Mermania

The unknown

eyes were too heavy to keep open and she was too weak to call out anymore. Kara turned just in time to see Paws prance delightedly into the kitchen, the boy leading him. Paws had been outside. Her jaw dropped. What would this boy not do in a stranger's home? This beautiful boy...who knew where the dog was... He leaned down and let Paws lick his face. Paws loved kids. "The problem," Craig explained, "is that we're pretty sure you're related to us somehow, but we haven't quite figured out how- although we did come up with a pretty good theory today." "You'd kill your own brother?" Kyros asked. "Yes. It took me over a year to get all the extended family, but I did. Personally saw to it." There were small checkmarks in the book next to each name. Strangely, the youngster tensed and didn't return the hug. But then, a lot of strange things had happened lately. Darmik still hadn't discovered if the babies weren't tattooed until age one. If that was the case, then there was no heir. But if they received the tattoo before their first birthday, then Darmik knew the heir was alive- he just had to find her. And he figured if he found the base camp, he'd fine the heir. Gripping the weighted ball, I partnered with Taylor dor sit-ups, tossing it back and forth. Leah twisted from side to side, working her obliques. After less than a minute, she said, "Dad called last night." Her eyes carefully watched my face. "It's great," she said. "We'll be able to see everything." Her eyes filled with tears. Rema's eyes widened. "Tell me about it," she demanded. Darmik smiled in response to her excitement. "Study group was cancelled," he said. "I came back here to catch up on homework." Sara shook her head, tears welling in her eyes. "No, I can't. I really can't go in the water. I'd rather you make me disappear like you did those three men." Grandfather saw it and chuckled. "I recently placed Zechariah with a couple to test how he would function in the environment of a home." Next to me, Mom made a strangled noise. She jumped out of the car and ran over to her. "Mom!" Hmm, she thought, grumpy already? She kept an eye on the two boys as her oatmeal warmed. They were too quiet. Neither seemed interested in making conversation. She caught Craig peeking nervously over the newspaper at Zach, though. Zach, for his part, kept his eyes pointedly on his food, careful not to look at his dad. "I didn't hear anything. Would've, too. I woke up every ten minutes." Clearly, he knew the game well. When most of the team was in the field, Eddie stationed himself beside Zach, who was on the bench for the first three innings, and added to what Craig had already taught the youngster, explaining such subtleties as why the third baseman could play a step closer to the batter against the lefties and how one could, upon hitting a single in the last inning of a tied game, run halfway to second and fall down if it might distract the other team and let your teammate score from third. Zach soaked up the attention and every word. "Almost always," I said. Mom gasped, and her eyes flew open. She grasped my hand tightly. "Meara?" "You'll see..." Why was Chuck suddenly so concerned about my art? In fact, he looked almost worried. Maybe he figured out how unstable Bambi was and wanted to make sure I had a good career ahead of me. I hoped he knew that art wasn't exactly a steady stream of income. I'd read enough about suffering, starving artists in history class- it didn't look pretty. I'd have to keep my day job if I wanted to survive. I thought about all the wonderful things Chuck had said to me about my artwork and I knew he was right. If I wanted to be the best, I'd have to practice. Craig shrugged. "Maybe a cousin." He calculated a moment longer. "Did you ever tell anyone what middle name we chose for a boy?" "Will you go back then? Back to prussia?" "I don't know. Dagonians don't have a need for them. There's another problem. I doubt you know how to speak Atlantian." Once Rema finished eating, they went into the bedchamber to get ready. Ellie opened the armoire, revealing a stunning dress. Rema had never seen anything so elegant before with its tight-fitting bodice and layer upon layer of thick, blue silk, bedecked with hundreds of tiny, blue pearls. Rema reached out, brushing the sheer white sleeve with her fingers." Yeah, the very next day," he recalled. "I was really sad. I lived in that house all my life until we moved away." "You monster!" Rema screamed at Lennek. Everyone stopped talking and focused on Rema. "You killed Bren, threatened my family, forced me to come here and accept your proposal. I've always hated you, and now you punish me for not loving you?" Resuming my previous spot, I pulled out my book and waited for my mom. I was in a much better mood. I had a new friend and a secret hangout spot. "I was hoping he would stay and help me," Craig told Kara. "I thought it might be good for him to feel involved." "Oh," she said, embarrassed. "I didn't know." "April third." He scratched the tip of his nose with the tip of his left thumb. Kara's eyebrows drew together as she saw it, but the boy didn't appear to notice. "In charge__?" I let my question hang unspoken. "Do you know them? Craig asked. "Remember when I told you that I'd never met my dad?" Ula nodded, but didn't say anything. "Well, I've met him now. At first, I thought it was just dreams, but now..." He passed one of the papers back to Zach. It was a brochure entitled, "Mount Rainier National Park." "Mm-hmm. But here's the catch- we have to know his mother's maiden name." "How about you?"Kara inquired, squeezing his arm again. "How do you feel about being a dad all of a sudden?" To her surprise, he didn't respond for a moment. He was quiet for so long that she finally reached up and ruffled his bed-flattened hair a bit. He sucked in a deep breath. "I do want to," he admitted. "It would mean a lot to him." Darmik wondered what was more important than maintaining control of the kingdom. I rolled my eyes at his ego. I couldn't help