SeaChange (20 page)

They stopped at a cell phone center, where Heidi explained
that her phone had been destroyed, picked up a cute little smartphone. When she
went to have her number switched over, though, Jake shook his head.

Right. The bad guys had her personal information. With a
sigh, she accepted a new number. “Can I give it to anyone?” she asked as they
got back in the car.

“Steve,” Jake grunted. “Me. Steve will let Brad know if
needed. Nobody else until we’re sure it’s safe.”

When they reached the
Siren
, Niko and Leta were
waiting on deck, wearing brand new clothes and sipping giant plastic cups of
soda. Heidi grinned at the idea of the mermaid princess in the gas station
convenience store, wishing she’d been there to see it.

“I
love
this place, Che,” Leta cried. “It’s even
better than Catalina. I want to live here, among the humans.”

“Keep your voice down,” Jake hissed.

“Honey, you’ve just got to stop drinking before noon,” Heidi
said with a loud laugh. The one or two heads that had turned toward them at
Leta’s pronouncement just rolled their eyes and looked away.

“I can’t figure out which is the sexiest part,” Jake
muttered into her ear. “Your ass or your brain.”

Heidi felt her face warm with a flush. Shaking her head, she
just pulled away from him and went down into the cabin to stow the groceries.

“Holy crap!” Bags were everywhere, clothes, cosmetics,
handbags, shoes and jewelry spilling out all over the furniture. Off to the
side was one small pile of neatly folded men’s clothing—one pair of jeans, two
T-shirts and a pair of sport sandals. While Niko had apparently been pretty
circumspect, it looked like Leta had maxed out Jake’s credit card. “He’s going
to need a bigger boat.”

“No worries,” Jake said from behind her. “Actually, I’d
guess this is fairly restrained, for Leta. You want to use my study for your
calls while I get things ready to shove off?”

“Sounds good,” Heidi said. She’d been making a mental list
of all the things she needed to take care of while they still had cell phone
service. Which reminded her… “You’re sure you want me to go with you? This
whole thing with your mother might be kind of awkward with a human tagging
along.”

Jake set down his bag of groceries and took hers out of her
hand, plunking it down on the counter. Then he put both hands on her shoulders
and looked into her eyes. “If you want me to wait on dealing with my mother, I
will. Niko and Leta seem to have reached some kind of truce. I don’t think he’ll
let my mother force her into marrying him.”

Heidi shook her head. “No. Your sister needs you to do this,
if only to feel that you’re still her big brother. Besides, from what Niko
says, your whole race is in trouble. You’ve got a unique perspective on living
with humans to offer them. If your mother is willing to talk to you, I think
you can be a big help to your people.”

“Exactly the pressure I didn’t want,” he said with a wry
grin. “I was never cut out for the whole prince thing.”

“Idiot. I’ve never met a man more suited to leadership.” She
leaned up and kissed his cheek, touched by his vulnerability and amazed that he
could have any doubts about himself. “Prince might not be quite the right role
though. Maybe what you need to do is to help them move to a more modern style
of government.”

“See,” he said huskily, tucking a strand of hair behind her
ear. “Told you, you were smart.”

* * * * *

It had been nice to go out and have a pleasant dinner, like
normal people. Heidi and Jake had enjoyed a relaxing meal at one of Catalina
Island’s open-air restaurants. Now her stomach quivered as they waited on the
deck for Leta and Niko to return—with or without Jake’s mother. She stifled a
hysterical giggle as she wondered whether shorts and a hoodie were really what
she was supposed to wear for her first meeting with a queen.

Jake sat beside her, the fingers of one hand laced tightly
through hers, his other idly tapping on the bench. His tightly controlled
nervousness made Heidi want to hug him and offer reassurances. Meeting your
mother after seventy-some years had to be weirder than anything she’d ever
experienced. Well, except for sleeping with a merman and being abducted by
shapeshifters. That ranked right up there.

“I talked to Sara at the University today,” Heidi said,
mostly to break the silence. “She said Victor is pushing really hard to have my
suspension continued indefinitely. Brad’s parents want him to go home to
Chicago, so they’ve offered the University a big donation if our fellowships
somehow get revoked.”

“Victor admitted this?”

“No.” Heidi leaned her head on the side of his shoulder. “But
Sara is one of those miracle secretaries who knows everything about everything.
Anyway, if that does happen, it will put a big crimp in my chances to get hired
for a tenure-track position anywhere else, which was the plan for as soon as
this project was over.”

“What will you do then?”

“I don’t know. Probably try for a teaching job somewhere.
California has lots of junior colleges. Plus, I’m a certified scuba diving
instructor. I can always fall back on that if I have to. It sure beats waiting
tables, which I’ve also done. A little frustrating after spending the last
twelve years of my life building academic credentials, but there you go. As
long as I’m near the ocean, I’ll get by.”

“You could stay with me.”

Heidi’s heart skipped a beat. Had he really just said that?
And
meant
it? Her mind whirled as she tried to find an answer.

Before she could figure out what to say, she spotted Leta’s
head just off the starboard side of the boat.
Damn it.
Perfect timing.

Leta approached the swim deck, and paused a minute, probably
while she shifted from her mer form to human. Odd how Heidi was already getting
used to this stuff. She had left a stack of beach towels down on the swim deck,
and all Leta’s clothes, along with Niko’s, were still down in the cabin. If the
queen showed up, hopefully she could be convinced to put something on. Heidi
wasn’t sure she could handle an extended conversation with a bunch of naked
merfolk.

“All by yourself?” Heidi asked as Jake’s sister crossed the
deck. She wore a bikini top, and had wrapped one of the towels sarong-style
around her waist.

“Mother will be here shortly.”

“She agreed, then?”

Leta bit her lip, then nodded. “She seems pleased about
seeing you,” she told Jake. “She has reservations, though. But she is
desperate. In the last week, three of our warriors were killed in a skirmish
with our uncle’s followers. Mother herself was wounded.”

“Damn.” Jake let out a long, ragged breath. “I should never
have left. If he hadn’t absorbed my powers…”

“Don’t beat yourself up.” Heidi gave his thigh a squeeze
with the hand that rested on it. “You had no way of knowing this was going to
happen.”

“Your spell casting powers have augmented his own,” Leta
added. “But only a little. You were always better at physical skills than with
incantations.”

Jake had been a spell caster? Like Steve? Interesting. Heidi
filed that away for later. Right now, she reassured him with common sense. “Your
average mutineer is going to find a way to gain power. If he hadn’t gotten them
from you, I bet there’s another way.”

“Yeah. Murder.” Jake laced his fingers through hers. “With
the right spell, you can siphon someone’s magic if you kill them.”

“See. There you go.”

“I should go dress,” Leta said. “I will bring up clothing
for mother and her escorts as well.”

“Escorts?” Heidi asked.

Jake shrugged. “Well, she is the queen. She doesn’t go
anywhere unescorted. Besides, if she’s been attacked, I’m glad she’s got
bodyguards.”

When Leta returned wearing a pair of shorts and a tank top
on, she carried Niko’s jeans and a few other garments, setting them next to the
swim deck steps.

“So how did it go with Niko?” Heidi asked the other woman. “Did
your mother agree to call off the wedding?”

Leta nodded. “Yes, but she is very disappointed with me.
When Niko said he no longer wished to marry, however, she agreed to end the
betrothal.”

“So why don’t you sound happy about that?”

Leta shrugged. Heidi had a strong suspicion that Leta really
was in love with her erstwhile fiancé. She just wasn’t ready to settle down
yet. While the extended lifespan of the merfolk was appealing, Heidi couldn’t
imagine the hassles of spending over a century as a teenager. There wasn’t
enough money in the world to make her want to be sixteen again, let alone for a
hundred years.

They continued to wait for maybe half an hour. She swore she
could actually feel Jake’s tension coiled like a moray eel in the pit of her
own stomach.

“You want Leta and me to wait downstairs?” She didn’t know
if he’d feel better meeting his mother without an audience. “I could make some
coffee or something.”

“No!” Jake tightened his fingers around hers. “I mean, you
don’t have to.”

She must be getting really sensitive to his moods. His moment
of panic had made her own breathing stutter. Of course, being a guy, he couldn’t
come out and admit that he wanted her support. It felt really good to being
doing something for him, after all he’d done for her.

Finally, she saw three silvery trails breaking the smooth,
dark surface of the water. As they approached the boat, the shapes resolved
into three white-sided dolphins. When they reached the stern, the air shimmered
a little, then there were three human heads sticking out of the water.

Niko climbed on board first and grabbed a towel, smiling
briefly at Jake and Heidi in greeting. Then he held out a hand to assist the
woman. Unlike Leta, she was completely nude and didn’t seem the least bit
concerned about it. She did accept the towel Niko handed her, and wrapped it
around her, but her intent gaze never left Jake.

He waited until she climbed the ladder to the main deck,
then he dropped Heidi’s hand and stood. “Hello, Mother.” In deference to Heidi,
English was the order of the day, though she knew that wasn’t his mother’s
preference.

“Che.” She nodded regally and offered him her hand.

Heidi watched as Jake knelt and kissed it. Myrrine was tall
and slender—probably just a couple inches shorter than Heidi—with light-brown
hair that hung in a thick, wet coil to her waist. It was too dark to make out
eye color, but Heidi thought the queen’s were lighter than Jake’s.

Then the queen took both of his hands and tugged him to his
feet. They stared each other down for a long, heart-stopping moment before Myrrine
went up on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. “You look well, son.”

“Thank you, Mother. You’re as beautiful as ever.” He tossed
his hesitation aside and hugged her close. “I’ve missed you more than I can
ever say.”

Niko and the other bodyguard had pulled on pants and climbed
up behind their queen. Leta handed her mother a folded garment and laid a hand
on her shoulder. “We should go below.”

“Of course.” Jake stepped back from his mother. “Welcome to
the
Siren
—my home for the last several decades.”

“It is pleasant,” she said politely. Then her eyes narrowed
on Heidi and she nodded. “How do you do?”

“Mother, I’d like you to meet my friend, Dr. Heidi Eriksen,”
Jake said formally. “Heidi, this is my mother, Queen Myrrine of the merfolk.”

Heidi stood. “Pleased to meet you, ma’am.” Instinctively she
dipped her head in respect.

“My daughter has mentioned you,” Myrrine told Heidi with a
small smile. “She said you were a scientist, and had offered to assist our
people.”

“If I can help in any way, I’d be happy to,” Heidi
confirmed.

Myrrine nodded. “Very well. Let us go down into this boat
and we shall talk.”

Jake led the way, his mother close behind, while Leta and
Heidi moved after them, the guards bringing up the rear. Myrrine looked around
the salon approvingly, then Leta led her into the cabin to get dressed.
Meanwhile, Jake was greeting the other merman. This one appeared to be older,
with lines around his green eyes and a few silver strands in his blond hair. He
was still ripped, though, and wore Niko’s swimsuit like it had been made for
him.

“Marcos.” Jake offered his hand to the other man.

Heidi saw him hesitate, but then he returned the handshake,
albeit briefly. “Che. It is about time you made an appearance.”

“The spell cast by Phaeton prohibited it,” Jake replied
calmly. “I thought it better to return when the spell was done than to suicide.
I had no idea my uncle intended treason.”

“Suicide?” Heidi couldn’t help interjecting.

Jake turned to her with a tight smile. “That’s what happens
if a
geas
is broken—a strong one, at least. The power of the
spell…explodes inside you. So if I were to enter a merfolk colony, yes, I’d
die.”

“Sounds like he really wanted you out of the way,” she
muttered, though part of her wanted to scream at the idea. Not knowing what
else to do, she reverted again to her Midwestern roots. She went over to the
galley and started making coffee.

Jake had felt Heidi’s moment of panic, and her concern for
his welfare was like a caress. He wondered if she was already feeling his
emotions as well, or if the mating bond wasn’t manifesting itself to her in the
same way. If she did, he was sorry for the turmoil she must have sensed as he
waited for his first sight of his mother in over seventy years. Now that he
knew she wasn’t going to disown him, he would be far more able to concentrate
on the matters at hand.

“My mother would probably prefer a glass of wine,” Jake told
Heidi, who had just finished setting up the coffee maker. “Maybe that Napa
Valley red we picked up this afternoon?”

“Cool,” Heidi said with a smile, already reaching to get
down the wine. “Anybody else?”