Promise Bound (11 page)

“Oh, no,” said the first brother. “You didn’t. Oh, God, please tell me you didn’t.”

Danny walked back into the kitchen. Adrian’s wail almost drowned out Daniel’s voice as he continued with his perfectly eloquent explanation: “I … I …”

“Is that thing hers?”

According to the bathroom clock, it had taken Danny’s brothers all of sixty-five seconds to connect the baby to Pavati. Not a huge surprise since they’d spent a year rehabilitating Danny after Pavati had dumped him for Jack Pettit.

“After all that time deprogramming you?” the second brother asked. “I wasted the best year of my life.”

Someone snorted and muttered, “Best year.”

“You don’t know,” the voice continued. “What if that was supposed to be my best year? Maybe I could have been doing something great, and instead I spent it trying to get you over that bitch mermaid, listening to you bawling into your pillow every night, and now you’ve … Agh!”

Something big and heavy hit the shared wall between the kitchen and the bathroom.

The voice growled, “Tell me you aren’t this stupid, Danny.”

“Dude …,” said the other voice.

“Get your hands off me,” Danny warned. “Can’t you see I’m holding a baby?”

That was my cue to leave the bathroom. Danny was on his own, but I drew the line when it came to Adrian’s safety. I had almost as much riding on his safe return as Danny did. If that meant diffusing his brothers’ assumption about Pavati (correct though it was), I’d bite the bullet.

A second later I was in the kitchen. Danny’s shirt had three sweat circles going down his spine, and he was holding the back of his head with one hand and cradling Adrian with the other.

“The baby’s mine,” I said. “Not Pavati’s. Danny’s letting me stay here with him, off and on.”

“I remember you,” said Christian, the one with the deeper voice.

“Likewise,” I said. He’d believed I was a mermaid when we last met, although at the time, I wasn’t. I’d used the brothers’ misapprehension to my advantage then, the confirmation of their fears should only serve me better now.

“Get out,” said Bernard.

“Hey, watch it!” Danny said, “This is my house. She’s with me. I’ll tell her when to leave.”

“So you ditched one for another?” Bernard asked.

Danny said, “She’s not
with me
with me, she’s—”

Click
.

Danny and I turned toward Christian, who was holding his phone up to take a picture of Adrian.

“Delete that,” Danny said.

“I think Dad would be interested to see what you’ve been up to.”

“Give it,” Danny said, holding out his hand.

“What will you give me?” Christian asked.

I swallowed hard. If Christian and Bernard started talking, and Adrian’s picture got passed around, someone might call social services, or the cops, or … 
worse
. I couldn’t let my mind go to that place.

These boys didn’t know I was only a Half. They didn’t know I had no electrical charge or hypnotic power. They didn’t know I had no way to hurt them—on land, anyway. I’d have to compensate for my mermaid shortcomings with my acting prowess.

Doing my best Pavati, I pressed my palms flat against each other and began to circle them slowly. I kept my eyes downcast, until I’d taken a few seconds to build up the illusion of an electrical charge, then I slowly raised my gaze, looking through my lashes as Pavati did, focusing on Christian’s eyes. His pupils dilated to the point I could see my reflection in them. For a second, I scared myself.

“Give me the camera,
boy
,” I said. “Unless you want to make me angry.”

“Give it to her,” Danny said. “I don’t want any trouble.”

“You’re already in trouble,” Bernard said.

“Only if you make it so,” I said, my voice a perfect Pavati purr. “I have no intention of hurting your little brother. He’s only doing me a favor.”

“In exchange for what?” Christian asked.

“His life,” I said, and it gave me inexplicable gratification to
see the hair on Christian’s arms stand on end. “Now give me the camera.” I took a step closer, and I could hear the tremor of his heart, wild and irregular. “You don’t want to be on my bad side.”

“Careful,” said Bernard. “Back off.”

I didn’t acknowledge him, only held out my hand to Christian, who stared at my fingers with a healthy respect.

“What if I don’t?” he asked.

“Do you want to find out?” I asked, switching over to Maris’s threatening tone. I drew my eyebrows together.

“Just give it to her,” Bernard said.

Christian dropped his phone into my palm, avoiding touching me. It took only a second for me to delete the photo and offer the phone back. When Christian tried to grab it, I snapped it away, then laughed like Maris, slowly sliding it into his front pants pocket.

He held himself rigid while I leaned in and, letting my lips graze his earlobe, whispered, “Smart boy.”

Bernard slapped Christian on the shoulder and pulled him toward the door by his elbow.

“Not a word to Mom and Dad,” Danny said.

“You’re on your own,” Bernard said. “We did our best.” He pushed Christian toward the stairs and slammed the door behind them, leaving me and Danny standing in the kitchen. It was eerily quiet. Even Adrian looked stunned.

After a second, Danny turned and stared at me incredulously. “You can be really scary, you know.”

I shrugged to play it off, but I was kind of proud of my performance. “You needed help, and now I need yours.”

“What kind of help?” he asked. “I’m forever in your debt.” He took a swig of Coke from his can.

“I think I need to break things off with Calder.”

Danny choked and blew pop out his nose. “Damn, that burns!” Adrian began to cry again, and Danny grabbed a towel to wipe Coke off the baby’s T-shirt.

“What’s with you mermaids? Why can’t you just be happy with the way things are?” He made a bottle with an already expert hand, then pushed it into Adrian’s mouth. The baby fell instantly quiet, except for sucking sounds. “Although,” Danny said, “I suppose Calder might understand it better than most, him being one of you and all.”

“I
am
happy with the way things are. I don’t want to do it. I
have
to do it.”

“Holy hell, Lily.” He rolled his eyes and turned to leave the kitchen.

“What?”

Danny stopped halfway across the floor. “Why would you want to ruin what you’ve got?”

“I don’t want to ruin anything.”

“Well”—he laughed once—“you’re gonna.”

I sighed and placed my hand over the pendant. “See this necklace?”

“All the time. Do you ever take it off?”

“It’s telling me that Calder needs to go and find his parents. I can’t go with him because there’s something I need to do here. He’ll never go without me if he thinks we’re still together. That’s why I need to break it off.”

Danny tested out my words in his own voice, articulating
each word with a heavy dose of skepticism. “Your necklace is telling you that Calder needs to find his parents.”

I nodded.

“Have you been huffing paint?”

“Thanks a lot. I thought you’d at least listen to me. Calder won’t.”

I followed Danny into the living room. The couch was pulled out into a bed that was covered in green and yellow zebra-striped sheets. Balled-up used diapers overflowed the small garbage can in the corner.

Danny sat down on the lumpy mattress. “If Calder thinks the necklace is handing you a load of crap, don’t you think you should listen to him?”

I sat on the floor with the back of my fingers held under my nose. “Maris says he doesn’t want me to believe what the pendant is showing me.”

Danny nodded, and for a second I thought he was seeing things my way. “And, in the past, you’ve found Maris to be a reliable source?”

“No, but—”

“Lily, I think it’s nice and all—Calder finding his real parents—but I don’t think you need to break up for him to do that.”

“I’m all ears. Give me a plan B.” I pulled an afghan off the arm of the sofa bed and wrapped it around me. There must have been a draft, because a chill was running up and down my arms.

Danny laughed warmly, and his blue eyes sparkled against his tan skin. I was glad to see his mood change. He was really
very cute. Sometimes I wondered what his life might have been like if he’d never met Pavati. I bet there were a lot of girls who wondered why he never noticed them.

“It’s not rocket science, Lily. Ever heard of the Internet?” he asked. “Why can’t Calder research birth records at your house?”

“Yeah, I thought of that, but at some point he’ll need to start knocking on doors. We think they’re in Canada. He’s already said that he’d never go there without me.” I chewed on my lip, thinking. “Maybe we don’t have to break up. Technically. We could take a break for a—”

Danny tipped his head to the side and gave me a patronizing look. His dark hair hung across one eye. Clearly he thought I was being an idiot. I hoped he was wrong.

“And there’s more,” I said with a sigh.

“There better be.”

“Maris and Pavati are fighting, and they each want me and my dad to join them. On a more … permanent basis.”

“And …,” Danny prodded, his voice brightening at the sound of Pavati’s name.

“Calder would rather poke needles in his eyes.”

“I see. And you?”

I pulled my knees up to my chin and hugged my legs. “I would never join them without Calder, but my dad’s considering it. I want to stay close to that situation. It would hurt Calder too much if my dad accepted their offer.”

“Lily, you are the craziest girl I’ve ever met. You’re telling me you won’t do anything without Calder, but you’re going to break up and send him away? Do you hear yourself? How
does that make any sense? What are you going to do, just sit in your room until your
love-ah
gets back?”

I blushed. “Looks like it’s working for you.”

“Hurtful.”

I got up, dropped the afghan on the floor, and walked to a bookcase where Danny displayed all his baseball memorabilia. Despite my quick comeback, his question had unsettled me, and I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing that. He had a point. I didn’t know how long it would take Calder to find his parents. And once he had, I wasn’t one hundred percent certain that he’d come back. I knew how desperately he wanted a family—maybe even more than he knew himself. I saw how seamlessly he’d made himself a part of mine. The real thing would be irresistible.

For a second I thought maybe I
would
go with him, but I quickly dismissed the idea. I didn’t trust my dad to know how to stand up to Pavati’s and Maris’s ploys, and then—in a year—there’d be the matter of Adrian. And what would become of Danny after that? I was more needed here than Calder would need me in Canada. And he would come back for me like he had once before. Wouldn’t he?

Adrian made soft snuffling sounds as he drained the last drops from the bottle. Danny pulled the bottle from his lips and tossed it on the bed.

“Do what you have to do, Lily, but be ready for the consequences.”

I turned to face him. “Good ones, I hope.”

Danny raised Adrian to his shoulder and gently thumped him on the back. “Maybe.”

T
wo days passed since Jason suggested Carolyn be changed and during that time, I couldn’t help but feel that something was seriously wrong between me and Lily. She avoided my eyes. She left the room if I entered it. When I caught up with her unexpectedly and tried to give her a hug, she only smiled wanly and pulled away, making some excuse.

Worst of all, when I asked what was bothering her, she’d just say, “Nothing. Maybe I’m not the only one with an overactive imagination.” I wished I’d never mocked her for thinking Nadia was communicating with her. She was more offended than I’d realized.

I wanted to make things right between us. I wanted to tell her that I was sorry. If that meant letting her wear that blasted pendant every day and night, if that meant listening with rapt attention as she recounted all her Nadia dreams, so be it. Hell, I’d even take notes.

But really, more than anything, I wanted to tell her that I loved her, that I wanted us to be together forever, and that nothing should come between us. I wanted to prove that to her. I wanted her to understand.

So the next day, after putting the groceries away for Mrs. H, I pulled Lily aside and—against her protests—snuck her out the front door.

I’d spent all morning planning a romantic getaway in the woods. It was a scene right out of a John Hughes movie. I hoped she’d like the copper promise ring I’d made and hidden in a small velvet box. It felt ridiculously obvious in the pocket of my cargo shorts, but so far she hadn’t noticed.

“Where are we going?” she asked as I pulled her toward the path that cut through the woods.

“You’ll see.”

She held her hand to her head so her floppy hat wouldn’t fall off. “Stop, I can’t run in sandals. Slow down or let me get different shoes.”

“You’re not going to need shoes,” I said. “We’re not going very far. Are you okay? You still look a little pale.”

“The joys of being a redhead.”

“I don’t mean normal pale. I mean, you look kinda …”

“Don’t say ‘sick.’ ”

“Okay, you’re not sick, but are you sure you’re warm enough? We could go back and get you a sweatshirt.”

She put on the brakes and pulled on my arm. “Tell me where we’re going.”

“We’re already here,” I said, leading her into a clearing, then pulling her into my arms and off her feet. Her hat fell off and her long, thick curls tumbled down her back. I inhaled the orange-blossom scent of her, burying my nose in her hair. This was perfect. Life was perfect.

My anxiety over the past few days evaporated, and I saw our lives with pristine clarity. I’d picked the perfect spot. The trees towered in a canopy above us. The ground was carpeted in moss and tiny white flowers—honeysuckle sweet. The early-evening sun streamed down through the pines, casting pollen-laden stripes across the private clearing and the patchwork quilt I’d laid out a few hours earlier.

“What’s this?” Lily asked nervously. She looked down at the quilt and bit her lip.