The Equinox (17 page)

“Not me,” I swim back an inch. “I ride a
bike everywhere. Charlotte drives that massive SUV though. I’m surprised you
haven’t yelled at her yet.”

But instead of the anger I expect,
Arabella grins. “That SUV is the best thing for this environment.”

“Huh?” How is that possible?

She laughs. “Rose would never abuse the
environment by driving an actual motor vehicle around. That SUV runs off pure
magic—Solstice energy.”

I’m in awe. “What about the Normals? Aren’t
cars unavoidable?”

She shrugs. “Maybe now. It’s gotten out
of control, but it all affects us, and it affects the creatures that don’t need
to come up for air the most. They can’t run from it. They can’t pop their head
to the surface and take a big fresh gulp of air. They are the first to die.”

She sighs now but continues. “Rose tries
to keep the city population numbers low in Apollo Beach, but there are politics
involved. It’s getting harder and harder for her to fight the battle with the
city.”

I nod, remembering a recent conversation
I had with her about Ava and Iris’s parents and the entire group of people who
believe that Apollo Beach can bring in some real revenue. “Rose mentioned that
to me. She said they want Apollo Beach to be a tourist spot.”

A groan escapes Arabella which I find uncharacteristic.
It makes me laugh. “That would be so awful. Luckily the Solstice community outnumbers
the
Normals
when it comes to
committee numbers. Rose is a smart woman. She knows what she needs to do to
keep the evil men at bay.”

The way Arabella says
Normals
makes it sound like she’s
disgusted. I want to tell her that they aren’t really the bad guys; they aren’t
the one’s going around killing innocent Enchanters, but I leave it alone. She’s
fired up enough and if legends are true, it’s not the smartest idea to irk a
mermaid.

Remembering that we approached this
subject for a reason, I look down and see the shiny gold object that sits
between the grass. I can see immediately that’s it’s not my pendant but I pick
it up anyway to examine it. It’s an old twenty dollar coin.

“That’s rare,” the words come out of my
mouth but I’m disappointed, to say the least.

“Can I see that?” Arabella has already
snatched it from my hands and I shrug and swim off. Out of the corner of my eye
I see the bright smile on her face as she tosses it in her net. I imagine that
she’s just discovered treasure—at least to her.

I begin to examine all areas of the bay,
but obviously we won’t be searching every inch of this in one hour. “Arabella,
are you sure it’s even possible to find it?”

She catches up to me. “Yes, because we
have to find that pendant. You said whoever rescued you pulled you onto a boat.
I say we try the marina. I always find amazing treasures over there but don’t
tell King Isaac that.” She makes a face. “He doesn’t want me anywhere near
boats.”

I can understand why. “Okay. Let’s go.” The
odds of my pendant traveling as far as the marina seems impossible, but again,
Arabella is the boss.

Arabella’s movements are so naturally
beautiful and confident as she swims through the water. The sights around us are
so clear, even as the sky begins to dim above us.

“Isn’t this fun?” she asks me with a
smile.

I grin. “When I was little I dreamt of
being a mermaid. As soon as I learned to swim I pretended I had a tail by
swimming with my legs together.”

Arabella’s laugh is a musical phrase.
“All of the young girls I meet say the same thing. It’s a good thing I can’t
give sea sprinkle to just anyone because I’d be way too generous.”

I’m laughing now too.

The longer we swim, the darker the sky
above us becomes, making the water harder for me to navigate, but Arabella
knows her way well so I follow her glowing white tail.

“You say you felt the chain of your
pendant snap from your neck on that boat?” She asks but I’ve already answered
this before.

My nose scrunches as my lips pull down.
“I don’t know. Everything happened so fast and I was out of it. The only thing
I’m sure of is that I had the pendant before the water captured me and then it
was gone after Alec found me at the shore.”

Alec’s name causes Arabella to stiffen
and I wonder if she suspects him. “It wasn’t Alec,” I say to her, positively.
“He was caught in the fire with Iris. He saved Iris’s life and then he came for
me. He’s a victim just as Iris and I are.”

As angry as I am with Alec right now, I
know he doesn’t deserve to be accused or even suspected of such evil crimes. I
intend to ensure that Arabella doesn’t follow up on whatever thoughts she has
on the subject.

“Well, did anyone try to play back the
scene?” She asks, but I can tell she isn’t giving up on her last question.

“Yes, Rose did right after it all
happened. She couldn’t see the cause of it, and she couldn’t see who pulled me
out of the water. Alec didn’t see the person either, but the sign of the
Equinox was found in some debris left from the fire.”

“Someone cloaked certain parts from that
night.” Arabella looks annoyed. I’m impressed by her knowledge and by how
thoughtful her inquiries are. It won’t surprise me when she does uncover
something.

“This way.” She points her nose down and
swims straight. “We have to keep low to stay away from the boats.”

As she says this I follow her but my eyes
peer up toward the night sky. I can make out shadows of large vessels but none
are moving at this time of night.

I see a patch of seagrass and swim in its
direction. Arabella scours the sand, brushing particles away, as if my pendant
may have been buried. A sinking in my chest distracts me from my mission. I have
to believe that I will find my pendant.

The seagrass tickles my tail and I
giggle. You’d think the skin of the tail protects sensations like clothes do to
skin, but it doesn’t. I feel everything from my waist down; the strength of my
muscles as I push my tail back and forth and the sensation of water rushing
past me as I swim.

Something in the seagrass catches my eye.
This time my mood jolts to life and I’m quick to move, pulling the object into
my hands. I allow the current to carry me as I stare down at the gold chain
that once held my mother’s pendant. The pendant is not here and the chain is
broken.

An imaginary pull on my neck and the
feeling of something snapping causes me to gasp in memory of that night.

Arabella is by my side instantly, pulling
me down, deeper into the water. I didn’t realize I was so close to the surface.
“What is it? Is that it?”

She looks at it and has a similar
reaction to mine. I just stare at the broken gold chain in my hands and moan.
“Someone
did
pull it from my neck. I
remember now. There was a tug and a snap and then my pendant was gone.”

My words don’t give Arabella hope, I can
see that on her face. She appears dejected, saddened a little. “It still might
be somewhere around here.”

“Arabella!” I think in frustration,
unable to contain my emotions. “It’s gone. Okay? It’s gone.”

This time she doesn’t try to give me a
pep talk or tell me to be positive. Instead she shares in my glum as we turn
ourselves back to Summer Estates.

“Wait, what’s that?” My eyes are just
turning away from the dock’s inlet when I see a dark cloudy substance stream
into the water. Its essence is thick. Something isn’t right.

Arabella grabs my hand and together we travel
to the top of the water and peer out with just our foreheads so that our eyes
can see what’s at the surface, but everything else is hidden.

But we don’t see much. As soon as we
reach the surface two figures in black are running in the other direction,
toward the parking lot.

* *
*

“Arabella!” Rose exclaims happily. “What
brings you to Apollo Beach, dear girl?” They embrace in a firm hug.

Arabella’s eyes widen proudly. “I was
helping Kat search for her missing pendant.”

Rose’s eyes grow wide and she grins. I
find her joy in the situation a peculiar response. Usually, she’s livid if I do
anything she doesn’t know of or can’t approve first. “Did she try the sea sprinkle?”

Rose refers to sea sprinkle like one
would refer to a gourmet appetizer. I chuckle.

“Kat was a natural mermaid.”

Rose claps her hands together. “Oh joy.”

I laugh again. “It was pretty cool.” But
then I frown almost immediately. “I only found this though.” I hold up the gold
chain which is still clasped tightly in my fist.

Long, strong fingers reach out. Rose
pulls it toward her and stares at it for a long time. “Where is it?” She looks
as sad as Arabella and I were upon our failed discovery.

I shrug.

“We’ll find it.” Arabella is back to her
determined self which I appreciate. Someone needs to be sure of it. “It’s got
to be near the marina. That’s where we found this.”

Rose’s eyes narrow. Does she have the
same disapproval as King Isaac? I worry now for Arabella. Hopefully Rose won’t
rat her out. “How would it travel as far as the marina?”

Arabella shrugs. “You’d be surprised how
fast and far things carry underwater. It’s not impossible, and since we found
the chain there, I have a strong feeling that we need to look harder.”

I sigh now. Someone needs to tell Rose.
“Rose. When we were at the marina we saw something—someone.” I hesitate
but I don’t let Arabella step in on me. She’s about to, I can see it from her
open mouth. “Someone was dumping a liquid substance into the bay.” My
grandmother’s expression darkens considerably. I don’t need to tell her our
suspicions. She already knows. She’s already experienced this.

“We tried to see who did it,” Arabella
says. “But they were gone, and by the time we saw what they were doing, it was
too strong. We had to get out of there.”

Rose nods. “Sure, sure. Dear girls, I’m
so happy that nothing bad happened to you out there. I don’t want you swimming
around the marina again, especially at night. I know you both are smart and
careful, and strong, but everything about that place is unpredictable. The
water, the traffic. There are so many abusive Normals who go out and cruise
around the waters throwing out fishing hooks, anchors even, without
understanding who or what they might be hurting.”