Surface

by Jody Morse

  Before I could stop the words from coming out, I blurted, “Because when I was a kid, I let my little sister, Scarlett, drown. I wasn’t able to save her, so I always figured that if I could help save other people, I would somehow be able to forgive myself.” I could feel my cheeks reddening because I wasn’t sure if I’d done the right thing by telling Jackson about my sister. He was the first person I’d ever told. It was too late now, though. The cat was already out of the bag.

  “Wow,” Jackson murmured. He studied my face, his intense blue eyes piercing through mine. I noticed that they were only about a shade darker than Gabby’s eyes. “That’s not what I was expecting you to say. I’m sorry to hear that you have such a dark past.”

  I didn’t know how to respond to him. I had never considered my past to be all that dark, but I supposed that it really was. I wondered what Jackson would say if he knew about my present—that it was possibly even darker than my past. “Thanks. It happened a long time ago.” I shrugged. “I don’t tell many people about it, so keep it on the down low, okay?”

  Jackson nodded. “I won’t tell anyone. I keep to myself a lot . . . if you haven’t already noticed.”

  I nodded, even though I hadn’t actually picked up on that yet. “So, what do you want to do with your life?” I asked, playing with my fork.

  “I like the ocean a lot,” Jackson replied. “And I love animals. It would be cool to do something with marine biology and maybe work at an aquarium or something.”

  Hearing him talk about an aquarium reminded me of Tyler and the text message he’d sent me earlier. I felt a twinge of guilt for not giving him the chance to explain anything to me, but I wasn’t about to let it ruin my night.

  “I love the ocean, too,” I told him. I left out the part that I had always been terrified of it. The truth was, I wasn’t anymore. I was afraid of what I was capable of doing to other people, but I wasn’t afraid of the water anymore. It was now a part of me and, even though it drew me to it, I knew that it would never hurt me.

  “Now I understand why you became a Junior Lifeguard this year,” Jackson said.

  I nodded, knowing that he was referring to me wanting to save lives.

  “That’s cool, though.” Jackson speared a lone pecan into his mouth before meeting my eyes. “I always knew that there was something deep about you. I knew you weren’t the type of girl who would just want to work under the air conditioning at Scoops for the summer like all of the other girls in this town.”

  I laughed, remembering how I had wanted to work at Scoops at the beginning of the summer. I wasn’t about to tell Jackson that, though. For some reason, I liked that he thought that I was deeper than girls like Carrie, who pranced around in their skimpy waitress outfits all day receiving flirtatious comments from beachgoers. “They’re not all bad,” I replied. “Carrie’s cool.”

  “Eh. She’s okay. Not as cool as you, though.”

  I felt my cheeks redden in a blush. “So, what made your family move back to Ocean Grove?” I asked, hoping to change the subject to one that wouldn’t involve him trying to flatter me . . . or whatever he had been trying to do.

  “My dad’s job.” Jackson hesitated before going on to explain, “He does investigative work. An old case that he worked on years ago brought him back here.”

  “I see,” I replied. “That must be hard for you. Having to leave your old school for your father’s job.”

  “I’m glad we did, though,” Jackson replied, staring at me intently. Again, I felt my cheeks reddening. “So, what do your parents do?” he asked.

  “My dad died when I was a kid. And my mom’s in an institution.” I had never admitted that to anyone, but for some reason, I felt comfortable talking about it to Jackson. I’d always thought I’d felt comfortable talking to Tyler, but . . . I’d never opened to up to him the way I was with Jackson. I thought that talking to him had been so easy, but surprisingly, talking about my past came so much easier with Jackson.

  “So, who do you live with, then?” Jackson asked, interrupting my thoughts.

  “My Gram,” I replied. “She’s a pretty cool grandmother, really. I’m lucky I have her. It just gets lonely sometimes because I’m an only child—since my sister died, that is.” I looked down at the table, trying to hide the guilt I felt about lying to him.

  “I can’t imagine what that must be like,” Jackson said. “I have five sisters.”

  “Five?” I asked, surprised. For some reason, I had assumed that Nora was his only sibling. When he nodded in response, I asked, “What are their names?”

  “Well, you’ve met Nora already. There’s also Kiersten, Abby, Carson, and Phoebe.” Jackson finished up his remaining bits of pie. “Let’s just say, dating has never been simple for me.” When I rose my eyebrows at him, unsure what dating had anything to do with his sisters’ names, he explained, “My sisters can be pretty intimidating if they don’t like someone.”

  “They sound like fun,” I murmured sarcastically, scraping the last of my chocolate mousse off of the pie crust. I thought about Nora the day had tried to fire both of us. She didn’t seem particularly intimidating to me, but maybe she had been trying to be. I did think she had been a little harsh on Jackson for suspending him, though. It just seemed unfair to let sibling rivalry carry into the workplace.

  Jackson shrugged. “My sisters aren’t bad. They just want what’s best for me. You know . . .” He hesitated. “Never mind, I probably shouldn’t bring this up. It’s sort of weird.”

  “No, go ahead,” I replied, genuinely curious about what he felt he had to hold back from me.

  “Nora thinks you’re what’s best for me,” Jackson replied. He met my eyes briefly before quickly changing the subject. “Are you done? I’ll go pay the tab.”

  I nodded, letting his words absorb in his mind. His sister had almost fired me, but she thought I was good for him? It didn’t really make any sense. Had Gram’s friend Beatrice really talked me up so much that Nora suddenly thought I was some sort of goody two shoes?

  If only she knew I was a siren.

  When Jackson came back, and we walked out of The Pie Pantry, he wrapped his arm around my shoulder. I felt butterflies swirl around my stomach. My skin felt warm against his cold hand. “It’s a nice night to take a walk on the beach,” he commented.

  “It is,” I agreed, turning to look up at him. “Let’s do it.”

  We began walking towards the pier. For some reason, the beach was much less crowded than it usually was this time of night. I only spotted a few people walking down the sandy shore, flip flops in hand.

  As we neared the pier and sat down on a set of beach chairs, I heard the sound of something ringing. It was the same noise that I’d heard the night at the lighthouse when I was with Tyler, and then later in my dream.

  Glancing around to see if I could determine where it was coming from, I spotted her.

  Her long hair was flowing behind her back, blowing gently in the wind, its cornflower blonde color a stark contrast to the long, white ruffled dress that she wore. It reminded me of a dress that one might wear to a wedding . . . if they were trying to upstage the bride.

  Angelica was staring up into the night sky, the light from the half-moon casting a radiating light around her that felt almost too bright for me to look at. My eyes quickly adjusted, and when she spun around, as though she were a drunken ballerina, her dress twirling with her, I noticed something. Something strange.

  It looked like Angelica was wearing wings. They were close in color to the dress that she was wearing; they reminded me of the wings of a swan. Actually, despite her blonde hair, Angelica reminded me of a swan in general.

  I stared at her for a long while, completely captivated by her beauty. I wasn’t sure why she was wearing a pair of wings when it wasn’t even Halloween, but it didn’t matter—I had never seen someone dance quite as gracefully as she was right now.

  Angelica glanced down at me from the sandy hill that she stood upon and, for a m
oment, her silvery eyes locked with mine. There was a cold, menacing look in them, and I began to panic. Was she mad because I was out late at night on the beach with a guy?

  And that was when I remembered that he was with me. What if Angelica was out here because she was getting ready to lure someone out to the ocean? What if she was giving me such a cold look because she didn’t know what she was doing—or who I even was—through the trance that she was in? If it was anything like I had experienced the other night, everything was probably so blurry for her that she couldn’t even see me clearly. Maybe she was just trying to make out who I was.

  I decided that I had to get Jackson home, even though I wasn’t really sure if he’d be safe from Angelica in his own bed, but it had to be safer than he was right now, on the beach. I broke my gaze with her. “I’m feeling tired,” I said, turning to him. “Walk me home?”

  “Of course,” Jackson replied, standing up. He held out his arm for me. Knowing that there was a chance that Angelica could be watching, I realized that I didn’t care. I linked my arm with Jackson’s as we made the trip back to Gram’s house. Once we were there, I said, “Be safe.”

  “I will be,” Jackson laughed. “I don’t think I have anything worry about.”

  “I’ve heard that there are a lot of muggings late at night lately,” I lied. “Just go straight home. Promise?”

  Jackson agreed. “I’ll text you when I get there.”

  Ten minutes after he left my house, I got his text message and I breathed a sigh of relief.

  That night, I knew I didn’t have to worry about luring anyone myself. I was happy. There also wasn’t a full moon—so what was Angelica doing on the beach with that strange look in her eyes?

  Chapter 24

  When I got to work the next morning, I found that the area of the beach next to my lifeguard chair was roped off with crime scene tape.

  “What’s going on?” I asked an older man who stood next to my chair. He looked like he had been standing there for a while, watching what was happening.

  The guy glanced over at me for a second before turning his head back in the direction of the police. “A body washed ashore this morning. From what I gather, they don’t think it was just a drowning.”

  “What do they think it was?” I asked.

  He looked back at me with a look on his face that told me that the answer should have been obvious. “From what I gather, it seems that they think it was a murder. Some sort of altercation may have happened that led to the man’s death, and his body may have been dumped in the water.”

  “A man?” I asked. The guy nodded solemnly.

  A nauseated feeling formed in the pit of my stomach as I climbed into my lifeguard chair. Angelica’s haunted eyes from the night before flashed through my mind. Was it possible that this guy hadn’t drowned before he had gotten to her? Maybe she had pulled him under. Technically, that would have meant that she had murdered him . . . but it wasn’t her fault.

  Or maybe something else happened on the beach last night? Maybe she really had been angry when I’d seen her—except, not at me, like I’d suspected. Maybe she was really pissed off at someone else . . . someone whose death the police were now investigating.

  I quickly shook the idea out of my head. No. My sister had been living with her for all of these years, and she had been fine. It’s not like Angelica was some sort of crazy woman. She was just like me . . . only older. And prettier.

  I decided that it was probably just some sort of a bar fight or maybe even a marriage gone badly. No one I knew could possibly be involved in this. Even if Angelica—or any of the other girls—had dragged the guy underwater until he died, it seemed unlikely that there would be any sort of evidence that might suggest to the police that this was actually a murder.

  I stared ahead at the water, which was fairly empty because there were red flags out this morning. There was one little boy who jumped around happily as the tide reached his ankles, but that was about it. I had a feeling that even work wouldn’t be able to keep my mind off this murder today.

  I picked up my cell phone to call Carrie to ask her if she wanted to meet up after I was finished working. As I cradled my cell phone in my hand, I heard it bleep. One new text message.

  It was from Scarlett. I opened it to find that my sister had written, Felly? Did you lure someone last night?

  No, it wasn’t me, I texted back.

  Her next text message appeared on the screen right away. Okay, good. We just wanted to make sure.

  I knew that Scarlett was saying they wanted to make sure because they didn’t want the police to somehow connect me to this death. I felt really lucky that I hadn’t woken up on the beach this morning, or I would have looked suspicious . . . especially after the police officer had found me there last time.

  I hesitated as I thought about what to write back to Scarlett. I wanted to tell her that I’d seen Angelica last night on the beach, but . . . I knew that I shouldn’t. If Angelica found out that I was giving Scarlett this information, how would she react? She’d probably think I was trying to accuse her . . . and I definitely didn’t want to get on her bad side. Plus, I wasn’t sure how Scarlett would react if it seemed like I was accusing her siren mother.

  The phone in my hand lit up again with a new text message alert from Scarlett. Angelica wants you to come over tonight. Can you?

  Sure, I’ll be over sometime after work, I replied.

  *

  When I walked up the driveway to Angelica’s house, I heard voices coming from the backyard. Deciding that it was better not to knock, I went around to the back.

  As I inched closer to the salt water swimming pool, the voices, which were speaking to each other really quietly, became clearer.

  “But when Phorcys comes,” Jasmine began, but Angelica quickly interrupted her.

  “Just leave Phorcys for me to deal with, sweetie, okay? It doesn’t matter that Ceto’s going to be with him. You girls are going to need to distract her long enough for him to wander off, but that won’t be difficult. He’s not going to be able to take his eyes off of me. I can assure you of that.”

  “That’s true,” Gabby whispered. “The last time Phorcys was here, I thought they were going to need a room.” I knew that she was referring to Angelica and Phorcys.

  “I’ve told you over and over again, I’m not attracted to Phorcys, Gabby,” Angelica snapped at her. “If I do have to sleep with him, it’s because I’m seducing him . . . not because I find him attractive.”

  “But you were in love with him once,” Gabby insisted. “You must still find him at least somewhat attractive.”

  “No, girly. I don’t,” Angelica replied in annoyance. “What you don’t understand is that Phorcys and I have known each other for a long time—much longer than anyone you’ve ever known. People change over time.”

  “He hasn’t grown older looking, though,” Scarlett replied coolly. “Doesn’t he look like the same person?”

  “He has the same physical features, yes,” Angelica replied. “But it’s more than physical features that makes a person. Back in the day, he wore his hair long, and his looks didn’t mean much to him.” I noted a sense of longing in her voice as she reminisced over what Phorcys used to be like, but then her voice turned cold and bitter. “Now, he’s become a materialistic son of a bitch. I know it’s because of her—because of Ceto. She wants to live a high-maintenance lifestyle, and she’s changed him, more than any of you would ever understand because you didn’t know the Phorcys I knew.”

  Jasmine looked up then, and I tried not to let it show on my face that I had been standing there listening to them the whole time. I pretended that I was just arriving now for the first time. “I’m here!”

  “Felicia!” Gabby chirped excitedly, and Scarlett waved at me with a wide grin on her face.

  Angelica tossed her blonde hair over her shoulders and turned around to look at me. Her lips formed a tight line. I couldn’t tell if she was happy to see me, o
r if I had been right all along and she was really angry at me. “Felicia, I’m glad you could join us. Why don’t you go change into your bathing suit?”

  “Oh, I already have my lifeguard suit on,” I replied, pulling off my tank top and laying it on one of the chairs.

  “Well, then,” Angelica said, and I was pretty sure I could tell that she wasn’t happy that I didn’t have to change, probably because I had interrupted their conversation. “Come on in then.”

  I grabbed one of the pool floats and jumped into the pool. When the water hit against my skin, I could feel my body tingling all over. I climbed onto the pool float and allowed my feet to dangle in the pool.

  I was about to ask why they’d invited me over, when Angelica explained, “We just want you to know that we’re glad you’re not connected with last night’s drowning. We’re afraid that Phorcys might notice the number of drownings happening in the area and connect it with us. It would anger him, and he might try to start war with us sooner than we’d anticipated.”

  “Well, I’m glad I’m not connected to it, too,” I replied, looking down at my hands. I ran my fingertips through the salt water, trying to distract myself from what I was really thinking—and that was how badly I wanted to mention that I’d seen Angelica the night before. But I knew I couldn’t do that.

  “I want you to know that I did see you last night,” Angelica went on. “I couldn’t make you out very clearly through the fog, but I did see you.”

  I opened my mouth to say something, but no words out. “Um, I saw you, too,” I offered lamely.

  “I know that you saw my wings,” Angelica said, cocking her heart-shaped face at me.

  I remembered the odd Halloween costume I had seen her wearing. “Oh, yeah, they were pretty. Where did you buy them?”

  Scarlett burst into a fit of giggles. “She didn’t buy them!”

  When my sister’s laughter died down, Angelica explained, “Some sirens have the wings of a bird. I am one of them.” When I stared back at her dumbly, she answered the question I was about to ask next. “You can only see my wings when the water calls to me, just as I am about to lure someone. That’s the only time they appear.”