Deep Betrayal

many ways, but apathetic was not one of them.
    Father Hoole sat back again and folded his arms across his chest. “Find out what the voices care about. If it comes from love, I wouldn’t worry too much about it.”
    In the distance, I saw Calder approaching us slowly. “I’ve got to go, Father.” I pointed to Calder. “Some friends of mine are coming up for the week. We’re meeting them at the ferry in a few minutes.”
    “Ah, well, you have fun. I think I’ll sit here for a while longer. Oh, but hey, how’d you get Mrs. Boyd to make you a coffee? Isn’t she closed today?”
    “I guess I was just being pushy. I didn’t know she wasn’t open.”
    He eyed the seagull that was now tugging at the laces on my boot. “Huh. Maybe I can convince her to make me a cup. So we’ll see all the Hancocks at Mass next Sunday?”
    “Um, yep?”
    “I’ll take that as a yes.”
    I dropped my empty cup into a trash can and jogged over to Calder, who slipped his fingers through mine. “Who’s that?” he asked.
    “Father Hoole. He noticed we weren’t at Mass. Dad still hasn’t come home. Have you seen him?”
    Calder squeezed my hand and looked out across the lake. “I heard your mom saw Jason in the water last night.”
    “You did see him!”
    “Do you think that was smart to tell her?” he asked.
    I thought of my mom crying into the morning hours. “Jury’s still out on that one. By the way, it was Sophie’s idea to tell her. She thinks Mom will feel better … eventually … now that she knows.”
    “I’ll see what I can do to help that along,” he said.
    About fifteen minutes later, Zach’s familiar blue van rolled up to the ferry dock.
    “That them?” Calder asked.
    “That’s them,” I said, trying to muster up some enthusiasm. It seemed like an invasion, this other part of my life arriving uninvited. Not like I owned the town, but it still felt weird. And it made me nervous to have them here—now—with crazed mermaids on the loose.
    Calder rubbed my shoulder, trying to relax me. “Come on, babe,” he said. “Get it together. You’re muddying up.”
    “Right,” I said. “Happy thoughts.”
    He kissed my hair, and it must have improved my color, because he groaned quietly under his breath.
    The sliding side door opened, and Jules practically fell out of the van. Rob tumbled out behind her, laughing and pushing her. Jules ran toward me, yelling, “Lily! Lily! We made it!” but Rob held back to talk to Phillip at the driver’s-side window.
    For a second, Jules’s excitement stripped away my fears and made me laugh. “Did you think you wouldn’t?”
    She rolled her eyes in an exaggerated way and pulled her dark hair into a ponytail. “Phillip was driving the last hour. It was a leap of faith,” she said.
    I hugged her. “You seem to be in one piece.”
    “Barely.”
    Rob came up behind her, his face tense—hopefully he was embarrassed by his behavior the last time I saw him. “Hey, Lil.”
    “Hey, Robby. You remember Calder?”
    “Yeah. How you doing, man?”
    Calder didn’t answer. His attention was on Jules. “So you’re staying on Madeline?” he asked. “What side?”
    “I don’t know,” Jules said. “Phillip said it’s past a marina and a golf course. There’s room for you two if you want to come stay at the house.”
    I glanced at Calder, and then Jules was begging. “Please, Lily? We’ve got to catch up.”
    “That sounds like a great idea to me,” Calder said.
    “I’d have to ask my mom,” I said, hedging.
    “She already said it was okay,” Calder said.
    I looked at him, silently asking, She did? But Calder wasn’t looking at me. He was staring directly into Jules’s eyes, her pupils dilating. Hmmm . So it was Calder’s idea to invite us to the house—not Jules’s—and Rob wasn’t exactly comfortable with the idea. He shifted in his shoes and scowled at the ground. What was Calder’s angle?
    “The van’s kind of crowded,” Rob said.
    “That’s okay,” Calder said. “We’ll find our own way there.”
    Phillip came over as the ferry crew started loading cars. “Hey, Hancock!” He gave me a big hug.
    “They’re going to stay at the house,” Jules said.
    Phillip’s eyebrows rose. “Oh yeah? Hey, that’s awesome! My uncle’s got a ton of room, and it’s easy to find. TakeMiddle Road until it Ts. Hang a left and we’re on the lakeside. I’ll park the van at the end of the driveway.”
    “Between Chebomnicon Bay and Big