The Turning Tides (Marina's Tales) (4 page)

“Oh, you have no idea,” I muttered under my breath. The professor impressed
up
on us
how fortunate we were to have access to such amazing research opportunities
.
He explained that
wealthy
benefactors
had made all kinds of
state-of-the-art equipment available in the new
marine
lab.

“Any questions?” he asked.

I piped up, “Yes! When do we
visit
the lab
?”

He looked down at the class roster, “You must be Miss Vanderpool
,” he smiled
benevolently. “
Unfortunately, freshman only go on field tri
ps
to
gather specimens.
If you stick with the program, y
ou’ll
have the opportunity
to do some really exciting research
in y
o
ur junior ye
a
r
.
S
ome
soph
o
mores
can
qualify for lab time if
their
field work
is exceptional.
L
ab assistant positions are highly coveted
.”
He glanced around the room appraisingly, “And they must be earned.”

I sat back in my seat, disappointed. I needed to chan
ge my approach, and I rifled through
my bag for a class schedule.

After a
n
interesting
lecture
describing
the
many
different species of whales that migrated
through the bay, we received our book list
and reading assignments
. I was happy to see
students
of all ages that seemed serious about
learning
; there was none of the whispering and staring that had clouded my high school experience. I decided that I was going to like attending college.

When class let out I hurried to find Ethan, rounding the corner to
see
him
wait
ing under
a
big oak tree we had chosen as a good spot to meet. He was standing awkwardly, with his hands in his pockets. It was unusual for him to look so uncomfortable, but as I drew near I could see why. Amber was standing close to him, running her hands through her hair and cocking her head flirtatiously. I could see him looking around until his anxious eyes landed on me.

I was prepared for this moment, so I put on a pleasant face and walked up confidently, “Hi,” I smiled at Ethan, then turned to face her, “Hello Amber.”

I slowly slipped the tote bag from my shoulder, noticing Amber’s eyes zoom in on my sparkling engagement ring. I tossed my bag on the ground next to Ethan’s and walked over to him, slipping my arms around his lean waist and pressing myself into the length of his body.

I stood on my tip toes, stretching up to kiss him, seeing the surprise in his eyes turn to relief. I could feel him relax into me as he returned my kiss, and I forgot all about Amber as his hands found the small of my back and pulled me in closer. By the time we looked up several minutes later she was gone.

His eyes flashed happily at me, beautiful and blue, “That got rid of her,” he laughed.

“I hadn’t noticed,” I said, looking around innocently.

He pulled me close again, and started kissing my neck. “I was afraid you were going to get mad at me,” he whispered in my ear.

I cringed a little, feeling guilty. After everything I’d been through in the last few weeks, my jealousy of Amber seemed like a childish thing from a long, long
,
time ago. I patted him on the back reassuringly, “Ethan?”

“Yes?” he asked.

“What do you know about auditing classes?”

He laughed, shaking his head, “What for?”

“Well, I understand that sometimes you can just sit in, and get all the information without
actually
being enrolled in the class.”

He groaned, “You’re still dead set on checking out that lab, aren’t you?”

I grimaced, “It’s aggravating. You have to be a junior to get access to it. I just want to look around a little, you know… see if Yuri was telling the truth. I’m sure they’ve probably moved everything out of there by now.”

“Marina,
Edwards’
house burned to the ground!
If
he has
any brains
at all he
’ll leave you alone!”

“
I need to make sure.
”

“Why not send Boris to check it out? Or that Paul guy?”

I kissed his cheek, “Don’t worry. It’s probably nothing. It’s only that
they have some pretty major security
over there
– supposedly
some
animal rights group
threatened
them. I was hoping I could slip in as a student and scope it out.”

He sighed, “Let the professionals handle it, okay?”

“We’ll see,” I said, “Let’s go get some lunch.”

I was getting out early, but Ethan had more classes to attend, so I planned on meeting him at Abby’s later. The shelter volunteer was coming for the kittens, and I wanted to be there to see them off. I’d bonded with the little wild things over a late night bout of insomnia, and they had seen me through a particularly rough night. Successfully distracting me, they’d managed to keep me from running out to answer the call of the moonlit waves.

I’d managed to pick up and handle each and every one of the little cats, discovering that there was a runt among them. It had a hard time moving,
and it
dragg
ed
its deformed
hind
legs
along
behind it
.
I made it a point to see that it got plenty to eat, finally sleeping with it tucked in the crook of my arm.
Its legs may have been twisted, but it purred
louder than all the other ones put together
.

When I got to the
Rover
, I checked all around
me
before slipping out
of the school lot
and
into traffic. I drove a circuitous route down to the shore, taking pains to ensure that I wasn’t being followed. I pulled into an unfamiliar lot
cautiously
, noting with satisfaction that there were only a couple of people on the beach despite the sunny late summer day.

I had taken to entering the water from a different random beach every time, and I kept my wetsuit and board under lock and key. I climbed into the back seat of the Rover and changed, popping out the back with my board under my arm. I scurried down to the beach with a few backwards glances.

School was back in sess
ion.

~

“
Repeat after me!
”
I demanded,
“
Stop. Think.
T
ake a breath. I must find a way to go
around
the net.
”

The three mermaids clung to the edge of my board, but I could tell that their minds were already elsewhere. Lorelei was fiddling with her golden hair and Nixie was giggling like someone was tickling her under the water. Nerissa looked like she was stifling a laugh.

“
This is serious! Are you listening?
” I barked at them.

The trio froze and nodded solemnly, and I realized that I’d probably reached the end of their attention span. Most of our lessons consisted of repetition, and I could never be quite sure how much information they retained.

“
Please
!
” I begged, “
Promise me you’ll remember the rules
.”

“
Yes Marina
,” they warbled, sounding almost unbearably sweet.

I sighed, “
Alright… we can go surfing now.
”

I lay down on my board and experienced the unique sensation of being towed across the sea by three mermaids. They propelled my board through the water faster than the fastest speedboat, and we cleared miles of ocean in minutes. I narrowed my eyes against the
sea
spray, racking my mind for any other useful information I could impart to them.

I’d brought them samples of nets
for show and tell,
trying to describe in the most basic terms how to find a way out of one should they ever be
come
trapped. I made them promise to take this information to the next council meeting, and spread the word about the mermaid hunters that were stalking every single one of them.

After some prodding, Nerissa
had
haltingly told me about how she was captured, and it was a chilling tale. They had used the mermaid’s favorite animal, an otter, as bait. She heard it squealing in pain and rushed in to find them torturing the poor
creature
. Disregarding her own safety, Nerissa drew closer and
closer until
they threw a net over her. 

I warned them repeatedly about
staying away from
all boats, with a mind to to re-enforcing their ancient rules about avoiding people. I tried to describe scuba divers and submarines to Nixie, who had never encountered them
before, and explain how even people who swam underwater could pose a serious threat.

I found myself losing sleep, envisioning one nightmare scenario after another.

Nixie had grown even bigger in the past few weeks, losing most of her roly-poly baby fat. Still a child, she was already showing signs of the rare beauty she was rapidly growing into. She was expanding her range, and even foraying out on her own to feed, a thought that made me nervous in a strangely maternal way.

I still had a hard time imagining that she was actually Nathan Edwards’ child. Fortunately, she took after Nerissa, but sometimes I thought I could see a slight resemblance to Bradley, and the thought was disturbing. I had no idea whether or not I could trust her brother.

We pulled up to a stretch of coastline with a wild rocky shore and I sat on my board, looking up at the eroding bluffs. I could see fossils embedded high in the cliff wall, giant bones from an ancient whale that had washed ashore millennia ago. Could my mother have known that primordial creature? The passage of time weighed heavily on me, and I started to wonder what the childlike mermaids would see in their eternal futures.

The enchanting sounds of my sisters at play brought me back to reality. Like the perfect Zen masters, the mermaids lived nearly every moment of their lives in the present; thoughts of the past and the future were rarely entertained. I could take a lesson from them.

I sat up on my board and waited for a
swell
to form, savoring the familiar delicious thrill. The waves were crashing like cymbals and the mermaid’s laughter was as sweet as any symphony. I gave myself over to the present, to the sea, and surfed the afternoon away.

When I managed to come to my senses, it was later than I had planned. I rushed to beat Ethan back to Abby’s house, coming in to find her lying on the couch, distraught.

“Abby
– what’s wrong?”

She sat up and wiped her eyes, “Mary came and picked up the kittens, but then she said that the one that can’t walk would have to be put down.”

“No!” I cried, “That’s not right! Where did they take it?”

She sniffed, “I wouldn’t let her have it. It’s still here
.
”
S
he gestured to my room. “But I don’t know what to do about it… It’s all alone and Charlie won’t have anything to do with it and it just hisses at me whenever I come near it.” She looked like she was going to cry again.

I was relieved, and I patted her shoulder, “Don’t worry Abby, I’ll take care of it… okay?”

She yawned, and lay back down, “Thanks honey, I’m just so tired. I’ve had a backache all day and I can’t get any rest.”

I tucked a blanket around her and kissed her cheek, “Kick back and relax. Don’t worry about a thing.” I went to the kitchen and made her a cup of tea, returning to find that she’d dozed off. I left the tea on the coffee table and hurried to my room, finding the one lonely little kitten curled up in the box, also fast asleep. I checked its food and water and grabbed a change of clothes, heading down the hallway for a quick shower.

When
I
finally
stepped out of the bathroom along with a cloud of steam
,
Abby
was
standing just outside the door. She was holding her overnight bag with a frightened look on her face.