Mermania

Of all the Twists and Turns

looked up at this latest gift from Aphrodite. It was an especially painful jab- the image of a woman best forgotten. It was a reminder of his one great slip that could have brought him infinitely more pain. Who was he lying to? She had brought him more pain. Her memory brought him pain even now. Blurry eyed, I reached out to hit snooze, cursed, and sat up. I might as well get going. It was the first day of school after all. I hated the process of figuring out where my classes were and who was in them. Today was no exception. In fact, it was worse. A new school in a new country- how much more nerve-wracking could you get? My eyes closed as I swallowed the lump in my throat that refused to fully dissolve. Lord Jamison cleared his throat. "King Barjon, why not have Prince Darmik marry the commoner for the reasons you stated, and have Prince Lennek marry one of our own people? It seems rather barbaric to force Prince Lennek to marry so low. But the commander, now that makes more sense." He hesitated with his response, scratching the back of his head as he glanced down the row of corn where Austin and Tara had disappeared. "Because," he started, "I was a little bit interested in you," he paused before adding, "last year." "Derek," Dad said, approaching the taller man before they parted ways, "look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to leave you hanging today. I'm just, you know, getting used to this fatherhood thing." She could hear Xanthus's watery breaths. They were smooth, even, and slow. It was pitiful that as hard as she fought, he wasn't even winded. Or would the correct term be "watered?" As soon as he had seen those results and the picture of young Craig in the entryway, which was strong evidence in itself, Agent Nyler, convinced that Craig and Kara had had no part in Zach's disappearance- he had good instincts, this Agent Nyler- had notified his office at the FBI that Zach had likely been abducted. That sent agents, port authorities, and police officers into alert across the metropolitan area, watching for signs of Zach. No one would be able to leave the area by ship or plane with an undocumented child matching Zach's age and description, at least not openly. By car, though- that was another matter. No number of officers checking every car, even if that were feasible, could secure every road. And, of course, there were ample places to hide a young boy in Seattle itself. "Ok, ok..." I said, prying his arm off me. "Put me down...yeah, thanks" I raised my eyebrows, surprised and unsure about this interaction. It was the first time he'd been friendly to me since I'd ended our relationship. Slane grinned too big, his eyes glossy and his cheeks flushed, likely of those had petered out before long. As usual, Eddie's father had been thorough in setting up false trails. The following Saturday, now more than a week after the encounter with Dr. Lerwick, Craig felt good. "Mom?" Zach inquired anxiously. I bought David a sweater. I shouldn't have bothered. The day after I bought it, he practically ordered me not to get him anything. He claimed that he traveled light and would probably have to leave it behind anyway. Whatever. He could be so weird sometimes. It ticked me off that he hadn't told me anything. Apparently, soon in his world meant a lot longer than mine."They're helping you!" Zach exclaimed incredulously. His face, arms, and knees were smeared with mud. She opened the side door and stepped onto the patio. Paws was there to greet her, wagging his tail enthusiastically. If Paws was waiting here beside the door, that meant Zach wasn't in the back yard. "Zechariah!" she hollered anyway, just to be sure. There was no response. "That can happen," Craig insisted. "Sometimes cousins look more alike than brothers." "With the help I'm getting, it's probably going to take me an hour." "I like to ride," I say weakly. "David? Are you going to answer me?" I awoke completely disoriented, with no idea what day it was. When I realized it was Monday, Thanksgiving Day, I had two thoughts almost simultaneously. Please let my mom come home from the hospital today, and where in the world is Kim? She wasn't in my room. A couple of days. She only had a couple of days to save her aunt and uncle. She had no idea how to get a message to them. "Have you seen Evan?" Craig continued to probe as he tossed the ball. "Why was she the best?" "Never. It was against the rules," " Nicole, Sara is not going swimming in the ocean and neither are you," Xanthus said, exasperated. "Where do you think Gael went after he left? Do you think he's staying in the hotel? No. He's out there, in the ocean. You think he wouldn't jump at the chance to come after you both? If you took Sara out into the water, he'd kill her without hesitation. While you're here with me, he wouldn't dare." "It's kind of a tradition," Katie added. "Just some friends from school." Zach replied with a decent toss back. "We'll be there for a few hours." Sara shook her head. I nodded. "Sometimes they last a few days." "Can you describe him?" I asked. "How tall was he?" "I'm sorry to hear that," Grandma murmured. Thankfully, the food arrived, and the topic was dropped while we were served. Smaller conversations broke out around the table, and I busied myself eating. No one would question me if had a mouthful of food. At those two words, Zach's eyebrows jumped. His eyes darted left and right, as if searching for a way to process the thought. After a few moments, he glanced up once at Eddie, then stepped out of the rain to his mom, who put an arm around his shoulders. He twitched at her touch, but didn't pull away. "Are you always this prepared?" I joked. "What else do you have in that magical pack?" When Rema woke up, she had no idea if it was day or night . A man stood on the other side of her cell bars holding a torch. Instead of palace livery, he wore the king's Army uniform. A sword was strapped to his waist. "She screamed and hollered, and then I hung up on her." "Yes, of course, Sire," " We kept driving