working the knuckles. “Will you talk to Pavati for me? See how things stand between us?”
I returned my gaze to the lake. “Yeah. Yeah, I’ll do that. Besides … there’s something I want to talk to her about, too.”
LILY
I didn’t have to worry about an argument with Gabby over her theory that someone had killed Jack with an ancient artifact. When I stared at her openmouthed, without an admission, she practically crawled over me to get out of the booth, then stormed out of the restaurant.
After she left, I remained in the booth for a few more minutes, trying to comprehend what Gabby’s possession of the dagger might mean. I couldn’t believe Calder would have done something so careless as to leave the dagger on Jack’s boat, but the way I left him that day, well, it was possible he hadn’t been thinking clearly.
Actually, clear thoughts were hard to come by these days. I needed the water. I needed to swim. I could work out what to do about Gabby, if only I had a chance to clear my mind.
I raced home and skidded the car into the driveway, kicking up dust and gravel. The late-afternoon air evaporated the beads of nervous sweat from my face and neck as I ran to the lake, pulled off my leg warmers, and waded in. Technically I was supposed to wait until Friday, but I couldn’t. I just couldn’t.
I needed the calm the water would bring—even if I had to endure the back-to-human transformation earlier than planned. Plus, it would be nice to be alone. Funny—I’d swumalone plenty before my first transformation, back when Calder and Dad were gone on their perpetual training days, but never again. Calder was ever-vigilant since I’d made the change, even before Maris and Pavati came back. It was like he was watching for me to have a nervous breakdown or something. It didn’t matter how many times I told him how right I felt when I was in the water, how happy I was to be fully me, the me I was born to be. All he could ever see was the pain that followed.
Besides the beauty of being in my mermaid form, the fantastic speed, or even the pain, the hardest thing to get used to was the lack of privacy. Every Friday I was sometimes entertained, but mostly irritated, by the cacophony of thoughts that flooded Dad’s and Calder’s minds. Calder’s thoughts could be downright lustful, though he’d try to catch himself before the shocking images drifted on the current toward me or, God forbid, Dad, who (no surprise) became quite the chaperone.
Now that the ice had melted, I’d be privy to Maris’s and Pavati’s thoughts, too—just as I had been last summer. We were family, whether Calder liked it or not. As he’d once explained, we were beads on a bracelet—strung together—sometimes sliding together, sometimes sliding apart. Despite the apparent improvement in mer-relations, Calder warned me to stay clear—that Maris and Pavati were unpredictable at best, dangerous at worst. I knew that, but my need to swim trumped any risk they might pose.
I walked toward the privacy of the willow tree—I could almost smell the charred trunk from my dream—and droppedmy clothes onto its fallen branch that reached twenty feet across the shallows. Standing naked amid the budding foliage, I held my arms out wide, reveling in the wind, the lake air tingling my nose, and the sunlight and shadow dappling my skin.
I walked in—waist deep—and made a shallow dive. The explosion of pent-up energy was nearly instantaneous. How I wished the transformation back to legs could be as quick. I relaxed into my new form and swam straight north toward Red Cliff.
I reached forward with both arms and pulled myself through the water, my raspberry-pink tail undulating rhythmically behind me, pushing me. I wasn’t in a hurry. I wasn’t going anywhere special.
I squinted through the water, unable to navigate by sight and smell like Calder did. But I could hear just as well, and there was an unexpected vibration in the water.
I reached
I returned my gaze to the lake. “Yeah. Yeah, I’ll do that. Besides … there’s something I want to talk to her about, too.”
LILY
I didn’t have to worry about an argument with Gabby over her theory that someone had killed Jack with an ancient artifact. When I stared at her openmouthed, without an admission, she practically crawled over me to get out of the booth, then stormed out of the restaurant.
After she left, I remained in the booth for a few more minutes, trying to comprehend what Gabby’s possession of the dagger might mean. I couldn’t believe Calder would have done something so careless as to leave the dagger on Jack’s boat, but the way I left him that day, well, it was possible he hadn’t been thinking clearly.
Actually, clear thoughts were hard to come by these days. I needed the water. I needed to swim. I could work out what to do about Gabby, if only I had a chance to clear my mind.
I raced home and skidded the car into the driveway, kicking up dust and gravel. The late-afternoon air evaporated the beads of nervous sweat from my face and neck as I ran to the lake, pulled off my leg warmers, and waded in. Technically I was supposed to wait until Friday, but I couldn’t. I just couldn’t.
I needed the calm the water would bring—even if I had to endure the back-to-human transformation earlier than planned. Plus, it would be nice to be alone. Funny—I’d swumalone plenty before my first transformation, back when Calder and Dad were gone on their perpetual training days, but never again. Calder was ever-vigilant since I’d made the change, even before Maris and Pavati came back. It was like he was watching for me to have a nervous breakdown or something. It didn’t matter how many times I told him how right I felt when I was in the water, how happy I was to be fully me, the me I was born to be. All he could ever see was the pain that followed.
Besides the beauty of being in my mermaid form, the fantastic speed, or even the pain, the hardest thing to get used to was the lack of privacy. Every Friday I was sometimes entertained, but mostly irritated, by the cacophony of thoughts that flooded Dad’s and Calder’s minds. Calder’s thoughts could be downright lustful, though he’d try to catch himself before the shocking images drifted on the current toward me or, God forbid, Dad, who (no surprise) became quite the chaperone.
Now that the ice had melted, I’d be privy to Maris’s and Pavati’s thoughts, too—just as I had been last summer. We were family, whether Calder liked it or not. As he’d once explained, we were beads on a bracelet—strung together—sometimes sliding together, sometimes sliding apart. Despite the apparent improvement in mer-relations, Calder warned me to stay clear—that Maris and Pavati were unpredictable at best, dangerous at worst. I knew that, but my need to swim trumped any risk they might pose.
I walked toward the privacy of the willow tree—I could almost smell the charred trunk from my dream—and droppedmy clothes onto its fallen branch that reached twenty feet across the shallows. Standing naked amid the budding foliage, I held my arms out wide, reveling in the wind, the lake air tingling my nose, and the sunlight and shadow dappling my skin.
I walked in—waist deep—and made a shallow dive. The explosion of pent-up energy was nearly instantaneous. How I wished the transformation back to legs could be as quick. I relaxed into my new form and swam straight north toward Red Cliff.
I reached forward with both arms and pulled myself through the water, my raspberry-pink tail undulating rhythmically behind me, pushing me. I wasn’t in a hurry. I wasn’t going anywhere special.
I squinted through the water, unable to navigate by sight and smell like Calder did. But I could hear just as well, and there was an unexpected vibration in the water.
I reached
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