Waiting
“Where do you think you’re going?” Brigitte demanded as she pushed me firmly yet gently away from the door.
I was shocked. She was keeping track of my every move from within the bathroom. I was like a prisoner. My heart was beating fast now.
“I was just going downstairs to see if there was another bathroom. I have to go and you were in ours.”
“Oh, my mistake,” she said. “Please use the toilet. I’m sorry. I should have realized. While I was soaking my left brain fell asleep and all logic rushed away from me.” She giggled and to my surprise, her cheeks turned red from embarrassment. “Why don’t you take a shower too? I brought you some fresh clothes. I can’t believe how rude I was to not offer sooner.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I replied as I walked toward the restroom. “I’m sure your feeling as worried and out of sorts as I am.”
She followed me into the bathroom. I was relieved to see that the bathtub was clear of sea creatures. She pulled a floral suitcase out from beneath the sink and set it on the counter.
“All these clothes are for you,” she sang as she held up a beautiful teal dress with many crisscross straps in the back. “This will look magnificent on you.”
“Thank you. I’ve never worn anything so beautiful.”
“That’s all going to change.” A gentle smile lifted on her face. “You’re one of us now and mers are fashion divas. Like it or not, you’re going to look like a princess from here on out if I have anything to say about it.”
I wasn’t sure what to think about that. Maybe I would have liked the idea if I wasn’t so concerned about Laurent. But even then, I was really not a princess type. I’d always been a bit of a tomboy.
“Hurry up with your shower. I want to give you a full makeover.” She touched the edges of my salty hair and then glided out of the bathroom.
My mind was still on Laurent as I showered. The vanilla body wash reminded me of Laurent’s scent when I found him in the bedroom freshly washed just after he returned from the ocean last night. I thought about his body and how he showed me the suctions below his stomach and the gills on the sides of his ribcage. I thought about touching his chest and feeling his heartbeat beneath. Then I remembered back to the time at swim practice when he pretended to steal a freckle from my face and called it an angel kiss. That made me smile.
I wasn’t paying attention to what I was doing. The razor was too sharp and I nicked my knee again. I was a klutz when it came to shaving. The blood ran down my leg as I tried to rinse it. I got out of the shower and dried myself off quickly as Brigitte requested and went to looking for a bandage under the cabinet. I found one for kids with a cartoon picture on the flesh colored tape. It would do just fine.
As I gazed into the mirror, I combed my hair through, noticing the dark circles under my eyes. Too much excitement. I wasn’t getting enough sleep. My mind was racing with too many thoughts. Besides my worry over Laurent, I was worried about my mother, father, Lucy, and Agatha.
By now, Agatha must have been going out of her mind wondering where I was and if I was okay. Poor Agatha. Somehow I had to contact her.
But I knew I couldn’t.
I put the teal strappy dress on that Brigitte brought for me. I was more in the mood for sweats and a tank top, but at least I had clothes. It was thoughtful of her to help me out. For that I was grateful.
When I walked into the bedroom, Brigitte was gone. Chills ran up my spine. I knew she wouldn’t leave me here. She was irrevocably loyal to Laurent. Leaving me alone would be a betrayal to him. Something must have happened.
But then I heard movement. I listened carefully. Someone was moving around under the bed.
I froze. “Brigitte?” I called out in a shaky voice, wondering if I should have run out of the room instead of calling out her name.
“Under here,” she called back in rhythm.
I sighed, relieved, yet confused. I lifted up the bottom edge of the bedspread and there she was laying on her back, stringing a shell necklace in the dark.
“Ready for your makeover?” she asked as she slid out from beneath the bed.
“What were you doing under there?” I asked, trying to keep a neutral expression even though internally I was thinking her behavior was more than peculiar. I mean—who strings necklaces under a bed?
She stood up, giving herself plenty of space between us. “Like fish, mers like to hide behind rocks. The bed is the next best thing. Gives us an advantage over predators.” Her blue eyes lit up. “You look stunning in that dress!”
I looked down at the teal fabric. “It’s actually pretty comfortable.”
“Makeover time.” Her voice lifted as she motioned me back into the bathroom. “Sit here and let me do my magic.”
I paused before the toilet where she wanted me to sit and swayed my head to the side slightly. “Really, I don’t usually wear makeup.”
“I know,” she responded in a disapproving voice. “You have all the right features, but even the most beautiful can be enhanced.”
I blew air out from between my lips from that absurd statement about my beauty. She was obviously just trying to make me feel good.
“Sit, sit, sit,” she insisted as she set up an elaborate makeup array on the counter.
Slightly annoyed I sat down.
In no time, she was hard at work on my face. She didn’t talk to me at all. But her nostrils were flared from the close proximity and it seemed like she was mentally talking herself out of eating me alive as she ran the blush brush over my cheeks. Her tongue rolled in her mouth at one point. I think she was trying to keep herself from salivating. Maybe she was closing off her taste buds.
Her face was flawless close up. She looked perfect like a porcelain princess doll. She even smelled beautiful—like a mix of sea breeze and flowers. Brigitte was the ideal mer, even prettier than a movie star or supermodel.
She took a thin pair of delicate, yet sharp scissors and began trimming my eyebrows. “Keep perfectly still,” she whispered so close to my face. Then she used the sharp point of the scissors to separate my eyelashes one at a time.
That scared me to see the blade tip coming right at my eye over and over again. I was as still as I could possibly be. I was even afraid to breathe. She stretched my eyelid slightly with one hand and separated the lashes with the other.
“You’re moving,” she reprimanded. “Here, look. This is all I am doing.” She took the scissors and started separating her eyelashes in the mirror to show me. “See—you don’t need to be afraid.”
But then suddenly, there was a knock at the bedroom door. It startled us and the tip of the blade slipped and nicked her eyebrow. “Ouch!” she blurted out. There was a little blood dripping down. She grabbed my bath towel that was hanging over the shower and blotted the wound on her eyebrow.
At once, she threw the towel to the ground. Her face was one of horror. “You bled on this,” she screamed. I remembered how I had nicked my leg with the razor earlier and used the towel to dry off. Some of my blood must have gotten on the towel.
To my utter shock, her eyes turned a demonic pale blue. Her face elongated and her teeth grew into incisors like that of a shark.
Terrified, I ran past her, out of the bathroom. I fumbled with the door handle, trying to unlock it. I couldn’t get it open. There was more knocking coming from the other side. A key turned in the lock and the door flew open.
I fell to the floor.
“Be careful,” Erma cackled as she pulled the key out of the lock. “I brought your change from the hundred your husband gave me.” She dangled the money out as I scurried to my feet.
“Run!” I said gasping for air. But right then Brigitte grabbed me by the shoulder and swung me around. Her face was back to normal, as beautiful as ever.
“Thank you,” Brigitte sang in her soft enchanting voice as she pulled the bills from her hand. “Such a lovely seaside home you have.”
The wrinkly middle aged w
oman’s eyes glazed over. She seemed entranced by Brigitte’s melodic voice. Her usual cranky demeanor lifted. “Well, ‘er, thanks,” she responded. “It was passed on to us through my family. All hunters. Generation after generation. Many tales about this ‘er forest and its game.” Her expression was surprisingly light and dreamy.
Brigitte’s hand grasped my shoulder firmly.
“Remember dinners are on the house,” the woman continued.
“We’ll keep that in mind,” Brigitte whispered gently as she slowly began shutting the door, carefully pushing Erma out of the room. And then the door shut.
“Please…” Brigitte turned to me now that the woman was gone. “…drop that towel down the laundry shoot for me.”
“Certainly,” I mumbled as I turned to walk back to the bathroom.
“I’m sorry about that, Grace. Your blood cells are potent. I was caught off guard. You were right to run.”
“I should have thought about that,” I responded, not really knowing what to say. “I guess we still have to get used to each other. Are skin cells a problem too?”
“All human cells attract the mer, but blood cells are the most potent. They vibrate with the highest life frequency. I should have known better than to grab your towel. It’s just that I haven’t had a lot of close contact with humans. For those reasons we tend to keep to ourselves.”
“Why do you and the other exchange students attend high school? Laurent said you are all over two hundred years old. I would think high school would bore you and the risk is greater for losing control around so many people.”
“We try to fit into society as best as we can. Visually we look like teenagers, so high school is the safest choice.”
“Why do you pretend to be exchange students?”
“Fewer questions are raised if we come in as exchange students from another country because people expect peculiarities from foreigners and we have trouble hiding ours. We only stay a few years and then leave before people notice that we never age.”
“You just move from city to city?”
“Yes.”
“That must get tedious never settling.”
“It’s the only way. There have been times that we’ve settled for longer periods of time on remote islands and lived off the land, but we prefer the luxuries of city life. We love movies, theater, concerts... The pleasures of modernization excite us.” She tilted her head to the side and looked at me. “Let me complete your makeover. I’m just about finished. Call me when the towel is down the chute.”
I nodded and headed toward the bathroom hesitantly. I was afraid of what had happened and didn’t want a repeat episode.
My adrenaline rush settled as I discarded the towel. I opened the big window set before the tub to air out the room. I was being paranoid, but I just didn’t want there to be any trace of my blood cells present in the air. Even though I knew the idea was illogical, I felt better taking a safeguard.
“You can come in,” I called out as I caught my reflection in the mirror. I was shocked at how good I looked with the makeup she had already applied. She really was a master artist.
She must have felt freer around me now that I had witnessed her in predatory form, because her movement reminded me even more of a sea creature now. Her arms moved in an almost flowing manner reminding me of the tentacles of an octopus as she glided into the bathroom.
Upon entrance, she caught me looking at myself. “Pleased aren’t you?” she asked with a knowing grin.
“You’re amazing at this.”
“All mers possess the talent.” Her arms rested at her sides now as she watched me with her head tilted to the side.
“You should work as a makeup artist for movies.”
She laughed charmingly. “Marine and I have done that, but it attracted so much attention. Two young girls with talents greater than Michael Angelo. We only do those sorts of jobs when we need to build up our finances. Right now we are in good standing.”
It was difficult for me to fathom having such talents. Most everything about me was ordinary. I don’t think I had ever excelled at anything aside from academics. And even with that, I wasn’t exceptional in any subject.
She finished up the makeover and styled my hair. After, I was even more shocked.
“Can’t believe you look better than most film actresses, can you?” She giggled enchantingly.
“I can’t believe the image in the mirror is me.” I wasn’t as beautiful as Brigitte or Marine, but with all the makeup, I looked better than I could have ever imagined.
“I can’t wait for Laurent to see you,” she sang.
I was surprised how natural I looked with all the makeup and styling. Her artistry was impressively subtle.
“When do you think he will be back?” My heart was aching at the mention of his name.
“He should have already returned by now.” She fluffed my hair in the mirror and fastened a string of pearls across my forehead and around the back of my head.
The new information concerned me. I felt a tug at my heart.
“We’ll leave a note and I’ll take you out for recreation,” she blurted out suddenly. I was guessing she sensed my melancholy.
Brigitte was growing on me, but I missed Laurent something awful. I was worried about him. What if something bad had happened to him? I tried to push that thought out of my mind. “Where will we go?” I tried to seem interested.
She tapped her chin in consideration. “There’s a big fair down south. It’ll be fun.”
I couldn’t help but sigh. What if Laurent returned while we were out? He would worry. Maybe he would even go looking for us and get into more trouble.
“Don’t worry,” she whispered. “Laurent’s fine. Though he’s out of range, I sense his well being.”
Now my sigh was of relief. I wondered how she could know such a thing. I got the feeling that being part of the same school connected them somehow. It didn’t seem like the time to ask about that.
She wrote a note for Laurent and we headed down the gloomy stairs into the stuffed wild animal room. The bear seemed to stare at me with wild eyes. I could never get used to this room. It was just way too creepy. Willy and Erma weren’t home, so we left without questioning, which was a relief.
Because of my mood, the fair wasn’t any fun at all. I just wanted the experience to end so we could get back to the bed and breakfast to see if Laurent had returned. Maybe he had killed Sabine. Then we could get back to school and normal life.
As we walked around the fair, I was surprised how many people stared at Brigitte and me. I had never received so much attention in my life. We must have been hit on by a hundred guys at the Ferris wheel, the duck shooting booth, the petting zoo, etc... And they weren’t only interested in Brigitte, but also me. Makeup and a beautiful dress can do wonders!
How odd. The attention made me uneasy and caused me to miss Laurent all the more. Boy, I had it bad for him. I was feeling really vulnerable and out of control.
It was dark by now. The crowds were dwindling. Most of the families with young children left for the night and now teenagers and childless couples were in rule. A mixture of carnival music, bells, and chatter sounded in the nighttime air.
We turned down a row of concession stand booths. The neon signs were flashing bright colors. The smell of popcorn and hotdogs started to irritate me.
I just wanted to go back to Willy and Erma’s place. What if Laurent had returned and we weren’t there? He would be all alone. Maybe he would return to the ocean and I would have to wait all over again.
I was surprised to see a little girl about seven-years-old ordering a cotton candy. I guess her parents didn’t mind keeping her up on a school night. She reminded me of Lucy with her pigtails. My heart ached. I had to let my parents and Agatha know I was okay.
We came upon a booth that sold fried seafood. “Oh!” Brigitte exclaimed suddenly. “Calamari!” Her arms sort of flowed in the air for a moment. “Maybe they’ll sell it to me
raw.” Her face lit up at the thought.
“You order that,” I said. “I’ll be right back. I have to go the bathroom so bad.”
“I’ll go with you,” she insisted.
“Oh, no. You better order before they close. Look.” I pointed at the hours written on a sign dangling over the window counter. “They’re closing in five minutes.”
She hesitated for a second. “Okay. Just hurry back.”
Moving Fast
“I will—don’t worry.” I rushed over to the restrooms near some art exhibits and made a collect call to Agatha’s cell from the public phone.
As I heard the ring, my body tensed up. I was trying to figure out what to say.
A woman’s voice came on the phone and asked Agatha if she would accept a collect call from Grace. Her voice quivered and then lifted, “Yes!”
“Hello? Grace?” Agatha asked excitedly.
I could picture her adorable face and frizzy hair in my mind. “Agatha,” I responded in a rush.
“Is it you?” Her voice sounded shocked and thrilled at the same time.
“Yeah, it’s me.” I held the receiver tightly.
“Where are you? We’ve been so worried.” I sensed the panic in her voice now.
“Tell my parents and Lucy that I love them and that I’m fine. I can’t explain now, but I can’t come home.”
“What?” she exclaimed. “Where are you? It sounds like you are at a party.”
“I love you Agatha. Please don’t worry about me. I’m in good hands. And please tell the police that Laurent didn’t kidnap me. I left of my own freewill.”
“Is Laurent with you?” she asked in a panic, eager to get more information.
Right then I saw a manicured finger press the lever on the payphone to hang it up. My body froze as I turned to see Brigitte.
“You should know better!” Her soft voice was harsh as she turned me around.
“I’m sorry. I just called Agatha. I wanted to clear Laurent’s name with the police,” I explained.
Her head was shaking. She looked really mad. “You could get all of us killed instead, Agatha included. Did you tell her where we are staying?”
Bluehour (A Watermagic Novel) Page 18