When Freddie Ormont came out, she managed an insane barrel trick that earned her huge cries of applause from the crowd. I grinned along with them; it had been a pretty special move to see.
“That girl is going to go places,” Brett said next to Jason and I.
“She’s pretty cool, hey?” Jason agreed.
Still, we had one more competitor to watch.
“Ladies and gentlemen, you’re not going to want to miss this! Ryan Ingram, all the way from California, is about to drop into his first wave.”
I turned my head towards the shore and watched as Ryan paddled out to sea. Something about him seemed weird, though.
“There’s something weird about him,” Jason muttered, mirroring my thoughts.
“It’s like he has something on the front of his surfboard,” Brett said, squinting to try and get a better look.
“My oh my!” the announcer said. “It appears Ryan has brought a companion on his surfboard today. There appears to be a cat on his surfboard with him!”
A murmur ran through the crowd as I covered my eyes with my hand to try and block the sun. Sure enough, the announcer was right: there was a cat on the front of Ryan’s surfboard. It was Bee.
“What on earth is she doing?” I hissed, while Jason burst out laughing next to me.
“She’s earning herself a sushi gift card,” I said, putting my face in my hands as I realized exactly what Bee’s end game was. She had always wanted that sushi gift card, and had found a way to try and get it.
“That’s your cat, isn’t it?” Brett said across the table, and I nodded.
So much for not getting into trouble.
I watched, half terrified for Bee, half trying not to laugh, as Ryan did trick after trick after trick on his surfboard. To my surprise, Bee handled being close to the water incredibly well. She sat on the front of his board and kept her balance as he did 360s, and even a roundhouse cutback with Bee managing to stay on the board.
Eventually she jumped up onto Ryan’s shoulder, to the sound out shouts and cheering from the crowd. I shook my head as Ryan did a full alley-oop, definitely an advanced trick, with Bee still on his shoulder.
When he finally came back to shore, Ryan waved to the crowd, holding Bee up for them as well in admiration. The smug look on Bee’s face was unmistakable: she knew she had earned herself a sushi gift card.
“Well, that’s our winner,” Brett said before he even saw the cards. Jason and I both nodded in agreement; even without Bee’s involvement, Ryan had been by far and away the most impressive surfer of the day once again. He absolutely had earned that gift basket.
“I’m glad all the prizes are there for him,” Jason said, wrapping his arms around my shoulder. “Thanks to you.”
I smiled. “I’m glad too. And come on, it was totally a team effort.”
“As long as the prizes are back, that’s the important thing,” Brett joined in. “Come on, the awards ceremony is basically straight away.”
Gladys gave us a wave and a smile as she brought a towel over to Ryan, who was still dripping with water, dragging his surfboard behind him. Bee trotted along next to him, far enough away to avoid any errant drops of water, but still close enough that they were obviously together.
They did the women’s awards first, with Freddie Ormont being declared the winner and given one of the gift baskets, identical to the one that had been stolen.
Then, it was time to name the men’s winners. As soon as Ryan was called up to the podium, Bee happily jumped up onto it with him, earning tons of cheers and awwws from the crowd.
I giggled as she totally played it up for the camera. As soon as Ryan opened the gift basket, Bee jumped up onto his arm, leaned in, grabbed the gift card for the sushi place and ran off.
The crowd burst into laughter as Ryan gave everyone a shrug and a bemused expression.
“Well, I guess she deserved it,” he said, to raucous laughter. Despite his young age, this guy definitely knew how to work a crowd. “I don’t know whose cat that is, but she’s going to be drowning in sushi.”
“I’m ready to go,” I heard Bee say at my feet a moment later, the gift card still between her teeth.
“Bee! Go give that back,” I hissed at her.
“Why? I earned it. I helped him win that contest.”
I sighed. The crowd was beginning to disperse, and I pushed through to find Ryan and apologize for Bee. As I got close to him, I saw him speaking with Keegan. The two of them shook hands, and Keegan left.
“Ryan, hi,” I said. “I’m Angela, one of the judges, but more importantly, I’m the owner of the cat who stole your gift card.”
“Oh, hey,” he said with a grin. “Your cat’s awesome. She knew exactly what she wanted out of that gift bag.”
“I’ll make sure to get it back to you.”
“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “She deserved it for coming out to surf with me like that. Besides, I don’t live here, so I’d never be able to use the whole value of it. That cat seemed like she knew what she was after.”
“Oh, she knew,” I agreed. “Thank you so much. I saw you speaking with Keegan just then.”
“Yeah,” Ryan said solemnly. “He told me he was the one who had taken the gift basket, and wanted to apologize. He told me about his mom, and how he just wanted the physiotherapy gift certificate. I gave it to him; I have a physio of my own back in California who’s pretty good, so I could spare it.”
“That’s extremely generous of you.”
Ryan shrugged. “I just felt bad for the guy. And like I said, I wouldn’t really get to use it anyway.”
“Well, I wish you the best of luck,” I said. “I’m no expert, but it looks like you have a long and storied career in front of you.”
“Thanks,” Ryan grinned. “I’m hoping to compete at world champs in a couple years.”
“I have no doubt you’ll make it,” I said, before leaving and making my way back towards Jason and Bee.
“Good news, you get to keep your prize,” I said to Bee.
“Of course I did, you were never going to get it away from me,” she replied haughtily.
I smiled. “Why don’t we all head home? I feel like we should get sushi tonight. Vegetarian for me, of course.”
“Fine, but only this once. The rest of this gift card is for my use only,” Bee said. “I didn’t see you out there surfing.”
I smiled. “You have yourself a deal.”
About Samantha Silver
Samantha Silver lives in British Columbia, Canada, along with her husband and a little old doggie named Terra. She loves animals, skiing and of course, writing cozy mysteries. If you enjoyed this short story, please feel free to check out the rest of the Willow Bay Witches series:
The Purr-fect Crime (Willow Bay Witches #1)
Barking up the Wrong Tree (Willow Bay Witches #2)
Just Horsing Around (Willow Bay Witches #3)
Lipstick on a Pig (Willow Bay Witches #4)
A Grizzly Discovery (Willow Bay Witches #5)
Sleeping with the Fishes (Willow Bay Witches #6)
Get your Ducks in a Row (Willow Bay Witches #7)
You can also find her other series here:
Magical Bookshop Mysteries
Moonlight Cove Mysteries
California Witching Mysteries
Cassie Coburn Mysteries
Ruby Bay Mysteries
The Scientist Takes the Bait
A Monster Movie Short * Moonchuckle Bay #3.2
Heather Horrocks
Summary
He went searching for the Loch Ness monster — but found something far more dangerous!
Conall McKenna is my Scottish hero, a marine biologist searching for Nessie in Moonchuckle Bay. My heroine is Nixie Starfish, 24th daughter of the king of the merfolk, who does not want to be married — but changes her mind when she meets the human.
Not Break, My Sweet. Merely Bend
“DO YE MEAN TAE TRAVEL to the United
States, Conall? Why can ye not continue yer studies here?” Jamie McKenna’s Scottish accent thickened when he was upset.
Conall McKenna looked at the man who’d raised him, taught him to question everything, and encouraged his curious mind. “I must go. The other scientists in my group believe there is a passageway from the bottom of Loch Ness to the depths of Moonchuckle Bay. We believe the reason there have been no sightings here for a fortnight is because Nessie has gone traveling.”
“Can ye not get that cursed beastie out of your mind? Ye’ve been chasing her since ye were a wee lad. It’s become an obsession with ye.”
“You shouldn’t have raised me here so close to Loch Ness, Da,” Conall teased gently, “nor sent me off to work at the Loch Ness Inn.”
“The lasses won’t be happy to see ye go. Mayhap they’ll find someone else.”
Conall grinned. “If you want to date any of them, you have my permission.”
His father snorted. “How long do ye intend to be there?”
It wasn’t the lasses that bothered his father, not really. It was that since his wife — Conall’s mother — had died last year, Jamie didn’t want to let go of his son, even though Conall was about to turn thirty.
“You could go with me, Da.”
“Oh, I’m no good at traveling. Who would tend me bell heather and bluebells?”
“We could hire someone to come in.”
“No. I’ll not be going.” Jamie shook his head in finality. “I have much to do here.”
If only Conall could persuade his father to get involved with life again. The man barely left home now, and was only sixty-three. Much too young to give up and grow old. “But I will be going.”
His father pursed his lips, then said, “Find the beastie and hurry back, then. I’ll be waiting for ye. And expecting regular updates, too.”
“I’ll do that, Da.”
“When do ye go?”
“My flight is for next week. June 15.”
“And how long will ye be gone?”
“We’ve gotten funding for a month. Three of us will go.”
His father might disapprove, but Conall was excited at the chance. At the honor he’d received by being invited by the other two — men he’d long admired and wished to work with. And now he’d be there for a month.
Searching for the elusive Nessie.
And one step closer to actually finding her.
“Haven’t you ever watched The Little Mermaid? Seriously, Nixie, it’s like you’re this total innocent about humans.”
Nixie Starfish stared across the bay, through the fog shrouding the Mermaid Lagoon from the rest of Moonchuckle Bay. This part of the bay was enchanted and humans didn’t come here. If they did, they felt incredible distress and left quickly. Even supernaturals avoided the area.
Though if anyone did come, all the merfolk would simply go under the surface, deep into the bay, where their homes were.
“Are you listening to me, Nixie?” Her best friend, Waverly Sandhopper, waggled her fingers in front of Nixie’s eyes.
Nixie flicked her tail, turning in the water to face her best friend since Fish School. Her friend was her exact opposite in appearance — brunette to Nixie’s blonde, pale skin to her own warm tones, brown eyes to her blue-green. “I’m listening. I just don’t happen to agree.”
“You think they’re romantic or something,” Waverly huffed. “I’m afraid you’re going to burst out into song any minute and start talking about dinglehoppers.”
Nixie frowned. “I know the difference between a cartoon movie and real life.”
“But you haven’t been on land yet. You have a whole new world of things to learn.”
“You’re mixing your Disney movie references again.” Nixie narrowed her eyes at her friend. “And you haven’t been on land, either, so don’t pretend like you’re an expert.”
“Yes, but even when we’re watching, I keep my distance. You go too close for safety.”
A head popped up in front of them — Marinus, a young merman who was her father’s personal assistant. He was ten years her senior, but still young and eligible enough to have many of the single young mermaids in giggles. He was more like a brother to Nixie. A pesky brother.
“What do you want?” Nixie asked, irritated. This could only be bad.
“Your father requests your presence in his court,” Marinus announced in his official tone.
Official as in Nixie couldn’t ignore it. With a sigh, she said, “All right. Thank you, Marinus. I’ll be right there.”
The merman disappeared under the surface.
Waverly laughed. “You’re not going to go, are you?”
With one last wistful look at the shore, Nixie sighed again. “I can’t ignore an official summons. Come with me for moral support.”
“Oh, no, you don’t. Last time I went with you, I got in trouble right along with you.”
“What can we get in trouble for? We’re just looking at the beach. That’s not against the Merma Carta. Come on, Waverly.”
Her friend said, “Oh, all right. But only if we swim past that new subdivision. Starfish Estates.”
The community was named after Nixie’s father, King Starfish, monarch of the merfolk of the western United States and Canada, including California. So she was technically a princess. But since she had twenty-three sisters, and she was the youngest at number twenty-four, it wasn’t too impressive.
She’d love to do something to distinguish herself from the crowd.
As the youngest, her sisters complained all the time that she got away with everything, when she felt their father watched her all the closer.
She splashed down and flipped her tail, propelling her rapidly through the water. Waverly followed right behind her. They took a short detour past the new subdivision — pink villas meant for trendier fish than she — and then picked up speed heading toward the court.
Ahead, a huge shape appeared.
They pulled up short and she realized it was Lady Struana. In Scottish, her name meant “from the stream.” She was more popularly known, especially among the humans, simply as “Nessie.” The famous beast was an occasional visitor and all-time celebrity here in Mermandia. Nixie approached with dignity. “May I help you, Lady Struana?”
Nessie dipped her head and spoke in her low, rumbling voice. “I am just out for my afternoon constitutional, but thank you.”
“All right. We must go then, as my presence is required at court.”
Nessie dipped her large head in acknowledgment and swam past gracefully, her long body undulating through the water.
Ahead, Nixie spotted Marinus, who motioned to her impatiently.
In response, Nixie immediately slowed her approach but, all too soon, she swam into her father’s court. His ten advisers surrounded him and they parted to let her approach. Waverly hung back along the wall.
She came to a stop before him. “You summoned me, Father?”
He reached out and touched her cheek gently. “My sweet dolphin,” he said, using the endearment he used with all of his daughters, making it meaningless to her, “I have a job for you.”
“A job?” That surprised her. “What kind of job?”
“You turned twenty-one this year, did you not?”
She nodded.
“And you have grown into a beautiful womanfish.”
“Thank you, Father.”
“Has she not?” the king asked his advisers, who hurried to agree with him.
They each assured her of her beauty, making Nixie uncomfortable. She feared there were marriage plans atail, but she wanted nothing of a marriage. Her father, though, might have made a match. Was this his way of telling her? Her heart raced and she wanted to swim straight out of here and go talk to her mother.
Her father’s advisers moved closer, encircling them.
The king motioned to Dylano, his senior adviser, who dipped his head in acknowledgment and said, “We have need of a beautiful womanfish to entice a h
uman into our land.”
“A human?” Nixie grew intrigued.
He nodded. “A man. A scientist. Actually, there are three of them, but we only need to capture one. Any of the three will do.”
“How will I know them?”
Her father turned his waterproof tablet toward her, showing her a picture of the most handsome man she’d ever seen, alongside two older men. “Any of these three.”
Oh, no. Definitely the one in the middle. Reddish hair swept to the side rakishly, and he had a form to please any woman — or any merwoman, for that matter. “How do you want him to arrive?”
“In good condition. We need him unharmed so we may question him.”
She had to admit, the mission intrigued her. “When do you need him?”
“Tomorrow. Watch the shore. The three arrived yesterday and will be in the bay in scuba gear by noon tomorrow.” He smiled at her. “Do this well, my sweet, and I will find you a husband, as I have for your other sisters.”
“That’s all right, Father. I’m not ready for any kind of commitment.”
He frowned at that but, before he could chide her, she asked, “How do you know of these men?”
Dylano explained, “The Council keeps us informed. They’re concerned.”
The Supernatural Oversight Council. Of course the SOC was involved. “If they’re so concerned, why don’t they capture one of these men?”
“Because both their Code and our Carta prohibit the taking of humans by force.”
Incredulous, Nixie looked around at the circle of advisors and back at her father. “So you want me to break the laws?”
He gave her a small smile. “Not break, my sweet. Merely bend.”
She Was The Heir-And-The-Spare-To-The-24th-Degree
CONALL STUDIED THE SURFACE OF the lake. A light breeze made the water ripple, and the dive boat rocked as it made its way from the Moonchuckle Bay dock toward the deeper end of the lake. The part that, despite the use of even the highest-tech equipment, appeared to have no bottom. The deeper portions that made him and his fellow scientists believe Nessie could travel here from the also bottomless Loch Ness.
Spell or High Water Page 33