“Why?” I asked.
She put her hand on my shoulder. “You’re still a princess. You can never be too careful.”
A shiver wove its way through my stomach, jolting little Joey awake. Was this because we were going to Natatoria for the night? The horrific things Tatchi had told me she endured in Natatoria while promised to Azor tensed my shoulders. Was something happening that no one wanted to tell us about? If that was the case, I didn’t want to stay there. Not without Fin.
“Thank you,” I said, unsure what to say.
“What is that?” Georgia asked.
“A good luck charm.” Galadriel winked. “So… enough wedding stuff. Let’s talk about your gift to Fin.”
I blew out a low breath. Between school, swimming, the merling, and the wedding, I’d completely forgotten.
“Well, I’m glad I brought this up,” she finished.
“Is Fin getting me something?” I asked, unsure if I wanted to know the answer, terrified of the pressure to come up with something just as good.
Galadriel laughed. “Uh, yeah… the cottage, silly.”
“Oh, that.” I massaged my temples.
“But don’t worry. I have something I know he wants,” she said, eyes bright.
“You do?” I asked.
Guilt that my practically identical sister knew Fin better than I did hit me. She bit her lip, almost as if she was thinking of something kinky. I wanted to slug her considering my body was nowhere near sexy anymore and had started to resemble a growing blimp.
“His Jeep,” she said in a hushed whisper.
My mouth fell open. I totally didn’t expect her to say that with her look, but she was right. He’d been talking about missing his Jeep every time he drove my ratty car.
“But how would I get it here from Florida?” I asked.
“I made a call to Hans and Sissy, today. They’re arranging transport. It’s coming Friday night.”
I blinked at her.
“Consider it an apology. For everything I put you guys through.” A tear welled in her eye.
Without another thought, I stood and hugged my sister.
“Apology accepted.” A tear slithered down my cheek.
“What happened? Why are they crying?” Georgia whispered to Girra.
Girra jumped up and hugged the two of us, then Tatiana. Georgia just sat dumbfounded. I grabbed her by the wrist, pulling her into the hug.
“I love you girls so much,” I said. “Thank you for the wedding… the house… everything.”
We all cried and hugged. In spite of everything, I had the best friends and family ever.
~|~
Returning to the house alone, I took off the sash and stuffed it in my purse. Once Lucy found out that she, the maid-of-honor, hadn’t been invited to my bachelorette party, there’d be hell to pay. But I was glad she wasn’t there. After having such a touching moment with my biological sisters over ice cream, I couldn’t imagine what would’ve happened with her there spoiling it.
Glancing at the dock, I watched Tatiana, Girra, and Galadriel slip into the lake to return to Natatoria for the night. Though Fin had insisted I stay in the palace while he was gone, after Galadriel’s little gift, I’d made the excuse that I was too tired to swim the distance. Considering I’d slept through most of the bachelorette party, they agreed to let me stay. What they didn’t know was that I’d planned to spend the night alone in our pool.
But I had to go to my room first, then sneak out of my window. Thank Poseidon my stomach wasn’t any bigger, or I’d have to lob myself out like a whale.
Mouthwatering smells of garlic, oregano, and basil hit me as I entered the house.
“There’s the bride.” Mom’s fork clattered to her plate as she stood from the dinner table. “Let me warm up your plate.”
I put down my purse on the sofa, careful to check and make sure the sash was well hidden before I sat down.
“Hello, dear,” Gran said extra loud. “Have fun?”
Lucy looked up at me, and I braced myself for whatever vitriol she’d spew while Mom was out of hearing distance.
“What’s with the crown?”
“Oh!” I pulled the crown off my head and set it on the floor. “Just something Georgia gave me. Spaghetti and meatballs, huh? I’m starved.”
Lucy continued eating but watched me warily. The microwave dinged, signaling my food was heated.
“So, how’d the party go?” Mom handed me my plate before sitting down.
Ix-nay on the arty-pay, I wanted to say. Why couldn’t mermaids have the power of mind-erasing song, too?
I stuffed a meatball in my mouth and lifted my pointer finger to signal I was chewing. Though I kept my eyes low, I could feel Lucy’s eyes on me.
“What party?” she finally asked.
“The bachelorette,” Mom said.
“In the middle of the afternoon?”
I wanted to sink into my seat.
“In my day, we only had wedding showers. None of the bachelorette business,” Gran started.
My gaze went to Gran as I shoveled food into my mouth and listened to her story. My peripheral vision was tuned into Lucy.
“Where’d you go?” Mom asked.
“Uh… Déjà Vu.” I put my fork down and braced myself for her tantrum. “Sorry, Lucy, it’s an eighteen and older club, otherwise we would have invited you.”
She crunched on her garlic bread and lifted her left shoulder. “No big.”
I prepared my retort, until her response sideswiped me. No big? Gran continued to talk about clubs in her day, and how she’d been a singer in one once before she was twenty-one.
“You haven’t told me this story,” Mom said.
“I haven’t? I’m sure I have.”
I continued to eat, trying to listen, but was confused why Lucy wasn’t making a bigger fuss. Maybe she didn’t want to be involved just as much as I didn’t want her there.
“And the girls’ dresses are done. Wynie and Maggie finished them today. They’re so gorgeous,” Mom said proudly. “Lucy, would you mind trying yours on for Ash?”
“I’ll take care of these,” Gran snagged her plate and mine, taking them to the sink.
Lucy looked at me, and I expected her to make a face. Instead, she grinned, then stood and walked out of the room.
I splayed my hands on the table.
“Do you need help?” Mom asked her.
“I’ve got it.” Lucy then disappeared upstairs.
Mom’s eyes panned to me, then she shrugged. Yeah, I was just as shocked at Lucy’s behavior, too, but didn’t want to say anything to jinx it. What had gotten into her?
“Uh, Mom?” Lucy called down the stairs. “I do need help with the zipper.”
Mom ran upstairs as I walked in the living room and within moments, Lucy walked down in a strapless, emerald ball gown, flowing and long, adorned with beads and sequins sewn along the top. The fabric along the bodice was folded and curved, resembling that of a rose bud.
I gasped, bringing my hand to my mouth. “Oh, my gosh. You’re gorgeous.”
Lucy turned around, smiling. “I think so, too.”
My jaw dropped open. She actually liked the dress?
“The other girls’ are a shade lighter, just to set off the maid of honor, and all,” Mom said.
Lucy curtsied.
“Lovely, my dear. Just lovely,” Gran said.
“I can’t wait to wear it,” Lucy finished. “But I should probably take it off so it doesn’t get ruined.”
“I’ll help you.”
Once Lucy and Mom left the room, I pressed a couch cushion to my mouth to exuberantly squeal. What had happened to change Lucy’s attitude?
“It’s going to be such a beautiful day,” Gran said, startling me before she returned to the kitchen.
I jumped up and spun in a small circle, marveling at everything that had happened. This would be the wedding of my dreams. We’d done it. We’d integrated.
“I’m going to my room fo
r the night,” I said to Gran. “Goodnight.”
“That’s a good idea, dear.” She walked over and kissed me on the forehead. “You need your beauty sleep.”
I took the stairs by twos and rounded the corner to my room.
“Going to bed already?” Lucy came into the hall, back in her street clothes.
“Yeah. I’m kind of tired.” I started to rub my stomach, then dropped my hands to my sides.
“You’re not going to watch that zombie show with me?”
I opened my mouth, then closed it. She never asked to watch TV with me. “Maybe tomorrow.”
“Okay.”
I stared at her in shock as she walked into the bathroom and shut the door. Mom walked past, smiling and headed downstairs. So surreal. I returned to my room. Once closing my bedroom door, my phone started to ring.
“Hey, my Ginger Girl,” he said. “We made it okay. How was your bachelorette party?”
“Fine.” I could hear the guys making noise in the background along with waves.
“You going to be okay for the night?”
“Yeah.” The bathroom door opened and Lucy started singing.
“The girls waiting for you?” he asked.
“Uh… yeah,” I lied.
“Well, get outside. I’m not hanging up until you get to the water and go with the girls.”
“Okay.” I didn’t want to tell him I’d changed my mind. “I have to change first.”
“Put me on speaker and tell me everything you’re doing.” His voice grew husky.
My cheeks burned. “Fin! Stop it!”
He laughed. “No one is listening.”
I heard Jax laugh in the background. Had they been drinking or something? “You like to do that to me, don’t you?”
“It’s adorable when you blush. But hurry. Badger is about to steal my phone and chuck it in the Pacific.”
I quickly changed into a dark blue nightgown and opened my window. The evening breeze blew inside, pushing against the curtains. Scanning the parking lot and the street connecting our houses, I didn’t spot Mr. White Van, thank Poseidon. I pocketed the phone and climbed onto the roof, then down the trellis.
I ducked as I passed the windows, hearing the TV show Lucy was watching, and headed to the dock. I probably could have watched it with her, considering we’d had at least an hour before sunset, but I didn’t want to chance a fish-out.
“Okay. I’m here,” I whispered. “Have fun.”
“I love you, Ashlyn. Always remember that.”
I swallowed my nerves of staying alone and lying to him. “I love you, too.”
Then, he was gone.
I slid into the lake and headed toward the portal tunnel into our enclosed patio. Once inside, I locked the hatch behind me. White wicker chairs with cushions decorated the edges. I shifted into legs, then walked up to the sliding glass window to peek inside. A sheet hung across the doorway, blocking my view.
“You and your darn sheets,” I mumbled.
I tried to slide the door open, finding it locked. Curiosity bloomed inside me anyway as I pressed my nose against the glass. Saturday just seemed like forever away.
I blew out a breath and flopped into the pool. Within a minute, I was restless and bored. We needed a TV in this room at least, or bar taps like his parents had and a refrigerator. Guilt that I didn’t return to the palace instead with the others washed through me.
I lay on my back, counting the stars beyond the windows when I heard glass breaking. I popped my head up and held my breath.
The sheet shifted as if something hard had blown against it.
“Jack? Maggie?” I asked softly. “Is that you?”
A dark shadow drifted past the sheet, shooting panic into my limbs. I ducked down and pulled in a gulp of water. Someone was in the house.
My heart pounded in terror as I swam to the other side of the pool toward the hatch. My trembling fingers couldn’t unlock it. I pressed my palms on the deck to lift myself out to get a better angle when a black gloved hand pulled back the sheet and clicked the lock open.
I slipped down into the water, and darted to the bottom of the pool, covering myself with the underwater blanket.
My hands shook, and I grabbed onto the vile of ink just in case. The silhouette of someone crossed over top — someone that resembled Mr. White Van.
A siren yelp escaped my lips, and I gripped my hand over my mouth to stop the noise. Bubbles wove their way to the surface instead. Whoever was up there, stopped and stared. Were they watching me?
My teeth started to chatter with fright, then my stomach clenched, sending horrible pain through me.
Whoever was there didn’t do anything, just stood on the side of the pool, watching. I knew I’d be okay as long as I stayed down here, but their ever watchful presence creeped me out all the same. They could never get to me, let alone pull me to the surface. I’d drown them first.
Then some sort of liquid splashed into the pool.
“Here fishy fishy,” a man’s voice said.
Mr. White Van. My heart pounded harder as I waited. Then I smelled it. Chlorine.
The gel covers over my eyes started to burn at first, not bad, but just enough that it felt better to close them, and I wondered why this was the first time I’d had a reaction to chlorine. Was it because my gel eye lenses and gills hadn’t made an appearance in the pool? Even still, I grabbed the blanket, and wove it around my neck, hoping to stop the chemicals from spilling into my lungs.
I sat, unmoving, for what seemed like forever, watching upward as the moon slowly crossed in the sky above. When I couldn’t stand the pain anymore, I closed my eyes and waited, listening for what he had in store next. His footsteps could be heard shuffling about, echoing in the room above me. Did I dare try to make a swim for the hatch? How much chlorine did he bring?
After a few minutes, my gills began to burn. I glared at the shadow up above as visions of me leaping out, digging my claws into my assailant’s neck, and pulling him underwater gripped me.
I’d risk my life for our child. I’d do anything.
THIRTY-FOUR – FIN – June 7 – 8:02 a.m.
I drove Dad’s Yukon up and over the ridge, completely exhausted. The guys crawled out and took the ice chests filled with tuna to the houseboat, spoils for tonight’s feast.
“I’m starved,” Jax said.
“Me, too,” Jacob added.
Though I could use some food, too, I wanted to check in with Ash. She hadn’t yet called this morning, meaning she most likely had taken her time to get back from Natatoria. Then I wanted to take a quick nap before finishing Galadriel’s to-do list for the cottage.
“Hey, Dad.” I waved. “Are the girls here yet?”
He stood on a ladder, painting the trim of the house. “I think they just left to go shopping.”
“With Ash?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know.”
My gaze swung to the cottage. She better not have spoiled her surprise, or else. I ran over, unlocked the door and walked inside to make sure. New furniture and draperies greeted me, making me excited to share it with her. Home. Our home.
Walking across the tiled kitchen floor, I stopped at the sheet and noticed it was stuck in the door jam. Placing a call to Ash on her cell once again, I unlocked the slider. The sound of a phone ringing came from the patio.
I pulled the slider open the entire way. “Ash? Are you in here?”
Walking to the pool, I peered down into the water. A redhead was curled up on the floor in the corner in a fetal position. I dove in and my legs snapped together, the bones crunching into place, and swam down to her. Knowing her body was busy making our baby, I didn’t want to wake her if she was just taking a nap. But she wasn’t sleeping. Her hands were clenched firmly around her fin tightly, her body shaking.
“Ash?” I swam next to her, concerned at first, then alarmed. “Ash! What’s wrong?”
She lifted her hand and flashed the vial of octopus ink.
/> “Stay back!” she hissed.
I sculled backward. “It’s me, Ash. It’s Fin!”
She blinked as if to clear her eyes, then dashed for me and latched her arms around my neck, holding on tight. “Don’t leave me.”
“What’s wrong?” I wove my arms around her and rubbed her back. Her body shook from her accelerated heartbeat.
“He… he-e-e,” she stuttered.
I caressed her cheek, lifting her head so I could see her eyes. “He what?”
“Wa-a-a-a-s here-e-e-e,” she finished, her voice almost sirening.
“Who?”
“Mr. White Van!”
I pulled my head backward, unbelieving what she was saying. “Who?”
“Th-h-h-h-e guy who-o-o tried to-o-o-o take me.”
The water next to my scales bubbled from the heat radiating off of me. How could that be? I’d mind-wiped his sorry ass just yesterday.
“He was pouring chlorine into the water,” she spluttered out. “Burning me.”
“Chlorine?”
“Up above.” She stabbed a shaky forefinger upward.
I sniffed the salty water. “Ash, there’s no chlorine.”
Had she been hallucinating?
She detached herself from me, eyes wild. “Are you calling me a liar?”
“No.” I reached for her. “Let’s get you out of here.”
“He’s there… up there. Watching.”
I looked upward, only seeing the sun filtering down through the evergreens. “He’s not in the house now. I just checked.”
Her breaths pulled through her gills in rapid succession, somewhat disjointed. She latched onto me again and buried her face in my neck. With a pump of my tail, I surfaced.
“No one is here but us. I promise you.”
With a little coaxing, she finally looked, her frantic gaze darting around the patio room. “He was here. He broke a window when he came inside. He unlocked the slider, and then found me.”
The slider door had the sheet tucked inside, but I didn’t notice any broken glass. Maybe I didn’t look hard enough. I smoothed her wet hair. “Okay. Let’s just get you out of the water.”
Lifting her to sit on the side of the pool, she remained clamped onto my arm.
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