by Kelly, Holly
“I’m sorry I lied. I just didn’t know how to tell you.” Her eyes went to the seaweed wrap around Gretchen’s hand. “What’s up with your hand?”
“Oh, it’s just a scratch. Kyros overreacted and put some herbal seaweed stuff on it.”
She could see Kyros shaking his head in her peripheral vision.
“I don’t know how to explain…” Sara said, looking over at Xanthus.
Gretchen glanced at Kyros and asked, “How much have you told them?”
“I thought you should be the one to tell her. We’ll just be outside,” he said, gesturing Xanthus to the door. Xanthus hesitated a moment before he followed, pulling the door closed behind him.
“Tell me what?” Sara asked, turning back to her.
“Why don’t you sit down?” Gretchen tugged her down on the couch. “Well, you know how well we hit things off when we met. We both felt like we were long-lost sisters.”
“Yeah…”
“Come to find out, that’s not far from the truth.”
Sara’s eyes widened. “You. Can’t. Mean.”
“That we’re related? Yes, we are.”
Sara swayed, obviously stunned by the news. “What are we? Distant cousins?”
“Not cousins, and we’re not distantly related. I think it might be easier for you to understand if I tell you a little about my background. You already know I’m adopted.”
“Yes,” Sara said. “You have an amazing mom.”
“My birth mom is not so great.”
“I thought you didn’t remember her.” Sara lifted a shaky hand and brushed her hair behind her ear.
“Oh no. I remember her. I just didn’t want to. She was a monster. She killed a lot of people or rather, she convinced people to kill each other.” Gretchen’s voice shook as she spoke. She’d never imagined she’d be having this conversation with another living soul—least of all, Sara. Just talking about it caused Gretchen’s chest to tighten and her heart to tremble.
Gretchen could tell exactly when the truth hit Sara. Her eyes widened, and she visibly paled. “Are we related on my mom’s side or my dad’s?”
Gretchen hesitated a moment before she quietly said, “Your dad’s.”
“You know who my dad is?”
Gretchen nodded. “Your father is my grandfather.” Gretchen looked at Sara and realized for the first time where Sara must have gotten her striking blue eyes. Gretchen’s own brown eyes were like brown mud puddles next to Sara’s eyes, which were as blue as the clear Caribbean Sea.
“Then your mom is…” Sara stammered, wringing her hands. “You are…”
“A mermaid.”
“But…” Sara’s brows pinched together as she looked at Gretchen’s legs. “You don’t have a tail.”
“Not on land.”
“You mean, you can change?”
Gretchen nodded.
“Did my dad give you that gift?”
“I was born with it.”
“Really? You can change?” Sara reached out as if she might touch Gretchen’s knee, but jerked her hand back before she could. “Good grief. I guess I wasn’t the lucky one.”
“I’m sorry,” Gretchen said. “I wish you had been.”
“Oh.” Sara shook herself out of a stupor as she looked at her friend. “Don’t listen to me. Here I am feeling sorry for myself when it’s your story that’s important. Is your birth mom still alive?”
“Unfortunately. By the way, how’s your injury? Did it heal all right?”
Sara rubbed her side. “Oh, I’ve been fine for days.”
“I’m really sorry you got shot. It should have been me.” Gretchen frowned at the regret that clenched her heart.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Sara said, smiling. “I couldn’t let my niece get shot.”
Gretchen cracked a smile. “Thank you, Aunt Sara.”
Sara giggled and shook her head. “Please don’t call me that. Coming from you, it makes me feel like an old woman.”
“Sure thing, Auntie Sara.”
“Oh.” Sara gave a tortured moan and a half smile. “That sounds even worse.”
Gretchen smiled back and put her arm around Sara’s shoulders. “I wish we’d known about each other from the start.”
“Me too.” They leaned against one another for a few minutes, comforted by each other’s presence.
Sara shrugged away from Gretchen. “Well, I think it’s time we invite Xanthus and Kyros back. We have to figure out what to do about this killer.”
Kyros stepped through the door and searched Gretchen’s face. She gave him a reassuring smile. Xanthus followed and looked Gretchen up and down. He looked stunned that he hadn’t figured out what she was from the start.
“So,” Sara said, “someone is out to kill Gretchen?”
“Um, yeah,” Gretchen answered. “That would be my birth mother.”
“What? Why would any mother want to kill her own daughter?”
“If she’s found, she’s dead.” Gretchen shrugged, acting as if the fact her own mother was trying to kill her was no big deal. Deep down, it was a very big deal. But she couldn’t change who her birth mother was. She just had to deal with it, no matter how much it sucked.
“She’s been around since Poseidon made his decree,” Kyros said. “Her death is long overdue.”
Gretchen nodded. “She was trying to cover her tracks.”
“…by killing you?” Sara gasped out the question.
“Yeah.”
“I’m so sorry,” Sara’s eyes showed the depth of her sympathy. Gretchen’s own heart lightened with the fact that she was not alone. Sara would always be by her side. She glanced over at Kyros. The depth of his sympathy and regret were apparent on his face. It looked like she had his undying support also.
“So, what’s happened so far?” Sara asked.
“Well, after the shooting, Drakōn went looking for the killer. He came back and told Kyros he’d caught the killer and needed Kyros to come with him. When Kyros came back, he tried to kill me.”
“You what?” Sara turned to Kyros.
He frowned. “I did all I could to resist.”
“And he did,” Gretchen rushed to defend him. “He stabbed himself in the leg instead of stabbing me.”
“Drakōn has yet to return,” Kyros said. “My guess is, when he sees I didn’t succeed, he’ll try to kill both of us.”
“Oh boy,” Sara said. “How do we stop him?”
“You don’t.” Xanthus said, looking from Sara to Gretchen. “Either of you. This is our fight. Dagonians are charged with eliminating the mermaids, and Drakōn is our responsibility.”
“You do know that since he’s been compelled,” Gretchen said, “he’ll not stop until my birth mom releases him, or he’s been compelled to stop. And the only ones capable of compelling are Sara and me. And since it’s my mother who is at the root of all this trouble, I’m the one who should do it.”
“I don’t think you know how dangerous Drakōn is,” Xanthus said. “He can be vicious and heartless. When it comes to criminals, he has no mercy.”
“That doesn’t change a thing,” Gretchen said. “You still won’t be able to stop him without me.”
“Killing him would stop him,” Kyros said.
“No!” Gretchen turned to Kyros. “You are not killing him. He’s an innocent man.”
“You don’t know him like I do,” Kyros said. “He’s far from innocent.”
“You could say that about me too.”
Kyros stepped toward her, towering above. “No, I could not. Compared to Drakōn, you, Gretchen, are an angel.”
Gretchen looked up defiantly. “I’m still going.”
“No. You’re not,” Kyros said.
“Did you just tell me I can’t go?” Gretchen asked.
“Did I not speak clearly?” Kyros asked.
“Kyros,” Sara said. “I understand that you’re worried about her, but you have to understand—”
“She’s not goi
ng.”
“I can go anyplace I please,” Gretchen said. “I don’t need, nor will I ever ask your permission.”
“In this case you do,” Xanthus said. “This is now an official Dagonian hunt. Only soldiers are allowed to participate.”
“Xanthus dear,” Sara said. “You can’t be serious.”
“Sara, you need to understand, we’ve been trained for this.”
“I’ve had training of my own,” Gretchen said to Xanthus. “You could make me a soldier.”
“You’re a woman,” Kyros said, his expression incredulous.
“Oh?” She turned a glaring eye at him. “I hadn’t noticed.”
“Xanthus wouldn’t do anything so ridiculous,” Kyros said.
“Kyros is right,” Xanthus said. “Neither of you know Drakōn the way we do. He’s lethal. You stand no chance against him. He’ll kill you before you even know he’s there, much less before you get a chance to sing to him.”
“We’ve wasted enough time arguing,” Kyros said. “Xanthus and I have planning to do.”
Gretchen narrowed her eyes, fuming. Oh, so that’s how they are going to play it? Well, she could show these Dagonians a thing or two. She knew she’d sworn to never use compulsion again, but desperate times… Darn it. Xanthus couldn’t be compelled, could he?
No, but Kyros could. All she needed to do was get him alone. “Kyros, can I speak to you please?”
He didn’t even look at her. “No.”
Her jaw dropped. She was about to spit out an angry retort, but snapped her mouth shut. Raising her temper would not help her cause. “Please, Kyros. I just need a moment.”
“Gretchen. You are not getting me alone. I know how your mind works. You just keep your siren’s song to yourself.”
“I would never…”
He turned to her and smiled. “Oh yes you would.”
She stood, fuming, as he turned his back to her. How dare he dismiss her like that? She was about to delve into a debate when she noticed his phone sitting on the table near the door. “Fine, you two do your planning. Sara and I have important things to do too. You know, like painting our nails, doing each other’s hair, watching chick flicks, boy talk…” Gretchen tugged Sara to the door and discretely snatched Kyros’s phone.
Xanthus and Kyros were deep in conversation, but Kyros managed to grunt a response to her.
As soon as they were outside, Sara spoke. “We’re going to do all those things out here?”
“Of course we are,” Gretchen responded sarcastically.
“Right. So what’s the plan?”
Gretchen simply raised Kyros’s phone.
Sara’s eyes widened. “Listen. I don’t know if I completely disagree with them. This sounds dangerous. And I know nothing about fighting, stealth, or killing mermaids.”
“You have your voice, don’t you?”
“Yes, but it’s not nearly as powerful as this mother of yours. Mine only lasts a couple of minutes after I stop singing.”
Gretchen was taken aback. “Really?”
Sara’s face flushed red. “Yeah. I guess I’m not that great a mermaid, huh?”
“I don’t know about that. How did you know I was going to get shot?”
“I… don’t know. I just knew.”
“Precognition is a pretty good gift if you ask me. It saved my life.”
“Precognition? I don’t see the future I just…”
“…know when bad things are going to happen?” Gretchen said.
“I wouldn’t go so far as that. I just… sense things.”
“Right. Precognition.”
Sara shrugged. “What are we going to do?”
“Call Drakōn.”
“Can you sing to him over the phone?”
“I wish. No, it has to be in person. But we can find out where he is.”
“You aren’t going to meet him alone, are you?”
“I just need to be within hearing distance.”
“I don’t like this.”
“Look, I’ll just hide out someplace secluded and call him to meet me there. Then I’ll start singing. I’ll sing all night if I have to. That way, he can’t catch me by surprise.”
“Sounds foolproof.”
“Exactly.”
“But from what I’m hearing, Drakōn is no fool. What if he has ear plugs?”
“I’ll have to go in armed.”
Sara frowned.
“I’ll admit. It’s not without risk, but I have to try. Drakōn didn’t ask to be compelled any more than Kyros did. I can’t just let him die. Once I have him out from under my mom’s spell, he can help Xanthus find her.”
Sara nodded. “It sounds like a good plan. I am worried though. How dangerous is your birth mom?”
“Her only power is what she exerts through her compulsion. Personally, she’s a weakling.”
“Okay. I just, I’d be crushed if anything happened to you.”
“I’ll be fine,” Gretchen said, but her eyes betrayed her, showing a hint of fear.
“You’d better be,” Sara said, pulling her into a crushing hug.
Kyros stood and watched Xanthus pace the floor.
“We’ve got to figure out how to get Drakōn to lead us back to the mermaid,” Xanthus said.
“That may be harder than it seems,” Kyros said. “I have no recollection of ever seeing Aella.”
Xanthus gasped. “Aella?”
“I know. I could scarcely believe it myself.”
“But I thought she was dead.”
“I guess the reports were wrong.”
“Is Gretchen sure—”
“Of who her own mother is? Of course she is.”
“It’s just. Hades, she’s the worst of them all.”
“Nobody knows that more than Gretchen. You might be interested to know Gretchen is not the first of Aella’s children to be born.”
“There are more of them?”
“Not anymore. She’s killed them. Slaughtered them while they were still young.”
Xanthus blew out a breath. “Just when you think you’ve seen the worst of evil.”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, so how do we proceed?”
“We should simply kill Drakōn,” Kyros said. “He’s too dangerous to toy with.”
“Killing him will not help us find her.”
“Forget Drakōn; we can pull the knowledge out of my brain. It has to be there, hidden somewhere. Gretchen should be the one to do it. Her compulsion is as powerful as her mother’s.”
“Do you think she’ll cooperate?”
“If we approach it right.”
“Like we approached her this morning?”
Kyros shook his head. “I know. I admit I was over the line. But by the gods, just the thought of her in Drakōn’s hands…”
“Have you admitted it?”
“Admitted what?”
“That you love her?”
Kyros frowned. “Yes, but I’m not happy about it.”
Xanthus smiled. “She’s a handful, that’s for sure.”
“More so than Sara.”
Xanthus’s smile widened. “Sara’s plenty enough for me to handle. Good luck with Gretchen. Have you asked to marry her?”
Kyros’s eyes widened. “Asked?”
“Yes. It’s customary for human men to ask their woman to marry them.”
“I should have known. I didn’t ask her; I told her I would marry her at today’s daybreak, which was a bit unrealistic. I first have to find a priest to do it, but I have every intension of marrying her.”
“How did she respond to being told you would marry her?”
Kyros smiled. “She told me she wouldn’t marry me if I were the last man on earth, as handsome as some guy named Matthew, and as rich as Bill’s gate—whatever that means.”
Xanthus laughed. “It’s Bill Gates. He’s a billionaire.”
“Oh well, I’m sure I can convince her to cooperate.”
“I don’t know. I
t sounds like a challenge to me.”
“I’m never one to back away from a challenge.”
“Do you think she’ll be happy with you?”
“What? Why wouldn’t she?”
“She’s spent a lot of time being human. She seems happy living on land. What if she doesn’t want to return to the sea?”
Kyros gaped at Xanthus. The thought had never entered his mind. She was a mermaid. Her place was in the sea. How could she possibly be happy to stay on land? Sure, she might dwell on land for a while, but she couldn’t want to remain there forever. “Once we’re married, it won’t matter. She’ll live where I do.”
Xanthus shook his head. “You might want think more about Gretchen’s needs. Is your happiness worth her misery? Do you think either of you would end up happy?”
Kyros shook his head. “Land dwellers are so confusing. I don’t understand their thinking. I mean, I know Gretchen has spunk and attitude—it’s what attracts me most. But… gods, there has to be an order to things. Husbands direct, wives follow. Tell me that’s not how you and Sara live.”
“It’s not. We work together to make decisions.”
Kyros shook his head. “And it works?”
“Better than you’d think. I’ve a feeling there are a large number of unhappy Dagonian wives.”
“At least the husbands are happy.”
“You’re a fool if you think husbands can be happy with a miserable wife. Do you think you could truly be happy knowing Gretchen was unhappy?”
Kyros frowned. Why did Xanthus have to make so much sense? “I’ll think about what you said. I won’t promise I’ll ever agree, but I’ll consider it.”
There was a soft rapping on the door. Kyros opened to Sara on the doorstep. “I…” She choked on her word the moment their eyes met.
Xanthus stepped around Kyros. “What is it, moro mou? What’s wrong?”
“I’m not supposed to say…”
Kyros’s blood froze in his veins at those words.
“But,” she continued, “I’m afraid she’s going to get herself killed.”
Kyros roared in anger.
Xanthus slammed him back. “Keep your distance from my wife while you rage,” he snarled at Kyros.