2. Chapter 2
The box in my hands collapsed in on itself with a snap.
“Really? You want in on her blackmail?” I asked. “Wow, Sandra. I didn’t think you, of all people, would stoop so low.”
“I’m doing anything I can to support my daughter,” Sandra said. “But I’m very interested to know what you’ve kept from us all. It doesn’t sound like you’ve been sneaking cookies from the jar, does it?”
If not working made her this thorny, I needed to send out her resume myself. But Isadora had played what few cards she had well, and I couldn’t see any other option but to visit her.
“What does she want?” I asked.
“I don’t know. But if you want to keep your secrets, you should probably ask her yourself.”
With that, Sandra took her phone and walked out of the kitchen. I blinked at the sheer audacity of both mother and daughter. Maybe the apple didn’t fall so far from the Arrowood tree.
I gathered up the broken boxes and shoved them into the recycling bin with more force than necessary. Only one thing would even touch this stress, and that was a proper mermaid-style swim in the ocean. But for that I would have to wait until nightfall. One upside to Isadora revealing my secret was that I could go swimming whenever I wanted. If I didn’t so badly want to keep the fact that Ben and I were seeing each other a secret, I might just have let her spill every bean in her tin.
But I couldn’t, so it looked like a visit to jail was on the cards.
Once I had finished in the kitchen, I headed to Dad’s study, where he spent most of his time since closing our scuba diving business. With tourism at an all-time low thanks to the magical barrier stopping anyone from getting on or off the island, we hadn’t had any bookings lately.
As ever, I found Dad hunched over his desk, making his way through a mountain of paperwork that he had neglected over the years. Dark bags hung under his eyes and his chestnut hair stood on end from the number of times he had run his hands through it.
“Dad, don’t you think you should take a break?” I asked.
“I’ve got coffee.” Dad waved his mug in the air, sloshing a little liquid over the side.
“That’s not a substitute for rest.” If only.
“Well, I’ll take a break when I’ve finished this,” Dad said. “I’m going to go down and get the rations.”
“Oh, really?” I sat myself in an armchair and rested my hands on my stomach. “I thought I drew the short straw?”
“I don’t like you doing it, so I’ll get them. It’s dangerous out there.”
To think he had wanted me to stay on Dusk because he thought it was so safe just a few months ago. As it stood, my old place in London was much safer these days. But I would have loathed being stuck outside the island with no way in while my family and friends starved.
“Too late, Dad,” I said. “I already got them.”
My phone buzzed in my pocket, so I slipped it out.
We on for tonight?Kira’s text read.
Dad froze with his coffee cup halfway to his mouth. “When? I didn’t hear you leave.”
“Yeah.” That was by design. He would have fussed too much if he knew I was leaving. “I guess this means you can have a nap or something.”
I shot Kira a text back. Still on.
Dad ran a hand over his face, resting his coffee cup on his shrunken belly. “Rest would be nice.”
I chewed my lip as Dad massaged his temple. Sleep didn’t come easy to any of us at the moment, but Dad had suffered many nightmares since the phoenix’s curses had begun. Even the best potions couldn’t touch them. A part of me wondered if magic couldn’t cure his nightmares because the nightmares themselves were a product of magic.
The arrow that served as the backbone of the Arrowood half of the Arrowood-Everhart curse had stopped screaming at us every night since Isadora’s arrest. That revelation had appeared as a double-edged sword. While we were all pleased that it no longer woke us and summoned us, we wondered what it meant.
I wouldn’t have put it past the arrow to project magical horrors into people’s brains while they slept.
Still, I thought, as I stowed my phone away. If Kira, Allison, Ben, and I could put our plan into action, maybe we could at least solve the two phoenix curses, if not also the curse that plagued our families.
***
Once night had fallen, I slipped out of the house through my bedroom window and down the trellis attached to the side of the house. My navy blue dress snagged on a loose nail, and I eased it free before clambering the rest of the way down.
Being a mermaid cost a bomb in pants, or at least it did for me. The number of unexpected transformations in the past few months had destroyed a bunch of my best jeans. At least for now, I would only wear dresses and shorts, just in case.
Bronwyn, Allison’s friend who had fallen out of an enchanted tree a few months ago, had opted out of joining me that night. Ever since the forest covens had banned outsiders from their territory, Bronwyn had stayed in the Arrowood family home. Usually she would jump at any opportunity to see Allison, but she hadn’t felt well that night, leaving me to sneak out by myself.
I took the neighbour’s muddy car out of the Arrowood estate and drove to the scuba centre in the north-east of the island. As I closed the car door behind me, ignoring the ear-splitting squeal it made, I gazed up at the starry sky.
High above, a purple sheen shimmered, which caused the stars to ripple, as if I was seeing them from underwater. Even though I always expected the barrier to still be there, sometimes I looked up in the hope it had disappeared. But there it remained, sealing us in like goldfish in a too-small bowl while the family went on holiday.
I unlocked the front door to the scuba centre and flicked on the lights. A chill wracked my body; it felt much colder than usual despite nearing summer.
The door to the break room opened, and I flinched, raising my hands in a defensive stance. But I lowered them again as Ben leaned against the doorframe, arms folded.
He’d trimmed his ebony hair, so it didn’t fall into his face anymore, and his eyes, the darkest, most glorious brown, looked me up and down. I flushed as his gaze sent prickles wherever it roamed.
“You look cute,” he said.
“Cute? How dare you?” I wasn’t an American Girl Doll.
“Is cute not a compliment anymore?”
I strode toward him, swishing the hem of my dress like a burlesque dancer. His eyes widened just a touch.
“Gorgeous,” he said after clearing his throat. “Absolutely gorgeous.”
“I like that better.” I wrapped my arms around his neck and melted into him as his hands travelled up my back.
We sank into a kiss, his lips eager. It always felt like too long since we had seen each other. With little reason to leave our houses and the dangers that faced us on the island, sneaking out on our dates had become more difficult. But our night time swims in the ocean were almost ritual and the only true relief I had from the pressures of survival.
“Can you two... not?” An irritated voice made us separate.
I scowled at Ben before peering over his shoulder to glare at the culprit. Adrian Everhart, Ben’s younger brother and the biggest pain in my ass, sat cross-legged in front of a lit cauldron in the middle of the break room. Ever since he had discovered Ben and I had a relationship, he had joined in on our ‘save-the-island’ meetings. But not because anyone wanted him there, except Ben. Adrian had made it a condition to him keeping our secret. Unfortunately, he brought more annoyance to the group than actual expertise.
Opposite him, Allison rested her head on Kira’s shoulder as the two of them sorted ingredients. Allison, a dryad with a heart of gold, still hadn’t quite recovered from learning that Freddie, who she thought was her boyfriend, had actually used her to grow his own Tree of Life. Thoroughly smitten with him, they had enjoyed their time together until he had kidnapped her, forced her to grow the tree, and revealed he was actually the father of Isadora’s twins.
Kira, a fae who hadn’t exactly kept her jealousy of Allison’s happiness to herself, had stepped up to comfort her ever since. Given that their covens had banned outsiders from entering the forest, she was the only one of us who could be there whenever Allison needed a shoulder.
“What’s your problem?” I demanded.
Adrian scoffed.
“Don’t fight with him,” Ben murmured. “We haven’t had the best day.”
I let go of Ben and slipped into the break room, closing the door behind me. That didn’t sound good.
“What’s happened?” I asked.
“We’re dead, that’s what.” Adrian rested his hands on his fists as he stared into the cauldron.
I looked at Ben, hoping for more clarification than that. He took my hand in his and brought my knuckles to his lips. His kiss didn’t reassure me.
“What’s happened?” I asked.
“Don’t worry, but... our grandfather just came down with this magical illness,” Ben said.
My stomach dropped. Suddenly, Adrian’s despair made sense. Thanks to Isadora’s spell, if even one of the Everharts died, then the rest of them would, too. And the elderly Dorian Everhart had just come down with an illness that all but guaranteed his death.