Bluehour (A Watermagic Novel) (24 page)

But then suddenly, there was a knock at the
bedroom door. It startled us and the tip of the blade slipped and
nicked her eyebrow. “Ouch!” she blurted out. There was a little
blood dripping down. She grabbed my bath towel that was hanging
over the shower and blotted the wound on her eyebrow.

At once, she threw the towel to the ground.
Her face was one of horror. “You bled on this,” she screamed. I
remembered how I had nicked my leg with the razor earlier and used
the towel to dry off. Some of my blood must have gotten on the
towel.

To my utter shock, her eyes turned a demonic
pale blue. Her face elongated and her teeth grew into incisors like
that of a shark.

Terrified, I ran past her, out of the
bathroom. I fumbled with the door handle, trying to unlock it. I
couldn’t get it open. There was more knocking coming from the other
side. A key turned in the lock and the door flew open.

I fell to the floor.

“Be careful,” Erma cackled as she pulled the
key out of the lock. “I brought your change from the hundred your
husband gave me.” She dangled the money out as I scurried to my
feet.

“Run!” I said gasping for air. But right then
Brigitte grabbed me by the shoulder and swung me around. Her face
was back to normal, as beautiful as ever.

“Thank you,” Brigitte sang in her soft
enchanting voice as she pulled the bills from her hand. “Such a
lovely seaside home you have.”

The wrinkly middle aged woman’s eyes glazed
over. She seemed entranced by Brigitte’s melodic voice. Her usual
cranky demeanor lifted. “Well, ‘er, thanks,” she responded. “It was
passed on to us through my family. All hunters. Generation after
generation. Many tales about this ‘er forest and its game.” Her
expression was surprisingly light and dreamy.

Brigitte’s hand grasped my shoulder
firmly.

“Remember dinners are on the house,” the
woman continued.

“We’ll keep that in mind,” Brigitte whispered
gently as she slowly began shutting the door, carefully pushing
Erma out of the room. And then the door shut.

“Please…” Brigitte turned to me now that the
woman was gone. “…drop that towel down the laundry shoot for
me.”

“Certainly,” I mumbled as I turned to walk
back to the bathroom.

“I’m sorry about that, Grace. Your blood
cells are potent. I was caught off guard. You were right to
run.”

“I should have thought about that,” I
responded, not really knowing what to say. “I guess we still have
to get used to each other. Are skin cells a problem too?”

“All human cells attract the mer, but blood
cells are the most potent. They vibrate with the highest life
frequency. I should have known better than to grab your towel. It’s
just that I haven’t had a lot of close contact with humans. For
those reasons we tend to keep to ourselves.”

“Why do you and the other exchange students
attend high school? Laurent said you are all over two hundred years
old. I would think high school would bore you and the risk is
greater for losing control around so many people.”

“We try to fit into society as best as we
can. Visually we look like teenagers, so high school is the safest
choice.”

“Why do you pretend to be exchange
students?”

“Fewer questions are raised if we come in as
exchange students from another country because people expect
peculiarities from foreigners and we have trouble hiding ours. We
only stay a few years and then leave before people notice that we
never age.”

“You just move from city to city?”

“Yes.”

“That must get tedious never settling.”

“It’s the only way. There have been times
that we’ve settled for longer periods of time on remote islands and
lived off the land, but we prefer the luxuries of city life. We
love movies, theater, concerts... The pleasures of modernization
excite us.” She tilted her head to the side and looked at me. “Let
me complete your makeover. I’m just about finished. Call me when
the towel is down the chute.”

I nodded and headed toward the bathroom
hesitantly. I was afraid of what had happened and didn’t want a
repeat episode.

My adrenaline rush settled as I discarded the
towel. I opened the big window set before the tub to air out the
room. I was being paranoid, but I just didn’t want there to be any
trace of my blood cells present in the air. Even though I knew the
idea was illogical, I felt better taking a safeguard.

“You can come in,” I called out as I caught
my reflection in the mirror. I was shocked at how good I looked
with the makeup she had already applied. She really was a master
artist.

She must have felt freer around me now that I
had witnessed her in predatory form, because her movement reminded
me even more of a sea creature now. Her arms moved in an almost
flowing manner reminding me of the tentacles of an octopus as she
glided into the bathroom.

Upon entrance, she caught me looking at
myself. “Pleased aren’t you?” she asked with a knowing grin.

“You’re amazing at this.”

“All mers possess the talent.” Her arms
rested at her sides now as she watched me with her head tilted to
the side.

“You should work as a makeup artist for
movies.”

She laughed charmingly. “Marine and I have
done that, but it attracted so much attention. Two young girls with
talents greater than Michael Angelo. We only do those sorts of jobs
when we need to build up our finances. Right now we are in good
standing.”

It was difficult for me to fathom having such
talents. Most everything about me was ordinary. I don’t think I had
ever excelled at anything aside from academics. And even with that,
I wasn’t exceptional in any subject.

She finished up the makeover and styled my
hair. After, I was even more shocked.

“Can’t believe you look better than most film
actresses, can you?” She giggled enchantingly.

“I can’t believe the image in the mirror is
me.” I wasn’t as beautiful as Brigitte or Marine, but with all the
makeup, I looked better than I could have ever imagined.

“I can’t wait for Laurent to see you,” she
sang.

I was surprised how natural I looked with all
the makeup and styling. Her artistry was impressively subtle.

“When do you think he will be back?” My heart
was aching at the mention of his name.

“He should have already returned by now.” She
fluffed my hair in the mirror and fastened a string of pearls
across my forehead and around the back of my head.

The new information concerned me. I felt a
tug at my heart.

“We’ll leave a note and I’ll take you out for
recreation,” she blurted out suddenly. I was guessing she sensed my
melancholy.

Brigitte was growing on me, but I missed
Laurent something awful. I was worried about him. What if something
bad had happened to him? I tried to push that thought out of my
mind. “Where will we go?” I tried to seem interested.

She tapped her chin in consideration.
“There’s a big fair down south. It’ll be fun.”

I couldn’t help but sigh. What if Laurent
returned while we were out? He would worry. Maybe he would even go
looking for us and get into more trouble.

“Don’t worry,” she whispered. “Laurent’s
fine. Though he’s out of range, I sense his well being.”

Now my sigh was of relief. I wondered how she
could know such a thing. I got the feeling that being part of the
same school connected them somehow. It didn’t seem like the time to
ask about that.

She wrote a note for Laurent and we headed
down the gloomy stairs into the stuffed wild animal room. The bear
seemed to stare at me with wild eyes. I could never get used to
this room. It was just way too creepy. Willy and Erma weren’t home,
so we left without questioning, which was a relief.

Because of my mood, the fair wasn’t any fun
at all. I just wanted the experience to end so we could get back to
the bed and breakfast to see if Laurent had returned. Maybe he had
killed Sabine. Then we could get back to school and normal
life.

As we walked around the fair, I was surprised
how many people stared at Brigitte and me. I had never received so
much attention in my life. We must have been hit on by a hundred
guys at the Ferris wheel, the duck shooting booth, the petting zoo,
etc... And they weren’t only interested in Brigitte, but also me.
Makeup and a beautiful dress can do wonders!

How odd. The attention made me uneasy and
caused me to miss Laurent all the more. Boy, I had it bad for him.
I was feeling really vulnerable and out of control.

It was dark by now. The crowds were
dwindling. Most of the families with young children left for the
night and now teenagers and childless couples were in rule. A
mixture of carnival music, bells, and chatter sounded in the
nighttime air.

We turned down a row of concession stand
booths. The neon signs were flashing bright colors. The smell of
popcorn and hotdogs started to irritate me.

I just wanted to go back to Willy and Erma’s
place. What if Laurent had returned and we weren’t there? He would
be all alone. Maybe he would return to the ocean and I would have
to wait all over again.

I was surprised to see a little girl about
seven-years-old ordering a cotton candy. I guess her parents didn’t
mind keeping her up on a school night. She reminded me of Lucy with
her pigtails. My heart ached. I had to let my parents and Agatha
know I was okay.

We came upon a booth that sold fried seafood.
“Oh!” Brigitte exclaimed suddenly. “Calamari!” Her arms sort of
flowed in the air for a moment. “Maybe they’ll sell it to me raw.”
Her face lit up at the thought.

“You order that,” I said. “I’ll be right
back. I have to go the bathroom so bad.”

“I’ll go with you,” she insisted.

“Oh, no. You better order before they close.
Look.” I pointed at the hours written on a sign dangling over the
window counter. “They’re closing in five minutes.”

She hesitated for a second. “Okay. Just hurry
back.”

1. Moving Fast
   

“I will—don’t worry.” I rushed over to the
restrooms near some art exhibits and made a collect call to
Agatha’s cell from the public phone.

As I heard the ring, my body tensed up. I was
trying to figure out what to say.

A woman’s voice came on the phone and asked
Agatha if she would accept a collect call from Grace. Her voice
quivered and then lifted, “Yes!”

“Hello? Grace?” Agatha asked excitedly.

I could picture her adorable face and frizzy
hair in my mind. “Agatha,” I responded in a rush.

“Is it you?” Her voice sounded shocked and
thrilled at the same time.

“Yeah, it’s me.” I held the receiver
tightly.

“Where are you? We’ve been so worried.” I
sensed the panic in her voice now.

“Tell my parents and Lucy that I love them
and that I’m fine. I can’t explain now, but I can’t come home.”

“What?” she exclaimed. “Where are you? It
sounds like you are at a party.”

“I love you Agatha. Please don’t worry about
me. I’m in good hands. And please tell the police that Laurent
didn’t kidnap me. I left of my own freewill.”

“Is Laurent with you?” she asked in a panic,
eager to get more information.

Right then I saw a manicured finger press the
lever on the payphone to hang it up. My body froze as I turned to
see Brigitte.

“You should know better!” Her soft voice was
harsh as she turned me around.

“I’m sorry. I just called Agatha. I wanted to
clear Laurent’s name with the police,” I explained.

Her head was shaking. She looked really mad.
“You could get all of us killed instead, Agatha included. Did you
tell her where we are staying?”

“No, of course not.”

“The police could have Agatha’s phone tapped.
Sabine and her school could be listening in as well.”

“How could she do that?”

She rolled her eyes. “Didn’t Laurent tell
you?”

“What?” I looked confused.

“When mers focus on a location, they can hear
every sound regardless of the distance between them and the
emplacement. Sabine probably has her school listening in on Agatha
and your parents. She could easily recognize the sounds of the fair
if she was eaves dropping on your conversation with Agatha. Mers
have acute clarity in hearing. This is probably the only fair going
on right now in California. She’ll figure out where we are in no
time.”

My shoulders fell. “I’m sorry. It was stupid
of me.”

“We better go.” Her voice was tense. “Don’t
talk. She’ll be scanning the fairgrounds for your vocal sound
waves.

I furrowed my eyebrows, frustrated that I
couldn’t speak.

“Stay with me,” Brigitte demanded. As she
took my hand, I noticed her nostrils flare while the fine hairs
rose on her sleek arms. I hoped she didn’t transform like she did
earlier when we were in the bathroom back at Erma and Willy’s
place.

She led me out of the fairgrounds in silence.
We trekked across the huge parking lot, past the horse racing
tracks and barns, down a steep hill, and came out onto the
beach.

My stomach got queasy when she started
leading me into the ocean. I pulled back. The idea of going deep
within the water with her was terrifying. I knew she was on my side
and wanted to help me, but I wasn’t as closely bonded with her as I
was with Laurent. I sensed that he would rather die than put me in
danger. But I hadn’t developed that sort of trust with Brigitte.
Maybe she would lose control and tear me to shreds unintentionally.
I felt like I was being led into the ocean depths by a shark. Only
a fool would comply.

“You must come.” She pulled me close to her
and whispered in my ear. “It’s the only way. Sabine will be
listening for you on land. The water is our protection. We’ll take
it back to the hotel.”

There was no way I was going with her. If she
let go of my hand deep within the water, I would drown. There were
so many possible dangers. I would be out of my element.