I grinned at him. It was so nice to know that someone could do denial as well as me. “Six-thirty,” I told him, backing off his porch.
“Fifty bucks cash.” He headed inside, letting the door snap behind him.
Back at the house, my dad was waiting for me on the porch, his arms crossed over his chest. I biked slowly over the bumpy lawn, putting it down slow when I reached the porch.
“Hey, dad.”
“Genevieve Castle, you know better than to use violence to assert power over others.”
“Says the guy who knocked Piper unconscious with the butt of his gun.”
He scowled a serious scowl that reminded me of my sensei instead of my dad. Not that they weren’t the same person. “Cole doesn’t want to be involved. Why do you keep seeing him?”
“He comes to spar in the dojo.”
“That’s a neutral zone, but you going to his house, you’re being watched everywhere you go.”
“It’s a human thing. I just want him to beat up Dean.”
He sighed heavily. “Dean hurt Junie’s feelings?”
I hesitated then nodded. “She thought they were more than friends, but he had another girl at his place.”
He ran a hand over his face. “This isn’t the kind of thing that you should be involved in. You’re a political figure.”
“Not to Cole or Dean.”
“I know that you’re protective of your friends, but Gen, violence isn’t always the answer.”
“She was going to make out with him. He blew her off just like in seventh grade. Junie’s tough on the outside but vulnerable in the middle. Who else is going to defend her?”
“I don’t think she needs defending, also, I don’t need to know the intimate details of your friends lives.”
I crossed my arms and stared at him. He stared at me. We both shifted because we didn’t really do stand-offs.
“Gen, this is really what you want to fight for?”
I shrugged. “I know. It’s pretty stupid, but I can’t not stick up for my friends.”
“I could give Dean a lecture.”
“You’re not his sensei.”
He exhaled. “Fine. But I don’t approve. Cole shouldn’t be fighting for money, either.”
“It’s a good cause.”
“No, he’s just trying to be your friend.”
If trying to make me feel guilty was my dad’s aim, he nailed it. Still, I was walking down Lamar when Cole pulled up in his big black truck.
“Hey, sexy lady!” he yelled because he was trying to be as obnoxious as possible.
I climbed in. “Sexist pig.”
He grinned at me. “How bad should I hurt him?”
“Not too bad. Mostly humiliation. I wish we could have Junie there, but she’d stop it.”
“She really likes him?”
“They talked every night.”
“If I talked to a girl every night, it would be serious, unless it was you, Vee. You could talk to me every night, middle of the night and morning, and it still wouldn’t mean jack. Maybe they’re like that.”
“Like if they kiss she’ll turn into a zombie and therefore romance is off the table?”
He elbowed me. Hard. Ow. “There’s more to romance than kissing. No, I mean some people are friends no matter what. You came over and there was a girl, but you didn’t freak out.”
“Um. What?”
“Like you’re with the Captain and I approve because he’s good for you, see? Except sometimes the stuff you get into isn’t good for me, so maybe he isn’t.” He shrugged. “I don’t think that much about it. Maybe you should date Tuba.”
I laughed. “Oh, wow. Your logic is so beyond flawed. That’s why it makes so much sense to me. Not about dating Tuba. He’s dating college girls.”
“They’re hot.”
“Yeah.” I snickered. There was something so therapeutic about hanging with Cole. Something about how not perfect he was and didn’t pretend to be. Sean didn’t pretend, he was just perfect. He hadn’t tried to stop me from beating up Dean when he called me. He didn’t even mention it, just said that we’d have dinner at seven like he knew about my six-thirty appointment. That was practically approval.
Once we reached the little trailer park on the edge of town, I headed towards the door feeling less awkward than I probably should have, dragging Cole to Dean Horne’s trailer on the edge of the woods. So you could take off if the cops came around, probably. Anyway, I knocked until Dean opened it, scowling at me.
“Cole’s going to beat you up. Outside would probably be better.”
His scowl darkened. Impressive. I hadn’t thought that was possible. “So I’ve heard. Do you have a reason or is it just a random thing for you to periodically inflict violence on your husband’s employees?”
“I’m not going to hit you. It’s Cole. And yeah, because Junie was going to make out with you, but you had a girl here. So not cool, Dean.”
His face went pale and the scowl turned into the expression of a man who was about to throw up. “She was going to what?”
“Make out. To see if you had any chemistry, then date you if you did. Anyway, not important. The important thing is that you hurt her feelings. Again. I can’t beat you up because you might feel some scruples about hitting me… Hey, where are you going?”
He’d leapt past us off the porch, heading for his car. In ten seconds, he’d gunned it down the driveway. We stood there awkwardly, watching Dean drive away.
“And there went my fifty bucks,” Cole said with a sigh. He pulled Dean’s still open door shut and headed towards his truck.
I stood on the single-wide’s porch for a little while longer. If I didn’t hurry, Cole would leave me there. I slid inside the truck and handed over the cash. He pocketed it and pulled into the street.
“I was kind of looking forward to that,” he said.
“Yeah? It occurs to me that I maybe shouldn’t have told him details in case Junie didn’t tell him for a reason. I just naturally assumed he knew. It’s like that time I told Fred that Flop was pregnant.”
“Yeah. Because if you wanted to make out with a guy, you’d just show up and announce it.”
“I don’t do that. I don’t even tell Sean he has to take off his shirt all the time just because I want to see his chest.”
“Such restraint.”
I hit his shoulder.
“Ow. You’re going to have to spar with me for that. Also because I didn’t get to fight Dean. You got me all bloodthirsty.”
“I gave you fifty bucks. You can buy lots of beer to quench your thirst. Drop me at home. I’m starting to think that you’re a bad influence.”
He grinned at me. “Somebody’s got to be.”
Chapter 36
Being back in Cierdeep felt kind of weird. Spyguy and Lucien weren’t back yet. The Soremni customs were coming to an end. All we had was listening to hours of marital advice from a droning priest and a big feast that I had to cook and Sean had to eat. I was planning the menu during one lunch break in Gerveeg’s dome while the girls all gossiped about Takeo and the princess, Claristia. I was so sick of hearing those two names together.
“They’re always seen together. Ever since the assassination attempt, the Cleaver Queen’s taken a backseat to the princess. I wonder why she’s letting that happen.”
I frowned down at brogge jelly. Maybe I should go with conventional jelly sticks, the vegan option.
Madd came up next to me and hissed, “I need to talk to you.”
“I do not need to talk to you. Go away.”
“You owe me for saving you from the rainbow band.”
I turned to frown at him. He looked so sincere. Clearly was trying really, really hard. “Sincere doesn’t suit you. Go back to sneaky and diabolical.”
He rolled his eyes. “Come on. I’ll buy you something to eat at one of those iffy cafes.”
I stared at him. Spyguy wasn’t back yet. This would be an excellent time for someone to try
something. “I’m still wired.”
“Yeah. I know.” He grabbed my arm and yanked me a few feet towards the exit before he swam ahead, quick, graceful, kind of beautiful.
I followed, keeping him in sight as I went down the main way and then turned left before I came to a small café that was all colored lights and swirling bubbly water from the pipes people smoked. So strange.
Madd gestured at me. He was already at a small booth tucked in a corner. On the table was a little tripod, maybe three inches high. I slowly slipped in across from him and he came around, pinning me into the booth.
“What do you want?” I asked while he leaned closer, one arm over me.
It looked like he was going to kiss me. His lips were very close to my ear when he whispered, “The king’s going to be assassinated.”
I turned my face and my nose brushed his. His dark eyes glittered with intensity and something else. “Why would you tell me? Is a monster doing it and I have to stop them or something?”
He rolled his eyes. “Of course not. No monster is going to kill the king now, not while you’re in the city. It’s too dangerous.”
“Right. So, you’re saying that because I should flee the city or something?”
“I’m saying it so that you can stop the assassination. Aren’t you against assassinations in general, or just against people you know? You’re supposed to be moral and upright, all of that.” He made them sound like the worst kinds of vices.
“How am I supposed to stop it? Wouldn’t it just make me look suspicious?”
“No. Not if you did it right. Not if you contacted the one member of the royal family who trusts you absolutely. Oliver’s in the Chromodome today working with his monsters.”
I jerked away from him and smacked the back of my head against the wall. “No. Get out because that’s not going to happen. We’re going to be late. Gerveeg will have my head.”
“Hanne’s there. You’re taking the rest of the day off.”
“No, I’m not.” I glared at him while he started tapping like crazy on the table. He’d made friends with my double? Spyguy was going to flip. Unless she was already a secret spy pretending to be a double. Pretending to be me.
“Look, I know that it’s a little problem with you, but no one else can talk to him.”
How much did he know about me? Too much, clearly. And calling my obsession a ‘little problem’ when it had resulted in the destruction of Terramore, clearly a slight understatement.
“Sean can. They’re friends. I’ll tell Sean and he can warn Oliver about the upcoming excitement. In fact, they probably have policemen or something that you could use instead of going through me.”
“They want proof.”
“And I don’t?”
“I can give you proof, if you want it. There’s a Deepness spy working in the palace. I can give you her name and whatever else you want. Her life would be in your hands, but I can’t give that information to anyone else. I won’t betray one of my own.”
“Then why would you tell me?”
He shot me a glare. “Obviously, I consider you one of my own. You don’t have the slightest idea what you are, but I do.” He gripped my hand, his fingers hard and unforgiving. Obviously he hadn’t held a lot of hands.
I pulled his hand off mine and shook my head. “When is this going to happen?”
“Today. This afternoon. A few hours. Maybe a few minutes.”
“Well, that doesn’t give me a lot of time.”
“No, it doesn’t.”
“Why can’t I just tell him to beware a sneaky assassin?”
“Because it’s his sister.”
I stared at him. “Claristia is going to kill her own father? That’s insane. I mean, she’s nuts, but not that nuts.”
“She’s been working for the Examiner for months now. She doesn’t want monsters to take the kingdom. Everyone thinks she’s working for Takeo. She’s willing to kill the king, claim she did it for Takeo, and ruin him.”
My hand shook as I gripped his hand. “The Examiner is going to frame Sean?”
“Yes, but if we plant Oliver there to watch the attempt and stop it, we can catch the Examiner, finally. The spy will testify of their exchange as a Soremni servant so she won’t lose her place and maybe her life. But…” He frowned at me. “There’s someone on Takeo’s team that can’t be trusted. I know you don’t want to be around the prince, but there’s no other option. No one else can walk into the prince’s presence, request a private audience and get it. You’d need to give him this. It’s how she’ll kill him, what to look for.” He held up a little scroll the length of one of his slender fingers.
“Terramore happened because I was left alone with the prince.” I stared at the table and realized I was still clinging to his hand.
He didn’t say anything, just sat there, perfectly still, like the clock wasn’t ticking.
I dug my nails into his hand for a moment before I pushed off and swam up, out of the booth then towards the exit. He followed me but went back to the dome instead of to the mushroom tower, where I went. I swam quickly, going into the lobby then up to the air hall, walked down it taking deep, even breaths, clinging to the small scroll.
This could be a trap. Madd could have waited until Spyguy was out of town to set me up for this. What the Deepness Master would get out of it, I had no idea. Maybe Madd worked for the Examiner. Maybe this was all an elaborate plan to get me to betray Sean. Again. What was wrong with me, trusting Madd who I knew was a spy? It’s like if someone said, ‘don’t trust me,’ I couldn’t help myself. Maybe it was a monster thing, a perverse nature, like my water compulsion. My heart pounded as I stood at the entrance to the rollercoaster chute.
I took a deep breath and got in. Whatever. I took off the earpiece on the way and left it beside the volcano in Sean’s room on my way to the king’s training ground.
Chapter 37
I’d always made a conscious decision to stay far away from the king’s monsters and the gladiators that swam these ways. The Chromodome had three main sections beneath it for the possible contenders. I went left, through the halls with subtle green and silver painted on them, swimming rapidly until I got to the main cross section.
Two enormous guards floated at attention in black pants with holsters over their bare chests, wearing the same crest as Oliver. These were his personal guards. That meant Madd was right; Oliver was here.
I floated there, my hair all around me while I hesitated between the hall towards Oliver and Sean. This was for Sean. For the country. I lifted my chin and turned towards the nearest guard.
“I need to speak with the prince.” My Soremni was too perfect.
Would he ask who I was? He lifted a little sphere, kind of pointed it at me, and then nodded me ahead. Okay. I went along the hall and there was another set of guards in front of an enormous entrance. It was all silver twining together like vines while broad unnecessary steps led into the main training area.
It made Sean’s training center look like a slum basketball court compared to a pro one. Everything was pretty, shiny, gleaming, and there was Oliver in the middle wrestling a monster. I put my hand on the squishy glass, watching Oliver strain against the creature in his black pants, leather holsters over his bare chest. His utter perfection would have made me breathless if I didn’t have gills. All the same, I felt limp and helpless as I watched my hero. When Oliver finally wrestled it into submission, the rest of the gladiators cheered and he flashed a grin at them, wild, fierce, utterly barbaric and monstrous.
He straightened while the gladiators carried the big fleshy, pincered thing away. For a moment I watched his perfect back as the water waved his slightly long hair around his head before he turned and glanced over his shoulder at me.
My whole body came alive as he looked at me even though his face was expressionless. His lips moved and the guard nearest me came over.
“The prince would like you to wait in a private room. Please, follow me.”
>
I stayed there staring at him until he turned and swam off, his legs a blur through the water until I had it together enough that the guard’s words registered. He was darker skinned, dark-haired and had gold eyes. He swam ahead of me back down the hall, past the first set of guards then turned a different way. We soon reached a doorway with silver vines and doors that glittered like emeralds. The guard took his place beside the doors, leaving it for me to open them or not.
The doors were huge, but when I pushed on one, it opened easily. The door opened to broad steps. I swam up and into an air pocket. I gasped and stepped up the rest of the stairs, pushing my hair out of my face as I climbed. Finally, I was on the green marble tile, an enormous fireplace across from me with a gorgeous, constantly shifting afrateau in it sparkling green and silver. I walked over to it, wringing out my hair and the baggy overalls I still wore. The room was large, but still cozy. Two staircases curved to my left and right, a balcony above where they met, silver metal banisters in the King’s colors.
“You’re getting the floor all wet.” Oliver’s voice was cheerful. “I’ll have to mop it up, maybe after you leave. What brings you here, my fair cousin?”
I turned to see him coming down the stairs, barefoot and barely damp even though his hair still gleamed and droplets glistened on the tips.
“Oliver.” There was a world of longing in that one word that I felt to my soul.
He only smiled and gave me a slight nod, acknowledging his name. “I don’t imagine you’re here on accident. What can I do for you?”
I was wearing horrible makeup and the hideous jumper. I should look nice. Better than nice, something like how he looked. Magnificent, glorious, perfect and divine.
He shook his head as he reached the floor and came over to me. He took my hand and a shock of delight swept through me until he pulled away and held the small scroll instead. “I take it this is your message.” He turned and unrolled it. I saw the symbols, the buzzing, the flashing lights, but only distantly. I couldn’t look away from him, couldn’t help but follow him in his glorious beauty.
He whirled around, the scroll held tightly in his grip like he might crush it. “What do you expect me to do? Betray my own sister? Use my own father as bait for Takeo’s little feud with the Examiner?”
Water Games (Watergirl Book 4) Page 32