Hook, Line & Sinking (Completed)

41. Friends and Family

Hey everyone!

Enjoy this chapter and as an extra, here's a list of cool ebooks for free this month. There's books in there from some of my (published) author friends and they are giving it away for nothing just this once. You can claim as many as you think are interesting. ^.^

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Much love,

Robin

*

Friends and Family

It turned out, that by the time the full moon had lost it's grip on us, it was far past midnight. We didn't want to call people at this point and wake them up and Matt assured me he'd let Thorne know we had the situation under control. So the two of us curled up under a blanket for some well-deserved sleep.

"Is everyone okay?" I know I spoke to Noah on the phone but I was pretty out of it, I never asked if he was injured from the car crash. Or did I? I couldn't remember. Matt tightened his arms around me where I lay snuggled up against his chest. "Noah had a bloody nose and will probably have one hell of a shiner by now. Mariana and Orly were fine, just a bit bruised from their seat belts. Everyone is okay darling."

That was a relief, I hated the thought that anyone had gotten hurt because of this. I mean, rationally I totally understood it wasn't my fault, this was solidly on the Corenth guy's shoulders, but that didn't make me feel much better. It was also hard to think about the fact that two of them had died tonight. That was another burden Matt would have to carry, though I'd certainly had my part in both of those deaths.

"Don't think about it tonight. We'll sleep and then swim out to the Moonfell in the morning. Mom's going to make sure we're all fed." Cocooned in Matt's arms, curled up in our nest of pillows, I could almost believe that everything was done and over with. Would the two Corenths arrested for the bomb try to make trouble? Would the two Corenths currently at the Moonpool and claiming to be innocent still stir things up? I didn't know but Matt was right, we needed to sleep and then just take things as they came.

It was easy to fall asleep again, I think I sank into exhausted oblivion more than anything. Matt woke me a few hours later and I dressed in a bikini top I'd left in the emergency chest. Panties and a colorful wrap we added to a watertight pack to carry with us but we didn't take much else. Before we left, Matt called his dad and in short, low-toned sentences let him know we were on our way and would explain what had happened then.

To be honest, I didn't think I'd ever feel safe and comfortable again in this place, I'd forever remember last night when I came here. I even felt a little shiver of apprehension over getting into the water, last night I'd had far less reservations about jumping in when it was literally clouded over by blood... Matt went first though and I wasn't about to be left behind, not that he ever would do such a thing. I made the plunge headfirst, leaping off the edge and diving in, and feeling how easy my shift came this time. Maybe it was my imagination but it felt like I'd gotten better at it.

Matt lead the way out, and I was glad he'd taken an underwater light with him this time so that I could easily track him in the dark of the tunnels. As a mermaid, my eyes were well adapted to low-light settings but I still needed some light and when there were no algae giving off something... Yeah, right now being able to easily see Matt was a huge relief and I knew that's why he'd done it even if he hadn't mentioned it.

The whole journey out of the tunnels I had this creeping sensation of not being alone, of bodies floating just beyond my line of sight. Matt hadn't been gone very long... When he'd disposed of Gavin and Clay, he hadn't gone far. My far too active imagination was throwing all kinds of creepy icky shadows at me and the brush of my arm against slick rock wall almost had me scream. No, I was never going into these tunnels again.