Evergreen (Mer Tales, Book 2) (16 page)

:::

ASH

Tuesday evening, April 19
^th

I limped into the house with a missing shoe and a tender foot. Somewhere between Callahan’s suggestion and seeing Alaster on the porch, I’d made a decision. I’d pretend Fin and I were broken up for four short days of his drive, and turn my focus to convince Colin and Alaster to leave Tahoe. Then Fin could persuade my family and everything could return to normal.

Pleased, I headed for the stairs. Mom and Dad emerged from the kitchen and stood side-by-side, both with arms folded over their chests.

“We need to talk.” Dad held the dreaded bill.

“Sorry.” I lowered my head. “I’ll pay you back.”

Mom didn’t budge for a minute, her lips drawn in a line. “But what about what you threatened earlier?”

“I’ve had time to think and you’re right. My relationship has been distracting me from school and the Olympics. If Fin’s right for me, he’ll be there afterward. So, to concentrate, I’m swearing off all boys.”

Mom inhaled a cleansing breath and her forehead softened. “I’m glad you’re finally listening to reason. It’s for the best.” Her eyes swept over me. “What happened to you?”

I wanted to tell the truth and throw Colin under the bus, but they’d never believe me, not with the mojo hanging on.

“I fell.”

“Outside?” she asked, softly. “Oh, honey. You’re bleeding. Where’s your shoe?”

Before I knew it, she’d ushered me to the bathroom and washed the sand out of my knees. I cried as she gently scrubbed, but not because of the pain.

“It’ll be okay, Ash,” she said. “I know this is so hard. You’re making the right decision.”

“I know, Mom.”

Though Fin would erase everyone else’s memories once he arrived, I wished he could wipe mine after what happened. I could still feel Colin’s grimy hands on me and I never wanted to see him again. Why were all the other Natatorian men so nasty? No wonder Tatchi didn’t want anything to do with that world. What if choosing to become a mermaid was a mistake? What would my life really be like living under Natatorian law? Was Fin telling the entire truth?

:::

After dinner, I headed to my room to check my email again. Fin still hadn’t replied. Was he on the road yet? A soft rapping on my door broke my anxious thoughts.

“Ash?” Mom came into my room. I typed on my keyboard as if I was working on homework.

“Yeah?”

She handed me my phone. “I didn’t shut it off. With everything, I think you need it for emergencies. But I’m monitoring your calls and texts, just so you know….”

I looked at my hands and played with the Band-Aid on my finger. “You don’t have to worry. I’m not going to call him,”
at least not on that phone
. Luckily Fin’s cell number was still in the Lake Tahoe area code.

“Well… I know it’s hard, but really it’s for the best.”

For now.

“And, don’t worry about Colin. You’re right. Now isn’t the time for boys.”

My head popped up. “Really?”

“Of course.” Mom smiled warmly. “After you puked on him last night, I don’t think we’ll be seeing him anytime soon, anyway.”

I tried not to smirk as visions of peas bouncing off his khakis came to mind. Too bad mermen didn’t turn into fish when they came into contact with liquid.

“Thanks,” I said, genuinely surprised. Maybe the mojo didn’t last forever.

I looked out the window. All the lights were on in Fin’s house. Colin apparently didn’t bite on my leak about the Helton’s being in Maine. Maybe they were leaving tomorrow. If not, phase two of Operation Fish and C.H.I.P.’s (Clean House of the Idiot Piranhas) was about to be executed in the form of an ambush of letters and phone calls. Then they’d be stupid not to leave.

Hours passed as I waited in the dark with my bedroom door cracked. A little after midnight my parents finally shut off their light and went to sleep. I tiptoed downstairs and took the cordless off the base. Blood pounded in my ears as the call connected, then rolled directly over to voicemail.

Crap.

“Fin, it’s Ash. I don’t know where you are, but I’m worried. You promised to email me today, and now I don’t know if you’ve left or not. I really hope I’m worrying for nothing again. I miss you and can’t wait to see you. Don’t call me back. My parents are on high alert and blame you for this rebellious phase I’m going through. I think mer mojo is the only way to get me out of being grounded. I can’t wait ‘til you’re here and we don’t ever have to be apart again. I love you. Goodnight.”

As I hung up, a fat tear tricked down my cheek.

:::

FIN

Thursday afternoon, April 21
^st

My body shifted from side to side, sloshing around in warm liquid. In the background, a girl belted out lyrics to some annoying country song about a red Solo cup.

I moaned, my temples throbbing with each blood-filled beat. I peeled my eyes open. Out the windshield grassy fields waved at me.

“Where am I?” My tongue lolled around in my mouth as if it weren’t attached.

“There you are, sleepy head,” Galadriel crowed. “Nice of you to finally wake up.”

Wake up?
I sat upright in the pool, my legs submerged in only a few inches of water. My board shorts hung from my waist like a skirt. I fastened them up at the crotch with weak fingers.

“What did you do to me?”

“Nothing you didn’t want done.” She shot me a wicked gleam. “Just kidding. I don’t take advantage of the unconscious.”

What?
I ran my tongue over my teeth—film covered them. She’d used octopus ink. That’s the only thing that would knock a merman out cold like that.

“You poisoned me?”

“No-o-o. I warned you to stay away and—Ferd. He’s just so big; he needed a lot more. But it’s okay and now you’re fine. Look. I stuck to our plans.”

Our plans?

“Where are we?”

“Um… the middle of Texas somewhere. I’ll see a sign soon.” Her big smile disconcerted me. “I really like this driving thing, though. You were right. It’s so much fun.” She honked the horn and waved at a passing trucker.

I held my head still to try to keep my brain from swimming in my skull. She cranked the radio louder and some hick with a heavy twang sang about losing his boots, his truck, and his dog.

“Where’d you learn to drive?” I asked over the racket.

“I found a manual in there.” She pointed to the glove box. “At first I wasn’t sure where to go, but the people at the gas station were so nice and helpful. They gave me this. I follow along like it says and drive.” A map covered the passenger seat complete with pink lines and notes.

“You don’t have a license.” I rolled out of the pool and crawled on all fours. My body squished into the carpet. “And there’s water everywhere.”

“Sorry. It’s a pain in the anal fin to refill that thing.”

Over her shoulder, I watched the RV drift into oncoming traffic.

“Eyes on the road!”

A truck honked. She screamed and swerved, over correcting. I grabbed onto the countertop for dear life as water sloshed all over the inside of the RV.

“I am!” she squealed. “Geez. Stop making me nervous.”

My bag rolled over, smacking the opposite wall with an odd thump. A water stain ringed the edge.

“Where’s my phone?”

“What phone?”

I limped over and snatched up the bag. Water dripped off the canvas. I tugged the zipper open and found soggy books in between my wet clothes. The new phone sat in the middle of the slushy soup. The cover was fogged up with trapped water.

I cussed in Natatorian. “Galadriel!”

“Now what?”

I held up the dripping contraption.

She shrugged. “Sorry?”

I slumped down on the only chair and emptied the contents of my duffle bag on the table, hoping for one dry shirt, finding nothing. “What day is it?”

“Thursday.”

My body jolted, rocketing my head with pain. “Thursday?”

“Yup.”

Galadriel sighed and leaned her head back, producing sunglasses from her purse. As she sang along, she applied lip gloss. Somehow she’d morphed into a human girl overnight. Where or how she’d bought all her new trinkets, I was afraid to ask.

My pulse raced as I tried the phone anyway. Nothing worked. Ash had to be sick with worry.

“We have to stop in the next town. I need to make a call and get a new phone.”

“Good, ‘cause I gotta pee.”

My stomach growled at the same time.

Galadriel cruised the RV off at the next exit and pulled into a mini mart parking lot, all with perfect execution. But the payphone was nothing but an empty housing of multicolored wires. Galadriel skipped inside the store and came out a few minutes later with a Big Gulp and a bag of Doritos. According to the map, we were outside of Dallas.

“I thought you had to use the restroom.”

“I did,” she said with a smile. “I was hungry.”

“That stuff will kill you.” I rummaged through the cabinets and found an apple and a box of Wheat Thins.

She slurped on the straw and twirled her glasses between her fingers. “The next town is about fifty miles away. That’s what the guy inside said. There you can get a new phone.”

Crap.
I looked off to the vast endless fields. “I need to call Ash now.”

“Then persuade someone to use their phone.”

I glared. “I can’t do that.”

“Why? What’s the problem?”

Next to the RV, a family in a mini van pulled up. A guy got out and started the pump on the gas, and then went inside the mini mart. Two little girls, maybe ages four and six looked out the windows at us. Galadriel made a face and blew raspberries. They responded and stuck out their tongues. A woman, probably their mother, got out of the passenger side and threw away some trash.

This would be my chance.

I stepped out of the RV with shaking legs and approached her.

“Um, excuse me, miss?” I asked, still keeping my distance.

She looked at me skeptically, eyeing my naked chest and bare feet. “I don’t have any money.”

“No.” I waved my hand. “I don’t need any money. I actually was wondering—” I chickened out. “Never mind.”

Galadriel appeared and edged me forward. “My friend here needs to use your phone. For a quick call.”

The woman furrowed her eyebrows. “I can’t help you. I’m sorry.”

Galadriel whispered in my ear. “Sing already.”

“No.” I turned around. “I’m done. Let’s go.”

Galadriel began to squeal her siren scream.

I yanked her by the arm and shoved her inside the RV as people came outside with their hands over their ears and watched in shock. I crawled into the driver’s seat and threw the RV into DRIVE, speeding out of the lot.

“What in Hades do you think you’re doing?”

“What am I doing?” she reiterated with a laugh. “One day you’re going to fall off your high seahorse and hurt something.”

“Don’t ever do that again, do you hear me?”

She folded up the map and slid into the passenger seat with her chips. “You’re such a baby.”

“I bet you didn’t even pay for that, did you?” I pointed to her food.

She cocked her head to the side. “Well—what’s it to them anyway?”

I growled and merged onto the highway. “If you’d have drained the pool, this wouldn’t have happened. I can’t believe you octopus inked me. Ugh.” I grabbed my head again.

“If you would have listened to me, the octopus ink wouldn’t have knocked you out. Actually, everything was going great while you were unconscious.” The side of her lip turned up and she pulled out the vial filled with black liquid.

“Put that away!”

She smirked, then jumped up and came back with a pair of sunglasses and the phone. “Here, this will help.”

She slid them onto my face and I accepted in desperation. Then she rolled down her window and held the phone outside.

“What are you going to do?” I yelled.

“Get your scales out of a bunch. I’m going to air it out.”

It took all my energy to keep the RV on the road and not pull over and kick her out. “If you ever siren scream again, I’m not taking you to Tahoe. Do you hear me?”

“Yes, Daddy.” She stuck out her tongue.

I pressed the gas pedal to the floor. The RV barely crept over 72 miles per hour. Time kept me from Ash yet again. She had to be freaking out.

Then a new problem hit me square in the face. I’d be arriving with Galadriel who would say and do just about anything to annoy me. What if Jax wasn’t in Tahoe anywhere; then what would I do with her? But more important, how would I explain her—a practical twin—to Ash?