The Equinox (7 page)

Alec hovers over me, blocking the sun from
my eyes.

“Go ahead,” I assure him. “I’ll join you
in a few minutes.”

He frowns. “You’re not going to be
spending the day working on your color are you?”

The way he says
working on your color
makes me giggle. I shake my head.

“Good.”

“Just five minutes, I promise!” I throw
my sundress at him.

“Okay. If you aren’t tearing down that slide
in five minutes then I’m coming after you.” His threat is cute, but not scary
enough to do much good.

“You know Alec, it’s a good thing for you
that I
want
to go down that slide. I
don’t take orders from you,” I tease as he runs toward the water and plunges
into the spring.

Perfect timing. Arabella plops down
beside me and I squint at her. “You should wear sunscreen,” she tells me. “But
not the toxic-to-the-environment kind. Here.” She shoves a green tube toward me
and I scoff at the brand label.

“Seriously, Arabella?
Goddess
Garden? Is this really a brand?”
I’m laughing as I lather the lotion all over my body. She is smiling too, understanding
the unintended joke—or maybe it was intended after all. I’m not sure I
will ever have the nerve to call myself a goddess, even if I am a direct
descendant of one. It just seems so ostentatious.

She offers to rub the lotion into my back
and I let her, wondering how after only one meeting I feel as if I’ve known
Arabella forever.

“So I made it,” I say with a lift of my
arms.

Her eyes are bright and lively. “We
expected you. Don’t be mad but we caught sight of your boyfriend last night and
eavesdropped.”

My mouth drops in shock. “Arabella!” But
then I laugh. Of course she finds Alec gorgeous—he is.

Her amusement is written all over her
face. “Sorry, but I’m glad we did. Now we know he’s off limits.” She waves a
hand in the air, signaling a change in conversation. “Are any of your friends like
us?”

Like
us
.
What an interesting way to categorize us. I shake my head. “No, but
Trisha—the blonde—she will be. Her birthday is at the end of the
month.”

Arabella leans back into Alec’s chair. “I
bet it’s nice getting out of that town for a bit.”

My face scrunches at her statement. I’m
not sure what she means. “I like Apollo Beach.” I am defensive, without meaning
to be. “It’s not so bad,” I try again, this time with less resistance.

“Even with the threat of the Equinox?”
Oh, that’s what she meant.

I don’t know what to say to that. I shrug
my shoulders but the question doesn’t leave me. I decide to be honest. “I’m not
really sure what to make of all that. No one tells me much. Rose likes for me
to find things out on my own—it’s frustrating.”

Arabella makes a noise that sounds like a
groan. “Rose reminds me of my father. Sometimes I wish he didn’t put me in the
middle of everything. Rose is probably just trying to do you a favor.”

Of course she’s on Rose’s side. “Well, I
don’t agree. The last time she kept something from me it almost killed me.”
Even as I say this I’m not sure this is even true, but it’s all I have to make
Rose feel like maybe she should be more honest with me. It could be true. If I
had known that a real threat like the Equinox existed, I could have watched for
the signs—whatever the signs were.”

I turn to face Arabella. She’s nodding in
agreement. I feel relieved though I’m not sure why I care what Arabella thinks.

“If I were you,” she says, “I’d care too.
I can’t imagine being the target of the Equinox.” She shakes her head, hair
swishing around her face and landing perfectly over her shoulder.

I notice now that Arabella uses subtle
touches of magic in everything that she does. In the way she moves her hair,
the way she walks, speaks – how natural it must all come to her. Has she
lived like this her whole life—with a tail? With magic?

“What do you mean, I’m a target?” I ask.

Arabella looks around now, like someone might
be listening in on our conversation. “You’re a direct descendant. Direct
descendants attract the Equinox. It’s like blood to a shark—especially
when you expose yourself. I heard that you used your magic to create a wave in
front of all your friends.”

“But no one actually knew it was me that
created that wave,” I argue.

She shakes her head in agreement. “Right,
to a normal person, that wave was created by Mother Nature, but you played
right into the Equinox’s trap. He knows exactly
who
you are now, and they want you to know it. That’s why he left
his mark.”

I shudder. The disgusting symbol of the
Equinox is something I never want to lay eyes on again. My memory flashes back
to the Enchanters meeting yesterday when Rose projected the image of the
infinity serpent.

What Arabella is saying is exactly what
Rose mentioned on the night of the fire. I spent a good week waiting for the
Equinox to strike me after that night; to come after me and kill me, but that
never happened.

“If the Equinox knows who I am then why hasn’t
he come after me by now? Doesn’t he know he has the advantage?”

“It depends.” It’s obvious Arabella knows
a lot more than I do about all of this. She’s been clued in by someone—probably
her father—or possibly Rose. I decide not to ask her. I don’t have much
time before Alec comes after me and I want to know what Arabella needs to say.

“Depends on what?” I ask exasperated. Everyone
makes me work so hard for answers.

“A lot of things,” Arabella shrugs. “The
Equinox likes to plan his attack.”

I tremble at the thought of whoever it
is, mapping out my death in a dark room, covered with maps and photos of me,
‘x’d out in red marker.

“They like to make a scene,” she says.

I can agree with that. They definitely
made a scene with the bonfire.

“And we could be dealing with more than
one Equinox here—we could be dealing with the dark one—Erebus.”

Her words force me to sit up in my chair.
“What?” My blood doesn’t run cold because that’s impossible, but if it could,
it most certainly would in this moment. Even when Rose told us about the
disaster a decade ago, I didn’t stop to think that maybe it was the god of
darkness behind the fire.

Arabella sits up too, slowly. She nods
her head at me, silky red hair following her head in perfect movements. “That’s
what I wanted to tell you,” she lowers her voice. “I tried to talk to Rose
about this but she refuses to have the conversation. It’s like she knows the
threat is out there, but she’s terrified to deal with it. She needs you,
whether she knows it or not. Erebus is like a host of a disease—and he’s capable
of much more evil than creating a wild bonfire. The Elders are the only ones
who know more than I do but they like to keep it a secret because they don’t
want us to panic and migrate to a new settlement. You need to see if Rose will
come forward with the information. It’s important for us to understand who—or
what, is out there.”

I’m still taking in the new information
as Arabella speaks again.

“Kat. The Equinox is in Apollo Beach and
he knows who you are—and you probably know him too.”

It’s a beautiful day at the spring and
I’m hanging out with my friends, yet I’m not enjoying myself. Instead, I’m
worrying about the evil threat of the Equinox and all that I still don’t know.

After Arabella disappears I do my best to
get myself together and push thoughts of the Equinox away. I promised Arabella
I would talk to Rose about it, but for now the thoughts of the Equinox and
his—their—evil schemes, will just have to wait. There’s nothing I
can do about it in Weeki Wachee.

I approach the water to find Alec and
Ava, who are just a few feet from the others, talking animatedly about
something. Ava appears to be pleading with Alec as he tensely looks away. The
scene nags at me, but before I let the jealousy take over I plaster a smile on
my face, concealing the effect of the knots that twist in my stomach.

Alec sees me and gestures toward the
slide. I wave for him to join me and he smiles before swimming to the stairs. I
feel a prickle of excitement at the thought of him choosing me over Ava. Not
that it’s a competition. We’re all just friends—right?

He leads us halfway up the stairs to where
the line starts. “Wait until you try this, it’s such a rush.”

I smile at him, grateful for his
distraction from my reality—mermaids and the Equinox.

“So you and Ava are getting along better
now.” I choose my words carefully to avoid revealing any feelings of jealousy.

He doesn’t look at me but shrugs his
shoulders. “She’s okay. Been through a lot. Her and Iris are a bit on the outs
right now, so I feel bad for her.”

I tilt my head. The subtle move must
catch his eye because they land on mine making the flutters awaken inside me. “I
hope Ava appreciates you.”

There, that doesn’t say it all, but I
don’t need to tell him what I really think about Ava—that she is evil and
selfish and would rather watch her best friend burn to death than to jump in
and save her. The memory of the flames growing wild while Ava just stood there
watching, without lifting a finger or reacting at all, is a disturbing thought
that I’ve tried not to think about. Out of every memory from that night, that
is the one that disturbs me the most.

Alec grins at me. “I’m sure she does, in
a way only Ava could.”

There is a fondness in his tone that I
don’t understand, but then again, Iris and Ava have been his friends far before
I came along. If he liked Ava, surely he’d be with her by now.

“So
what did your mermaid friend have to say to you?” His eyes twinkle and I
momentarily forget all about Ava.

We
take a few more steps and I notice that we’ve almost reached the top. I lean
back against the wood rail and quickly calculate what I’ll tell him. Another
lie. “She had a few questions about the fire. She heard about what happened at
your party from Rose, and she was concerned.”

Alec
makes a face. “Really? I wonder why she cares so much.”

I
flinch, slightly offended, but I know he’s just curious. “Her family is from
Apollo Beach. Their father went to school with Rose. They’re nice girls,
really. They do a lot of charity work around here. They don’t even need to work
but they do it, just because they want to entertain and encourage kids to study
hard.”

I
may have stayed up late last night studying Weeki Wachee and their inhabitants
to learn this bit of information. The history is fascinating, especially since
it revolves around mermaids pretending to be real, when really, they are real,
pretending to be real. I stifle a giggle.

Alec’s
features soften a bit. “That’s really nice of them.”

I
smile as if I’ve just conquered something.

“You
ready for this?” Alec asks at the top of the staircase. We’re next to go.

The
slider before us holds onto the metal rails, ready to throw himself down the slide.
As soon as the attendant gives him the go, he uses the handlebars to propel himself
forward as he lets out an excited holler. Everyone laughs at the sound of his enthusiasm,
including me.

It’s
been too long since I’ve used my powers to great extent. I try to run every day
to release some of the build up, but I know that I’ll have to do something more
about it soon.

I
grip either side of the slide and look over my shoulder. Alec winks at me.
“Have fun!”

As
I wait for the attendant, I feel my veins throbbing and the volcano of energy
within me ready to explode. I am so ready for this.

“Go!”
He screams and I use my strength to pull my bottom away from the edge but I’ve
pulled too hard. I barely feel the water below me as I fly down the slide. I
slam the side and land hard on my back as the slide wraps around and continues
downward. Now I can feel the smooth, watery surface but I’m still moving too
fast. I’m lucky the slide is enclosed or I would have flown to my death by now.
I scream in terror as I whip around another turn, this time hitting my head.
The left side of my body feels the impact but I’m already at the end, zooming
through the tunnel’s opening and then knifing the water at a high velocity. I practically
slam into the spring’s bottom.

The
cold bristles of water prick my body all at once as if I just submerged myself
in a tall bucket of ice. I pull myself up until I reach the surface and gasp in
the warm air. The cold sensation is refreshing as it cascades down my face. I
wipe the water from my eyes so I can see.

The
water dissipates from my skin steadily, beginning with my head and neck, and all
the way down to my toes. My insides adjust to the temperature quickly.

Well,
that was the rush I needed but not in that way. I want to yell at Rose now and
tell her,
“I told you so. This is exactly
why I need to be using my powers, so that they don’t build up like this to the
point I can’t control them. Just like the fire.”

After
a few seconds I’m able to calm my mind and swim for the rope boundary, just in
time for Alec to soar from the slide to the water.

* *
*

It
takes some coercing to get everyone on the riverboat ride. They would rather
frolic in the water and I don’t blame them, but the tour guide is giving a
history lesson on the Weeki Wachee river and I want to hear it.

We
cram aboard the floating platform and take our seats on the left side, filling three
rows of the boat. Alec sits beside me, Trisha next to Matt, and Brent with an
annoyed Ava. I’m sure Ava would have chosen the seat next to Alec but that’s
not for me to worry about. I really need to get over this jealousy I have with
Ava and Alec. Alec couldn’t be more clear in his decisions—and his
decision appears to be
me
.

I
smile at him now, realizing how fun this is to see him in his element among
friends. Even surrounded by our peers at his Fourth of July party, Alec and I
kept to ourselves for the most part. I was too interested in getting to know
him to want to meet anyone else.

Alec
touches a spot on my knee causing a red-hot reaction in my cheeks. I turn to
see what he’s gotten my attention for—hoping that he won’t catch the
blush he’s caused.

Brent
and Alec are focused on two mermaids, perched on a rock, waving leisurely at
the riverboat passengers. I don’t recognize either of them. To think that
there’s an entire population of mermaids is exciting and confusing all at the
same time. I’m fascinated by the life mermaids have chosen by living here; constantly
in the public’s eye, gawked at by kids and males especially. I glance at Brent
who is practically breaking his neck in effort to continue viewing the
mermaids, and I let out a subtle snort before turning back to the front.

There
was a pamphlet we received when we entered that elaborated on what I read
online. It explained how the mermaids not only entertain, but take time to
volunteer and educate kids on their off time.

We
are the same in many ways, but so very different. Mermaids choose to live their
lives in the public’s eye, and that takes an insurmountable level of bravery.
The permanent smiles on their faces exude confidence and show me that they are
naturally happy with their chosen paths. I envy that feeling. They don’t have
to hide who or
what
they are. They
simply are.

I
look at Alec who thinks he knows me. He thinks he likes who I am, and here I
am, lying to him, but it’s not just me—his parents and soon Trisha will
be added to that list. It makes my brain hurt from thinking about all of the
things that I’ll never be able to talk to him about. How can one possibly build
a relationship on lies and secrets?

Rose
once told me that a relationship between a Normal and an Enchanter is hard. There
are secrets and double lives that the other half can never access. At one point
in history it was said that a Solstice may only love another Solstice
descendant, but Rose told me that rule has changed as the Solstice community
has evolved and cohabitated with Normals over the years. Now, it’s accepted for
an Enchanter to love a Normal, just as my father loved my mother—but look
what good that did everyone.

My
thoughts are bitter toward my father, I know, but after everything that’s
happened; my mother dying, my move to Apollo Beach, my Enchantment, and the
accident—any of these things would make a caring father come running, no
matter how absent he’d been for sixteen years. Right? But I haven’t worried
about him for sixteen years, I’m certainly not going to start now.

A
warm hand lands on my knee again. Alec. It’s like he knows exactly when to
distract me from my thoughts. It doesn’t take much when it involves looking at
him.

“Over
here,” he leans in closer to me to look over my shoulder; so close that our
faces almost touch. I’m reminded of the bubbly sensation I got the last time we
were this close; side-by-side in the sand dune—right before Ava and Iris
showed up with the water balloons, setting off a terrifying chain of events.

With
a look down into the water I see a mermaid swimming upstream toward the boat
and I smile, wondering if this is part of the park’s entertainment. I can only
see that she’s blonde but since her face is down I’m uncertain if it’s
Marabella or possibly another mermaid that I’ve never met.

“If
you look to your right you’ll see a heron standing in a tree. See where the
canoes are downstream? Now look up. Right there.” The tour guide continues to
point out wildlife and the unique trees on our right, but my eyes are fixed on
the mermaid to my left.

Something
else catches my eye now because it’s staring at me with chilling black eyes
attached to the large body of a black snake. I’ve never seen a snake up close
but I didn’t realize how large and terrifying they were. His tongue strikes the
air in a quick motion then turns its body, locking his eyes on me.

He
glares at me with an evil strangeness and hisses loudly—as if he knows me
and has something to say. I shiver.

The
mermaid swims in closer and panic fills the open spaces around my heart. Why
would she be swimming out here? I reach out and wave, trying to catch her
attention. Her hair flows around her head, face buried into the water with no
intent of coming up for air, so it seems. I look back at the snake who turns
his eyes from me to the mermaid and hisses again, growing taller above the
water, as if ready to attack.

The
snake’s tongue darts out of his mouth again before gliding forward through the
river. It’s like watching a ticking clock as the seconds pass by; slow and
hypnotic.

With
a deep breath I swipe at the snake with my mind, forcing him off his intended
path. It works. His long, thick body tilts slightly, distracting him from his
attack, but I’m not sure that was the smartest move now. Somehow he knows it
was me.