Page 60 of Plaidypus
“I can’t just throw the line and ask a male silver ghost to take the bait,” I blurted.
“Why not?”
“I am not a fish whisperer or summoner. You’re the Devil. Just go into the damned river and catch one. Are they edible? If they’re edible, you just stole my dinner!”
“Your dinner is bigger than you are.”
Icy bobbed her head and whuffled, a sound I translated to be amusement.
“If it makes you feel better, your dinner weighed as much as you do, too. I am genuinely impressed you beat her—and I’m grateful I had bewitched the rod, reel,andline, else the test would have snapped. It still counts, though. You brought her in properly, and had you been on a good rod and reel for a fish that size, you would have landed her anyway. Excellent job. You just helped preserve one of Earth’s beautiful fish. So, about that silver ghost male.”
“You really want me to do that again, but with a male.”
“Would it help if I enchanted your bait to attract them?”
“What about the catch limits?”
“It’s two per person right now in this spot. We’re only taking two. In exchange, I will go to a butcher and spend a ridiculous amount of money on food you can grill over the campfire tonight. I’ll even get an assortment of Australian delicacies we can try.”
I handed the Devil his rod. “I want a bendy rod, I want it in a pretty green, and I want yellow test line. And I don’t want to give up any of my other rods or reels, so I want a blue reel to go with my green rod.”
Lucifer vanished.
“He’s ridiculous,” I muttered, shaking my head and returning to my rod and reeling my bait in. Something had robbed me, although considering how long it’d taken me to land the silver ghost, I didn’t mind the loss of my bait. “He brought us here for his conservation project, I guess?”
“It would not surprise me if he’d planned this all from the start. He plays the long game, and this hits multiple birds with one stone, which is his style. He would want you to have a good time, and you can’t deny you had wonderful fun bringing that fish in. Conservation likely appeals to you, especially as you’re careful with your kills when you hunt and make sure you respect the limits of what’s taken. And you use everything you take. I expect you won’t catch another silver ghost until your brother and the others are close—and it wouldn’t surprise me if Lucifer plans it so you get a big one so you can show off for your lycanthrope. He’s not above such things.”
“Wait, he can make a fish bite?”
“He can make the lure so enticing for the fish he wants to catch itwilltake the bait. Don’t get me wrong. I love fish, especially as pets, but they are not the brightest crayons in the box. He’ll likely be luring the perfect mate for the female here and having bream and other fish take your bait in the meantime. If youdocatch a silver ghost that’s not the one he has planned, it will be all you. And he’ll tell you.”
“So that female?”
“Considering he was actually asleep, that was all you. A little luck getting it before it stole the bait, but you hooked and landed that without any intervention on his part. He wasn’t ready to start fishing yet.”
I laughed. “Yet I caught a huge one?”
“Personally, I blameHimfor that one. IfHecan pull the wool overHisson’s eyes, he will. It does make being part of this family so fun.” Darlene crossed her eyes. “And ever so frustrating.”
I bet. “But why wouldHedo that?”
“The silver ghost is probablyHiscreation, and big or small,Hemade them all—and it painsHimwhen one ofHiscreations perishes.Helikely saw an opportunity, soHeacted. When a female prime for breeding shows up, is at the end of her life, and will only spawn once or twice more before she passes of old age,Heis not above making sure she has a good end. She’ll be treated like a queen in our home. I expect the male will be the same, old and having his last spawn, too—but their children? Their children will live long, happy, and fruitful lives. And Lucifer will travel the world looking for good males and females to breed with that base spawn. And when a bunch of young fish show up with diverse genetic stock in the wild? Well,Hewill look the other way.”
“Are you really sure he’s Lucifer? This doesn’t sound like something the Devil would do.”
“Oh, I’m sure he’s Lucifer. But he’s only the prime evil when he needs to be. The rest of the time? He’s just some guy who loves his family.”
The Devil? Just some guy? As I had no hope of arguing with crazy, I nodded. “We should go get some coffee while he’s shopping. I haven’t had enough coffee to deal with the Devil stealing my catch.”
“Nobody has ever had enough coffee to deal with that.”
No kidding.
For two days,I fished my heart out. Lucifer spent an absurd amount of the time napping while Darlene read books and fetched coffee. From time to time, she fished, although she stopped after she caught one too small to keep. The argument over keeping the fish as a pet lasted for hours after it had been released back into the wild. I laughed, wondering how two people could love arguing with each other so much.
During the evenings, we talked. Sometimes, we discussed what my future held and what sort of work the Devil had for someone like me. Rather than flit from remote customer service jobs and whatever other work I could find in a small town, I would do the sort of work Leonard did, but for Lucifer rather than the CDC.
He thought I’d work out best as someone who rode to the rescue, helping the deserving, and escorting dark souls to the Devil for rehabilitation. Icy would enjoy the work, too.
