02 The Moon And The Tide - Marina's Tales (29 page)

The body that washed ashore at Fossil Cove on Friday
has been positively identified as Joe Allen, last seen alive
leaving to surf early Friday morning. The body was discovered late
Friday afternoon, and appears to have been partially consumed by
sharks. Preliminary cause of death is listed as drowning, although
an autopsy is scheduled for early next week. Police have no
evidence to suggest that foul play is involved.

The article went on to describe his “troubled
past” with multiple arrests for assault and battery; the photo
looked like a mug shot. I thought about the last time I saw him,
face twisted in agony, body caught in the jaws of the sea lions.
His screams rang in my ears; my blood ran cold and I gasped for
air.

I looked up to see Cruz returning, Ethan
trailing behind him with an amused smile on his face. When he saw
me his face fell.

“What?” he asked.

I slid the paper towards him, wide eyed. He
sat down to read the article, exhaling hard.

“What’s going on?” Cruz asked, looking over
Ethan’s shoulder. There was another knock on the door and he turned
to get it. Ethan looked up and met my eyes, his expression
serious.

“Good morning!” said Shayla enthusiastically
as she came bounding in the kitchen. She was smiling happily, as
excited as Cruz about the day they had planned.
Uncharacteristically lighthearted for a moment, Shayla read the
mood in the room and quickly reverted back to the wary survivor
she’d been her whole life.

She frowned as she looked back and forth at
me and Ethan suspiciously, “What’s wrong?”

“Something in the paper,” said Cruz, sliding
it over to face them.

“Whoa!” said Shayla, looking up at me,
“Marina! That’s the dude that grabbed you that day at the point!”
She looked at the article, “Serves him right,” she said
pitilessly.

“Yeah,” said Ethan, “it does.”

“Come on,” Cruz took Shayla’s arm, “I have an
outfit for you to try.”

After they left Ethan spoke quietly, “Do you
see how dangerous she is
now
?”

“What?!” I was still in shock.

“She must have done this,” he said.

I shook my head vehemently, “No! No way. She
was afraid– there’s no way she would go anywhere near him.” I
thought about Ethan’s angry threats yesterday and I searched his
eyes. He must have seen the doubt in mine.

“It wasn’t me,” he said defensively. “She
probably had the sea lions do it.”

I couldn’t argue with that; I assumed she’d
sent them to rescue me. I had no idea what she might have told them
to do. I remembered the day they had tried to brutally herd me into
the sea.

“If she hadn’t sent them he would have killed
me,” I whispered.

“If you weren’t out there alone with her it
wouldn’t have happened.”

I looked at him, suddenly sad with the
realization that he would never give Lorelei the benefit of the
doubt. I didn’t want to have yet another disagreement about her.
Lorelei was my only link to my mother, and I’d already decided– I
would not give up my time with her.

“I need to get ready to go,” I said, rising
from the table.

“Wait...” he got up with me, “I’m sorry... at
least I don’t have to worry about
him
anymore.” He looked
down at the paper and shook his head.

“Good morning!” Abby walked in cheerfully,
“Do you have time for pancakes before you go?”

“I’m not hungry,” I said, “But you could feed
Ethan...”

“No thanks, Abby,” Ethan said, “I’m just here
to see her off.”

“We’re gonna miss your smiling face around
here, honey,” said Abby, and if she noticed any tension between us
she didn’t show it.

“I’ll miss you too, but it’s just two weeks,”
I said, “You won’t even have time to notice I’m gone.”

“Don’t you realize how important you are to
us?” Abby had tears in her eyes and I got up to embrace her,
meeting Ethan’s eyes over her shoulder.

Cruz bustled in the kitchen, garment bag over
his arm, “Let’s go Marina, we’re loading up the car.” I excused
myself and went to my room to get my bag, rummaging through a
suitcase for some extra scarves to stuff into it. I went out to
meet everyone waiting by the door.

“That’s all you’re bringing?” Ethan asked,
eyeing my single carry-on bag.

“Dad and I always travel light,” I said, “We
pick up what we need as we go.”

“I never would have guessed that,” he said
slowly, shaking his head in wonder, “You’re full of surprises.”

I hugged Abby again and promised to be
careful as we stepped out onto the porch. Shayla and Cruz were
already sitting in the Jaguar when Ethan and I embraced one last
time.

“I’m gonna miss you so much,” he murmured in
my ear, “I love you.”

I kissed him passionately, not caring who
saw. I climbed into the backseat with determination.

“To the airport driver,” I gave my best
impersonation of Evie. Shayla laughed as we pulled away, morphing
back into the lighthearted girl she was rapidly becoming. I turned
to see Ethan standing in front of the house, watching me go. I was
already thinking about the next time I would see his dark blue eyes
looking into mine.

I couldn’t wait for that moment.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Vacation

I boarded my flight to Athens, settling into
the roomy first class seat with a sigh. Evie had thoughtfully if
somewhat lavishly booked the entire row so that I could enjoy a
peaceful flight in solitude. I’d need it. The further away I got
from Ethan the more I started to dwell on the horrific attack at
the point. I knew I should put it behind me, but I couldn’t stop
replaying Joe’s terrible screams in my mind. He was dead, I
thought, dead because of Lorelei’s instructions to the sea lions.
It was the only possible explanation.

I rubbed my eyes and absentmindedly leafed
through a magazine; I’d have to ask Lorelei for the truth when I
got home. The possibility that she had murdered Joe existed, but I
couldn’t imagine Lorelei’s innocent eyes behind any kind of
brutality. I thought about how strong she was and shuddered. No
person would be a match for a mermaid in the water– even sharks
feared them...
feared me
.

My hand kept going involuntarily to my
bruised throat– I’d have to guard against that around my father. I
was like a card player with an obvious tell; I needed to discipline
my mind to stop thinking about it altogether. I took a few deep
calming breaths.

The roar of the jet engine was reminiscent of
the sea, and I found myself mercifully lulled to sleep like a baby
in a car-seat. I was more exhausted than I realized from my week of
moonlit surfing and spent I most of the long flight napping,
luxuriating in the time spent alone. Isolated and forced to be
still, it was as rejuvenating as any spa visit. I smiled to myself,
thinking that Evie probably foresaw this. The older I got, the more
Evie’s many talents revealed themselves to me.

A friendly steward brought me food and I
dozed on and off; before I knew it we were landing and I was
standing in line to get my passport stamped. I could see my father
waiting in a crowd behind a metal grate, his head rising up above
the jostling throng of people. Our eyes met and we both smiled and
waved. I felt a surge of relief wash over me, and I relaxed inside.
Everything was going to be just fine now.

I stood in the familiar hubbub of foreign
tongues, working my way through a line with a bunch of people who
pushed, jostled and stood way too close to me for my liking.
Adjusting the scarf on my neck one final time, I smoothed my shirt
and put the past firmly behind me. When I finally got through the
gates Dad had worked his way to the front and was waiting with open
arms.

“Look at you!” he said, hugging me tightly,
before holding me back at arm’s length. “You’re so grown up... I
can’t believe it’s only been a couple of months.” He looked
thinner, worn down, and not so much tanned as wind-chapped.

“How are you?” I asked him, a little
worried.

“I’m fine,” he grinned at me, “Come on, let’s
go get some coffee.”

He led me to a small cafe in the airport and
launched into a list of sights we were going to see. There was a
helicopter scheduled to take us from Athens to the first of many
islands he started to rattle off. We would be going to Crete,
Mykonos, Santorini and Rhodes, taking a few days to tour each
island’s historical sights. I sipped a tiny cup of thick sweet
coffee and nibbled on honeyed pastries as I listened.

“How’s the research coming along?” I
asked.

“It’s difficult,” he said. He pressed his
lips together, “If it was just climate and geography it would be
fine. But the politics...” He looked frustrated.

“I hope you’re staying safe,” I said,
concerned.

“That’s the problem,” he complained, “I can’t
get out to the fields as much as I’d like and the people... well,
they don’t trust the government and the whole place is just a
mess...” He threw his hands up in frustration.

“Why don’t you come home?” I asked
hopefully.

He looked at me reproachfully, “I’m not ready
to give up.” I could see the steel in his eyes and feel his quiet
cold determination.

“Evie says there’s a fine line between
courage and stupidity,” I said.

He burst into laughter and the warmth
returned to his face and eyes, “That sounds like something she’d
say.”

“Dad... how did we end up living next to
Evie?” I asked.

He looked a little surprised at my question
but answered, “You know that she endowed my chair at the
university, right?”

“Yes,” I nodded.

“The apartment was included as part of the
donation. Evie owns the whole building.”

For a moment I was dumbstruck, “So it’s not
ours?” I asked.

He looked at me strangely, “It’s ours as long
as we want now that I have tenure. That’s the only reason I took
the professorship.” He reached over to pat my hand, “It worked out
great though, didn’t it? I mean, Evie’s become like family to us
and we’ve been lucky enough to travel...”

“How old was I when we moved there?” I
persisted.

He looked like he didn’t want to remember
back that far, “Less than a year,” he said quietly, and smiled
remotely, “But I remember how Evie just fell in love with you the
second she saw you. It was like she was waiting for you to arrive
or something.” He looked at his watch, “We should be heading out to
the roof now.” He stood up and took my bag along with his own small
one.

I followed along behind him, my mind racing.
Ethan was right, Evie really was controlling everything around her.
But why us? My father was a brilliant scientist, and Evie was a
patron of science as well as the arts. I loved her like family, and
I knew she loved us too… What difference did it make how it all
came to pass? Something made me uneasy as I recalled how Ethan had
accused her of manipulating me.

We climbed some stairs to a flat rooftop with
a large gleaming blue helicopter parked on it. Two darkly handsome
uniformed men straightened up as we approached them.

“Professor Vanderpool?” one of them asked,
shaking my father’s hand. The other one was looking at me with a
wolfish smile. The pilots informed us they were waiting for two
more passengers as they took our bags and escorted us onto the
copter. The cockpit was roomier than I imagined, with seats for at
least six passengers, and seemed strangely familiar.

We settled in, and after a few minutes they
joined us, declaring the other passengers a no-show. They started
up the engines and we were instructed to strap on our seat belts.
The roar of the rotors overhead drowned out the pilot’s
conversations with each other, but they both kept casting furtive
glances back at us. I got the impression they were talking about me
as they went over their checklist. Dad looked annoyed and stared at
them with narrowed eyes.

Movement on the tarmac caught my eye and I
looked out the window to see a man shielding his face, standing in
the whipping wind. He held the hand of a little girl who was
clinging to his coat. The pilots saw them too, and one got out to
escort them in. The noise was deafening when he opened the door to
help them into their seats, and the man hurried to strap his
daughter in before looking up at me with an apologetic smile. It
slowly dawned on me what was happening.

I looked down at the little girl sitting to
my right as her father adjusted her harness. She was small, about
eight years old. I looked back at my father. This was the vision I
had the day I got back from Oslo. Panic welled up in me as I
realized something very bad was about to happen.

“Dad!” I took his arm but it was too late, we
lifted off and were soaring over the vast city of Athens, heading
straight for the turquoise blue Mediterranean. He turned to me with
a joyful grin, and seeing the terror in my eyes squeezed my hand
reassuringly.

“It’s going to be okay!” he spoke in my ear,
but I knew that it wouldn’t. I just sat rigidly, on the thin edge
of hysteria, waiting for what fate had in store for us.

We were far out to sea when the engine noise
changed. I could see the two pilots frantically try to regain
control as the rotors slowed and we lost altitude.

“Brace for impact!” was all the pilot could
yell out as we spiraled down to the sea. I could see some tiny
yachts on the beautiful calm sea and wondered if they were
watching. There was a land mass in the distance and I abstractly
wondered what island it was; everything seemed to be moving in slow
motion. We slammed down hard, and I could see water rushing all
around us as the copter began to sink, the tail section breaking
off and lacy cracks forming on the glass. I unhooked my harness as
we tumbled to the seafloor and reached to free my father.