Heads or Tails (8 page)

Ivyanne turned and shot him a withering look, but Tristan returned her expression with a grin. She was embarrassed, and he was loving it. The days off her being able to shrug off his every remark and action were clearly in the past. When Lincoln put his hand on her shoulder, she flinched.

‘You wanted the grapefruit, right?’ He didn’t look up from the fridge.

Ivyanne nodded weakly. ‘Uh.. yeah..’ she gazed down at Tristan’s waist, and he could feel the heat of her gaze. Tristan was enjoying her wandering eye, but suddenly, felt himself pulled up against her, like some unseen force had yanked him into her space.

Ivyanne cried out, her eyes widening, while Tristan’s skin went numb. He tried to push himself off her, to step backwards, but couldn’t.

‘What the-’

‘Hey!’ Lincoln protested. He’d turned away again. ‘No shoving guys, I’m getting there, and this fridge is huge!’

Tristan barely heard him. He was gaping at Ivyanne, asking questions with his eyes as he fought to draw a breath.

What just happened?!

‘That wasn’t
me
,’ he said slowly, frowning. ‘Did
you
-’

‘Sorry I’m uh, clumsy…. you guys can grab the juices, I’m getting hot-I mean, cold... from the fridge….’ Ivyanne pressed her hand against him and inched out from between them, looking rattled. Whatever force had been holding him there, released suddenly, and Tristan could breath again.

‘Here,’ Lincoln said. ‘Want to cut those up?’

‘Sure.’ Tristan took the grapefruit bag from Lincoln, walking it to the kitchen bench and pulling a knife off the magnet plate from the wall. There was a slight moment of struggle as the magnet wrestled for the knife, and he turned to Ivyanne, who had sat at the kitchen table and was watching him with wary eyes. He yanked the knife off and stared at her, contemplating what had just transpired, and her bizarre reaction to it.

It wasn’t in his head. He hadn’t
meant
to press himself to Ivyanne-he had been
pulled
to her without purposefully moving. He had been the knife, and
she
had been the magnet. Was it possible she had some power he wasn’t aware of?

Ivyanne had always had a magnetic personality, drawing people to her without even trying-but what if she
tried
? What if she focused on that? And if she could-how long had she known she could do it for? He thought about the look on her face-it hadn’t been surprised, but
embarrassed
. She knew something was up!

‘What time are you heading back today?’ Lincoln interrupted his thoughts, still perusing the contents of the giant refrigerator. But he looked back to address Tristan.

‘My flight is at eleven.’ Tristan said, already knowing he was going to reschedule. Garridan wanted to have a discussion with him and Lincoln about something mysterious, and he wanted to talk to Ivyanne after. ‘You?’

‘I told Adele I’d be back by lunch. Apparently, we have a fumigation crisis.’

‘Oh...ick.’ Ivyanne commented. ‘Please don’t say spiders?’

‘Nah it’s summer...these pain in the ass little cockroaches.’

‘Ahh those. Yes we get them every time we unpack.’

‘Yep. The theory is that Lydia’s work in the function room with all of those cardboard boxes started something. We may have to shut down for the weekend and call someone in.’

‘Won’t that cost you?’ Tristan asked. ‘Canceling bookings?’

But Lincoln shook his head. ‘Nah. We only have two bookings for this weekend-I’ll offer them a better room if they switch to next weekend, and both are from Rockhampton so it’s not like they’re traveling really far.’

‘Why so quiet?’ Ivyanne asked.

‘Oh there’s that big festival up in Townsville that draws the crowds this week. It nails me every year. But this time, I suppose it’s good timing.’ He shut the fridge and moved to the pantry. ‘Do you have any tea around Ivyanne?’

‘Yeah in those pearl canisters. Since when do you drink tea?’

‘Since about two weeks ago when a coffee damn near had me shaking.’

‘Hmmm….and here I was thinking we could have one together.’

‘Sorry.’ Lincoln said. ‘I’ll make you a tea, but I don’t need one more temptation under my nose than I already have.’

Tristan snorted, even though he was only half-listening.

‘I knew you’d feel me brother,’ Lincoln cracked making a move towards the end of the kitchen. Tristan watched him move, thinking how much more relaxed Lincoln was in their company now. Was that because he’d realized that impatience and clinginess was getting him nowhere, or because Ivyanne had stopped pulling them closer in her ambivalence towards her romantic life? He looked back to the queen and tested the weight of the knife in his hand, having an idea.

‘Hey…. Ivyanne?’

‘Yeah..?’ She asked warily.

‘Catch.’ Without further warning, Tristan tossed the paring knife in her direction-not straight at her, he didn’t want to
kill
her, but close enough to be within reach.

Ivyanne’s eyes widened but her hand shot out. The small knife, which had been spinning through the air, blade over handle, suddenly went vertical and flew into her waiting palm, handle down, no damage done.

Ivyanne stared at it, holding the knife suspended where she’d caught it, a foot out from her left hand side, the color draining from her face.

Tristan’s jaw fell open. There was ninja, and
then
there was mystic. Ivyanne Court, was clearly one of them and as far as he knew, she’d never trained a day in her life.

‘Holy-’

But Ivyanne’s panicked eyes locked on his, shaking her head gently, her other finger coming to her lips. She looked over at Lincoln, put the knife down, and then scowled at Tristan.

‘Later,’
she mouthed.
‘We’ll discuss it later.’

Tristan rolled his eyes, grabbed another knife, then placed it on the chopping board, gathering his wits. He didn’t know why Ivyanne didn’t want Lincoln to know, but he didn’t mind keeping the secret. It was nice, in fact, to know something about her that no one else apparently did.

But how long had
she
known for? And if she didn’t want Lincoln to know, was it because Tristan was the only man she’d desired enough to draw him in with her mind? It was a scintillating thought. He couldn’t wait to get her alone and learn more.

*

Ardhi knelt on the freshly turned soil and fingered the stalk of lavender which had been lain upon the mound, feeling tears spring to his eyes unbidden.

‘I’m sorry,’ he whispered. ‘For what I did, and from what I’m going to have to do to dig myself out of this mess.’ His legs were filling with lactic acid from being crouched that way, but he ignored them, welcoming the pain. He closed his eyes, recalling those final moments with Lux and the way she’d shot harsh words at him like poisoned arrows. It shouldn’t have shocked him so-Lux had always been high handed on certain morality issues-but why had she made Tristan’s life
one
of those issues?

All Ardhi had ever wanted in life was a bit of loyalty! Lux, Ivyanne, Pintang and Ash-they were the only people he’d counted on, and yet they were the ones who had let him down the most! And on the behalf of the man he hated the most! A tear rolled down his cheek, the pain as fresh as the tilled soil.

‘Why did you make me do it?’  He asked her softly, his remorse boiling away and leaving anger behind. ‘Why weren’t you there like I needed you to be?!’’

But the dead were the dead, the earth was merely soil-and the decaying body someone had properly buried had no response for him.

‘They’re definitely gone!’ Sherri hissed, approaching from behind and crackling leaves under her bare feet. ‘The windows are all boarded up-even upstairs. If there’s anyone living inside, they’re either really morbid or one of the undead.’

‘Then why are you whispering?’ Ardhi asked in a normal tone of voice. He stood, brushing a tear from his cheek as he rose.

‘Well, you said they’d be on the look-out-’

‘Not where they’ve deserted. Just The Seaview and wherever else they’ve congregated.’ Ardhi squinted into the morning sunlight, feeling an eerie shifting sensation inside his soul as his body soaked up the loneliness hanging over the island like a funeral shroud, which he supposed was accurate enough. After all, he’d taken the lives of three of the people staying in that house-how could it’s energy not be affected by that?

‘Well like I said, I strolled right through the centre of that place and there was no sign of Ivyanne. Or Lincoln. Just that Hawaiian couple and that bitch Adele.’

Ardhi snorted. ‘Bane and Grace are siblings, not a couple Sherri.’

‘Does it matter what they are? Sherri asked dryly, wringing inky black water out of her new, jet black hair extensions. ‘It’s not like we’re going to be interacting with them socially or anything. And while we’re on that subject-are you going to make me a friend soon, or are you actually going to step up, and put out before I lose my fucking mind?’

‘You had someone in New Zealand,’ he mumbled blushing from her idiotic proposition.

‘Yeah-a week and a half ago. Whoop de-do! I want someone I can
keep
, Ardhi, like you promised!’

He rolled his eyes. ‘We’ll get there Sherri but we came back here for a reason! Where are your priorities?’

‘Not feeling like there’s a sinkhole inside me
is
a priority!’ Sherri threw her hands up. ‘I can’t keep living like this! You love the isolation but I don’t! I followed you because you swore that I wouldn’t be lonely anymore-but I am! All the time!’

‘You’re not the only lonely one!’

‘And you’re not the only hurt one!’  Tears sprang to her eyes. ‘You brought me here to steal Lincoln’s heart but he stole mine! Now I’m lonely
and
in pain! What the Marked system has inflicted upon you, you’ve inflicted upon me-only you have the power to make it better by throwing a rebound guy my way and you won’t because you’re too self-involved to take time out of your vengeance schedule!’

Ardhi was sobered by that. ‘I didn’t realize that your feelings for Lincoln ran that deep, Sherri. You only knew him a few
weeks
.’

‘Yeah well maybe it’s the hormones talking…’ she conceded. ‘But you gave me those too! If I
think
of him a certain way, and
feel
for him a certain way-then what does it matter how
real
it is? Hurt is hurt!’ She clasped her hands together, hazel eyes darkened by misery. ‘Ardhi this new plan of yours is insane and I hate it! That guy creeps me out to no end but I’m here because you need me. So please give me what I need in return!’ Her eyes were pleading with him. ‘You’ve never made love so you don’t know what I’m missing, and you don’t understand how cathartic it can be-just to connect with someone, just to be
touched
..’

Ardhi turned away from Sherri’s yearning expression, unable to bear seeing her looking as raw as he felt. Sherri had been good to him-and loyal-but he knew that even the strongest bonds could be snapped by too much tension, and he couldn’t risk losing her yet. Not until he had a stronger ally onside anyway-then he’d be untouchable and if she wanted to leave him, which he suspected she did, that would be okay.

‘We’ll search the house,’ he said softly. ‘If the crown is here, we’ll go back to New Zealand where I can return it to it’s rightful owner- and then I’ll turn someone for you to keep you company while I finish this alone.’

‘And if it’s not here?’ Sherri asked quietly.

Ardhi sighed. ‘It’ll be with her, and there are only so many places left where she would have fled to.’ He looked up at Sherri. ‘You’ll have your pick of backpackers to keep you occupied in Airlie, and I’m probably going to need a few more hands on deck anyway so…I guess your priority can become mine...’

Sherri squealed and hugged him.

‘You’re the best! See! This is why I’d die for you!’

He snorted over her shoulder, but returned the hug-just to feel a warm body against his own.

5.

Ivyanne, Pintang and Saraya cut through the water like beautiful feathered arrows shot from a bow. The sand bank beneath them rose to a hilt and up they went, their perfect noses narrowly missing the peak before they dove down on the other side of the trench which dropped a further five meters into water that was both darker and cooler.

Ivyanne, who was a few meters ahead of the other girls despite the fact that she was pacing herself, spotted a large sea turtle ahead and swerved, then felt the other girls follow in her wake-a synchronized underwater dance perfected by both time and nature. She smiled at the irony of it, tickling the underside of the turtle’s belly with outstretched fingers as she passed. Though they possessed the ability to communicate beneath the surface, they so rarely used or needed it. She hadn’t spent much time swimming with Pintang or Saraya, and yet like a river merging with the sea, mermaids moved together as one instinctively.

Ivyanne wasn’t used to swimming with female company, not since she’d gotten old enough to venture off without her mother. She’s never really had ‘girlfriends.’ She liked other women, and knew that the mermaids genuinely desired and possibly even enjoyed her company, but there had always been an invisible boundary between her and her people. She supposed it was because their lives took such different paths.

Or did they? Wasn’t that exactly what she’d brought them out into the bay to discuss?

Either way, Saraya and Pintang were becoming more and more dear to her everyday, and Adele had been very nice to her the few times their paths had crossed. Of all the awful things that had transpired to bring them together, she was glad to have the other sirens nearby now. It was definitely one change that was for the better, especially now that she didn’t have her mother to confide in anymore. She could talk to men, she could get on their wavelength-but while men forged their own paths through the oceans of time, women rode the same wave together.

They reached the mouth of the small bay which lay adjacent to Ivyanne’s new home, so she motioned for the girls to stay under while she broke the surface. Swinging around to get a good look at the area, she was instantly relieved to see that the nearest boat was at least two kilometers away, a white blip on the horizon. Garridan, who had swum out ahead to lap the mouth of the bay, was surely keeping a watchful eye out for watercraft anyway.

The bay was a quiet one, shaped like the groove between the thumb and the pointer finger of a right hand. Ivyanne’s new home was nestled just down from the tip of the left hand point, bordered by a sheer cliff wall that sloped gently down as it headed inland and was overcome by mangroves. From there, the bay formed a wide arc near the shore, before stretching up for a few kilometers to the right.

It was a shallow bay, one she’d never held much interest in exploring before, but with Ardhi at large, she had to find new, less satisfying and less predictable places to get her kicks. The reef was off limits-he knew all of her favorite haunts and humans swarmed on the rest-so the bay was her best bet. Mangroves clung to one another on the distant shore, inviting fishermen with crab pots during high tide but dissuading them when it was low, as it was then. The water carried a feint trace of diesel-enough to not only throw Ardhi off their scent-but enough to repel him. He was a puritan when it came to water quality, as they all ought to have been. But it was difficult to find anywhere coastal to swim where the waters were as beautiful as Norfolk.

Ivyanne  pressed forward, feeling the weight of the water resist her inch by inch and then part, no match for her strength in it’s pliant mood. As it buffered her rolling limbs it created a soothing pulse that stilled her thoughts and anxieties. God she loved this. How she needed it! Every flick of her tail stretched and elongated her, and she could feel her joints shift to where they needed to be after so many hours of being cramped inside. She wished it was a rougher day-rougher seas taxed and sated her so much more and she needed the pent up energy vanquished from her bones. It was risky to be swimming during the day-but it was a necessary risk. The more stressful her life became, the more she needed the water. Besides, allowing Ardhi to scare her onto dry land with her tail literally tucked in would just be handing him leverage he didn’t need.

Ivyanne ducked back under and waved the girls on, leading them along the rocky shoreline, halfway to the tip. There, she found the small cavern area she had been frequenting since moving there, usually with Garridan as her only stoic company. The rocks, stacked twice as high as her at standing height, created a sort of canyon, seven meters deep, but less than a meter wide. They’d be hidden from sight in there, and the scent of the ocean was overwhelming in the very best way.

She breathed it in deeply. She missed Bracken, The Seaview, and the little beach house her mother had gifted her with back in the Cumberland region-the scent of the ocean had wafted through every dwelling there, whereas the new house was too elevated and new to catch that heady, salted and slightly fishy smell she craved so. And it still reeked of fresh paint and upholstery-those scents overwhelming what the breeze carried in in every room except her own.

Ivyanne reached the end, and pulled herself up onto a flattish rock, tucking her tail up to her chest, steadying herself on the wall. ‘Cute spit, huh?’ She asked Saraya, who surfaced first.

‘Very cute,’ Saraya smiled at her. ‘You’re not morphing?’

But Ivyanne shook her head. ‘I don’t think we should anywhere other than in front of our place. Between your pinkish scales, and Saraya’s electric blue ones, we leave a pretty obvious trail.’ She pulled her hair over her shoulders, so that it concealed her breasts. ‘And I know Ardhi will be looking out for mine.’

‘I saw Garridan covering ours with sand yesterday.’ Pintang said. ‘I thought he was being a neat freak, but
now
I get it.’ She was floating in the water, making no move to cover her own small but perfectly formed breasts. She and Saraya were so much more comfortable with their bodies than Ivyanne herself was. They were used to playing the role of the siren, the seductress-craving male attention and companionship-whereas Ivyanne was used to being the bait avoiding the hook.

Secretly, Ivyanne wished she could be a little more like them-not to just exist in her skin but thrive within it. But every time she tried-chaos ensued!

‘So what did you want to talk to us about?’ Saraya asked, getting straight to the point. ‘Or is this just a ploy to get out of the house while the guys are still underfoot?’

‘A little of both.’ Ivyanne smiled. Lincoln and Tristan were getting on okay, but that had never lasted long before so she’d made a break for it before the inevitable downswing could occur. Or before Tristan could quiz her about what had happened that morning-a quiz she didn’t have answers for. ‘I need to run a rule amendment by you girls before I settle on it.’

‘Ivyanne, sweetheart-you’re
queen
,’ Saraya drawled. ‘The only thing you have to run by me, is how high I’m supposed to jump.’

Ivyanne laughed. She didn’t want to admit that she wasn’t used to sending out orders, and that because Saraya had twenty years on her and was used to being privy to information on every mer in the kingdom, Ivyanne sometimes regarded Saraya as the superior.

‘Okay well... still... you worked closely with mum, so you’d know how she felt about this,’ she turned to Pintang. ‘And this will impact
your
life, quite considerably.’

Pintang raised an eyebrow. ‘You have my attention.’

Ivyanne took in a deep breath. ‘I want to put a cap on Marked children,’ she said. ‘So that once they turn fifty, they’re released from their obligations.’

Pintang’s hand clapped to her mouth.

‘Oh my god, are you serious?’ Saraya took her arm. ‘Ivyanne, that’s not an amendment-that’s a
brand new law
. Is that even
workable
?’

‘You tell
me
,’ Ivyanne said. ‘How many Marked children have been wasted?’

Saraya snorted. ‘Um so far...
all
of them.’

‘Exactly,’ Ivyanne said. ‘And how many are there?’

‘In
general
, or just eligible?’

‘Either way.’

Saraya didn’t pause to calculate. ‘The records state that one hundred and thirty seven Marked have been created since the beginning. Three of which are eligible for you now, well, two given Ardhi’s loss of sanity, or
one
, when you take in Bane’s sexuality….’

‘How many other boys-under one hundred, but too young to be considered yet?’

‘About eleven, I think,’ Saraya said. ‘Average ages two to eight... but that’s as good as it’s ever been.’

‘And girls? Like Pintang? Under fifty?’

Saraya winced. ‘Thirty-two or three...and sixteen
under
ten years old.’

Ivyanne raised an eyebrow. ‘So the rest are married?’

‘Around forty are married, they make up the middle-aged category, like Isabelle and Mano. Fifteen to twenty five widows, widow
ers
, old crones, mothers... and a few like Garridan, who are considered ineligible, due to infertility.’ She paused. ‘And nine are deceased.’

‘What happened to Garridan anyway?’ Pintang piped up. ‘If he’s this hot
now,
he must have been
delectable
in his prime! How is
he
single?’

‘I have no idea,’ Ivyanne said. ‘I feel weird asking.’

‘He’s had it rough,’ Saraya said sadly. ‘His mother Athalia had triplets, you know.’

‘
Triplets?!
’ Ivyanne squeaked.

Saraya nodded. ‘But that was a long time ago, when our lives were a lot more primitive. She had them quite early due to malnutrition. Garridan and Simone-Tristan’s mother-survived, but the third didn’t. I think they had to struggle with their health until they were about four. Maybe
that
caused the infertility.’

‘Wow,’ Ivyanne breathed. ‘I can’t believe I didn’t know that.’

Saraya nodded somberly.

Ivyanne sighed. ‘Well I think I made my point. Unless I manage to have forty kids-half of each, in the next forty years, there’s no way that these eligible Marked children are ever going to fulfill their destiny.’ She shrugged. ‘I say, when they hit fifty, they’re free to do whatever they want-
within
reason.’

‘Where’s the petition?” Pintang demanded. ‘I’ll sign!’

‘But wait-there are issues with this-’ Saraya said quickly. ‘You’d still need to keep a very close eye on the Marked.’

Ivyanne nodded. ‘Of course. Every one of them would still have to abide the rules until they hit fifty-and if there’s an only child situation going on, then I’d expect that child to wait for either one of my own descendants, or a full blood turned by an elder to keep the blood line pure as they do now.’ She shrugged and turned to Pintang. ‘You’re cousin turned a human for Lumi before he died, and
Ardhi
chose to wait for the Court bloodline for personal reasons. So it makes sense to keep you around too in light of what has happened, and in case
I
have a boy….’ She paused, seeing Pintang’s pretty face scrunch up unhappily. ‘But the thing is….if it takes me another hundred years to have a boy, there could be over forty younger, eligible girls trying to elbow you out of the way by then. It’s not fair and by then, your parents may have died without having changed someone for you first. If I’d been a boy, it may have been different but-’

‘Are you flirting with me?’ Pintang joked. ‘Because it’s quite a tempting notion….’

‘Oh ha ha!’ Ivyanne splashed her. ‘My point is that
Tristan’s
been free to sleep with whoever he wants for thirty years because he can’t impregnate a human with a mer child. We’ve always thought that was a fair rule, because he’ll never have a mer family of his own, but you Marked daughters are being ripped off too and wasted in the process, and I see that now. After your fiftieth birthday, you’d be free to have a half breed with a human, if you choose to, or at least do the thing that could make children, for recreational purposes.’ She winked at Pintang. ‘It may dilute the blood, but hopefully, the Marked parents who
do
turn full-blood humans for their own kids will balance that out.’

Saraya pursed her lips. ‘They’ll still be banned from breeding with us Court-Zara’s though, right?’

Ivyanne nodded, trailing her fingers nervously across the skin of the cool water, which was lower in temperature there, shadowed by the crevasse walls. Every movement they made, every splash of the wave against the rocks was amplified prettily by the natural enclosure.

‘
That
I can’t change. Take the Londeree's for example-Dalton and Bane are fine because they can’t have children. But if Bane was to hook up with you Saraya, that would make Grace and Leah ineligible as well. I still want fifteen Marked families….I just don’t have to have access to
every single
child born within each line.’

‘That sounds fair.’ Saraya agreed, taking a stray piece of seaweed off her hand and throwing it at a nearby rock. ‘I think Vana would have approved...after a lot of coaxing.’