Chapter 17
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
RILEY
My world was becoming a blur of school and trying to locate my mother. The police didn't seem to care that she was still missing. It didn't help that all the evidence pointed to her taking off. It was no use telling them it was out of character.
I rolled over in bed and stared at my alarm clock that was about to go off. I had been up most of the night listing payments that had to be made as soon as I got any money from the fund my mom had in my name.
I wanted to just stay in bed and wait for everything to be over, but she wouldn't want me to do that. I turned off the clock before it went off and went into the bathroom to take a shower.
I looked in the mirror and frowned at my reflection. I barely recognized myself, even though I looked the same. My hair had certainly seen better days, but nothing else had changed.
The change had come from inside and I saw it in the way my shoulders pulled forward slightly and the frown that was etched on my face. Even my eyes looked sad.
I smiled at myself in the mirror and my cheeks shook from the effort. Why was I even fighting this battle with the Tritons? They were consuming me and leaving me a shell of myself.
I sighed and got into the shower. The water calmed me down immensely and I started to feel a little better, but then my mind traveled to them again.
Mr. Nguyen had warned me to stay away from them. I ran over the conversation a hundred times a day. He knew small pieces of the puzzle and it was my job to put together.
I wrapped a towel around myself and went back into my room. I laid back on the bed and stared at my ceiling. What was I missing?
The knife.
I rolled over to the other side of the bed and reached under my mattress, sliding it out of the place I had hidden it.
I held it in my hand and examined it closely.
It was almost as if it was a piece of art with the inlaid designs in the hilt.
It made me smile as I turned it over in my hand. Why would my mom have this knife?
A siren's knife, Jax had called it when I was hiding in the back of his SUV. What did that mean?
I laid the knife on the bed and opened up my laptop, bringing it with me back to the bed. I pulled up the internet and typed it in. Nothing came up, so I tried abalone knife. There were plenty of knifes that had abalone hilts, but none that looked like my mom's.
My mom's looked like it would be used to kill someone. It had a nine-inch blade that curved slightly at the end and it was sharpened to a thin edge that would cut like butter.
Abalone shell was said to have protective properties that would protect from bad intentions. I didn't believe that rocks and minerals had abilities like that though.
I typed in siren, even though I was well aware of the stories of them from Greek mythology. They were dangerous and lured sailors to their deaths. Maybe the knife was an antique object thought to be from them.
I looked at the knife again before sliding it back under the mattress. Mr. Nguyen said not to let anyone know I had it, so my questions would remain a big fat mystery.
The first swim meet of the fall season was jam packed with spectators. I stayed as close as possible to the stands as swimmers dashed past me and readied to swim in their heats.
Even though there were plenty of swim meets for me to take photos, getting the bulk of the shots early was best since the farther I got into the school year, the busier I'd be. Especially with college applications being due anytime between November and January.
During the heats that the Tritons were in, I watched them closely and took plenty of photos and videos. I was fairly certain they were taking some kind of performance-enhancing drug. I was surprised no one had caught on so far.
When they swam, they moved with a fluidity that no one else even came close to matching. From the moment their feet left the blocks to the time they turned at the opposite wall, they barely came up for air.
At first I thought they were breathing, but the more I watched and zoomed in with the camera lens, the more I noticed. With them being in the water and so much action happening, it was hard to tell for sure. They moved their heads, but their mouths didn't open.
Once they won their heats, which was not surprising, they didn't even seem to be out of breath like the rest of the swimmers. It was as if the races had been leisurely walks through the park for them.
The meet lasted hours and I decided to stay the entire time, not taking pictures for yearbook, but to gather evidence against them. I still had the unknown pill hidden in my desk drawer. It was low on my priority list, but there had to be a lab somewhere that would do an analysis of its contents.
Once the meet was over, I hung back in the stands. It was nearly dark, and since most of the ceiling and upper section of the walls were glass, I saw the gorgeous shades of pinks and purples in the sky.
I was in the last little group of people leaving the stands when I heard Jax ask, "Did you find it?"
I continued on with the group, but instead of exiting out into the lobby, I waited until they walked through the doors and then stayed close to the side of the bleachers.
"I looked but it was nowhere to be found," Morgan said.
The bleachers weren't like in the movies. These were state of the art stands that had a wall preventing you from slipping behind. There was a door though. I turned the knob and peeked inside. It was a storage area for lane ropes and other pool equipment.
"Where exactly did you look?" Jax was standing with his arms crossed over his chest.
I could still see the main pool from between the bleachers and the Tritons standing near the edge of it. They were still in their swimming gear.
"Literally every drawer and closet. She has a vibrator, by the way." Morgan laughed when Blake smacked his chest. "What? I thought you'd like to know that the vixen isn't so innocent."
My stomach dropped and I put my hand over my mouth, realizing he had been in my house and must have been looking for the knife. What else would they have been after?
"Are you sure she even had it?" Blake was wringing his hands at his sides and rocking on the balls of his feet.
"Yes, and Mo said that guy mentioned the knife. It has to be real." He ran his hand over his hair and then clamped a hand down on Blake's shoulder to get him to stop moving. "Just wait for the coach to come back through here."
"It hurts." Blake started jumping like he was getting ready for a race.
I couldn't stop myself from looking at their bodies in their swim jammers. It left nothing to the imagination.
"If you had sex more, that would help. Right, Jax?" Morgan laughed and moved away from Blake's fist. "Don't get mad at me for speaking the truth. Our dicks taking a little swim in a mouth or pussy does wonders."
"What are you three still doing here?" The swim coach came out from the locker room area with a bag over his shoulder. "Going to stay and swim some more? If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were born fish."
They all laughed uncomfortably. Jax held up a set of keys and jingled them. "You know it."
"I'll lock the front doors. The locker rooms are clear and the back doors locked. The custodian is cleaning the men’s locker rooms."
"Thanks, Coach." Jax threw the keys next to a towel and they waited in silence.
It must have been ten minutes and then all three dived into the water. I moved to the other end of the bleachers to get a better view of the pool.
My heart pounded as none of them resurfaced for air. I saw movement under the water but it was almost dark and they hadn't turned on the lights.
I took my phone out and set it to record. It was so hard to see anything in the dim light. A solid five minutes passed and I turned off my phone and crept back to the door.
What if they were in trouble? Would I be able to jump in and save them?
I exited from under the bleachers and walked toward the pool, which was dark, but I saw shadows moving. My brain didn't quite process the movement. It was much too fast to be human, but it had to be. I had seen them get in the pool.
All of a sudden, a shadow that had been darting through the water burst through the surface and landed on the other side of the pool.
I gasped and stumbled back, luckily correcting my footing before I fell. Had I not been a dancer and quick with my feet and balance, I would have.
It was so dark in the room now that I could only make out his shape. His head snapped around and his eyes met mine.
I'd seen those eyes before.
I screamed and took off toward the nearest door, which was the women's locker room.
I ran through to the outside exit, bumping into a bench on the way. "Fuck," I hissed, grabbing onto my knee. I limped the rest of the distance, the pain from my knee pulsating along with my rapidly beating heart.
I yanked the door open to find Morgan blocking my path, his hands gripping the door frame. Water was dripping down his body and his chest heaved.
How had he made it around the building so fast?
"What are you doing here so late, vixen?" He walked toward me and I backed up.
"I had-" My back hit a wall and he caged me in with his arms. "I forgot something in my locker. My mom is waiting for me in the parking lot."
It was the first thing that came to mind and I cringed. They didn't know for sure that my mom hadn't returned.
He leaned forward so his mouth was by my ear. "You and I both know your mom isn't waiting for you."
A feeling of dread filled me and I tried to duck under his arm, but he put his arm across my upper chest, pinning me against the wall.
"Let me go." I kicked his shin, but he didn't flinch.
He cocked his head to the side and then leaned in close to my ear again. "What did you see?"
I gasped as his lips brushed against the shell of my ear. "What do you want from me?" I choked on the last word.
He ghosted his lips down my jaw until his face was hovering right in front of mine. He was a mere inch from kissing me.
"What do we want from you?" His voice was deep and breathy, and I bit back a whimper that threatened to escape. "Where's your father?"
"I d-don't know." I stared unblinkingly back at him. "I told you, I've never met him."
He laughed. "I find that hard to believe." He brought his other hand up to my face and cupped my cheek. "Don't make a sound."
Not a second later, one of the doors on the other side of the locker room opened. "Male custodian, any females?"
I opened my mouth to scream, but Morgan had already anticipated it and clamped a hand over my mouth. My screams were muffled and I tried to bite into his hand, but it was impossible.
I pulled at his arms to try to get free, but his upper body was built solid and he didn't move a muscle as the man whistled.
Morgan moved us toward the door and quickly opened it, shoved me outside, and had it shut before a scream could leave me.
I took off at a sprint toward the parking lot, trying to dig my keys out of my bag while running. They wouldn't really physically hurt me, would they?
My car lights blinked twice as I unlocked it and threw the door open, only to have the door slammed before I could get in.
"If it isn't the little minnow, trying to get away from the sharks." Jax made a disapproving sound. "You better run. Morgan likes to play hide-and-seek."
Fear pulsed through my veins and I ran back toward the gates. My bag slipped off my shoulder, but I ignored it. A bag wasn't worth them catching me.
I heard them laughing, and then the laughing faded away as I came to a stop around the corner of a building in the middle of campus.
I pulled my phone out of my back pocket. "Nine-one-one, what's your emergency?"
"Three guys are chasing me. Please help." I was panicking and peeked around the side of the building. "Please hurry, I'm at Salinity Cove High School."
The operator went through a series of questions and told me to stay calm. She suggested I try to find the custodian, but I was glued to my spot.
I could hear sirens in the distance and a sob escaped as relief flooded my body. They came to a stop in the parking lot.
"Ma'am are you still there? They say to stay where you are and they'll find you."
They found me sitting on the side of the building, shivering uncontrollably. It wasn't even that cold outside, but the adrenaline dump had left me feeling worn out and freezing cold.
An officer sat me in the front of a police car with a blanket wrapped around me. My bag sat on the pavement in front of my feet, tire marks covering it. I didn't know how I was going to explain to Mr. Garcia that a car had run over it and smashed the expensive camera to smithereens.
"Do you know who was chasing you?" An officer squatted down in front of me and handed me a water bottle.
I took a long drink and shut my eyes. "The Tritons." A deadly calm like I'd never felt before washed over me. "They chased me from the aquatic center."
"The who? The dad from The Little Mermaid?" The officer scratched his head.
I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. Were they mermaids? They couldn't be. Morgan had jumped out of the pool and landed on two feet. But his eyes had been the same as the ones I saw the day I almost drowned.
"Jax West, Blake Huron, and Morgan Wade."
"Those boys? Why would they do this?" He stood and gestured for a man dressed in plain clothes to join us.
"Where is Detective Wilson? I'd been in contact with him about one of them breaking into my house."
"Leave of absence."
"I think I'm going to be sick." I rushed out of the car and made it to the planter just in time.