As if on cue, which was probably quite accurate, a handful of tiny sprite heads popped up out of the water"s surface and smiled at me. Their oblong heads and pointy teeth were something I would never get accustomed to seeing. Considering the mind reading ability all water fairies possessed, I tried to keep my disgust to myself.
The largest one put his fingers in his mouth and whistled loudly. On that command, at least ten ratchets jumped out of the water and up onto the beach. It was meant to frighten me, and probably also to discourage me from attempting a water escape. Instead, it angered me. The drugs were definitely wearing off now as I felt some type of emotion again. I thought of a not-so-nice way to thank the sprite in my head and smiled when he glared at me in return.
Lucian was glancing back and forth between us apparently finding our exchange amusing. He waved to someone behind me and I turned, expecting to find one of the Mexican selkies. And find them I did. All twenty of them.
"This way please," he said and gestured to the table. Only two of the selkies were carrying trays meaning this was another display of power. Lucian wanted me to know that it would be impossible to escape. Between the selkies, water sprites, and ratchets, I didn"t have a chance. Although at least now I knew what I"d be up against.
"Sit." Lucian pushed me over to the chair and held it out. Such a gentleman.
"So, are you going to tell me what this is all about?" I asked while pulling the chair closer to the table before he could. I caught a slight smile on his face as he sat down across from me.
"We never had a chance to get to know each other. Your mother..."
"Don"t talk about her!" I interrupted. My rage was instant and volatile. Lucian took a breath.
"All right. But I was simply going to say that I missed so much of your life and I want to know more about you."
"So you kidnap me? Did you ever consider a phone call or an email?"
"You being here serves many purposes," he replied cryptically. I stared at him across the table while he annoyingly unfolded his napkin and smoothed it over his lap. When he finally looked up at me I lifted my brows. "What?" he asked.
"You can"t just kidnap a clan leader and expect no retaliation," I snapped.
He raised his arms and looked around. "Where are they? It"s been three days and no one has come to rescue you yet."
"Why is that?" I asked, voicing something I"d been thinking about for days.
"Because I have what I want," he looked up in the air, "for now. With no more attacks, they have no reason to try and get you back."
I swallowed hard. "I don"t understand."
"And here I thought you took after me," he sighed dramatically. "I have you, so they are safe. No more deaths means we both get what we want. I have my daughter and they get peace."
So the Council was going to abandon me in exchange for a cease fire from Lucian? At first it angered me beyond belief. Especially since it was one of their own who led me to my psychotic father in the first place. But then, I tried to think like a leader. If my one life saved countless others, then it would be something that I"d just have to deal with.
As though he knew where my mind was going, Lucian leaned back in his chair and smiled. "So how long does this truce last?" I finally asked.
"Long enough to bide me some time," he replied evasively. "Ah, our evening entertainment has arrived."
There was something incredibly frightening in his tone and it put me on edge. I turned in my chair to see what he was referring to and had to stop myself from jumping up and running down the beach.
"Bring him here," Lucian commanded. The water sprites and dog-like ratchets were lined up along the surf watching two very large selkies drag Graham toward us. It was hard to look at and I couldn"t sit by and do nothing.
"Lucian, what are you doing?" I tried to sound reasonable but my voice was shaky.
"Young Master Forrester needs to learn a few things. Over there will do," he directed Graham"s captors with a snap.
Because of the uncomfortable conversation and my interaction with the sprites, I hadn"t noticed the large wood pole embedded into the beach a few feet away from us. I also didn"t see the iron chain hanging from the top of it.
"What are you going to do?"
Instead of answering, he watched as his selkies locked Graham"s hands to the pole. They were already shackled behind him, so when the selkie wove them through the chain, he was hanging in an awkward position. Despite this, Graham still managed to look up and give me his trademark crooked smile.
"You look wonderful, Eviana." That earned him a kick under the chin and I saw blood fly out of his mouth. I gasped in horror but Lucian didn"t move. Graham spit on the ground and adjusted his position so that he was on his knees again. "Can"t I even pay a lady a compliment?"
The selkie revved up to kick him again but this time Lucian cleared his throat. "Enough. Let the boy alone to wallow in his l.u.s.t."
I tried to make eye contact with Graham, but Lucian shifted his chair so that I was forced to look at him. "Now, let"s eat," he said.
Apparently our entertainment was over.
Six.
Eviana Plates of lobster tails, rice, and black beans found their way quickly to our table. Lucian began to eat as though his conscious was clear, and it probably was. I had a hard time getting my stomach to settle. All I could think about was Graham, shirtless and battered, hanging up on a pole watching us enjoy this ridiculous charade of a meal.
"Eat, Eviana," Lucian said with his mouth full of lobster. I ignored him and continued to observe my surroundings. Twenty selkie guards and at least a dozen of each kind of water fairy. The selkies I could maybe control once the drugs completely wore off, but I didn"t have a good defense against the water sprites. To beat them, I really needed someone like Graham on my side.
"Plotting your escape?" Lucian asked, interrupting my thoughts.
"No," I replied a little too quickly and he chuckled.
"Save yourself the trouble and relax. And eat."
"I"m not hungry."
"Eat or go back to the boat house," he replied quickly.
"What?" Was he threatening me like a child?
"If you aren"t going to take advantage of my hospitality, then you can spend your days on the floor with only the comfort of your formally betrothed by your side."
There were too many things to respond to, so I went with the most intriguing. "Formally? You mean you don"t have grand plans for the traitor and me anymore?"
I heard Graham make a noise when I called him a traitor. Good. He was a traitorous b.a.s.t.a.r.d but I also didn"t want Lucian to know that his presence was bothering me. Despite our history, there was a part of me that hated to see him suffer this way.
"His future is still up in the air," Lucian replied then looked curiously at me. "Why? Are you disappointed?"
I let out a huff and shook my head. "Absolutely not. I want nothing to do with him." As if he didn"t believe me, Lucian moved his chair back to the side so that I had a full view of Graham hanging from the pole. His eyes were closed and I couldn"t tell if he was still conscious or not.
"Is that so?" he questioned me. I didn"t answer but instead chomped down on a piece of lobster. The sweet, succulent meat melted in my mouth and it took some restraint not to gobble everything down at once. "Try this." Lucian pushed an orange colored drink in front of my face.
"What is it?"
"Just try it," he commanded again. Not wanting to be punished for this as well, I took a sip. Flavors of orange and pineapple and something else filled my mouth. The concoction definitely had a bite to it and the tartness made me cringe at first. I watched as Lucian smiled at my reaction not quite understanding what it meant.
We finished our dinner in silence. Well, aside from the occasional groan from Graham when he woke up followed by the sickening thumps of him getting kicked again. I secretly hoped that he was still getting drugged because that might help with some of his pain. At one point, a selkie pulled Graham"s head back by his hair in an attempt to speak directly to him. But Graham spit in the guy"s face and laughed as the selkie jumped back in disgust.
"Graham, stop!" I yelled at him, finally unable to watch any more of this. I knew that he was going to get severely punished for that action.
Lucian stayed silent and it was Graham who surprised me with his comments. "I"m okay, tart. Just playing a little mind game. Don"t worry about me, ahh..." His comment was cut off by a brutal kick to the stomach. He coughed and sputtered but didn"t say another word after that.
I could feel tears building in my eyes and was conflicted as to what they meant. Graham deserved to be punished for what he did to me, but I wasn"t convinced this was the way to do it. Plus, Lucian was having him beat for warning me, and that meant that Graham did actually have a decent heart somewhere deep down. He may have been mislead by Lucian and his grand schemes, but Graham didn"t want me to be a part of that in the end. And that is why I was bothered by his torture.
"How much longer are you going to keep this up?" I asked Lucian as nonchalantly as possible.
"Well, it appears that we"re done for the evening, so we will resume the entertainment tomorrow." Without moving or voicing a command, four selkies began to remove our plates and two of them untied Graham. He wasn"t fighting back and as the selkeis dragged him past me, I could hear his shallow breaths. It was then that I vowed I would try to get into the boat house tonight to check on him and his injuries.
"You and I are going to leave in three days," Lucian said suddenly, snapping me back to attention.
"Why?"
He sighed dramatically and beckoned a female selkie to his side. She began to comb through his long hair with her fingers and I watched in bewilderment as she started to braid it for him. "Why do you have to ask so many questions?" I didn"t respond. "Because there are some things that need to be discussed in person."
"With who?"
"The Council."
I jumped to my feet. "Are you serious?" I was so excited. This could be my way out!
"Just calm yourself, now." Lucian looked bored and motioned for me to sit back down, but I shook my head. "They aren"t going to rescue you."
"I wasn"t thinking that."
"Yes, you were." He pushed the woman away and stood up to meet my eyes. "You"ll see, Eviana. They are quite content with the present status quo and they won"t do anything to disrupt it." He paused then said, "Or to disappoint me."
I wanted to ask him more questions. Like where were we going and how many Council members would be there. Maybe I"d get to see Adele, the American Council leader. Although she was scary and powerful, I had sensed some sort of friendship between us in the past.
But Lucian refused to answer any of my questions and speaking to his back didn"t get me anywhere. I gave up by the time I followed him into the house. Exhausted and overwhelmed, I trudged up to my room. The sun had set about an hour ago yet I was surprised to see that it was only eight at night. I wanted to sneak in to see Graham but decided that I should wait until a bit later.
My head was a little fuzzy and I was beginning to feel depressed again. Immediately, I realized what happened. Instead of getting an injection, Lucian had poisoned my food or drink with that same drug. No doubt to keep my powers incapacitated despite his impressive show of security. I wanted to be angry and I wanted to scream, but right now I felt so tired I just wanted to crawl into bed.
Pushing the mosquito netting aside, I curled up on the mattress and listened to the gentle sounds of the waves lapping along the beach and the wind rustling through the palm trees. I suddenly missed my home and my friends with a vengeance. The sensation that rushed through me was so intense it took my breath away. Tears flooded my eyes. I didn"t want to cry, but the last thing I remembered was the feeling of wetness on my cheeks.
I woke with a jolt. I couldn"t identify what it was exactly that had pulled me from my sleep, but something had certainly startled me.
The bright moon lit my room in shades of white and blue. Shadows danced across the walls from the moving palm fronds, creating a mesmerizing scene. I looked at the clock on the dresser to see that it was three in the morning. Adrenaline surged through my body when I remembered that I wanted to see Graham tonight. Since the house was so quiet right now, I thought it"d be a good time to try and make my move.
I jumped up only to realize that I still had my fairy princess dress on. Lucian"s drugs knocked me out so quickly, I didn"t have a chance to take it off. Then I had another thought...what else could I wear? My eyes fell on the large, fancy dresser and armoire on the other side of the room. Hoping for the best, I tiptoed across the floor to see if Lucian had any other garments made for me.
I opened the top drawer of the dresser and nearly squealed in delight when I found underwear and socks. This was a good sign. In less than five minutes, I had stripped out of my fancy dress and changed into a pair of khaki shorts, a pink tank top, and flips flops that I found at the bottom of the armoire. Actually, the shoes were in my hand right now so that I could sneak out of the house as quietly as possible.
Getting to the stairs was easy as the tiled floor didn"t creak and groan like wood did. I leaned over the railing to see if there was a guard stationed below, but saw no one. Taking it one step further, I closed my eyes and tried to use my other sense to see if I could locate anybody on the first floor. I"d only be able to detect selkies and humans, but again sensed no one.
In fact, I didn"t see anyone until I rounded the corner of the beach pathway on my way to the boat house. Even then, using both sight and mind, I only counted two selkies guarding the place. Could it really be this easy? Either Graham had been drugged again or they"d beaten him so bad they didn"t consider him a threat right now. That second thought made my stomach sick and I hoped he"d been injected by the big fish-man.
I watched the selkie guards from behind a shrubby bush for a while, waiting for an opportunity to make my move. It also gave me a chance to figure out exactly what my move was going to be. Brute force probably wasn"t going to work, so I ruled that out right away. Sure I could fight a little, but despite all of my training with Palmer, I knew that I wouldn"t be able to incapacitate two at a time.
Thinking of Palmer made me miss him, and another round of nostalgia swept through me. Although it was hard, I noticed that it wasn"t quite as intense as earlier in the evening. This was good news. It meant the drugs were wearing off, which meant I could probably execute my plan.
Just as I was getting ready to walk up to the selkies my luck changed. The largest one spoke to the other then began to march down the path away from the boat house and directly toward me.
I froze, not quite sure what to do. Selkies sense of smell was akin to a dog"s so I didn"t think I"d go unnoticed. My heart pounded in my chest and a thousand plans scrambled through my mind. Thankfully, I didn"t have to execute any of them because the selkie abruptly turned off the path and headed straight for the water"s edge.
A high pitched bark that I recognized as a selkie call carried through the night. Looking around, I waited to see who would respond. Just a few moments later, a seal broke through the surf and thrust itself up onto the beach. There was something dark and boneless hanging from its jaws that looked like a dead animal. But when the selkie still in human form walked over and grabbed the object, I knew that it was his skin.
He crouched down so that he was at eye level with the seal, and then gently removed his skin from the selkie. The two nuzzled their foreheads against each other before the human male stood and began to strip off his clothes. He wrapped himself in the pelt and dropped to the ground. After a quick shimmer and shake of his head, he had fully transformed. I"d always been jealous of Brendan"s ability to change so smoothly and painlessly. Once their human skin made contact with the pelt, they became one. Selkies had a much easier transition process than mermaids, although I don"t know if I"d want to have to drag a skin around with me all of the time so that I could become my other form.
The two seals frolicked around in the surf for a while before disappearing into the blackened sea. It was obvious to me that they were a couple. Perhaps they had already completed their breeding duties with the humans and could now be content with each other. Or perhaps they were just biding their time until they felt the call. It saddened me to think about their relationship and how another seemingly happy couple would be torn apart because of duty.
My heart began to ache. Even though he left me, I still missed Brendan terribly. I would probably miss him for the rest of my life, constantly wondering what if. I knew that I"d think about the human girl he"d have to impregnate and it ripped me apart inside. Would he still remember me? Does he feel as horrible as I do? The questions were endless but now wasn"t the time for me to dwell on them.
Shaking my head to clear all of the negative emotions, I waited until the seals were long gone before completing my plan. With only one selkie guard left, I hoped that I had enough control of my powers to handle him.
"What are you doing here?" the guard asked as soon he detected my presence. I hadn"t moved very far, so I knew he had sensed me just after I left my hiding spot.
"You need to sleep," I said, taking a lesson from my father. He"d tried to use his compulsion on me in Montana, and although it didn"t work, giving a command to sleep was a quick and harmless way to subdue an enemy.
"I"m not tired," he replied briskly.
"You are, and you"re so tired that you will sleep for an hour." I struggled to clear my mind. It was like moving through mola.s.ses. I could see the light of his consciousness, but it was dim and far away. The drugs were still in effect so I had to concentrate harder on controlling this one selkie than I had when I controlled an entire ballroom of humans.
He started to walk toward me. "You can"t be here. I"m going to call Lucian and..." His eyelids began to droop.
"Sleep," I commanded and pushed through my hazy mind until I could grab his light with my sticky hand. It was how I envisioned controlling the minds of others, and after a few moments of hesitation, the selkie dropped to the sandy path and curled up into a ball. His snoring let me know I was successful and it marked my one hour countdown.
Moving quickly to the boat house, I was surprised to see that there was just a simple sliding lock on the outside of the door. Lucian must be incredibly confident with his security and his drug concoctions not to have better protection. But Lucian was also arrogant enough to a.s.sume he had the ultimate power. Either way, it only benefited my cause and with a quick push, I opened the door and stepped inside.
The lights from the caged pool below reflected throughout the room. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust but Graham spoke before I could look for him.
"Eviana?" His voice was ragged and weak. "What are you doing here?"
I turned to see him lying against the side wall. He began to push himself up but stopped when the pain apparently got too bad. "Here let me help," I said.
In the dim light, I couldn"t see the all of the external injuries, but I didn"t doubt their existence. I was sure that he endured more beatings once they dragged him off the beach. "Did they drug you?" I asked while maneuvering his arm over my shoulder so I could get him to the water"s edge.
"Yes, I think so," he winced when I moved his legs. "You shouldn"t be here."
"I know," I said.
"So why are you here, tart? Couldn"t stay away from my charming good looks?" I should have elbowed him, but that would have defeated the purpose of my visit.
"Come on. You need to change." I pulled him closer to the pool before realizing something that made me blush. "You have to take your pants off."