Chapter 32
Gil
One week earlier
It has been one week.
One miserable, Marina-less week.
Time has been made even lonelier by the act of bookkeeping at the office.
I’ve never had much of a problem with numbers, but I’ve made more mistakes than ever during the day.
My nights have been spent searching the springs from top to bottom, and I’m certain a fish ate my glamour.
Good thing the charms are attuned, or the boat tour guests might have an odd sight to contend with.
I’d like to be able to say I’ve avoided the surface without my disguise, but that’s proved impossible.
Marina’s cabin was still filled with her notebook pages.
I couldn’t let them be snatched up by housekeeping and thrown away.
So, I snuck up there when the moon was high after a long night of searching, and retrieved all that was left behind.
For now, the messy pile of notebook paper sits on my kitchen table, and in idle moments I’ve been binding it back together. Something I’d much rather be working on than the numbers I’m currently lost in.
“You doing alright in here?” Mama peers over my shoulder like she’s about to help me with homework.
“As alright as I can be,” I admit, letting my posture fall. She’d see through any false bravado regardless. “I fear for what it means that she’s still gone. Hopefully her Grams is recovering alright—but I’m worried, about them both.”
“There’s really no way to contact her?” Mama asks. “Surely we could send a message—something.”
“I wish I’d thought to get her phone number, but we had to say goodbye so quickly.” I tug at the bracelet on my wrist. “Heather has been looking into it for me, but understandably, has enough on her plate. I wish I could show up to her door as I am.
Mama lets out a low hum and nods.
“If only it could be so simple,” she concedes. A message in a bottle isn’t a bad idea though. I can toss it through the portal and hope for the best. It should make it close to her at the very least.
“I can’t shake this restless feeling,” I say, pushing away the number-filled notebook.
“Are you sure it’s all to do with your girl?” Mama asks, her browbones furrowing. She stares me down like I’m a child again, and she’s caught me in a lie.
“What else would be bothering me?”
“You tell me.” She puts a hand on her hip. “You know, I swam past your place the other night. I couldn’t help but stop and listen to the way you played that—ther—munt?”
“Theremin,” I correct her, my lips quirking into a smile. “Thought you didn’t like that thing.”
“Maybe I never stopped to listen for long enough,” she says, shaking her head. “You have a gift, Gil, and a real comfort when it comes to the stage. Don’t think I didn’t notice when you leapt up there to help Marina. It was like you came alive.”
“It wasn’t anything.”
“But it was,” she says, placing her hand on top of mine.
“You should have the life you want, Gil. While Marina is a part of that, she’s not all of it.
” She sighs. “You’ve been content to work here your whole life, just to support our family, but Finn has come a long way. I don’t want you to limit yourself.”
“What exactly are you suggesting, Mama?” I ask. “I get along well enough here, and I don’t think leaving to become some full-time theremin player is going to make much sense.”
“No,” she relents with a shake of her head. “And maybe it’s not music. Maybe it’s something else, something crafty or creative. Your spark doesn’t shine here. And when another path opens, you should at least consider exploring it.”
“I don’t want to let y’all down.”
“How could you possibly do that when we’d all be cheering you on?” she asks with a warm smile.
I wrap my arms around her in a tight hug, and she presses a kiss against my temple the same way she’s done since I was a guppy. Some things never change.
“Thank you, Mama,” I say, my voice quiet. I cast a gaze toward the invoices I’d been working on. If something changed, I wouldn’t miss the strings of numbers, but I wouldn’t miss my family either; they’d never leave my side long enough time to miss them.
I’m glad.
In the monotony of routine, I’d somehow forgotten that the love we have is never conditional. No matter what I do, where I go, they’ll always be there.
Tonight, I’ll swing by the portals and send Marina a message. I’ll let her know I’m waiting, and so is the rest of the family.
The portals at night are normally quiet. But inside the little cove, there’s arguing, and Grampy’s voice is among the gathered elders.
This doesn’t look good.
“Gil.” Grampy frowns. “You gave them no choice.”
“No choice?” I echo, glancing behind him at Auntie Cat, Walleye, and Jess. They all have the same sullen expressions.
“Had you heeded our warnings, this would not have been necessary,” Auntie Cat says. “But you just couldn’t help yourself.”
“He’s young—” Grampy begins but is cut off by a wave of Walleye’s hand.
“That excuse for foolishness has long since expired.”
“What exactly am I interrupting here?” I ask, looking between them and the glittering water.
Grampy frowns when he meets my eyes, and the warning he shared with Magnus and me echoes through my memory. There’s only one reason they’d all be here…
“You closed the portal to the springs?”
“You forced our hands, Gil,” Auntie Cat says, blowing out a sigh that makes her whiskers ruffle.
“You’re not some lovestruck guppy anymore. Act accordingly,” Walleye says. “We’ve all put up with these summer shenanigans for long enough. It’s an embarrassment to you, your family, and well, it’s time you realized that.”
His words sting as if he’s slapped me across the face.
Is that how everyone sees me—stuck in the past?
“You sealed it to keep her out?”
“No, Gilbert.” Grampy sighs. “They’ve sealed it to keep you out.”
“I don’t understand.”
It’s Auntie Cat who steps forward once more. “Though there are dangers the faeries pose, all willing mortals are welcome in Eclipsica. The human is not the issue.”
The human. I bristle but try not to let the callous nature of Auntie Cat’s words sting.
“This isn’t some story of forbidden love. It’s a warning not to make a spectacle of yourself,” she continues.
“I won’t, I promise!”
“But you have.” Walleye sighs, holding up a crystal-rigged phone with a blurry photo, a shaky green figure, stalking through the campgrounds at night.
Oh, by the Goddesses, this is bad.
It’s from just a few days ago, my arms are full of Marina’s things, I look like some sort of scaled bandit. I was sure no one was around…
“Oh, Gil,” Grampy says with a sigh. “You know better than this.”
I do.
I should have been more careful.
“And if she tries to find her way back, then what?”
“I presume you made her a charm?” Grampy asks, his calm hand on my shoulder reminding me to stay steady.
I nod.
“Then she won’t die,” Walleye says, as gruff as ever. “But she won’t make it back here either.”
Tension builds at the idea of Marina jumping into the water, only to fruitlessly swim around. She’d search and search and—
No.
“I’ll find another way!” I say, my eyes darting around the cove.
“Not without a disguise, you won’t! Have you learned anything from this stunt?” Walleye shouts.
“Now, now,” Grampy says, putting one arm around Walleye and the other around me. “I think there’s something to be said for holding onto sentiment, but smarts? That’s something Gil here has plenty of. Gil will take on some shifts guarding the portals to atone for this mishap, won’t you, son?”
Beneath the cold as ice tone, there’s a pleading in his eyes that makes guilt flood through me. It’s their job to keep the portals a safe gateway. If they hadn’t closed the portal, that blurry photo could have cryptid enthusiasts and monster hunters crawling all over the springs.
Goddesses help us if they got scuba gear and found their way to Eclipsica. Guarding the portal is the least I can do for the stress that snapshot has caused.
Still, the idea that Marina might try to get back and fail fills me with dread.
“I won’t draw any more unnecessary attention to us,” I agree, “and I’ll take up guarding the portal for as long as you think is fair.”
“The rest of the summer,” Auntie Cat says, and I straighten before pressing my mouth closed.
“Alright,” I say. “The rest of the summer.” By then I’ll at least have my glamour, and then there will be nothing stopping me from finding her in the mortal realm.