Blueisland (Watermagic Series, #4) (12 page)

I’d just ditch the prick once I was out of the jungle
and in a safer place. The shore would be much more secure and I could meet up with Savannah. She was probably sick over not knowing where I went. We really needed to talk and sort this mind boggling crap out.

Marcel broke through the l
ast of the trees and set me on my butt on the sand at the edge of the jungle. At least this time he didn’t drop me. I looked up at his chiseled, perfect form. His long unruly hair cascaded down his back like a violent waterfall, but his blue eyes were softer now as he gazed at me through heavy black lashes. That confused my senses. “What?” I asked in complete irritation.

The moonlight was illuminating his attractive features
and the tribal design tattoo on his shoulder. “Nothing,” he said with an unreadable expression on his face though his tone seemed almost teasing. I wasn’t sure. Then he looked away at the beach.

Still agitated and a bit confused
, I followed his line of vision. From a distance and past the wreckage on the shore and the flaming fire pit Savannah and I had built, I observed that several of my classmates were out in the ocean. Goose bumps lifted on my back, arms and down my legs. What were those morons thinking after what had happened with Lisa and Jessica? Did they even know they were dead? Because I had fainted under water, I really didn’t know what my classmates reactions were to their gruesome deaths or if they even knew what had happened for that matter.

Standing up,
I heard overlapping voices and as I looked closer, I realized my classmates and the school narc got that boat they were building into the water. That’s what they were doing. Logan, Andrew, Jeff, and Jason were waist deep in the ocean pushing the makeshift raft or whatever you could call that wreck of bamboo and tree limbs out.

Emily, Jake, and some
gorgeous adult woman I didn’t recognize were on top with Tally, the injured girl who had pieces of metal in her leg. They seemed to be all working together. Jake was trying to set the sail, but it wasn’t doing well as there wasn’t much of a wind and it was made of torn fabric pieces, while Emily was comforting Tally and an adult woman was sitting on the far edge of the raft looking away, her fingernails digging into the sides of the wood.

“You might want to get them out of the water,” Marcel said as he leaned against a palm tree. He looked way too comfortable
like he didn’t have a care in the world.

“Why don’t you help me?” I snapped at him.

He cocked a dark brow. “I don’t think you want that.” A wicked grin lifted on his bewitching face while his eyes flamed with some unfathomable emotion.

Did every word out of his mouth have to be so impossible to bear?
A shiver ran through me. I knew I didn’t have a chance getting all those people out of the water by myself. Guys from my school just weren’t into taking orders from girls. They wouldn’t let me take the others without a fight. I presumed that their main concern was getting Tally to a hospital because her injuries were probably infected by now. She would probably die without the proper medical help.

I searched Marcel’s eyes. He was examining his long fingers with his back still leaning languorously against the palm tree.
“Are you going to tell me what is going on?” I finally said to Marcel. Part of me wanted to tear his face off with my fingernails. Uncaring, arrogant bastard.

“That depends,
Jewel Razzen.”

Oh, brother.
“On what?” Hearing my name on his lips frustrated me way too much. I tried to read that annoying gleam in his eyes, but I couldn’t figure out what he was getting at.

“
On you.” Though his voice seemed surprisingly warm and maybe even a little amused, his expression looked detached. I get the feeling that he was not that interested in talking to me, but that I was just being tolerated, possibly even toyed with. What a dick.

I put my hands on my hips. “If you don’t help me get our classmates out of the ocean, those mer-monsters will kill them.”

He chuckled wryly. “Is that what you call them?”

I jutted my chin out slightly and widened my eyes in sarcasm. “Maybe you want to enlighten me?”
My pulse was racing now—I just hoped there wasn’t a blood bath before our eyes. Then my stomach growled much too loudly. I was hungry again.

The smile
widened on his face, his teeth as white and perfect as a model in a toothpaste ad, but his eyes could not hide a certain hint of worry now. “That’s the Trident Court—the Ancients.”

I threw my hands in the air. “The Trident what?”
Was he talking about bubble gum? My voice lifted in exasperation.

He stretched his arms up and placed his hands behind his head, still relaxing against the palm tree.
I could tell he was suppressing laughter. “You are a mer now,” he said, looking at me. “And the Ancients are your masters.” His lyrical voice was surprisingly gentle and for some idiotic reason I found my cheeks burning.

“So that’s what you call what I have transformed into?” I said that as more of a statement than a question as I started to pace back and forth glancing from him to the ocean. Before letting him answer, I asked in an accusatory tone, “Is that what you are?”

His hands fell to his sides and he straightened up. “Uh…” he paused crossing his arms over his chest. “Pretty much.” He had an ironic tone to his voice.

“Pretty much?” I accused. “Either you are or you aren’t.”

A ghost of a grin danced on his lips. “My interests are mixed.” His hands fell to his sides.

Wha
t is that supposed to mean? He was staring at me now and I felt perplexed by his unwavering gaze. “What are you?”

His head tilted
to the side. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“Very funny,” I respond
ed sarcastically.

He shook
his head. “It’s very simple, Jewel…” His long fingers ran through his hair.

I felt
more of those electric sensations when he said my name. Usually my first name just made me feel stupid, but for some frustrating reason, when he said it, it sounded almost beautiful. It must be that voice of his.

“
I’m a mer like you,” he continued, waking me out of my unexpected reverie. “We are different than the Ancients because our legs do not transform into tails. The Trident court calls us newbies because we were born as human beings and were converted into mers.”

I tried to pacify my whirling mind.
“Were the Ancients, as you call them, born mers?”

He crossed
his hands over his bare chest and leaned back against the tree. “That’s right.”

I found it hard to look at him because of the confusing way it made me feel and I felt compelled to keep a watch on my classmates in the ocean even though I kn
ew I couldn’t save them if the Ancients showed up. “Uh…” I stuttered for a second, glancing at Marcel as he continued to watch me with one of his thumbs hooked in the waistband of his sweat pants that hung at his hips, while he held his chin with his other hand and trailed his index finger across his distracting lips. Involuntarily, I shook my head, feeling rather dazed. He chuckled which just pissed me off further.

“Uh, what?” He asked
, suppressing that bothersome smile.

Tossing my long, unmanageable hair off my shoulder, I glared at him.
“I’m glad you find me so entertaining,” I complained, my voice sarcastic.

“I do.” He paused for a minute as if contemplating something.

“Was it entertaining when you killed Donny?” I implored, not really wanting to know.

His eyebrows knitted together. “I didn’t kill him…” My eyes widened at that. “I just wanted to,” he continued as he pushed away from the palm tree.

“Donny could still be alive?” I asked anxiously. A feeling of joy rushed through my body.

His voice was tinged wit
h the slightest bit of sarcasm. “Could be,” he said. At that, his eyes narrowed and he headed out onto the beach. He looked angry. I got the feeling that the mere mention of Donny inflamed him. He couldn’t possibly know that we got together on the yacht. Nobody knew about that. And suppose somehow he did know. Why would he care?

I looked over at him traipsing through the dark shadows of the night.
Where was he going? Oh, it didn’t matter—maybe Donny had survived. He could be somewhere on the island. But even with the great news, my mind immediately drifted back to Marcel. I wanted to kick myself for that, but I just couldn’t help my uncontrollable fascination. Apparently, I wasn’t the only captivated one. Three freshmen girls I recognized from school, but didn’t know their names were peeking out of a makeshift tent at him from a few yards away.

He was digging around in people’s stuff now. Some of our classmates had arranged in crates the supplies that had washed up to shore.
Apparently, they were trying to get organized and maybe ration out provisions. Marcel pulled out a couple of packs of cigarettes and stuffed them in his pockets of his sweat pants. He proceeded to light one of the smokes in the jumping flames of the fire pit.

I hated smoking. But worse than that he stole those and that wasn’t cool. Then he walked back over and took out a knife
in a holster from one of the crates and fastened it around his hips. I shook my head. That guy was unbelievable. Some nerve taking things that weren’t his. I bet if Logan found out he would have at him. Though I got the feeling Marcel was a much more experienced fighter. Even though he had that teasing way about him, something about his eyes and the way he ground his teeth when he didn’t think anyone was watching him seemed deadly like it would be foolish to cross him. And, of course, there was that thing with the snake.

Well, Marcel proceeded to unscrew the top of a vodka bottle
that he retrieved from another crate. Was that mine? My eyes lit up. The bastard was stealing from me. I put my hands on my hips, utterly annoyed, but he looked up at me with a smirk on his impeccable face and called out across the beach where I stood at the edge of the jungle, “Jewel Razzen, looks like it is your lucky night.” He held up the bottle and taunted me with it. Was he playing me? The snake. And how did he know that was my booze?

I waltzed over and grabbed the bottle from him waving away the smoke wading between us
with my other hand. “So hot, you’re smokin’,” he teased.

“Y
ou’re the one with the cancer stick,” I said. Even if he was a jerk, maybe I wouldn’t hate him as much now that he didn’t kill Donny. I unscrewed the bottle and took a swig not because I wanted to, but just to take ownership. Maybe it would curb my growing appetite.

He laughed a little hardier now as he watched me.
“We can’t die from illness, Jewel,” he murmured. “Cigarettes, whisky—sky’s the limit. “You might catch a high, but there are no physical ramifications.”

That sounded interesting
, but I wasn’t going to let on that I was intrigued and maybe even a little curious about the possibilities. “Want some?” I asked him, holding up the bottle.

“Only if you
pour it in my mouth.” He winked. “With your mouth.”

I crinkled my nose. “In your dreams, lover boy.
” But in truth his words set my body on fire. Was he flirting with me? There was way too much electricity between us now. This couldn’t be happening. There was no way a guy like Marcel could be interested in me. He probably flirted with everyone just to keep his options open.

He chuckled at the “lover boy” statement
and took the bottle away from me, screwing back on the top, and setting it on the sand.

“You’re a thief,” I shot at him. “Stealing cigarettes and a knife from the others.”

A crease formed between his wicked eyebrows. “You can’t steal what’s yours, sweet cheeks.” His voice was low and insinuating as his blue eyes narrowed down on me.

I scoffed. “What do you mean they are yours? I saw you take them from these boxes.”

At that, his eyes turned a little bloodshot as he glanced down at the sand and away down the beach. I was surprised that he actually seemed a little hurt. After a moment, he pulled the pack of cigarettes out of his sweats pocket and slapped it in my hand. “Now they’re yours,” he mumbled.

I looked down and saw the company name on the pack in big red letters with a bull’s eye around them. “Paradis Enterprises” the logo said. “What the hell?” I asked looking up at his unreadable face. “You brought these on the yacht?”

He stared at me. “Brought a lot more than that.”

I gulped, not sure what exactly he was getting at.
“And the knife?” I asked in an accusatory voice, trying stupidly to save face.

He
slid the knife out of holster and flipped it in a 360 in the air before him and caught it. At that, he preceded to hand it to me.

Surprised at his little stunt
, I took it by the handle and shrugged, widening my eyes mockingly.

The slightest bit of a smile tugged at his lips as he motioned at it with his chin.

“I looked at the engraving on the handle and saw that carved in the side in gold was “Paradise Enterprises.”

Holy crap! My nose scrunched up. Who is this guy?