The Turning Tides (Marina's Tales) (2 page)

I
smiled my
agreement with a bitter little laugh, “Me too
, b
ut Boris vouches for him, and that’s good enough for Evie.”

I
did
n’t
think I’d ever
get over the fact that
Yuri had
worked for Edwards,
kidnap
ping both
me and Lorelei
.
A
lthough he’d come over to our camp, so to speak, I still couldn’t bring myself to trust him.
Evie had faith in Boris’s judgment, arguing that Yuri brought us valuable information about the enemy. My objections to taking him into our confidence had been overruled.

Paul leaned over again to murmur in my ear, “Those commies all stick together.”

Our eyes met, and I could see he was teasing me again. Now we both laughed. Paul had always seemed so stern, but he was starting to loosen up a little, and I was glad to see it.

He had me reload and practice speed firing with one and two hands, drawing the gun out of my purse and releasing the safety with one hand. He finished my lesson by having me clean the revolver, promising to graduate me to a higher caliber automatic for my next target practice

“I’ll just take this one now.” I said, reaching to open my purse. “School starts tomorrow, and I should probably–”

He shook his head no, holding out his hand for the weapon, “Nice try, but not quite yet. I’m going to give you the Taser to carry for starters.”

“Don’t you trust me?” I asked, annoyed.

He shrugged apologetically
and smiled a lopsided smile
at me
;
I couldn’t help but notice how charming he was.
A
good looking, square jawed specimen of military manhood from the top of his close cropped head down to his polished boots
, Paul could have come right out of central casting
. He may have been used to giving orders, but I wasn’t about to surrender that easily.

“I’m sure that Evie would want me to have it right away,” I said confidently.

“Evie told me to use
my
judgment,” he said firmly. “Come back to the range next weekend and we’ll see.”

I’d discovered early on that Paul was extraordinarily self-possessed, and seemed to be an extremely muse resistant sort of man.
As irritating as it was at the moment, i
t came as a relief
.
A
fter dealing with the obsession that hybrids could sometimes inspire, I was hesitant to be around any strange men. If I had any magical effect on Paul at all, it was to make him operate even more strictly by the book, and I could
n’
t seem to manipulate him in order to get my way.

It was a little frustrating today, as I was eager to feel secure, and I figured carrying a gun would
certainly
help with that. After I’d put an end to their latest
scheme, I was pretty sure my enemies were angry, and I feared they
might
com
e
for my sisters again. I had no idea what
they might
throw
my way next, so I was preparing to fight, and I
needed
to be armed.

Now that I was aware of what Nathan Edwards was really after, I
realiz
ed that he
would
never give up on
his quest for immortality. He’
d used hybrid muses to amass a vast fortune, and now his focus was on the source. He was out to get the mermaids, and use them to obtain the one thing in the world that his money could not buy– time.

His vile depravity knew no bounds. He had kidnapped and raped a mermaid, leading to the creation of a new immortal, the baby mermaid Nixie.
Edwards
was out there somewhere, aware that she existed, and I suspected that he
wouldn’t
simply
let it go. I appointed myself Nixie’s guardian and protector, and I was determined to stop him in his quest to use her genes to extend his own miserable life.

In fact, I was probably more determined than Edwards
could ever be
,
because
fate and circumstance had conspired to make me uniquely qualified for the job. As far as
I knew, I was the missing link–
the only human that could communicate with mermaids, and just a few breaths of water away from being one myself.

I was both motivated and burdened by this knowledge.

I set my jaw, “I’m ready to try the 45,” I told Paul.

He laughed, showing another glimpse of warmth that made him seem a little more human and a little less terminator, “First things first.” He took the gun from me and re-loaded, adjusting his earphones and taking aim. He fired all eight shots in rapid succession, returning my sideways look and reeling in the paper target to
hand it to me.
He had laced the bull’s-eye, whereas I had merely peppered the center ring.

“Would it really matter?” I asked sarcastically, “If it were a person I was shooting at?”

“Take the Taser,” he said with a twinkle in his eye, “At least I know you’re proficient with it.”

I thought I detected the tiniest hint of a smile playing about his lips, and I tried unsuccessfully to suppress my own. Paul had
trained me on the Taser,
volunteer
ing
Yuri to be my practice target
.
I think he noticed that I got a little twinge of satisfaction when I zapped him
, thinking of Lorelei
as I
watched
Yuri
flopping about on the floor like a fish. Payback, I thought.

Paul and I left the shooting range, locking it behind ourselves. The soundproofed room opened up onto a huge command center, a compound that took up the basement floor of Evie’s apartment building. Comfortable couches were grouped on one side of the room, and t
he walls were lined with closed-
circuit cameras that focused on every entrance into the high rise. From here, the comings and goings of all the tenants could be observed and analyzed.

I’d been in and out of Evie’s apartment building my whole life, and never imagined that this place even existed. I was surprised when I was first allowed a glimpse into Boris’s inner sanctum,
as
I had not once given any thought to exactly where in the building he lived.

I could never allow myself the luxury of such ignorance again.

Yuri was sitting on one of the couches, and snapped to attention when I entered the room. Madame Fatima’s latest prophecy flashed through my mind, and I looked away pointedly.

“See you next week,” Paul said with a nod, dismissing me.

We shook hands, and I exited the room through a door that led directly into Evie’s underground parking garage.

“Marina! How goes it?” Boris was standing guard as usual, and strode over to escort me to my car.

“I’m doing okay,” I smiled, holding up my paper targets. Boris nodded, impressed.

A shiny silver Jaguar pulled up next to us, and I waved with a smile. Cruz was driving, with Bradley
riding
alongside him.

He bounded out of the car and embraced me, all black clothes and spiky hair, “How’d the training go? Is that Paul guy still kicking your butt?”

“Yeah,” I said, wincing when he squeezed my shoulders.

I looked up to see Brad come around from the passenger side. “Hi Marina,” he volunteered tentatively. He always seemed a little hesitant to engage me, maybe because his estranged father happened to be my worst enemy. I was also indirectly responsible for the death of his aunt, making me wonder if he resented me, and it made us dance around each other even more. The whole situation was tortuously convoluted.

Just as I was unc
ertain of Yuri, I doubted Brad.
Evie’s fortune teller Fatima had said was that there would be two new men and two new women in my life,
two
dark and
two
light
;
prophesiz
ing
that
one in each pair would betray me. Fatima had been eerily prescient before, and I couldn’t help but wondering if Brad was
one of
the bad one
s
. I
’
d already decided that I needed to keep an eye on Yuri.

“
Have
an open mind
,
” Evie advised me when I told her of my
suspicions
, adding, “
One must trust, but verify
.” I didn’t find that sentiment particularly soothing, but I held my tongue for Cruz’s sake.

“W
ill
you stay for dinner?” Brad asked politely.

“No, Ethan is expecting me… but thank you anyway.”

“Tell mom I said Hi,” Cruz kissed both of my cheeks in the manner of Evie, and I watched, amused, as he jauntily bounded to the elevator. My cousin was happier than I’d ever seen him, and it made me feel better
despite my misgivings.

I took
the scenic route
home,
enjoying the drive
that
wound along the coastline. The waves were crashing on
to
the shore like an invitation
, and
I
briefly
toyed with
the
idea
of squeezing
in
a quick surf before dinner.
The
thought
of
seeing
Ethan
made the
impulse
pass.

Once
he
’
d witnessed the majesty of surfing with the mermaids
,
Ethan
no longer questioned my desire to be out there. He talked about the experience with reverence, and he supported my decision to protect them.
T
hough
he no longer seemed to be quite so af
raid
they’d spirit me away, he still worried that I might put myself in danger
.
Given my track record,
I had to admit he had a point.
We were both hoping that after fifty moons passed
my
overwhelming
urge
to be in the sea
would ease up
a little.

A
love
song
came
on the radio and I turned it up, humming along to the sweet strains of a familiar voice. Megan had been touring and performing all summer long, calling
me every so often to describe
the far-flung locations she could scarcely believe she was seeing.
Like Cruz, s
he sounded happier than she’d ever been, and her joy spilled over the phone onto me. I always felt b
uoyed up
after hearing from her, even if I was still uncomfortable with the idea that I had anything at all to do with her outrageous good fortune.

Aptos girl Shayla had
also
spread her wings to fly, and was now dating the movie star that I’d pulled from the sea in Hawaii. A beautiful pair, they graced the tabloids weekly, their globetrotting adventures custom made for the glossy magazines. There were pictures of Shayla and Matt posing at movie premieres, surfing in South Africa, or covering their faces as they slipped out of chic nightclubs.

Some long-lens photos
of Shayla had recently surfaced–
scandalous images of her frolicking topless on a billionaire’s private island.
Instead of hurting her career, t
hey only served to e
nhance her reputation as a free-
spirited surfer girl, and ma
d
e her even more popular. She had already attained legendary status in Aptos, and Ethan and I were amused to hear every local surfer proudly claiming to have been her boyfriend.

The fashionable set had officially deemed Shayla a supermodel, and her face was popping up in more and more places. The press loved her, as she was always good for a provocative statement or a colorful observation about celebrity. She joked about her unsophisticated background without a hint of defensiveness, and was rapidly becoming famous for being famous. She had come so far, so fast, it was almost unbelievable.

Almost.

I was happy for my friend
’
s
success
, but for me, the summer had only brought more calamity. After another disastrous run-in with the Edwards family
,
I’d endured another kidnapping that had ended in death and destruction. I
’d
managed to escape them
once
again, but Nathan Edwards and
his muse
Olivia were still out there
,
and I sensed they still had
evil
plans
in the works
.