ignore everyone and lock myself in my bedroom for the night.
Even though the headache was gone by the next morning, I claimed to feel like crap, earning a much-needed day at home alone. Gee, and it only took my mother forty minutes of waffling back and forth finally to agree to leave me unattended.
Once my family fumbled their way out the door—notebooks, math assignments, soccer balls, aprons, and coffee cups in tow—I greeted the silence like an old friend. Our household had very little quiet to offer, and every now and again a girl needed some peace to ponder life’s wonders. For instance, why the women in the tampon commercials always danced around wearing white. Or, why boys claimed to want to date a girl who was natural and didn’t wear a lot of makeup, but if you put them in front of a Victoria’s Secret commercial, they’d drool down the front of their shirts.
And, of course, what to do about the mythological creature in your backyard you were kinda sorta falling for.
After getting dressed and making myself some toast, I rolled into our living room, where a row of old paned windows faced the water. As I nibbled on the buttered bread, I watched the waves of Moon’s Bay rise and fall, and the food stuck in my throat. I couldn’t have counted how many times in my life I’d swam in that lake if I tried. Hundreds?
Have Mer been watching me from below? Have they reached out their hands to grab my ankles while I paddled? Have they glowered at me with the same expression Isolde gave me the day before? Was yesterday not my first experience with Saxon’s kind?
Shivering, I let my toast drop to the coffee table and rested my elbows on my knees. During the course of the night, I’d woken up no fewer than a dozen times, replaying my afternoon with Saxon. Pulling my blankets around my body as tightly as I could manage, I tried desperately to ward off the chill all of my newfound knowledge brought on. Knowing that a clan of Mer lived underneath the surface of the lake erased everything I’d known to be true for the past eighteen years. And that knowledge made sleeping peacefully in my bed freaking impossible.
My heart knocked against the inside wall of my chest, and I rubbed at it absently. I missed Saxon. Admitting it made me want to whack my head on the wall. I had hurt him when I left him standing on the trail alone, and knowing that sucked royally. I’d never liked a guy enough to regret my actions before. Figures that I’d finally fall hard for a guy, and he’d turn out to be part fish.
“Screw it.” I flipped the brakes on my chair and rolled toward the back door. I had too many questions that needed answers and too many feelings for Saxon that tugged me back toward the water. Maybe I didn’t have much of a future with him—after all, the guy could only stay human for so long at a time, not to mention the tricky drowning humans thing—but that didn’t mean I had to deny what my heart told me to do today.
And my heart wanted to find Saxon.
The rain stopped, and a hint of sunshine filtered through the thin veil of clouds overhead. I paused to lift my face to the sky and relish the vitamin D. Though we had beautiful summertime’s around here, the long, gray winters tended to overlap into our springs. Sometimes I craved sunshine. My mother called it seasonal depression; I called it “our winter’s too friggin’ long” syndrome.
After crossing the driveway, I headed down the trail, watching the waterline as I rolled. I had no idea where to find him except at the bottom of the lake. And I didn’t have any scuba gear readily available. The only thing I could think to do was check the few spots I’d ever seen him, and the spot where he’d stripped naked and jumped into the water was at the top of my list. Can’t imagine why.
“Saxon?” Pushing my wheels as fast as I could, I went from one end of the trail to the other, with no luck. “Sax? You out here?”
I glanced at the digital time on
Even though the headache was gone by the next morning, I claimed to feel like crap, earning a much-needed day at home alone. Gee, and it only took my mother forty minutes of waffling back and forth finally to agree to leave me unattended.
Once my family fumbled their way out the door—notebooks, math assignments, soccer balls, aprons, and coffee cups in tow—I greeted the silence like an old friend. Our household had very little quiet to offer, and every now and again a girl needed some peace to ponder life’s wonders. For instance, why the women in the tampon commercials always danced around wearing white. Or, why boys claimed to want to date a girl who was natural and didn’t wear a lot of makeup, but if you put them in front of a Victoria’s Secret commercial, they’d drool down the front of their shirts.
And, of course, what to do about the mythological creature in your backyard you were kinda sorta falling for.
After getting dressed and making myself some toast, I rolled into our living room, where a row of old paned windows faced the water. As I nibbled on the buttered bread, I watched the waves of Moon’s Bay rise and fall, and the food stuck in my throat. I couldn’t have counted how many times in my life I’d swam in that lake if I tried. Hundreds?
Have Mer been watching me from below? Have they reached out their hands to grab my ankles while I paddled? Have they glowered at me with the same expression Isolde gave me the day before? Was yesterday not my first experience with Saxon’s kind?
Shivering, I let my toast drop to the coffee table and rested my elbows on my knees. During the course of the night, I’d woken up no fewer than a dozen times, replaying my afternoon with Saxon. Pulling my blankets around my body as tightly as I could manage, I tried desperately to ward off the chill all of my newfound knowledge brought on. Knowing that a clan of Mer lived underneath the surface of the lake erased everything I’d known to be true for the past eighteen years. And that knowledge made sleeping peacefully in my bed freaking impossible.
My heart knocked against the inside wall of my chest, and I rubbed at it absently. I missed Saxon. Admitting it made me want to whack my head on the wall. I had hurt him when I left him standing on the trail alone, and knowing that sucked royally. I’d never liked a guy enough to regret my actions before. Figures that I’d finally fall hard for a guy, and he’d turn out to be part fish.
“Screw it.” I flipped the brakes on my chair and rolled toward the back door. I had too many questions that needed answers and too many feelings for Saxon that tugged me back toward the water. Maybe I didn’t have much of a future with him—after all, the guy could only stay human for so long at a time, not to mention the tricky drowning humans thing—but that didn’t mean I had to deny what my heart told me to do today.
And my heart wanted to find Saxon.
The rain stopped, and a hint of sunshine filtered through the thin veil of clouds overhead. I paused to lift my face to the sky and relish the vitamin D. Though we had beautiful summertime’s around here, the long, gray winters tended to overlap into our springs. Sometimes I craved sunshine. My mother called it seasonal depression; I called it “our winter’s too friggin’ long” syndrome.
After crossing the driveway, I headed down the trail, watching the waterline as I rolled. I had no idea where to find him except at the bottom of the lake. And I didn’t have any scuba gear readily available. The only thing I could think to do was check the few spots I’d ever seen him, and the spot where he’d stripped naked and jumped into the water was at the top of my list. Can’t imagine why.
“Saxon?” Pushing my wheels as fast as I could, I went from one end of the trail to the other, with no luck. “Sax? You out here?”
I glanced at the digital time on
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