows nests around walter’s eyes softened as he put his arm around his nephew. “Strong she may be, but she is mortal. Such is that they which are fragile and easy to destroy. Leave her to her own people as we as among ours. Sky City is at a height, the denizens are a legend to behold. She’s a flower, she must be given dirt to bloom.”

Stewart recoiled. “Mortals are not dirt, dear uncle.”

“Your father banished you so you may learn. You are young, you will learn these things with time,” He gently plucked Alia by the scruff of her collar from her vice-like grip of his kin and threw her at the officers.

Alia started wailing, “Why does my arm hurt? Why does it feel weird? Make it stop, please. I want it to stop. Please!”