02 The Moon And The Tide - Marina's Tales

Copyright © 2011 by Derrolyn Anderson

Smashwords Edition

All rights reserved, including the right to
reproduce this book or portions of it.

This book is a work of fiction. Names,
characters, places and incidents are the products of the author’s
imagination or are used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual
events, locales or persons, living or dead is entirely
coincidental.

PREFACE

The room boasted an entire wall of windows,
displaying panoramic views of a fiery sun setting over the
expansive Hong Kong skyline. Many stories down, luxury yachts and
ferries traversed the harbor, tiny white specks on a blanket of
indigo velvet. Seabirds swooped and dove all around the pink and
purple sky, enjoying a last burst of activity before the dark of
night descended.

More than a dozen women of various ages were
gathered around an oblong table, all glowing with the unmistakable
sheen of prosperity and success. Hailing from every sector of the
globe, they displayed an authority that went far beyond the wealth
and arresting beauty they all possessed. The room hummed with the
tension of restraint; there was an aura of potent energy held in
check.

An eclectic group, they were patrons of the
arts and consorts of the powerful, a diverse mix of style and
substance. An exquisitely dressed blonde film star sat next to the
wives of international businessmen and financiers. The author of a
number of bestselling novels eagerly perched on the edge of her
seat alongside a famed political analyst.

The spectacular sunset view was wasted, for
all eyes in the room were glued on a pile of tabloid newspapers
that had just been unceremoniously dumped in the center of the
table by a stunning raven haired beauty in a silk suit.

She pointed to the headlines with a long
crimson fingernail as she stood to address the group, “A situation
has come to our attention,” she announced gravely as the others
gaped in shock and surprise at the lurid headlines.

“I’ll say,” gasped the film star, reeling
back in her seat.

“I don’t believe it...” said the analyst
skeptically, pressing her fingertips together.

“Impossible... surely it must be a hoax,”
murmured a chic Spanish socialite. She perused a French tabloid
with narrowed eyes.

“That’s what I thought, until we conducted a
background check.”

“And?” an aristocratic looking silver haired
woman raised an eyebrow.

“I’m afraid the girl’s father is closely
connected to one of our number,” she replied dourly.

“Where is the girl from?” a russet haired
woman with shrewd gray eyes asked, “Who is the guardian?”

“San Francisco,” replied the standing woman,
“And that means–”

“Evelyn,” interrupted the redhead, lips tight
with annoyance.

“Has she been summoned?” asked another.

She took a seat, nervously tapping her bright
red nails on the table, “She should be at the helipad any moment
now.”

“This ought to be interesting,” said the
novelist, eyes afire.

The redhead walked over to the window and
looked out, “She’s certainly mastered the art of marrying well...
she’s no doubt skilled at subterfuge of all sorts.”

“We should reserve judgment… give her the
benefit of the doubt,” said the analyst.

“I agree,” said the actress, “Evelyn has done
more good than most of us combined.”

There was a murmuring of assenting voices
that rumbled throughout the room, for no one could argue with the
plain truth.

A security guard entered the room through two
immense paneled doors, holding them open in anticipation of the
tall elegant woman that followed him in.

“It’s so good to see you all,” she said in a
carefully modulated voice, her ice blue eyes flickering to the
papers scattered on the table, “I trust that you don’t believe
everything you read.”

CHAPTER ONE

The Surprise

Aunt Abby’s glowing eyes met mine as my
father’s name was called, and I returned her proud gaze with a
happy smile. As our table stood to clap I looked around at our
little group fondly. My cousin Cruz looked handsome in an
immaculately tailored tuxedo and Aunt Evie was lovely as usual in
an elegant gown that Cruz had designed and handmade. Even here in
Oslo, fashion icon Evie was recognized by scores of admirers, and
the full scope of her international fame had Cruz impressed beyond
words.

Dad had been awarded a Nobel Prize, and we’d
all traveled to Norway to attend the ceremony. His work as an
agricultural scientist had developed crops and farming techniques
that had saved entire nations from famine, and among his peers his
surprise recognition was universally agreed to be well deserved.
He’d delivered a speech at the university, received his medal and
was now being honored with a banquet at The Grand Hotel.

Wealthy and sophisticated Evie had outdone
herself on this trip, springing into action to make first-class
travel arrangements for our little group. Though not technically
related to us, Aunt Evie was as close as any family could be, and
she was every bit as proud of my father as I was. I watched her and
Cruz with their heads together, gossiping about some of the other
guest’s formal attire.

“Only a deaf man could wear a tie that loud,”
Cruz whispered in Evie’s direction. She giggled like a schoolgirl,
clearly enjoying his running commentary immensely.

Evie and Cruz were like two peas in a pod,
both completely obsessed by every nuance of style and design. The
two of them could go on endlessly about the tiniest detail of a
garment; sometimes it seemed as though they were speaking another
language. Evie was helping Cruz launch his career as a fashion
designer, and she couldn’t have chosen a more worthy or grateful
candidate for her attentions.

I wondered if my Aunt Abby was a bit
intimidated by Evie, for she’d been unusually quiet and subdued the
whole trip. Looking her way again, I noticed how her brow knit
together with worry when she thought no one was paying
attention.

It was the middle of December, and it had
been a little over a week since a series of strange events led to
my undersea confrontation with a council of mermaids that had me
bargaining for my life. The whole episode still seemed completely
surreal to me, like a strange dream I’d suddenly woken up from,
amused by the vagaries of the subconscious mind.

But it was no dream, for shortly after I’d
been sent to live with Abby and Cruz in the coastal town of Aptos,
I discovered that the mother I’d never known was an actual mermaid.
Not only did I learn this shocking fact, but I was introduced to a
sisterhood of mermaids and forced to transform into one myself.
When I renounced their offer of eternal life I was allowed to
return to land, and granted fifty full moons to decide whether or
not I would choose to exist forever as one of the supernatural
creatures.

All of these impossibly crazy events happened
when my boyfriend’s father Dutch was lost at sea in a terrible
storm. The mermaids had been summoning me, and I gave myself up to
them in exchange for Dutch’s life. I’d gone with the mermaids
expecting to die, not knowing that I had the ability to breathe
underwater and actually change into one. I shuddered at the memory,
for as seductive as the hours I’d spent as a mermaid had been, I
had no desire to give up everyone I loved and all I’d ever known to
live under the sea– even for immortality.

It still felt a little strange calling Ethan
my boyfriend, but we’d been inseparable for weeks now, and I was
head over heels in love with him. If he hadn’t been there to help
me through the whole ordeal I don’t know what would have happened.
My feelings for him gave me the strength to resist the powerful
spell my heritage had cast upon me; without Ethan I’d still be in
the sea, swimming in blissful ignorance like a wild thing, and he
was the only one who knew about my transformation and the deadline
given to me by the mermaids.

I decided to keep it that way.

So I was here in Oslo for the week, and I
missed Ethan so much that my stomach ached when I thought of him.
If it wasn’t for the chance to visit with my father again I would
have been truly miserable. I’d been brought up traveling the world
with Dad, but was sent to live with Aunt Abby because his latest
research project was in remote and dangerous Afghanistan.

At the time, I’d protested bitterly about
being abandoned, so I had to smile when I thought about how glad I
was that he’d sent me away, wisely ignoring my heartfelt pleas. Dad
never imagined how my stay in Aptos would change my life forever,
for he’d put the past behind him and saw no reason for me to know
anything about my mother. When I discovered the truth on my own, he
finally told me the real story, the story of how he’d found himself
in love with and married to a mermaid. If I hadn’t heard it coming
from his lips I never would have believed it.

It all began when he was visiting Aptos to
help Abby, who as a freshman in college had been abandoned,
pregnant and heartbroken, in a Santa Cruz dorm room. He bought her
a little house in the charming beach town of Aptos and was busy
fixing it up for her, painting and repairing the roof. It was
during this time that he’d started walking regularly along the
beach and the pier leading out to the landmark cement ship. When he
saw a woman’s face in the water he was enchanted, and when she
washed up on the beach, naked, cold and in need of assistance he
brought her back to the house. Before he knew it, he had fallen in
love with the beautiful, naive girl.

When the house was finished, he moved Adria
to his place in the city, not wanting to explain the bizarre
situation to an already overwhelmed Abby. Soon they were married
and I was on the way. He wanted to tell Abby, but he thought he’d
have time. Dad had a hard time finishing the story, overcome with
emotion at the memory of how she had died giving birth to me.

“Is that why we hardly ever went to see Aunt
Abby in Aptos? Was it too… difficult for you to be there?” I asked
gently.

He paused for a minute, “When you were little
we used to take you and Cruz to the beach. You would just sit and
stare out at the water... it was unnerving. It was like you
knew
.”

I wasn’t surprised, for the more time I spent
in Aptos the more I realized that I’d always belonged there.

He scratched the back of his head, wincing,
“I guess it was simply easier to avoid it. I suppose I was being
cowardly.”

He had no idea that I’d be so powerfully
affected by the move to Aptos. My entire life I’d never shown any
desire to be in the water, and he confessed that he was relieved
when I hated my swim lessons. I despised the stench of chlorine,
and tried my best to avoid swimming pools at any cost. He’d assumed
I was fully human, unaffected by my mother’s heritage, and was
horrified to hear the story of my being lured to the sea by
mermaids, sorry that he hadn’t been truthful from the
beginning.

I let him know I understood, and that it was
over… finished. I told him a little about how Ethan had helped me,
and he said he’d like to meet him someday to thank him. I couldn’t
quite find the words to explain my feelings for Ethan, but said I
was looking forward to introducing them when he got back.

Dad was quiet when he heard what I’d learned
about my mother from the mermaids, about how she had made her
choice, aware of the possible consequences. It was a sad and
painful part of both of our pasts. I tried to put his mind at ease,
for now I understood wanting to keep such a strange fact about
yourself private. I had my own secrets now.

Cruz knew about my mother, along with Abby
and Evie, but they all believed that everything had been resolved
the night Ethan’s father was nearly lost at sea. Everyone thought
I’d drowned that night, and I tried to explain as simply as
possible that I had been returned to shore by a mermaid, trading
immortality for a chance to come home. Only Ethan knew the whole
truth about my nightmarish transformation and dreamlike night spent
underwater.

As the banquet wound down my father came over
to join us. He’d been seated with assorted royalty and dignitaries
as the guest of honor and I could tell that he’d had about enough
of all the pomp and circumstance. He kissed my cheek as he sat
down, pulling at the collar of his tuxedo shirt, loosening his bow
tie.

“How was the food?” he asked us, smiling at
our little group.

“Divine, simply divine!” Evie enthused,
absolutely in her element.