The Turning Tides (Marina's Tales) (39 page)

When we finally caught our breath he turned serious, taking both of my hands, “I love you… I’m
just
gonna have to learn how to
have faith in
what I can’t see.”

I
smiled at the familiar
words,
and
now I finally understood what Rosa and Nixie had meant by them.
If Ethan could learn to have faith in my love, I could find a way to have faith that he could handle whatever truth I had to dish out. I could and I would.

With a sudden surge of joyful energy, I came to him, crawling up on his lap and kissing him breathless with my hands in his hair.

Pretty soon we were rolling on the couch, giving in to the euphoria of our reunion. It was time to get serious and stop tormenting each other. Something clicked right then, and I knew that nothing would be able to come between us, ever again. I think he felt it too.

“How are you feeling?” he asked me, brushing the hair out of my eyes.

“Much better,” I smiled, kissing his nose.

“Let’s go to bed,” he said, eyes
fixed on
mine.

“Okay,” I breathed.

We knew each other very well, and not at all. We went down the hall hand in hand, bumping into each other awkwardly as we took turns brushing our teeth at the sink. He left the bathroom, and I changed into a sleeping shirt, taking a deep breath and running my fingers through my hair.

I took one last look at the girl in the mirror, leaving behind the past. I wanted to forge a future with Ethan;
I wanted it more than anything. I was going to have to learn how to be more open, sharing both the sweet and bitter parts of my life with him. I flashed on the image of the home he dreamed of building on his land by the sea. We were going to make it there together someday, because we simply had to.

After all, I’d already seen it… hadn’t I?

~

C
hapter
T
wenty-S
even

SLEEP IN

~

I started awake at dawn, with Ethan’s strong body curled around mine. For an instant I froze, afraid it was only a dream, and I might suddenly wake to find myself still trapped inside Edwards’ chamber of horrors. I shivered at the thought, and in response
Ethan
pulled the blankets up higher, kissing the back of my neck.

“Are you cold?” he whispered.

I snuggled up against him, shuddering with happiness this time, “No.”

I drifted back to sleep on a tide of contentment, dreaming sweet dreams
filled with deep blue skies and turquoise
sea
s
. The next thing I knew, the sun was streaming glorious golden light through the window. I blinked, rolling over to see Ethan’s eyes, the same color as my dreams, wide open and smiling at me.

“Good morning Dollface,” he said.

I smiled, “Morning.”

“From now on,” he pronounced, “I’m never going to sleep without you next to me.” He spoke with such conviction, I couldn’t doubt what he said was true.

“Okay,” I whispered. He wasn’t going to get any arguments from me.

He traced the contours of my face, running his fingertips along my jawline, “You’re so beautiful.”

I turned away,
my cheeks flushing warm
, “Shouldn’t you be in class right now?”

He pulled me closer, molding himself to me, “I’m taking a day off. We can do whatever you want today, as long as
it’s with me
.”

I sighed with contentment, thinking with wonder what a difference a day made. I was floating on a sea of happiness, musing that I might as well be in heaven. Warm and safe, Ethan’s voice rumbl
ed
in my ear, and his fingers twined in mine
.
I
f I was a cat, I’d be purring.

“What
do
I want to
do?” I asked playfully.

“I could stay right here like this forever,” he replied, nuzzling my ear until I giggled.

“Before you go all John and Yoko on me, there
is
the issue of coffee,” I
sighed.
“I don’t think I can go forever without it. In fact, I may be going through
serious
caffeine withdrawal right now.”

He chuckled, kissing my ear and rising up on one elbow, “I suppose I should pick up my truck from the school lot before they tow it. Hey, wh
at happened to
your car?”

I told him how they’d ditched the Rover at the airport, and explained the lengths they’d gone to in order to cover their tracks. I could tell he wanted to know what had happened at the lab, but he was careful not to push me, asking only a few gently probing questions.

I thought about how
the story
would make him feel, and I considered skipping over a few parts. Then I realized if I wanted him to change for me, I was going to have to go against my own instincts and change for him. I fo
rced
myself
to
pour out all the terrifying details, surprised that it had actually happened when I realized how
awful
it sounded.

He stroked my hair soothingly, listening quietly as I told him everything. I held nothing back, and when I was finally finished with the whole gruesome tale he kissed my cheek, pressing his face on mine, “Don’t ever even think about hurting yourself again.”

“I thought there was no hope. I didn’t want to let them win... but I was too cowardly.”

“No, you were too brave. It takes more courage to keep going than it does to give up.”

“Or faith,” I added.

He sucked in a sharp breath, “I’m so sorry. I swear I’ll never doubt you again.”

“It wouldn’t have made a difference. They were going to grab me no matter what. They were only watching me to see if I’d lead them to Nixie.”

I could feel his body tense at the thought
.
“They all deserved what they got,” he said, “I’d kill them myself if they weren’t already dead!”

“Don
’t talk like that,
”
I said, even though I felt the same way.

“Edwards should have known better. He must not have noticed how bad things tend to happen to people that mess with you.”

The thought had occurred to me. Pretty much everyone who had crossed me ended up dead, and there was only one possible explanation. I’d also noticed that it wasn’t necessarily
me
that did anything. Whatever this muse magic was, it was certainly
unpredictable.

“They were about to take me and Nixie out of the country. Things would have turned out very differently if you hadn’t shown up,” I said.

“I wouldn’t have been much help without Yuri. Thank God he was there when I called. He didn’t even question me–
H
e just raced out here.”

“When did you realize the letter was a fake?” I asked
.
“Paul seemed to think they did a pretty good job on the forgery.”

“
She
slipped up and dropped Olivia’s name.” He spat out the first word, and I noticed how “she” was no longer “Mom”, or even “Ruby”. I could tell he’d decided he’d rather be angry than hurt, and I understood. He had a
long
way to go before he came to terms with it.

“How did you know I was at the lab?” I asked.

“I didn’t. Yuri had a hunch, and it
made sense
after what you said about all the security there. Anyway, he came down from the city to meet me at the university,” he smiled, “And he helped me convince Max to get us into the lab.”

“Convince?”

He chuckled, “Okay, force. But you saw him! Once
w
e got there, Max really stepped up to the plate– I think he surprised himself. You must have
inspired
him to help.”

I
shook my head
, “Poor Max. I think he got the shock of his life… and to top it all off his research is ruined.”

I wondered who else was aware of the lab’s secret mission, thinking of the night that Nixie had been delivered. If she had been captured by the university’s research vessel, surely Professor Powell knew something about it. I heaved a breath, afraid that my work was not finished yet.

“What’s the matter?” Ethan asked.

“I need to go check on Nixie
.
”

“
You should g
ive it a couple of days,” he s
uggested.
“You need to rest.”

I sighed, “I’m worried about her. She was so scared.”

He kissed my cheek, “I’ll go with you when you’re up to it, but I have a feeling she’s fine… Did you see her when Yuri put her in the water? She took off like a bat out of hell!”

With that imagery he had me laughing, and he rolled me over to look into his smiling eyes. Soon he was on top of me, kissing my neck until all my worries were forgotten. I could hear his phone ringing in the background.

“Shouldn’t you see who that is?” I breathed in his ear.

“Mmm…” he kissed me again, “Nope.”

The phone rang and rang, and we both remembered who it was the last time that happened.

“Evie,” we said in unison.

Ethan got up with a
groan
, returning with the phone. “Bingo,” he said, handing it to me. “I’ll go get you that coffee,” he whispered, kissing my cheek and leaving me to my conversation. I watched him leave the room, clad only in his underwear. I sighed.

I brought the phone to my ear, “Evie?”

“Marina! Are you all right? I’m so sorry! It’s all my fault! How could I have not seen it?” she wailed, nearly hysterical, “I could kill Paul!” she seethed.

“Fate
already
took care of that one,” I remembered the twisted grimace on his dead face with a shudder.

“Oh, Marina,” she moaned. “A trusted friend recommended him to my employ… How many of the council are in league with Olivia? How could they all be so corrupt?”

I could hear the devastation in her voice, and I knew she was feeling the sting of betrayal, just like me… just like Ethan. “I’m so sorry.”

“How are you? Did they hurt you?” she asked.

I did my best to calm her down, “It’s okay, Aunt Evie… I’m fine. I’m with Ethan. Where are you?”

“Right now, about I’m about forty thousand feet over Chile. I left Argentina as soon as Yuri called.”

“Where’s Cruz?” I asked, alarmed.

“He stayed behind to visit with his sisters–
T
hey really
are
such
delightful
young ladies
, and Cruz is having
a ball
getting to know them. I told him I had pressing business to attend to, and I’d send the plane back for him and Brad in a week. I couldn’t bear the thought of spoiling his family reunion.”

My heart sank when I remembered Brad, “What about Bradley? What should we tell him about his father?”

She sighed, “I suppose he’ll find out sooner or later. Has the story hit the news yet?”

“News?” I hadn’t given it any thought, and I started wondering who would be the first to arrive on the scene and discover the carnage. “We just left them all where they fell… I don’t even know if anyone’s even found them yet.”

“Oh, I’m sure
sh
e’s
already had a team out to scrub the scene,” Evie huffed. She said “she” with the same contempt Ethan reserved for his mother, although I knew that Evie was referring to Olivia. “There won’t be a body, a phone, or a single scrap of paper to connect her to the
place
.”

“That’s probably a good thing,” I said with relief, “There’s no point in getting the authorities involved.”

“True,” Evie agreed, “There’s law, and then there’s justice, and they’re usually two different things. We need to assemble a council meeting immediately and alert the others. We need to make a plan– I promise we’ll get to the bottom of this.”

“Count me out,” I said firmly, surprising myself
.
“I want nothing more to do with the council.”

“But Marina… They’re our kind…
It’s mandatory…”

“N
O
.
N
ot for me it isn’t.
Not anymore.
” I felt my resolve harden as I spoke the words, and a burden I’d been hauling around since the moment I first learned the truth slipped off my shoulders. The worst had already happened; the ladies of the council didn’t scare me.

She was quiet for a minute, “I suppose they’ve caused nothing but trouble for you.”

“You could say that again
.
” I snorted.