by E. G. Foley
Dani kept talking to the adults, though, and to Archie’s relief, the girls remained behind while he went in search of his two fellows. He stepped out into the colonnade first to make sure he didn’t lose track of the Bellissima.
Sure enough, there she was, shuffling along. Archie started to turn away to go find his comrades, but he suddenly stopped himself with a frown and a light smack on his forehead. What the deuce am I doing?
A young lady in his sight was obviously having trouble. Instead of standing around ogling her, he ought to be asking if the poor damsel needed any assistance. He scowled at his breach of decorum. Henry taught you better than this.
Yet he hesitated, not sure he dared talk to her. He could see she was a bit older—fifteen or sixteen, maybe—and that made her even more terrifying, since he was only twelve.
Anyway, it would be creepy if he just walked up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder. Right—he had to get ahead of her. Then he could make eye contact and smile politely, and she’d be forced to acknowledge him, and then he could venture to ask if she needed assistance of some kind.
He ducked back into the drawing room and hurried down to the next opening in the colonnade. There he stepped out and just waited, hands in pockets, leaning against a column, hoping he looked even slightly debonair, and studying the ceiling with a nervous whistle.
Glancing at her from the corner of his eye, he realized he needed some sort of cover. This could take a while; her progress was slow. He pulled out the miniature notebook that he had finally learned to keep on his person at all times to capture his ideas. Handy, that. Dani’s idea. Ever the sensible one.
He pretended to review his notes as Bellissima crept painfully down the corridor, listing like a ship in a gale. Why is she all alone? he wondered. Most guests had arrived with their families. At the very least, he would’ve thought that a young miss her age should have a chaperone or governess.
At last, she came close enough to address. Heart pounding, Archie contrived to notice her with an air of pleasant surprise. “Oh—I say, good evening, there. How do you do?” Considering he was one of the party hosts, he offered the curly-haired vision a gentlemanly bow.
She stopped, putting her hand out to brace herself against a slim white column, as though taking a little break in her painful journey. “Good evening,” she said warily. She had a strange accent.
Archie floundered because she was even prettier up close, with eyes the mysterious dark blue of the sea. They narrowed as she studied him briefly, almost as though she thought she recognized him.
The brief silence was torture; Archie had given speeches to roomfuls of his fellow geniuses around the world, but at the moment, he hadn’t the foggiest notion what to say.
“Er, fine weather we’re having, what?” he blurted out, then cringed.
Bellissima gave him a withering look, like he was just an annoying little boy. With a sigh, he supposed he probably was.
“If you’re looking for the party, it’s in there.” He gestured toward the crowded room he had left. The girl glanced in that direction with a hard look, as though she meant very much to avoid it. The poor thing! He realized she was probably embarrassed of her gimping.
He leaned closer and lowered his voice: “Don’t worry, there’s no dancing.”
She rather sneered at him for that.
“I’d be happy to assist you if you’d like to go sit down.” He stepped forward, offering his arm, but Bellissima recoiled as though he’d waved a frog in her face. “Or, er, I could fetch you a chair.”
Her dainty chin lifted. “No, thank you. Where is the lavatory, please?”
“Oh, um, that way. Just down that corridor, t-to the left. I-I hope I didn’t offend you. I was only trying—”
“Of course not. Good evening.” She dismissed him with a regal nod, and then braced herself to continue. She took a deep breath, then pushed away from the column and resumed her painful trek.
Archie pushed up his spectacles and gazed after her, all the more confused.
Once she was out of sight, he went to find his cousin. Maybe Jake could get her to be a little less prickly. Girls usually adored him, the scoundrel.
As expected, he found the rogue avoiding the guests and stuffing his face. “Arch!” Jake greeted him in the middle of devouring some cannoli. “Where you been, mate?”
Maddox was also with Jake, and looked at Archie in question.
Archie’s grin returned: “Bellissima!”
Jake’s eyebrows shot up. “Aye?” He gulped down his mouthful. “Where?”
Even Maddox, despite looking bored, leaned closer with a curious smile.
“She just went into the lavatory. But she should be coming out that hallway momentarily.” He explained her peculiar qualities while they waited: her grumpiness, her tattered gown, her limp.
“You actually talked to her?” Maddox asked in surprise.
“I tried to. She looked at me like she wished I’d drop dead.”
Jake laughed.
More minutes passed, but still she didn’t appear.
“Maybe she fell in,” Jake drawled.
“It’s quite possible, I daresay. She seemed awfully clumsy.”
Maddox frowned, straightening up from where he’d been leaning on the arm of a couch. “What if she really did fall somewhere? We should check on her.”
“In the lav?” Archie cried, horrified down to his polite fingertips. “Maddox, you can’t just barge in on a girl using the privy!”
“What if she’s hurt? I’m going to see if she needs help.”
“I already tried that! She’s not friendly.”
But Maddox went.
“Guardians!” Archie huffed, while Jake merely looked amused.
“C’mon, Arch.”
The two of them followed Maddox into the hallway, where they quickly saw the lavatory door was open and no one was inside.
“Oh…” Archie said, glancing around. “She must’ve gone the other way.”
They proceeded to the intersection of the next hallway.
“There! Is that her?” Jake nodded toward the left, then tilted his head. “Where’s she going?”
“Maybe she’s lost,” said Maddox.
“I doubt it,” Archie said in rising suspicion. “I told her where the party is.”
“Maybe she’s a thief, hmm?” Jake sent them a pointed look.
Maddox shrugged. “Takes one to know one.”
Jake scowled at him, then strode off following the girl. The other two followed in a hurry. “I slipped into a party or two in my day to steal stuff. It’s easy. Everyone’s distracted. Nobody really knows who belongs there or not.”
“I daresay she’s pretty enough to get away with anything,” Archie said with a slight sigh.
Maddox put his hands out to stop Archie and Jake, stepping in front of them. “If that’s the case, let’s hope she’s only a thief, and not something worse.”
“Like what?” Archie asked.
“Some kind of agent for the Dark Druids.”
Jake paused and gave the Guardian a grim look. “Hadn’t thought of that.”
“Worst case: the Dark Druids have found you and have sent a pretty girl to lure you into a trap,” Maddox said. “She could be a witch or something, too.”
Jake’s face hardened, and he looked again at the doorway ahead through which she had disappeared. “We’ll see about that. What do they take me for?”
But when he started to move, Maddox held him back again. “I said worst-case scenario. I don’t actually sense a threat.”
“You’re sure?” Jake asked.
Maddox nodded.
“Oh, good.” Archie sighed. “I knew she was too pretty to be wicked.”
“Maybe she’s just a nosy neighbor here to poke around,” said Maddox.
“Or an ordinary thief,” Jake added. “I say we find out.”
They peeked around the corner of the hallway just in time to see the girl sneaking into t
he large bedroom that the three boys shared.
Jake glanced at Archie, impressed. “You weren’t fooling. Angel!”
“I told you.”
Jake looked forward again and a scowl flicked over his face. “Hey. Why’s she going in our room?” Suddenly, the would-be Lightrider slipped around the corner and strode after the intruder.
“I’m sure there must be a perfectly reasonable explanation,” Archie whispered, hurrying after him with Maddox, but his cousin shushed him and then drew upon his old thieving skills to open the door silently.
The minute the room came into view, though, Jake abandoned stealth, for the girl was reaching up toward the top bookshelf, where he had left the orb they’d found today.
“Hoy! What do you think you’re doing?” Jake barked, bursting into the room.
The girl froze.
“Put that down!” he ordered.
She blinked—then ran.
Or tried to.
Rather than bothering to chase her, Jake and Maddox both watched in surprise as she wobbled, clumsy as a newborn foal. With the orb tucked under one arm, she hitched the hem of her skirts up a bit to avoid tripping on it as she ran.
But, oddly, rather than watching where she was going, Bellissima kept glancing down at her bare feet, as though she wasn’t quite sure how to work them.
She clambered out the opposite doorway, where a few tiled stairs led up to the kids’ private rooftop terrace. The boys glanced at each other, more puzzled than worried now that they had seen her.
Then they merely walked after her.
“Excuse me! Miss!” Maddox called in amusement.
Jake was rather more blunt. “Get back here, you!”
“Don’t be mean to her, you’ll scare her,” Archie chided.
When Jake saw her ragamuffin dress, he seemed to draw the same conclusion: that she must be some poor, destitute thief. “You know, if you want food, we’ve got loads of it to spare downstairs!” he called in a semi-friendly tone. “You’re welcome to eat. Steal the silver if you want. I can even lend you money if you’re broke, but you cannot have my orb. Give it back.”
“Your orb?” she shot back with a swirl of midnight tresses and a flash of outrage in her beautiful blue eyes as she glared over her shoulder at him.
She seemed to be getting the hang of running, though, and did not bother arguing further, but pounded off across the terrace.
“What a bizarre person,” Jake murmured.
“Let’s split up,” said Maddox, gesturing to them to go opposite directions and fan out around the rooftop patio.
Reaching the opposite side of it, their lovely burglar disappeared down the set of stairs that led to the girls’ bedchamber. Beside it was the sitting room that served as their makeshift classroom.
But all the rooms in this house had multiple doors to let the sea breezes flow through freely. It would be an easy matter to get there first and block her exits.
Archie trotted obediently after the intruder as Jake had directed him, while Maddox went in the opposite direction. Frankly, though, he was not sure what he’d do if he did catch her.
Meanwhile, his cousin chased her out the other end of the girls’ shared room, adding a bearlike roar at her just for effect. Archie shook his head, suspecting that Jake was enjoying this just a bit too much. Typical.
Then Archie stepped into their makeshift classroom to head the beauty off.
“Leave me alone!” she bellowed.
“Easy now,” he said sweetly, trying to be as diplomatic as his diplomat parents. “No one’s going to hurt you.”
“You’ve already done that!” she snarled at Archie with a not-so-pretty sneer.
“I say!” He had no idea what she was talking about as he attempted to corner her politely in the classroom, at least until Jake and Maddox could arrive. He was having trouble being as stern with her as she deserved.
Bellissima lumbered against the study table piled with books, then put her hand out to steady herself, smearing the homework assignments on the chalkboard.
“Be careful around my lab equipment, if you please! It’s fragile!” Archie warned as she tripped alongside the science table laden with laboratory paraphernalia: microscope, burner, scales, various beakers, and the two large jars of seawater for tomorrow’s experiment measuring the densities of fresh water versus salt water.
Just then, Jake arrived, bursting through the doorway with a grin, and with him, as usual, came calamity.
“Now we’ve got you.” He prowled toward the girl with a teasing glimmer in his eyes.
“Barbarian!” she said.
“Trespasser,” Jake countered.
“Thief!” she accused him.
“You’re the one who’s here to steal!” he retorted.
Then Maddox stepped into the doorway she had been trying to reach. Bellissima glanced around wildly, must’ve realized she was caught, and panicked. Clutching the orb like her life depended on it, she tripped backward against the science table and toppled the jars of seawater.
Archie heaved a disgruntled sigh at his ruined lesson, but the girl screamed as the water spilled all over her.
Then she must have slipped on the wet-dribbled floor, for she stumbled to a fall behind the science table, out of sight.
“What the devil?” Jake muttered.
“What did you do to her?” Archie scolded, hurrying over to help the girl up, thief or no.
“Nothing!” Jake said. “That is the clumsiest person I have ever seen.”
“I told you not to scare her.”
“I didn’t!” Jake cried.
Archie walked past his cousin with a huff of disapproval, ready to take matters in hand, since he was clearly the only proper gentleman in the room.
But when he stepped around the side of the table and saw her, his jaw dropped.
“What is it?” Maddox asked from his doorway on the opposite side of the room.
“Er…” Archie wasn’t quite sure how to answer.
In the next heartbeat, Jake came alongside him, propping his fists on his hips. “Well, you don’t see that every day.”
He did not even bother chasing the orb as it rolled away to vanish under a nearby armchair.
“Is she all right?” Maddox demanded.
The girl whimpered, gazing up at them, wide-eyed, helpless.
“I’m not…sure,” Jake said thoughtfully.
“Well, don’t just stand there, you half-wits. Help her up!” Maddox marched across the classroom, but he, too, stopped when he saw her lying there, propped on her elbows.
His eyebrows slowly arching high, Maddox pointed at the hem of her gown. “Uh, is that a tail?”
CHAPTER 8
Catch of the Day
Tail or no, her beauty had apparently enslaved Archie and Maddox on sight, but Jake wasn’t that easy. He promptly lifted both arms, holding back his cousin and his unofficial bodyguard when the two abruptly remembered their manners and started forward in tandem to assist the fallen Bellissima.
Jake, however, was having none of it.
“Stand back!” he ordered the pair. “Leave her there until she tells us what she’s doing here. And why she has a tail.”
They looked at him in surprise.
“What is the meaning of this?” Jake demanded of their fetching captive. “What are you on about, barging into our party and trying to steal my orb?”
“Your orb? You absurd land boy!” She stopped crying abruptly, as if the tears had been fake all along. Jake refused to admit it, but it was hard to stay angry at such a lovely creature. “That orb belongs to me!” she informed him in a haughty tone. “You stole it, as you know full well. I’m the one who put it in the temple. That’s my special hiding place and you had no right to go there. I’ve come to get it back!”
“Hasn’t she got a cute accent?” Archie murmured, nudging Jake and gazing rather doltishly at the intruder.
Jake gave his cousin a scowl. “Go get the orb, Arch.”
“Oh, er, right.” His cousin hurried away, dropping to his knees to retrieve the artifact from where it had rolled under the nearby armchair.
Maddox crouched down beside her with a somber gaze. “Is there anything we can do to make you more comfortable, miss?”
“More comfortable?” Jake cried, bewildered at the pair. “She’s a thief!”
“She’s a mermaid, I think,” Maddox said with a doting smile fixed on her.
“Aren’t you the clever one,” she retorted with a sneer that he seemed to find adorable, judging by his chuckle. Then she lifted her dainty chin. “And it’s not ‘miss’. You may address me as Your Highness.”
Jake snorted, but Archie was agog as he returned with the artifact.
“A royal mermaid?” the boy genius asked in wonder.
“I am Crown Princess Sapphira of the Royal House of Oktapian, daughter of King Nereus, heir apparent of the kingdom of Poseidonia—and that orb belongs to me.”
“Mm-hmm,” said Jake.
“You don’t believe me?” she exclaimed.
“Not sure. I suppose you could be telling the truth. But you’re definitely lying about something.” Jake folded his arms across his chest, still making no move to help her up.
He knew he was being outrageously rude, but the watery folk had a certain reputation for being untrustworthy.
Her so-called Highness scoffed, unable to flee, with her legs gone and her bright blue fishtail flopping on the floor. “This is outrageous. I knew landers were barbarians, but this is quite the pale.”
“Jake—” Maddox started.
“No! Don’t help her!” he ordered his friend, who started to reach toward her, presumably to pick her up and set her in a chair. “You weren’t there when Red and I had to fight Fionnula Coralbroom. Even Lydia Brackwater nearly drowned me once, and she was a friendly.”
“Fionnula Coralbroom?” the mermaid echoed, eyeing him skeptically.
“Don’t you even try singing,” Jake warned, “or I’ll put a gag over your mouth.”
She looked startled that he knew about the mermaids’ singing powers.