OVERFALLS (The Merworld Water Wars, Book 2) (3 page)

“If Normals don’t display anything more than the talent they’ve always had, Zale hooks them up to his matrix, a network of Normals, if you will,” said Airianna. “All of the relatives are inserted immediately upon delivery.”

Facing Ophelia, I said, “Which begs the question, why was your twin sister hooked up to the grid, but you weren’t? I mean, neither of you showed any kind of extra power within a year, yet
you
were allowed to stay in that cage. Why?” I may have sounded a bit more suspicious than I intended. As much as I liked Ophelia, the Zale’s could not be trusted, and if there was any chance she could be an informant, we needed to know now.

Ophelia’s eyes started filling with tears, and I instantly felt like dung. “I—I’ve been asking myself that for months.”

“Think I can answer that one,” said Doctor Tenly. “Your gift, Ophelia, is incredibly rare. My guess is they had an inkling of what your greater power will be and wanted to give you more time to hatch.”

“Will be?” she asked.

“Oh, yes, it’s coming. Your inherently polite nature has been keeping it at bay. You see, Ophelia, you’re a time-altering ninja.”

“As in mutant?” she whimpered.

“As in turtle,” said Manakel.

“MANAKEL!” I shouted. “Stop contributing!”

“Oh, that’s very bad,” she said, standing up to pace in tight circles around one spot.

“Well, for someone who is gracious and well-mannered, I would imagine ‘bad’ is the ideal word for it. Don’t fret! You’ll eventually come to love beating the ever-loving snot out of someone.” Doctor Tenly walked over to her, patted her on the head, and went back to stand with Treeva.

Ophelia paused her pacing and stared at Doctor Tenly, her mouth gaping. “Ever-loving…snot?”

“MOVE!” shouted Trey, running for Ophelia, barely catching her before she hit the floor.

“She’s a fainter?” asked Doctor Tenly.

“Yeah, big time,” said Trey, carrying Ophelia back to the couch.

“Huh. Well, she’s going to be great fun to watch!” Doctor Tenly giggled goofily.

“See we haven’t worked on the bedside manner, yet,” I scoffed.

“Oh, he doesn’t need any work there,” said Treeva. Troy just closed his eyes and shook his head.

“What’s the purpose of the network, exactly?” asked Mr. Gibbs.

“Ravenflames empty all of their ‘weak’ feelings into it,” said Trey. “The only ones they keep are rage and hate.”

“My Poseidon,” whispered Mr. Gibbs.

“What happens to Normals who show some extra talent?” asked Manakel.

“King Zale said he empties them of all emotion and sends them back into our world,” I said.

Manakel frowned. “And how does that work if they’re still banished?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “It’s the million sand dollar question, isn’t it? They wouldn’t say why or even how, but I’m guessing it has something to do with Prehendo Animus. The soul snatching stones have to tie in with Zale’s network of Normals somehow, maybe even with the Normals they’ve sent back to the mainland.”

“Don’t think I won’t be looking into that,” said Doctor Tenly. “Now, I want everyone’s attention. Trey, can you wake our little ninja up, please.”

“Not a problem,” he said. Clearing his throat, he shouted, “Ring around the collar!”

Ophelia shot straight up. “What?! Where?!”

“Great. A clean freak. That’s just sad,” Meikle grumbled, smirking slightly at me. In that moment, I knew Meikle really liked Ophelia…or as much as she can like anyone.

“Now that we’re all alert…” Doctor Tenly spun around, picked up two jars, and placed them on the coffee table. Inside each jar was a ruby red stone.

“Ooh! Had a thought!” said my mom, somewhat disconnected from the conversation.

“Lord, give me strength,” I muttered.

“Baby girl, when you and Troy break up—”

“
If
we break up,” Troy clarified.

“Uh-huh, whatever. When you two split, and I say oh-so-comfortingly, ‘There are plenty of fish in the sea,’ I’m literally speaking the truth.” Mom then began belly laughing. “Here a fin, there a fin, everywhere a fin-fin!”

“Well, that was most enlightening, Mrs. Valentine,” said Doctor Tenly, mouthing an ‘I’m sorry’ in my direction. “Shall we move our attention back to the jars? These are the soul snatching stones, otherwise known as Prehendo Animus. Study them. Memorize them. They will always be red and may be any size or shape. There are six total, meaning two are unaccounted for. Remember, Normals and angels can safely touch the stone, but Merpeople cannot, unless they fancy being covered in boils.”

“Then how did Airi get the one from the merwhore?” asked Meikle.

“Oh, I never touched the stone,” said Airianna. “Only the bracelet part. Actually, even that was unusually hot.”

“If the stone is encased, and you can avoid actually touching the stone itself, then a merperson can retrieve it without fear of Zale’s painful alert system,” said Treeva.

“Terribly risky, particularly for someone not predisposed for confrontational situations,” muttered Bobby.

Airianna dropped her head and whispered, “But, I did it. I succeeded.”

“You were lucky, Airianna. Your sweet, angelic nature does not allow you to go about doing risky things. The odds are far too great for failure. I simply will not have it!” shouted Bobby. “Leave the ‘saving the day’ exploits to those more equipped to handle both the positive and negative outcomes.”

With her head still hanging low, I saw Airianna quickly brush tears from her eyes. Bobby worried about Airianna—and truthfully, so did I—but it doesn’t justify quashing someone’s confidence, particularly someone who was finally finding her independence.

“Bobby, I know you mean well, but without Airi’s perseverance, we wouldn’t have another stone,” I said.

“I don’t care. Her safety means more to me,” said Bobby, folding his arms.

Trey, who had been watching Airianna very closely, leaned forward, faced Bobby, and said, “Maybe having faith in someone you care about should trump the fear of them getting hurt.”

Airianna’s head popped up. She stared at Trey with wide, grateful eyes and a growing smile before turning to Bobby. “Between fear and faith, I choose the latter, and if you can’t do the same, Bobby, then I’m sorry, but this—us—isn’t going to work. I’m finding me. I need someone who’ll let me do this and support me all the while.”

Bobby stared at her, frowning. “Well…if that’s how you feel.”

“I’m afraid it is,” she said.

“Fine. I will not support a decision that endangers you.” Bobby shook his head and glared at the floor.

The room became very quiet as we all sat uncomfortably watching two of our friends end their relationship.

“Um, did two fish just break up? Because I honestly have the intense urge to say it—there are more fish in the sea, you two!” said my mom, wagging a finger.

I rolled my eyes for the umpteenth time; when I did, my gaze fell on the two stones. Looking closely at the stones within the jars, I noticed something different about them: each stone had a pair of black eyes. “Doctor? I might be going crazy, but have these stones suddenly sprouted eyes?”

“You’re not crazy, Marina. Once Airi brought the second stone to me, both birthed eyeballs. Bit frightening aren’t they? You should see how angry they get when I coo at them. It’s terribly entertaining to upset them. I’m guessing it has something to do with their communicative abilities. I’m confident the stones will inherently reveal clues to me, especially now that we have a pair.”

“And Zale has a pair. Doctor, are you sure you’re not worried about the stones communicating with one another, trying to piece together?” I asked. “They could lead Zale to you.”

“Nah, like I said, I’m crafty. Besides, it’s their communicative abilities that will lend to my understanding of them. Risk worth taking, Marina. Anyway, my pair is bigger than his,” said Doctor Tenly, winking, while Treeva bit her lip.

“Now we need to get Zale’s two, take the lead,” said Trey.

“More than that, we need to try and find those last two stones before Zale,” said Manakel.

“Got stones?” said my mom. “Bet the chicken has stones of steel.”

“MOM! Stop being a Robinson!”

“Actually, if we’re talking literal age, I’m older than your mom…by a lot,” said Manakel.

“You were a lot younger when you died, and that’s the number that counts in my book of perversion,” I said.

“Oh, sweetie, lighten up. Besides, my snugs has enough stones to fill a treasure chest,” said my mom.

“Snugs?” said Troy, his eyebrow raised.

Mr. Gibbs tentatively raised his hand.

Doctor Tenly slapped Mr. Gibbs on the back. “Why, Fletcher, you old octo! I knew you had it in you!”

“Just kill me. Really,” I said.

“Won’t be an easy task, there, Savior,” said Manakel.

“Whoa, what?” said my mom, slamming her glass down, her eyes suddenly alert. “Savior? Savior of what?”

I swallowed hard before answering. “Savior of…Merpeople.”

“What-huh?” sputtered my mom.

“Mrs. Valentine,” began Doctor Tenly, “your daughter has been selected by the lost souls of the sea to be the one and only Siren Savior. She is the one being that can save our kind.”

Mom didn’t say a word. Instead, she fell forward and face-planted into the coffee table.

“Oh God, she face-slammed!” I said, starting for her, but Mr. Gibbs gestured for me to stay put. Instead, Treeva hurried to comfort Mom.

“That’s going to be a helluva headache tomorrow,” said Manakel.

“Speaking of headaches,” said Trey, “there’s something kinda alarming I should probably tell you, Marina.”

“What could possibly be more shocking than everything my poor mom has just heard?”

Trey fidgeted with the hem of his torn black shirt. “Uh, well…I’m a seal.”

“You mean like of the Navy variety?” I muttered.

“No, I mean the cuddly, fuzzy, note-bringing variety.”

And that was the moment my shock forced me to slide off the couch and butt flop onto the floor.

Chapter Two

Sanity-Not-So-Much Savior

From the floor, I stared blankly at Trey. He had been the little seal delivering me clues.

“You? You were the seal?”

“Yep.”

“You nuzzled my boobs,” I said flatly.

“And you farted on my hand,” said Troy.

“Freely nuzzled, yes, and I would’ve done worse if I could have worked something up, Deliverer,” answered Trey, looking sternly at Troy.

“We need to tone down the testosterone in this room and turn up the estrogen,” said Meikle.

“Wait. How can you be a…a…seal?” I stuttered.

“Yeah, no idea. The first time it happened was on Halloween. When I went to get you some punch, I overheard Katrina and Troy fighting about you. She accused him of going soft—”

“Going soft? Interesting. Might be your relationship just jumped the shark, Marina,” said Manakel. “Not something you want to deal with later on.”

It was all I could do to keep Troy from lunging at the angel with the one-track mind.

“Shut it, feathers. Trey, go on,” I said, glaring at Manakel.

“Troy told her to keep her nose where it belonged—”

“In whale dung,” supplied Troy, smirking.

“—and that’s when she said that Troy’s first test since ‘Miss Orange Sherbet came to town’ would be on my birthday. It was that moment when everything came together for me. I knew what the Ravenflames and Troy were up to,” said Trey.

“Don’t throw me in the vat of Zale insanity. I didn’t know what they were doing with the Normals and family members. I was forced to comply as much as you were,” said Troy, angrily.

“It’s true, Trey. Troy really had no recourse until now,” I said.

“Whatever,” said Trey. “Anyway, Katrina caught me listening in, so she and her thugs tried to trap me in some room with this strange porthole. When I saw Ophelia’s image in the porthole, something happened…and I transformed into a seal. The porthole disappeared for a millisecond and an odd blue mist appeared. Instinctively, I crawled through it and ended up in the lagoon, safe and sound.”

“How?” I asked, frowning.

“Think I might be able to help here,” said Doctor Tenly. “It’s Marina’s fault.”

“WHAT?” I shrieked.

“Beg yours?” Mom groaned, finally lifting her reddened forehead off the coffee table.

Doctor Tenly grinned widely. “What I mean to say is…Marina’s touch has some transformative qualities. It’s why my wall of gum flew away as butterflies, why Trey turned into a seal, why a golden shield developed from the palms of your hands…”

“Why I started feeling detached from the demon within when our hands touched for the first time,” said Troy, taking my hand in his. With very little effort, he lifted me off the ground and held me in his lap.

“My touch has…powers?”

“In a manner of speaking, yes,” said Doctor Tenly. “Now, that’s not to say Trey’s alternate identity as a seal is solely due to you, Marina. In fact, I would say his seal-self goes much, much deeper. Another research project for another day.”

“Hold up! My daughter created that golden shield oddity at the Christmas Eve party?” asked my mom as Treeva handed her an ice pack.

“Watch!” Doctor Tenly swiveled around, grabbed a beaker, and hurled it at me.

“Son of a—” I threw my hands up and, like clockwork, my friendly golden shield materialized, bouncing the beaker right back at Doctor Tenly, who caught it with one hand. “Seriously, dude. Stop throwing things at me.”

“See? Uh, Mrs. Valentine? Oh dear. She passed out,” said Doctor Tenly. “Tree, I have some bottled humpback fart on the top shelf, far right. That should wake her up.”

Treeva hurried to find the bottled humpback fart in Doctor Tenly’s hidden cabinets.

“Bet that beats regular smelling salts any day,” said Manakel.

“Can’t we just let her sleep?” I asked.

“Best if she hears it all at once,” said Troy, rubbing my back.

“Troy’s right. Plus, she’s just downright entertaining the fin off of me,” said Doctor Tenly.

Treeva uncorked the small vial and waved it underneath Mom’s nose. Mom rubbed her nose, looked hopelessly at me, and then slowly shifted her gaze to every face in the room. “It wasn’t a nightmare, was it?” I shook my head. “But that smell…that was a nightmare, right?” I pulled a face, crinkled my eyebrows, and shrugged. “Not your fault, baby girl. Don’t go blaming yourself for my intolerance of facts. Old Mom will cope…eventually.”