Anne Brown: Deep Betrayal

The camera cut back live to the studio, and the male anchor laughed warmly. “That kid’s got quite a theory, Lindsay.”

“Well, he is right about one thing, Geoff. It is a sensational find, and the DNR is investigating it as an unusual specimen, possibly a new species, but not anything mythical. Although I have to admit, that would be a lot more fun.”

More chuckling between the two anchors, as they cut to footage of the DNR picking over the decomposing remains. The remains of Tallulah White.

I grabbed my stomach and ran upstairs to the bathroom, vomiting half-digested tuna roll into the toilet. How could this be? Tallulah’s body was supposed to stay hidden forever. What did this mean for Calder? Is this why he’d vanished?

I rinsed my mouth and staggered to my room. Rain splattered on the window, leaving long-fingered patterns behind. Outside, the sky seemed to pull me from the house, like a black hole, endless and unforgiving.

There was a flash of lightning, and—happy to do anything that would get my mind off Tallulah—I began to count for the center of the storm. One Mississippi. Two Mississippi. Three Mississippi . At three seconds, the house rattled with thunder. “Three miles away,” I whispered to myself.

The storm was getting closer and Calder was out there— somewhere . I wanted desperately to reach him, for him to tell me nothing would change, that the discovery of Tallulah meant nothing. That everything would be okay. That he was coming soon.

I lay my palm flat against the window pane. Down below, something moved in the darkness. I threw open the sash and leaned out into the rain. My hair plastered to my face and shoulders. My vision distorted. I curled my arm across my forehead to shield my eyes. It seemed the whole world was underwater.

Another flash of lightning illuminated the street in a vibrant blue. I sucked in my breath, certain I must be dreaming, because in that flash I saw him, standing between the parked cars, looking up at me. His sad eyes pleading.

“Calder!” I called, reaching for him. At the sound of his name in the air, electricity surged not from the sky, but up from where he stood on the street. It blazed through my bloodstream. And everything went dark.

Ididn’t remember getting into bed, but that was where I woke up. In my pajamas, no less, and I didn’t remember putting them on, either. My head pounded, and I reached behind me. An enormous, throbbing egg was growing out of the back of my skull. When did that happen?

The storm had marched on, leaving shards of bright light streaming through my window. I groaned, rolling away and making my pillow crackle.

I slipped my hand to the cold side of the pillow and felt a piece of paper, folded in half, at the edge of the mattress.

WAY TO RUIN A PARTY LILY. HOPE YOU’RE FEELING BETTER.

I dropped the note on the floor and threw back the covers. My hair hung wild and tangled in my face, and I blew a few tousled waves out of my eyes. Jules cracked open my door.

“How you doing?” she asked. The way she said it made me feel ridiculous. Maybe she knew how I got the goose egg.

“Not sure,” I said, my voice froggy.

“You freaked everyone out last night.”

“I did?”

“When you didn’t come back downstairs, Robby got worried.”

I must have frowned, because Jules reproached me with a look that said I could be a little more appreciative of the fact he’d been paying attention. She was right, of course. He was only looking out for me.

“So we came up to check on you,” she said. “You had the window open and you were lying on the floor in about a quarter inch of water.”

“I don’t remember opening the window,” I said, more to myself than to Jules.

“Your dad was all freaked out. Thought maybe you’d been hit by lightning.”

“Was I?” My body did feel a little tingly.

“Judging by the fact that you’re talking to me, I’m going to go with no. But you did get pretty soaked.”

I glanced at the floor. It was dry. My mind flooded with light, over and over like the flash on a camera. A silhouetted figure filled the lens.

“Robby and I soaked it up with bath towels. Don’t worry. My mom never saw it. You really don’t remember anything?”

“Is my mom okay? She’s not worried, is she?”

“No, not once we got you in bed. I mean … you are okay, aren’t you? Because Zach got his mom’s van; he’s picking us up in about twenty minutes.”

My expression must have reflected my general bleariness.

“Beach?” Jules asked. “Remember? You and me … breaking some hearts this summer?”

The paper chain hung from my bedpost, as if wondering whether I’d add a thirty-second link. After last night’s hallucination, it looked even more pathetic than it had in days past. I could see it for what it was now: an anchor, holding me back. Jules was right. I’d let my fantasies get out of control. Leaning out into an electrical storm was just plain stupid. If Calder White wanted to be with me, there was nothing stopping him. Enough was enough. It was time for me to move on.

We didn’t get up to Square Lake until eleven, and by that time the beach was already crowded. Jules and Colleen lugged the cooler down the hill from the parking lot, while Sophie pulled an inflatable raft behind her. The boys carried armfuls of towels and dumped them in a heap on the sand before taking off running into the lake. Colleen managed to claim the last picnic table, but it had a broken bench and it was covered in sticky pine sap. Out in the water, the boys were already tossing their football back and forth.

I hadn’t been in the water since that disastrous day in May. Now that I knew my father was a merman, I didn’t know what my half nature would mean.

The lake sparkled with sunlight. It was beautiful, but I hung back and adjusted the straps on my vintage bathing suit.

So what? I thought. So what that I’d never transformed into a mermaid in all the times I’d swum in Lake Superior. Maybe it was like bee stings, building up in your system over time until one day you’re stung and your throat swells shut. Maybe, with me, it would just take one more trip into the water before genetics would catch up with me. Would I really want it to happen here? Now? In front of my friends and a beach full of strangers? That would be my luck. Why did I agree to come again?

Of course, Calder would say I was being ridiculous on all accounts. But then, he wasn’t here to tell me that, now, was he? Moving on , I reminded myself.

“Coming in, Lily?” Rob called.

I cupped my hand to my mouth and yelled back, “In a sec.”

I’d been stupid last night, thinking I’d seen Calder below my window. If it had really been him, he would have waved. He might have even rung the doorbell. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a brown oval spiraling toward my face.

“Heads up!” someone called.

I managed to catch the football between my elbow and my ear. “Thanks, guys. That’s awesome. Hysterical.”

Rob was there a second later, laughing and apologizing and dragging me into the water. I protested, pushing at his chest and trying to sit down so he couldn’t budge me. I grabbed at his biceps. He wrapped his arms around my hips. I was waist deep before I knew it and tingling from toe to hairline.

It was too late now. Whatever was going to happen, was going to happen. I dunked under, conscious of the muffled voices above me and the rush of churning water around me. The soft sound of leh, lee, leh, lee and then my name called out. “Lily.”

I resurfaced with my chin up, my wet hair dragging down my back. A feathery touch glanced across my foot, and then someone was prying my legs apart and swimming through. My feet left the ground as I rose, involuntarily, out of the water, astride Robby’s broad shoulders. He started walking toward Scott while I struggled to keep my balance.