“Well, we can’t risk it, so you’re going to have to think of something else,” Tina said with a grin.
“And here I thought you might have given me an easy task for once,” Kyran teased, and I couldn’t help but notice the way he looked at her. Kyran looked at Tina like I had never seen an elf look at a witch. It was like his eyes lit up every time he saw her face. He loved her; there wasn’t any doubt about that.
“How about going underwater?” Kyran suggested. “After all, Pacific Cove is on the ocean.”
“How does that work, though?” Ellie asked. “It might be on the water, but it’s still protected by the same charm that keeps humans out of our towns.”
“Right,” Kyran said. “But the charm was only set up once. So way back when Pacific Cove was founded, they would have set up the charm, and it would have made a kind of dome around the town that prevents travel without the portals because it cannot be penetrated by paranormals. It also redirects humans who might wander a bit close without them realizing there’s anything wrong. But it was only set up once, and one thing most paranormals don’t think of is erosion underneath the water. Eventually, the ocean floor begins to erode and pull away from the dome. Most towns don’t think to track erosion underwater the way they do on dry land.”
I nodded slowly as I realized what Kyran was saying. “So you think if we can get out to the ocean by Pacific Cove, we can get underneath the dome if we go deep enough, and come back in that way.”
“That’s right,” he nodded. “You’ll have to cast a spell to turn yourself into a fish, and it won’t be without risk, since you’ll be a part of the regular food chain during that time, but it would allow you to sneak back into Pacific Cove unnoticed.”
Ashley, Andrea, and I all looked at each other.
“Let’s do it,” Andrea finally said.
“It’s not like we have any other choice, apart from admitting to Chief Enforcer Lupo what we did, and then he’ll just have us thrown in Spellcatraz anyway,” Ashley said. “I knew coming with you was going to be a bad idea. He’s still going to know it was us.”
“But the important thing is he won’t be able to prove it,” I said. “But how are we going to get out of Western Woods without being recorded in the portals?”
“Oh, that’s no problem. I know of four untracked portals in town,” Kyran grinned. “I’ll take you to one, but you have to promise me you won’t tell anyone where it is.”
“I swear on Mars, if you can get us out of this,” Andrea said with a laugh. It looked like we finally had a plan. I just hoped this one wasn’t going to end with us being seal food.
Chapter 24
After saying our goodbyes to the Western Woods crew, Andrea, Ashley, and I followed Kyran out to a portal in the middle of the woods and into the human world. He took us right by the ocean and pointed to a bay further south.
“That’s where Pacific Cove is. You can’t see it from here because of the charm, but if you swim straight there and stick to the floor of the ocean, you should be able to slip underneath the charm and get back into town. I’ll leave the magic to you.”
“Thank you so much for the help. We really appreciate it,” I told him.
“No problem. Any friend of Tina’s is a friend of mine,” he said to us. “You good to go?”
The three of us nodded and Kyran turned and left. I took a deep breath and looked at Ashley and Andrea. “Ok, which one of us would be best at casting a spell that turns us into a fish?”
Andrea and I immediately looked at Ashley. “Why is it always me?”
“Because this is the sort of thing you have to do for your job, right? You’re always having to solve problems.”
“The problems I have to solve are things like wards not working for some reason and someone messing up a chant and getting a weird result. Turning into a fish to sneak back into my hometown to avoid the wrath of the Chief Enforcer after he caught us trespassing in Western Woods is not the sort of thing I normally do.”
“Still, it’s sort of the same thing,” Andrea said. “I bake bread for a living. Yours is still way closer than mine.”
“And I make chocolates, as of yesterday,” I shrugged.
“Fine. But you’re not allowed to get mad at me if this messes up,” Ashley warned.
“You won’t mess it up,” I said confidently.
“Now, what’s the best way to do this? I’m thinking maybe I’ll turn us all into fish, and I’ll make the spell last an hour. Will we be able to swim all that way in an hour?”
“We should,” I said. “It’s not that far. Once we get to the beach, we find somewhere near shore and wait until we turn into humans again?”
“That’s right,” Ashley said.
“Ok, and we don’t talk about things going wrong, because nothing will go wrong,” Andrea said confidently. “We meet back home as soon as we can. And go in the back way, in case Chief Enforcer Lupo is waiting for us at the front.”
I had to admit, I was fairly nervous about this. Sure, back in high school, I had gotten into a little bit of trouble here and there. But it was generally by making potions I wasn’t allowed to, nothing more serious than that. This was serious. We were trying to sneak back into town by going underneath the dome that protected Pacific Cove from intruders just like us.
And we were about to turn ourselves into prey in the process.
A part of me wondered why we couldn’t turn into seals, but I knew the answer: fish were small enough that we’d almost certainly be able to slip through what was undoubtedly going to be a very small gap under the dome that protected Pacific Cove. Seals weren’t necessarily going to be that small. Besides, even if we were seals, we still wouldn’t be at the top of the food chain. Orcas were always out and about looking for their next meal, as well.
“Ready?” Ashley asked me, and I nodded. I waded out into the water, and Ashley cast her spell.
“Mars, ruler of ours, make this witch into a fish and make it last an hour.”
I wasn’t quite sure how to describe how I felt. Honestly, it was a little bit like when you’ve eaten something you shouldn’t have and your stomach starts to act up and feels like it’s turning on itself. Except instead of being limited to the stomach, I felt that feeling throughout my whole body for around three seconds. Then I felt myself falling, and I hit the water with a splash. Instinctively, I held my breath and closed my eyes, but when a moment later I felt the need to take a breath, I inhaled, and it surprisingly worked.
I dared to open my eyes and found that even though I was underwater and even though it was dark, I could see perfectly. And my sense of direction was a lot better than it was as a human; I knew straightaway which way was south. And, I figured, I probably should get going, or I was going to use up the hour just floating here looking at everything, amazed.
Swimming turned out a lot easier than I thought it would be. Being a fish actually felt surprisingly natural, and within a couple of seconds I had gotten the hang of my fins, for the most part. I began swimming south, ready to make the journey back to Pacific Cove. I did glance around, wondering if I could spot Andrea or Ashley, but quickly gave up on that idea; the water got a little bit murky as I got deeper, and soon I could only see a few feet in front of me.
I kept moving, always keeping one eye out for predators. To be completely honest, I wasn’t entirely sure what I should be watching out for. Seals and sea otters, of course, but there were probably bigger fish out here that would also happily eat me as a snack right now.
I pushed that happy thought to the back of my mind as best I could while I focused on getting back to Pacific Cove. I made my way further south, always aware that I was eventually going to hit the invisible barrier as long as I stayed near the surface. Still, I didn’t want to drop further down, since it very quickly got quite dark toward the bottom of the ocean floor, and as much as I had a better sense of direction now, I still felt a little bit more comfortable being able to see at least a few feet in front of
me.
At one point, I was fairly certain that I spotted a seal, and I quickly dove down and swam in the murky depths until I got a little bit further away from it.
I was just starting to think that I should be coming up to the invisible barrier fairly shortly when I felt something behind me. I turned around just in time to see a seal doing his best to chomp down on me.
I let out a squeal—or whatever the fish equivalent was—and began swimming away as fast as I could. This was definitely my worst nightmare; I didn’t want to become seal food. I darted through the water, but very quickly the seal came up behind me once more. I could feel him in the water behind me, and once again, when he got right behind me, I made a quick evasive maneuver to avoid being eaten.
That seemed to be my main advantage: my smaller size meant that I was able to make turns a lot more quickly than the seal.
“Sorry, buddy, I don’t plan on being a midnight snack today,” I thought to myself as I began swimming in tight circles, managing to keep away from the seal’s snapping jaws. I could feel him getting frustrated, and I knew that I was close to getting away. I decided that my last hope was to completely avoid being seen, and I dove deep into the depths of the ocean, where hopefully the seal wouldn’t be able to see me and would quickly give up.
Sure enough, although he followed me down as best he could, after a couple of minutes the water current around me began to feel normal once more, and I figured the seal had floated back up to the surface, intent on getting himself an easier victim.
Still, the experience had definitely scared me, and I stayed a little bit lower in the water, even though I couldn’t see as well, for quite some time. Eventually, I was swimming along, minding my own business, when all of a sudden it was like I swam right into a door.
My nose—or whatever you call the tip of a fish—hurt like crazy, and when I swam forward again, this time a lot more slowly, I hit the same spot again.
This absolutely had to be the invisible dome that protected Pacific Cove from outsiders. I had reached it!
Pressing myself against the dome, I dove down into the water until I reached the sand at the very bottom of the ocean floor. It was quite a bit deeper than I had expected, but sure enough, there was a tiny gap in between the sand and the dome, just big enough for a fish like me to slip through without being detected. I was in!
I swam toward the shore, excited to have made it under the dome safely and finally be back home. Now I just had to find somewhere to wait out this spell without being eaten, and where nobody would notice a fish suddenly transforming back into a witch.
It turned out I wasn’t going to have to worry too much about any of that. The spell ran out when I was still about a hundred feet from the shore, and what I had expected to be a graceful exit from the ocean like some kind of modern-day Little Mermaid quickly turned into me thrashing about in the water fully clothed, emerging not like a gorgeous beauty of the ocean but more like a giant squid trying not to drown itself under the weight of its own clothing.
By the time I dragged myself to shore I was soaked from head to toe, my hair plastered all over my face, sand everywhere. At least the beach was abandoned. I probably would have become some sort of mythical legend if there were any drunk teenagers around to see me.
Remembering Ashley’s advice to get out of sight as quickly as possible, I ran toward the woods as fast as I could, my socks squishing in my completely soaked shoes with every step. Everything about my state of being right now was absolutely disgusting.
If this was the human world, I would have totally ended up on one of those shows where people thought they saw monsters. Wasn’t there supposed to be something in the Pacific Northwest they were always looking for? The Sasquatch or something?
Making my way through the back streets—not only because I didn’t want to be caught by Chief Enforcer Lupo, but also because I didn’t want to be seen by anyone in this state—I eventually made my way through the back entrance of the house.
“Took you long enough,” Ashley said when I made it into the living room. “I was starting to get worried.” Of course Ashley looked absolutely perfect, like she hadn’t just spent an hour swimming in the ocean as a fish. As soon as she saw the state I was in, she raised her eyebrows. “Didn’t quite make it out of the water in time?”
“Oh, shut up,” I muttered gloomily. “I’m having a shower. Is Andrea back yet?”
Ashley shook her head. “I’m sure she’ll be here soon.”
I nodded and made my way to my bathroom, but I had to admit, I was a little bit worried. Andrea should have been back by now. I really hoped she was alright.
Chapter 25
By the time I got out of the shower, feeling a lot more human and having filled the drains with a decent amount of sand, Andrea still wasn’t back. I sat down on the couch with Ashley and tried to make small talk to distract both of us from the black thoughts that threatened to occupy our brain space.
“How was your trip back?” I asked. “Relatively uneventful?”
“Completely so,” Ashley replied. “I stayed fairly deep to avoid the northern fur seals that hunt at night around here. How about you?”
Of course Ashley would know the habits of the local fish and wildlife. “Well, I had one try and catch me, but I managed to get away fairly easily,” I lied. I didn’t think now was really the right time to recount my near-death experiences with the seal.
Ashley nodded. “I’m glad.”
The two of us sat in silence for a while, until, about ten minutes later, the sound of the back door opening reached my ears and I perked up. That had to be Andrea. She was alive!
Alive and unhappy. As she made her way to the living room, I had trouble keeping a straight face. She must have been in the water, same as I was. Her hair was plastered to her face, but more than that, she had completely lost her pants! She was standing in her underwear, glaring at us.
“I hate everything about tonight,” she said.
“What … happened to your pants?” I asked, and Andrea glowered at me.
“I don’t want to talk about it, Meg.”
“You should have a shower,” Ashley suggested. “To be honest, Meg looked just as bad as you did when she first came in.”
“At least I didn’t have to walk through town without being fully clothed,” I argued.
Andrea flipped me the bird as she made her way to the bathroom. “You better have left me some hot water!” she called out.
When Andrea came back out about twenty minutes later, we got the whole story: a seal—probably the same one that came after me—eventually found Andrea and tried to get to her. He got a lot closer and managed to shave a few scales off her back. When she transformed back into a human, her pants were completely wrecked.
“Well, I’m glad it’s just your pants,” I said. “Not only were we starting to get worried, but this means my story wasn’t the most embarrassing. Ashley, obviously, was completely fine and waiting for us when I got in.”
“Of course she was,” Andrea muttered. “It was a fun adventure, though, wasn’t it? And now Chief Enforcer Lupo can never prove that we were in Western Woods yesterday, so when he comes knocking, we say we stayed in all day.”
“Agreed,” Ashley said. “We just had a quiet night in.”
“And now I’m actually going to have a quiet night in,” I said. “After all, I have to tell all of the employees tomorrow that the factory is closed forever and they have no jobs, so I’m going to get some sleep.”
“Oh, Meg, I’m sorry,” Ashley said. “That’s going to be hard, and you shouldn’t have to do it.”
“I do, though,” I said. “I’d rather they find out from someone in the family than have Chief Enforcer Lupo letting them know how happy the Numa family was to get rid of the factory and their jobs.”
I said good night to my sisters and went to bed a little bit stressed about the following day. Because frankly, Ashley was completely right. It was going to suck. A lot.<
br />
The first person I called was Liz. After all, I had told her I would let her know as soon as I knew anything about the fate of the factory. However, I didn’t want to break this news to her over the phone.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Liz,” I greeted her. “How are you doing?”
“Oh, I’m ok,” she replied. “Do you have any news about when we’re going to be able to reopen the factory?”
“That’s the reason why I called. Can you meet me somewhere?”
“I can come by the factory now,” Liz replied. “I’ll be there in five minutes?”
“Sure, I’ll be out the front,” I said. “I’ll see you soon.”
Bile rose in my throat as the reality of what I was about to have to do set in. I wasn’t the sort of person who could give people bad news without a shred of remorse. I was definitely not cut out to be one of those managerial elves who hired and fired people on a whim like it was nothing. I knew this news was going to be bad, and I felt bad that I had to be the one to give it. Still, I hoped that Liz would appreciate hearing the news from me and not from Chief Enforcer Lupo. And I hoped everyone else did, as well. It was going to be a long, very emotionally taxing day.
Making my way out the front door, I headed over toward the factory. I was well aware that I couldn’t cross through the gate my dad had built to get to it—Chief Enforcer Lupo considered that to be trespassing, and he wouldn’t hesitate to charge me with it—so instead I leaned against the fence, looking at the building where I had spent so much of my childhood. My heart ached as I thought about the fact that those days were over, and the factory no longer belonged to us.
I was going to prove my parents were innocent. I was going to make things right.
“Megan?” a timid voice behind me said, and I spun around to see Liz standing in front of me.
“Liz, hi,” I said to her. I had considered how I was going to do this. I eventually decided that the best way to go would be like ripping off a Band-Aid. Fast, and without any muss or fuss. It was how I would have preferred to hear the news. “Listen, I wanted to tell you as soon as I could: the factory is closed permanently. The town of Pacific Cove has taken it over as part of the agreement my parents made, and they’re not letting me run it.”
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