Three Rings (The Fairytail Saga) (23 page)

Sherri peeked up between her fingers, a spark of hope in her tearful hazel-grey eyes. ‘Really?’

‘Really. Besides, regardless of her threats last week, Ivyanne isn’t the hostile sort. She’s already talking to Lux again, and I know she’ll get over what happened with you.’ He sighed ‘I can see how you’re taking the tension around here so personally, but you just came here at a time when we were all paranoid and grumpy. But it’s getting better now.’

Sherri wiped at her eyes. ‘Do you think I should apologize to your girlfriend?’

Girlfriend
. The word put a smile on Lincoln’s face. It hadn’t occurred to him yet that Ivyanne would be using similar terminology soon enough. But the problem was, the term was
too
casual, for what she was to him. ‘No.’ He said gently. ‘Well, I don’t think so. That’s chick business and no business of mine how you handle it. But I’ll put in a good word for you anyway.’

‘Where is she anyway? I thought she would have come back by now, at least to visit you.’

‘No...she’s not ready to be out in the world yet Sher, she’s pretty fragile still over the accident, so I’ve been going to her. Her mum’s let her a place down on the esplanade.’ Lincoln paused. ‘A Besser block with a door, basically, but fancy, and she likes it. Now she can get some peace.’

‘Peace from what?’

‘Oh you know….mourning relatives, all that.’ He smiled at her, trying to disguise his near faux-pas of offering up too much information about the mers. ‘I’ll pass your apologies along.’

‘Oh Link thanks so much!’ Sherri engulfed him in a fierce hug.

‘No problem.’ He extricated himself from her grip, still cautious of being too close to her. ‘Anyway, Bobbit’s probably due for another beer…’

‘I got it!’

Lincoln watched her take off with a skip in her step, and grinned. It felt good to be on the giving side of advice and forgiveness for once, instead of receiving.

Tristan had never been so off his game in his life. He’d almost smashed into the side of two boats when he’d arrived in the southernmost bay of Norfolk Island, and then had been forced to streak naked across the beach in full view of a Japanese family who had been enjoying a picnic breakfast on the sand because he hadn’t seen them in time.

Luckily, he’d stumbled across some discarded clothes draped on the back of a bicycle in the third picnic area he’d found. The bike had been fitted out with an empty surfboard rack, so he’d known instantly that the owner was surfing somewhere nearby, meaning he was probably near Slaughter Bay. It was good to have his bearings, but unfortunately, it also meant that he was in a densely populated area.

Tristan made his way down the road as stealthily as he could, knowing that his kind was everywhere on Norfolk, and that he had to get his act together. He’d found a phone book at a vandalized booth, and had actually laughed out loud when he found the surname
Kayu-Api
and the listing address straight away. Their holiday home was in Cascade Bay, which was clear on the other side of the island from where he was, but that was okay-it just meant that he had less of a distance to swim home when he was done killing Ardhi.

If he was still there, of course.

Tristan walked for two blocks, keeping his head low, until he spotted exactly what he needed parked up the side alley of a church in a quiet suburb. The blue mountain bike was new and locked to a down pipe, but he only had to punch the cheap combination lock once before he shattered the mechanism. He worked quickly and silently, too haunted by the grave mistakes he’d made earlier to risk messing up again. Saying a quick prayer to whichever god guarded that particular church, Tristan lifted his leg over the bike and shot off in the direction of Middlegate Road.

At first, the wind had felt cool against his face, and the the soft and threadbare cotton of the surfer’s t-shirt was a welcome change from days of being cold and wet and naked. But then his legs started to tire after a kilometer from the unfamiliar exercise, the air felt dry and hot. He instantly wanted to throw the bike in the bushes and curl up somewhere to sleep, but that wasn’t an option. He knew he didn’t have long to put some distance between himself, the church where he’d taken the bike, the esplanade where he’d stolen the clothes, and the beach where he’d alarmed the tourists before the cops came looking for him. Norfolk was a closely-knit island, and his petty theft would be treated like a major crime in such a place.

But if the cops came for him, they’d better come with
two
sets of cuffs. Because as tired as he was, he knew that the moment his hands were wrapped around Ardhi’s neck, he wouldn’t be going anywhere without him-not even jail.

⁓

Ivyanne was in heaven. She lay in Lincoln’s arms as his warm lips lazily worked over hers, her head sinking into the soft pillow on her bed, the weight of his torso pinning her down on the soft albeit rumpled bedspread. Time had no meaning, thoughts had no substance.

Lincoln’s lips left hers, his nose nuzzling the tip of hers. ‘You’re so beautiful,’ he whispered. ‘Your lips are so red and puffy right now from mine. Do you know how high that makes me feel?’

Ivyanne rubbed her lips together realizing that they were actually somewhat numb. ‘High?’ she echoed.

‘You don’t know that expression?’

Ivyanne shook her head. ‘Human?’

Lincoln nodded. ‘Kind of like...floating. But I think it comes from the feeling of being stoned...all numb and dumb and giggly…’

‘
Stoned
?’ Ivyanne needed to clarify that. ‘As in, drugs?’

Lincoln chuckled. ‘So I guess you’ve never smoked pot?’

Ivyanne rolled her eyes. ‘Yeah sure. Right after I made a porno and blogged about it. Why, have
you
?’

Lincoln wrinkled his nose. ‘If I had-I’m certainly not going to tell
you
after that reaction!’ He bent his elbow and rested his face on his palm, gazing down at her. ‘God Ivyanne...were you
ever
a teenager?’

Ivyanne reached up and touched his lips. ‘Yes. With you. In fact, I feel like one right now.’

Lincoln kissed her fingertips. ‘You know what I mean. I’m getting all giddy here lying on your bed and thinking about being fourteen, when I’d lie on
my
bed and picture
this
moment.’ He slipped his hand beneath her soft pink t-shirt and caressed her stomach softly. ‘I always envisioned you in some ghastly pink bedroom with boy band posters on the wall and homework assignments spread everywhere...in a school uniform with knee socks….’ he grinned wickedly down at her legs as though picturing it, ‘which I’d keep on of course-’

Ivyanne laughed. ‘You better make your point. I see that hot and bothered look in your eye.’

Lincoln nodded. ‘True. Anyway my point is-the whole time, your life was nothing like the lives of the other girls I knew, was it? I mean, did you even
go
to school? Do any of you?’

Ivyanne nodded. ‘Most mers live in the same place year long like humans. They pick a nice coastal area, enroll their kids in school...and the majority even go on to university afterwards-provided it’s somewhere near the water.’ She threaded her fingers through his short dark hair which she loved to feel against her skin. ‘But being royalty, I travelled and attended all over the world. My first four years of education were in France, then we moved to Hawaii for awhile, and lived fairly far out from a school district. Mum and dad built a little native school there, and I had a governess until it was up and running. I did one year there, but I was too advanced so mum and dad put me in a private girls’ college on Oahu for the next year. I probably would have stayed there, but dad got this opportunity to film a documentary on the Great Barrier Reef so we moved to Australia-
that
was the first year we came here for the summer, and I met you.’

Lincoln’s eyes widened. ‘The accent!’ he exclaimed. ‘Oh my god, I’d almost forgotten-Ivanna had an accent.’

‘Yes I did, a slight one,’ Ivyanne said. ‘Anyway after that summer, they tried to enroll me in a few regular high schools but I was too advanced by then, so they pulled me out-basically to sit on rocks and comb my hair and wait for the handsome prince that needed rescuing.’

‘Now there’s a pretty picture,’ his fingers stretched up, stroking her top-most ribs, grazing the underside of her bra.‘It sucks that you missed out on things like prom and recess and cliques though…’

Ivyanne nodded, her eyelids fluttering shut briefly at his heavenly touch. ‘It does. And because that happens to a lot of us, one of my cousins is actually trying to organize a private school in this area somewhere-a mer exclusive college, you may say. Co-ed, so we get all of the benefits of education and experience without having to hide our true selves.’

‘That sounds like a great idea,’ Lincoln said, as one of his fingertips slid into the valley between her breasts from beneath. His lips parted on an exhale and stayed  apart so that he barely moved them when he said: ‘I’m surprised there isn’t one already.’

Ivyanne moaned as his finger curled around the underwire between her breasts and tugged ever so gently, jostling her. ‘Opening a school is difficult-’ god she sounded overcome! ‘..especially an upmarket one…. trying to keep the-
uh
-humans out is problematic and she’s come across a lot of red t-’

Lincoln swept his mouth cross hers. Ivyanne sighed and held her hand against his chest, pushing him back. She was too turned on to risk being kissed and fondled in unison. ‘What was that for?’

‘For all of the kisses you missed in high school.’ Lincoln smiled down at her. ‘Was I the only guy you ever made out with back then?’

Ivyanne smiled. ‘You didn’t realize that until now?’

Lincoln moaned and kissed her again, only this time, there was nothing gentle about it.

⁓

When Tristan got to the secluded house which was owned by the Kayu-Api’s, he wasn’t surprised to see that it was only a small cottage. Ardhi’s family seemed to favor the simple things, even though they were far from poor.

He abandoned the bike in some scrub near the foot of the driveway, then made his way up to the house along the tree line, avoiding the large open expanse of grass surrounding the gravel drive. The bushes tore at his skin, but he couldn’t afford to be spotted before he got a good look at who was inside. Was Ardhi there? Or Adele? Both? Neither? He had no idea.

When he got close to the porch, he was astounded to see that the front door was wide open. Throwing caution to the wind, he ran to the side of the house, crossing the twenty meters in only a few strides, before flattening himself against the wall under a window. Inside, he could hear music blaring, but it had a tinny quality, and he guessed that it was coming from a television or small radio, rather than a stereo system. He recognized the pop song, and frowned, knowing that Ardhi wouldn’t be playing that kind of song-he was too old fashioned to rock MTV. Tristan doubted that Ardhi had willfully listened to anything other than tribal drums in his whole, bland life.

Suddenly, the sound of running water from somewhere towards the back of the house caught his attention. With a smile, Tristan moved quickly, creeping across the porch and crossing the threshold to the front door, praying that the floorboards under his feet wouldn’t squeak, and that he wasn’t about to get arrested for prowling around a house with a stranger in it.

There were only a few bedrooms in the place, and he followed the sound of the shower all the way to the end of the hall, quickly glancing into each shadowy room he passed to confirm that they were deserted. When he reached the bathroom, he held his ear up against it, heart racing. He heard a female voice loudly singing a different song to the one on the radio and he smiled, instantly recognizing Adele’s tone, despite the fact that it was more resonant than it had been before, thanks, of course, to the mermaid makeover he could now confirm. He melted into the nearest bedroom, noticing all at once that it was the largest, and that the double bed inside was the only one in the house that was unmade. A brief scan provided further proof that Adele was squatting there-a pair of platform Lou Buiton heels that only a recently-turned mermaid would deign with. He dropped his nose to the sheet and sniffed it tentatively, making a face when the potent stench of Chanel invaded his nostrils. Yep, a spoiled girl had been sleeping there-alone.

Tristan straightened, wondering what he was supposed to do now. He’d hoped to catch Ardhi unawares and clock him, but there was no trace of Ardhi in the dwelling-which meant he was somewhere else, and most likely that somewhere else was the last place Tristan wanted him to be.

Suddenly, the shower was silenced and Tristan cursed under his breath, vaulting towards the bedroom door, sliding into the narrow gap behind it. He’d only just made it when he heard the bathroom door screech open, and he froze, trying not to even breathe, which ironically, was hard for mermaids out of the water.

Adele strode by seconds later, a threadbare blue towel wrapped around her torso as she swung another one.

‘These boots were made for walkin’....that’s just what they’ll do...One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you….’ she sang, surprising Tristan with the faint country twang in her voice. She stopped in the centre of the room and bent over, her back to him, her wet hair dripping on the timber floor as she began to wrap a second towel around her head, turban style. ‘Dang I sound awesome now!’ she giggled.