Gavin and Arista left the Hollymount campus together to find some dinner. Arista had no idea what she wanted to eat and told him to bring her to a favorite place of his.
They drove in closer to the city and Gavin finally parked the truck near the entrance to an alleyway. Arista looked down the alley, filled with large dumpsters spilling their excess trash into the street. She looked at Gavin with a curious expression.
“This is where you want to eat?”
“Trust me,” he said with a smile.
He led her past the ripe-smelling dumpsters and stopped in front of a stairwell leading under the street.
“Go down these stairs, but be careful,” Gavin cautioned, pointing to the handrails. “It’s easy to miss a step.”
Arista followed him down the cast-iron steps to another alley, this time underneath the main road. Up ahead, Arista saw lights around an unmarked entryway.
“Is that where we’re going?”
Gavin nodded in response and he walked between the lights, holding the door open for her. Arista couldn’t believe her eyes. She never would have guessed a restaurant could be hidden there. The cramped room had tables squeezed into every available spot. Newspaper clippings, magazine articles, and record album covers overlapped each other as eclectic wallpaper around the inside of the room.
Gavin pointed to a table along the wall and told Arista to wait there while he ordered their food at the counter. She sat down, still overwhelmed by the place. It was so loud she could barely gather her thoughts. She didn’t understand how everyone could watch the televisions, talk to each other, and eat with so much going on around them — it was all so hectic. How could they enjoy themselves doing so much at once?
Gavin returned shortly with a tray of piping hot burgers and fries, explaining they were his favorite in the whole city. Arista loved taking a bite of everything. She didn’t always like it, but she was constantly surprised at the variety people had to enjoy. After several minutes of savoring their burgers, she asked Gavin to share more about his life.
“Well, I grew up in the city with my parents. My father was in finances and he was always working, but my mom stayed home with me and my sister, Valerie. Every summer my mom, Val, and I would go across the lake to Michigan to the house where I took you. Most of my favorite memories are from there. After our parents died, they left me the lake house and someday I hope I can bring my own family there. In the meantime, I live here in the city working as a contractor.”
“What does that mean?” she asked, wiping ketchup drops from the corner of her mouth.
“I work on buildings, usually renovations. I love taking something old and turning it into something new. Something that will help change the future of a company or a family.” As he talked, his dark brown eyes clouded over with a wistful and longing expression.
“That’s what you want more than anything else, isn’t it? Your own family,” she said.
“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want it, but I don’t think it’s going to come easily. I thought Clarissa was the one. We were planning a future together and she threw it all away. It’s taken me a long time to move past that and, I don’t know, it seems like some far off dream now. What about you? Don’t mermaids want to settle down and have… little merbabies?”
“Well, I don’t think it’s quite the same,” Arista said, while pensively nibbling a french fry. “We don’t mate for love, or stay in relationships because of any deep feelings for each other. We can mate with others we’re interested in, but it’s common to leave without much concern. My family was unique in that I think my parents did love each other. But that’s also a big part of how my father died.” Arista paused and took a deep breath before continuing.
“Children aren’t always even raised by their parents. More often, the whole clan raises them. I had both my mother and father in my life for a time, but my grandmother actually raised me. We’re much more connected to our entire lineage, and we grow up in large communities often made up of extended family.”
Arista looked down at the table, averting Gavin’s eyes. All the talk about family reminded her of the promise she had made to herself earlier in the day. She fiddled with her fork on the table before going on.
“My family is why I’m here now. I haven’t told you the whole truth.”
Gavin stopped eating his dinner and looked into her eyes. “I thought you were holding something back. So what are you trying to do?”
“I have to find my mother. I know she’s here somewhere.”
“Your mother? You said she was dead.”
“And I thought she was for the longest time,” Arista explained. “But I heard rumors that she came to the surface. Once I found a way to come here, I had to try. I need to bring her back home, where she belongs.”
Arista was glad to share more of the truth with Gavin, although she still shied away from the entire story. She didn’t want him to know everything yet.
“Where she belongs… and where you belong. You’re returning to the water after you find her.” Gavin said softly. His brown eyes betrayed his sadness at the realization of their limited time together.
“I don’t know. I should say yes, but I’ve enjoyed being here and getting to know you. It’s possible I could stay longer, but I might have to go back. I don’t know what my mother is going to be like when I find her, she may need me with her.”
“I understand,” Gavin said. “And I’m glad you told me. I’m happy to keep helping you.” He reached across the table and squeezed her hand.
Arista looked into his eyes and wished with all her heart that she could stay with him for as long as possible. But Gavin’s ringing phone interrupted the moment.
He left the table to take the call outside where it was quieter. While Arista felt relief for telling him the truth, it made her more nervous for what would happen when they finally found her mother. Gavin returned and told Arista to finish her meal.
“That was Clarissa, we have to go meet her.”
“Does she need a ride?” Arista asked, happy that she had taken the time to chase down Clarissa earlier.
“No. She says James found someone with more information on mermaids.”
˜
{ Chapter 12 }
They jumped in the truck and drove back towards Hollymount. Gavin, however, seemed unhappy about the situation.
“What’s wrong?” Arista asked. “This is good, he might have something that can help us.”
“Yeah, I know. But I still don’t trust him,” he answered. “Especially since we’re meeting them at his house. It’s not easy, you know?”
“I’m sorry, I know this is difficult for you,” she said, putting her hand lightly on his shoulder. “I appreciate you taking me though.”
As they drove, Arista’s mind raced with the possible things James could tell them. Gavin finally parked the truck in front of a brick house and unbuckled his seat belt, but remained seated. “I’m sorry, but I need you to go inside on your own. I’ll wait out here.”
“Are you sure? We don’t have to stay long,” she said.
“Seeing him at his office earlier today was more than enough. I don’t need to see him again,” he said.
Arista nodded and despite her reluctance to leave him behind, stepped out of the truck.
The house sat on a well-manicured lawn far from the tree-lined street. A porch light over the top of the door broke up the darkness that was settling in across the dusky sky. Arista knocked on the wooden door and waited a few minutes for James to open it.
He welcomed her inside and she was awestruck by the massive entryway. A large chandelier hung from the ceiling, while a circular staircase wound its way up to the second floor.
“Where’s Clarissa?” she asked, peering into the adjacent darkened rooms.
“She’s upstairs freshening up. Come, we can sit in the living room and start talking.”
Arista followed him through the hallway to a sitting room in the back of the hou
se. He motioned her towards a blue velvet-lined sofa placed in front of an antique piano with carved cherubs perched across its face. Not wanting to wait any longer, she decided to jump right in.
“So Clarissa said you may have found someone with more information?”
“That’s right. I remembered that a colleague of mine did some of his graduate research studying folklore in the area. This came as quite a surprise to me, but there have been mermaid sightings in the Great Lakes. He says the stories never caught on throughout the Midwest, and instead are contained in the beachfront communities of, say, the fisherman or child who had the sighting. So, although many towns share these stories, they’ve never been published or researched in much depth. Fascinating,” he said, peering at Arista over his glasses. He reached over to the table next to him and handed her a small gray booklet. “Here, you can have a look for yourself.”
Arista smiled and flipped through the thin book. She was happy he was trying to help, although it wasn’t any new information. She was quite aware of the mermaids in the Great Lakes.
“Well, what about the claims that they can come onto land?” she asked, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear as she continued to turn the pages.
“He cited many of the same sources I spoke of earlier. It’s just not as popular a myth as some others are. Especially in North America, mermaids never gained traction, never gripped the imagination the way Bigfoot and UFOs have. As funny as it sounds, there’s a sense those are more grounded in reality — and mermaids are instead the stuff of fairy tales,” he explained.
Arista glanced up from the pages of the book to find him looking at her with an unsettling intensity. As they locked eyes, an uneasy feeling sank deep inside of her. A clock chimed in another part of the house, the only sound to break the anxious silence.
“Clarissa is taking a long time,” she started, trailing off and craning her neck to peer down the darkened hallway.
“I’m sure she’s fine,” he said, still boring into her with his dark eyes. “You know, she wasn’t too clear at dinner tonight about how you two got together.”
“Oh, we met through Gavin.”
“Right, she mentioned that. Although, getting Gavin anywhere near Clarissa these days is tricky enough. He is even more adamant in avoiding me. I can’t help but wonder, then, at what could be important enough to get those two talking again.”
Arista’s face grew hot as a deep red color tinged her cheeks.
“Yes, well, Gavin said Clarissa could help and then she suggested you,” she said with a stammer, desperately wishing that Gavin had come inside with her.
“She did, and then we proceeded to talk about mermaids of all things. Now, how on earth could that be what’s so important?”
Arista’s heart leapt into her throat. He couldn’t know. Clarissa wouldn’t have told him.
“But then,” he continued, “I knew the truth as soon as you walked in.”
No.
A sudden wave of dizziness hit her and, as quickly as it had arrived, the blood rushed away from her face.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said breathlessly, fighting off a wave of panic. Jim stood up from his chair and walked around the sofa, placing his hands on her shoulders. He leaned in close behind her.
“I know what you are.”
She fought against his grip and tried to stand, but he roughly shoved her back onto the couch.
“I don’t know what you mean,” Arista said, while looking around the room for a way out.
“You’re one of them. A mermaid,” he said, hissing in her ear.
Her heart pounded so hard she thought he could feel her fear. She shut her eyes, willing Gavin to burst through the door.
But the house remained quiet and still.
“Where’s Clarissa?” she whispered.
“I already told you, she’s upstairs. I’m sure she’ll wake up in an hour or so. The drugs won’t knock her out all night,” he said. “Now, come on, it’s time to go.”
He pulled her up by her shoulders and forced her to walk in front of him, twisting her arms behind her back.
“Gavin will stop you,” she said, her quaking voice unable to conceal her growing terror. “He won’t let you take me.”
“That idiot. By the time he works up the nerve to walk through the door, we’ll be long gone. Sorry, my dear, his hate for me far outweighs any possible concern he has for you — otherwise he’d be here right now.”
He pushed her out the back door and they walked through the yard behind his house, finally stopping in front of a parked car. Jim shoved her into the front seat.
“I don’t want any trouble, so take a deep breath,” he said as he held a rag against her nose. As the world darkened and faded around her, she heard Jim whisper, “We can’t keep him waiting.”
…
Gavin drummed his fingers against the steering wheel as he waited. A young couple with a dog had strolled by earlier, but otherwise the street was quiet. He glanced at the clock. Arista had been gone for a half-hour already. It shouldn’t take this long.
The windows in front of the house had their shades drawn, so he could only see the dim light of a lamp through the fabric. He grunted softly as he shifted in his seat. He hated that they went to MacMahon for information. Just a glimpse of his sniveling face was all Gavin could handle.
A knot twisted in Gavin’s gut as he remembered that day. After a meeting ended early, he went home for lunch. He tried calling Clarissa on the way to see if she had left for class, but only got her voicemail. Gavin was surprised to see her car parked in front of the building when he arrived. That was nothing compared to the shock when he opened their bedroom door to discover she was not in there alone.
Gavin shook his head as those emotions came flooding back. In the following weeks, he had been furious with Clarissa and they fought endlessly. They finalized the divorce a few months later. In the years since, he had released some of his anger towards her. He knew he wasn’t easy to deal with towards the end of their relationship. After his parents died and his sister stopped speaking to him, he pulled away from Clarissa. She tried to talk to him, to support him, for a while. But he isolated himself and eventually she gave up, and turned to Jim for support of her own. Gavin accepted responsibility for his role in their separation, but it was hard to remember that around MacMahon.
Gavin always thought MacMahon had used Clarissa, and preyed on her weakened emotional state. He glanced again at the light in the windows. It was taking Arista a long time. The idea of her in there with MacMahon sent an uncomfortable chill down the back of his neck. He waited another few minutes before resigning himself to go inside.
He walked to the door and rang the bell. His heart raced when no one answered. He twisted the knob, but the lock kept the door firmly shut. He tried the nearby windows, but they were locked as well. Gavin ran to the back of the house and discovered the door to the patio ajar.
“No!” he yelled, mentally kicking himself for sending Arista in there alone. He tore through the first floor of the house, but as he expected — it was empty.
He started to leave, but changed his mind and went to look upstairs to be sure she was gone. The door at the end of the hallway was locked. Gavin pounded on its wooden surface.
“Arista!” He heard a noise on the other side of the door in response. “Don’t worry, I’m coming!”
Gavin scanned the hallway, but didn’t see anything heavy enough to use to open the door. He took a deep breath and kicked the door below the handle. Some wood splintered, but the door remained closed. Another powerful kick sent it crashing open. Gavin tumbled into the room with the swinging door. He looked around dazedly until he heard a muffled noise from the closet. Inside, he found Clarissa huddled on the ground under a row of button-down shirts. He untied her hands and freed her mouth from the kerchief tied around her head. Clarissa cried as she buried her head into his shoulder.
“Gavin, Gavin I’m so sorry.”
“Where’s Arista?”
“He has her. He’s taking her to Salazar.”
˜
{ Chapter 13 }
Arista woke up to a dark, moving world. They were driving down a bumpy road and her head knocked into the window after hitting a particularly large rut.
“Be careful,” James said. “I need you in one piece.”
“For what exactly? Where are you taking me?” Arista asked, while looking out the window in an attempt to figure out where they were. She saw a patch of trees in the distance, but nothing else was discernible. Arista only knew they weren’t in the city anymore.
“I’ve heard rumors for some time now about a collector. Not of your usual antiques or forgotten treasures, but of creatures like you. I had dismissed it all as fanciful. As much as I enjoy folklore, I’ve never found substantial evidence to prove that anything like you exists. But then you walked right through my door,” he said, with a dark hint of glee in his voice.
“But how could you have known?” She rubbed her hand against the side of her head. It continued to ache from the drugs.
“You shouldn’t play with things as valuable as your necklace, not in the company of strangers anyway. I had seen a drawing of an unusual gem like that once in an older volume. Between that and the questions you were asking, I had my suspicions. Clarissa never said it exactly, but with the little information I gleaned from her, I knew it had to be so.”
“Please, you have to let me go,” she said.
“I’m afraid I can’t. You’re worth far too much,” he said as they continued to drive down the dark road.
“Then where are we going?” Arista prodded, hoping by now Gavin had at least figured out she was gone.
“I already told you. I’m bringing you to the collector. He’s been asking about a mermaid in these parts.”
“What is he going to do with me?” Arista’s heart beat faster as she realized how much trouble she faced.
“That’s not my concern.”
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