Tangled Ripples: Book One: The Morrigan Prophecies

by Erin Thedwall

  “You’re right, and I may know where we could start. It’s on our way to Chicago, so I suppose it’s worth a shot,” he said. “Let’s get back in the truck though. Look up in that tree.”

  Gavin pointed to a nearby branch, where two birds appeared to be listening to their conversation. One of them cocked its head and flew off with a flurry of several chirps. Gavin hurried Arista into the truck.

  They drove for about an hour on the highway before turning onto an exit ramp. Gavin made a series of turns that he knew by heart, before finally pulling into a small shopping plaza. He parked the truck in front of Clarissa’s Cuts, a beauty salon tucked between a furniture repair shop and a shoe store. As Gavin opened his door, Arista put her hand on his arm to stop him.

  “What are we doing here?” she asked.

  “There’s someone inside who might be able to help us,” he answered.

  ˜

  { Chapter 9 }

  Clarissa Stone had lain awake in bed for hours with a horrible knot in the pit of her stomach. She knew this was the day. Her nightmares and visions were getting worse. They featured everything from creatures lurking in the shadows and red eyes hovering in the darkness to terrifying black birds flying at her face. She woke up each morning in a cold sweat, feeling more exhausted than she had the night before.

  She still wasn’t sure what was going to happen, but she knew this was the day. And she dreaded what she was going to find out.

  It was a slow morning in the salon. A few regular customers had stopped in and she didn’t have any afternoon appointments scheduled. It was a good day to get her paperwork in order. As much as she loved running the salon, she hated the business side. She was in the back filing invoices when the bell rang at the front counter.

  “Thank goodness,” she muttered, shoving the drawer of the filing cabinet back into place. She tidied up her wavy auburn hair at the nearby sink and gave her hands a quick rinse. She grabbed the towel off the counter and left her office, wiping her hands as she walked.

  She strolled past the long row of mirrors, briefing checking each styling station as she went by. She stopped to straighten a container of toppled over nail files before greeting her customer.

  “Hi, welcome to…”

  Her heart leapt into her throat at her first glimpse of the visitor. She froze mid-stride as she laid her eyes on Gavin. “What on earth are you doing here?”

  Before Gavin could answer, her gaze shifted to the woman next to him. Her eyes narrowed as she took in the stranger. The nerve he had bringing another woman into her place. The girl looked uncomfortably back at her then turned her bright blue eyes up towards Gavin.

  Clarissa continued drying her hands, watching Gavin clench his jaw. She knew her own face was turning an angry crimson as she watched him stand there.

  “Well, if Gavin won’t handle this like a grown-up, then I will,” she said. She took a few steps closer and turned to the stranger. “I’m Clarissa, his ex-wife. And you are?”

  “Arista,” the girl answered, lowering her eyes as Clarissa’s angry judgment passed over her.

  “Ah, and what kind of trouble are you in… Arista, is it?”

  “Why are you assuming she’s in trouble?” Gavin asked, rather indignantly.

  “Well, we are in trouble,” Arista said, looking at Gavin. In turn, he sighed and sat in a nearby chair.

  “Yeah, she’s right. You’re right, Clarissa, we do need your help. At least, I’m hoping there might be something you can do.”

  Clarissa motioned for Arista to sit next to Gavin and she pulled over another chair across from the pair.

  “Okay,” she said, still reluctant to get involved. “What can I do?”

  “Someone has been coming after Arista, trying to hurt her. But we only have a suspicion about who it could be, and we don’t know much at all,” Gavin explained, being as vague as possible.

  Clarissa caught on immediately.

  “If this works out the way you think, I will know everything anyway. So I don’t know why you’re not being straight with me about what’s happening,” she said. She tossed her auburn ringlets over her shoulder and casually crossed her right leg over her other knee.

  “I know. I’m sure that you’ll get all the information you need — as you need it. Until then, I don’t think you have to know more about the situation,” Gavin said, the disdain clear in his voice.

  Clarissa stood up from her chair and crossed her arms against her chest. Despite any care she still had for him, she also wasn’t going to play his games.

  “Alright, well, if that’s the case then you can leave,” she said, staring at him with a cold intensity.

  Gavin clenched his jaw and Arista worried they were going to leave with nothing. Although, she still wasn’t sure what Clarissa could do to help.

  “I’m sorry if we made you angry, I would like to see if you can help us,” Arista said.

  “I didn’t ask you to leave. Just him,” Clarissa said, not budging an inch.

  “Okay, I’ll leave. I’ll go find some food or something,” he said, still furious. He stood up and moved towards the door. “Arista, don’t leave here. And don’t trust her with anything unless you have to.”

  He walked out the door, letting it slam with the breeze behind him.

  …

  Clarissa walked behind Arista and busied herself at one of the styling stations. Even in the little time she’d been with her, it was obvious to Arista why Gavin had been in love with Clarissa. Confidence exuded from every inch of her and it was hard to resist her charisma. At the same time, Arista thought it was clear she wasn’t as cold and distant as she was pretending to be. Behind the fire in her eyes, there was still an obvious concern for Gavin and a willingness to help him. Arista looked down at her hands, with an inexplicable pain in her heart. She knew that she could never be that person for him.

  “I’m sorry about that. We don’t get along great these days. Why don’t you come sit over here with me,” Clarissa said, straightening the hairbrushes next to her.

  Arista walked over, pushing her nervousness to the back of her mind. She sat in the swiveling chair and looked at her reflection in the mirror. She blushed as she compared her unkempt appearance to Clarissa’s near perfection. Clarissa ran her fingers through Arista’s tousled hair, her own ringlets with their ruby highlights falling over her shoulders.

  “Here’s the deal, sweetie,” she began. “I’m kind of like a psychic. You talk to me and I may be able to fill in gaps you have… possibly things you don't want to hear. Maybe we can get some of the answers you need.”

  Arista wasn’t sure what a psychic was, but it seemed like a better plan than aimlessly driving around.

  “Now, I’m not a magician,” she continued. “I can’t pull things out of thin air and I can’t answer specific questions. But if we’re patient, we can guide each other to something useful, okay?”

  “So what exactly am I supposed to do then?” Arista asked. She closed her eyes as Clarissa’s fingers ran through her hair, enjoying the calming sensation washing over her.

  “Just relax and start talking to me. Your words will help paint an image in my head, like a map we should follow. So how did you and Gavin come across each other?”

  “He discovered me in the water. I wasn’t awake then, but I had left my home and he found me in the water,” Arista said. As hard as she tried to keep her eyes open, her eyelids drooped and shut as she sank deeper into her relaxed state.

  “You are far from home, aren’t you?” Clarissa asked. Her voice sounded like it was getting farther and farther away.

  “I am. This isn’t the first time I left home, but it is the only time I’ve made it to the surface,” Arista continued. She knew she was talking, but it felt as though it were all a dream. Her senses seemed dull and hazy, yet she still felt at peace.

  “Why don’t you talk about how you got here?”

  “You mean, swimming? It was such a long journey…” Clarissa interrup
ted Arista before she could continue.

  “No — you did something different, that you weren’t supposed to do,” she said. “It’s the reason why you’re a mermaid on land.”

  Arista felt Clarissa’s voice inside her mind, probing her thoughts to find a way to any answers.

  “I heard there was a way to come to the surface. Hardly anyone can use their powers for something as big as the transition. But there are those who have learned to do other things. I heard there was a witch in our waters. No one I knew had seen her, but we had all heard the stories of Morena. So I left to find her. I swam north, farther than I had ever traveled before. The stories said that she drew heat from the water to keep renewing her powers. I kept swimming where I felt the current turn cold. I let that freezing water bring me to her.”

  Arista stopped talking. In her relaxed state, her mind wandered back to that day and she saw Morena there in front of her. Arista’s pulse quickened as she envisioned her gray and white stringy hair winding around her like worms. Her haggard and worn face. She looked lifeless, nearly dead.

  “I thought she’d be surprised to see me, but she said she had been expecting me. From the moment I first saw her, I questioned my decision, but I needed a way to get to the land. I worked up the courage to ask if she could help. Morena explained that going to the surface was like getting a new life. To work the magic, she required another life in return.” Arista stifled the tears that threatened to fall. “I didn’t even hesitate to agree. I knew what needed to happen to get what I wanted.

  “I left her and swam until I found a family nearby. I told them I was lost and they took pity on me. They invited me to stay for the night. They had a son several years younger than me. I caught him watching me from a distance while I spoke with his parents. While everyone else slept, I asked him to leave with me. He was so enamored with me that he agreed. I took him back with me to Morena, as the life for her to take.

  “But it wasn’t enough. She said that for the magic to work, I was the one who had to do it. She spelled him to bind his arms to his body and prevent him from fleeing. He screamed and screamed. She gave me a knife. I fought it as hard as I could. I kept trying to let go of the knife, but it wouldn’t fall from my hands. Something inside of me took over — this horrible dark feeling overpowered me.

  “I couldn’t stop it. I closed my eyes and plunged the knife into his chest. When I opened my eyes again, the water had filled with a swirling red cloud. I frantically pulled out the knife, but it was too late. I killed him.”

  Arista stopped talking again, tears openly falling from her closed eyes.

  “That red cloud whirled around us, and Morena — she was horrifying. Her mouth enlarged with magic and she sucked in all the bloody water. She released her magical hold on his body and he floated towards her. She took his arm in her hands and she… she bit him. I was so terrified. I tried to swim away, but she froze me in place like she had done to him. I had to watch as she ate him.”

  Arista paused to catch her breath, the enduring fear still evident on her trembling face.

  “When she finished, Morena took the knife and drew it across my flesh until blood spilled from my arm into the water. Using my blood, she cast her spell and created the bloodstone for my necklace. I hated that I was becoming her, but I had to do it to find her,” she said, gasping as more tears streamed down her face.

  “Her… your mother,” Clarissa finished.

  “Yes,” Arista said, blinking away tears. “I told Gavin that we think she’s dead. I did believe she was dead for a long time. But I’m not sure it’s true anymore. I think she’s alive and here on the surface. I just have to find her.”

  “You said you didn’t want to become her. You’ve tried to resist her malicious spirit,” Clarissa said, her voice sounding far away again.

  In Arista’s head, the image of the witch dissolved and she saw her mother in the water.

  “After my father died, we left the ocean and came to the lake but my mother wasn’t happy. She was never the same after he died. One day, she left. We heard she returned to the ocean to have more freedom. That was true; she did go back. But she did it to get revenge on those who killed my father, and anyone who stood in her way.

  “I eventually discovered that she became a Siren. She made it her mission to lure passing fishermen with her beauty and voice. She would drown them or cause them to crash into nearby rocks and die. But killing the occasional fisherman wasn’t enough to satisfy her. The other mermaids in the ocean say she became consumed with the deaths, she wanted more. Then the killings in the water suddenly stopped. Some said her overzealous actions had gotten her killed, but I don’t believe it. I think she found a way to the surface and now I have to stop her. I have to save her and bring her back to the water before it’s too late.”

  “Do you think whoever is coming after you now could know about your mother?” Clarissa asked.

  “No, I don’t. I mean, I’m not even sure where to find her. I only know that she is here, somewhere.”

  “Why haven’t you told Gavin that’s what you’re really doing?”

  “If he knew why I’m here, he might not keep helping me. Right now he thinks he’s protecting me.”

  “From the birds.”

  “That’s right. After Morena created the bloodstone, she said it would allow me to travel to the surface. I swam underwater until I thought I had gone far enough and then put it on. I can’t even describe the pain I felt, like my entire body was being torn into two. I didn’t think about it until it was too late, but once I started transitioning I couldn’t breathe underwater anymore. I swam frantically to the surface and was too tired to go on. That’s where I was when Gavin found me.

  “The witch told me if the necklace is removed I’ll revert to my mermaid form. I could possibly die if I’m not in the water. Right now, all my power is contained in this bloodstone. I think that’s what the birds were after. The other mermaid we found said Salazar controls birds, so it’s possible he’s the one after me,” Arista said.

  “So to stop him, you need to throw him off your trail somehow.”

  “Yes, but I’m not sure how — especially if he is drawn to the bloodstone. I can’t take off the necklace without turning back into a mermaid. So I don’t know what to do.”

  “I know someone who studies these kinds of things and may have some idea, but we’ll have to go into the city,” Clarissa said. “There, you’re just about finished.”

  Arista completely forgot that Clarissa had been working on her hair. Clarissa swung the chair around so Arista could look in the mirror. Her mouth fell open when she saw herself.

  “It’s so beautiful,” she said quietly, turning her head to see it from more angles. It was shorter, cleaner, and brighter than it had been before. The dark tendrils flipped over her forehead and curled gently around her shoulders.

  “Thank you,” she said, still in a hushed tone.

  “It’s no problem,” Clarissa said, wiping her hands on a towel. “Now we need to fix your mermaid dilemma.”

  “Why don’t you have any problem believing my story? It took a lot for Gavin to start believing that any of it could be true,” Arista said, looking at Clarissa curiously.

  “I’ve always been more open to these things. I’ve spent a lot of time reading fairy tales, ghost stories, and other lore, even studied it in college. Gavin always preferred to deal with reality and ignore the possibility of anything else existing.”

  “So if you believe in all this and have psychic abilities, then why don’t you do more of it? Why are you here instead of strengthening your powers or learning magic or something?” Arista asked.

  “Well, I did try that. I found a couple of people, but they said my ability wasn’t strong enough for magic. I ran my own psychic business for a time, but I found people only wanted direct answers to their problems. They came to me wanting to know where their dead aunt hid her fortune or if their husband was cheating on them. They wanted simple solution
s instead of exploring the answers inside themselves that they're too scared to see.

  “But women, when they come in to the salon, they want to talk. Many are stressed about something in their lives, worried or upset. And when I talk to them, I can usually find some way to help. Since that isn’t what they actually came in here for, they tend to leave a lot happier. It’s worked out better for me this way,” Clarissa said.

  “Ok, so who do you think could help me?”

  “Well, I can tell you one thing. Gavin won’t be happy about it,” she said, looking at the door where he was walking back in.

  …

  “No. No, no, no. Absolutely not. We’re not going to see that prick,” he said. He folded his arms across his chest, physically refusing to budge from his decision.

  “But, Gavin, we have to find out if he knows anything that can help us,” Arista said, pleading with him to no avail.

  “Did Clarissa explain to you why I have a problem with him?” he asked, glowering at her from across the room. “Do you want to tell her? Or should I? You know how I enjoy telling this story.”

  Arista turned to Clarissa, who was glaring back at him. It was hard to imagine the two of them ever married or in love with each other. So much hate had built up between them in the meantime.

  “James was a professor of mine at Hollymount University. He teaches literature, specifically folklore, which is why he might have some answers. As I explored fairy tales more in my graduate studies, we grew closer,” Clarissa explained, trailing off.

  “So close in fact, that I found them in our apartment together. In our bedroom,” Gavin finished for her, finally sitting down in a chair.

  “Gavin, it was more than four years ago and you and I aren’t even together anymore. Why can’t you get over this and move on? You know he could help Arista, don’t you care about that?” Clarissa said, her frustration increasing.