Deep Betrayal

Maris.”
    Scott swam in closer to shore and did a handstand. Colleen knocked him over.
    “If Maris and Pavati are in close range, no doubt your friends would do an excellent job all by themselves, but since I don’t know where they are, we’re using you as an amplifier.”
    “Fine. I’m a megaphone, but I don’t know how to amplify anticipation.”
    “Think Christmas. Remember when you were a kid?”
    “Vaguely.”
    He kissed the worry off my mouth. “Close your eyes, Lily.”
    I complied.
    “You’re five years old. It’s Christmas Eve. There’s a big tree, with a star and silver tinsel hanging from all the branches. There is a pile of presents. Someone’s playing carols on the piano.”
    “How do you know so much about Christmas?” I asked.
    “The movies. It’s a Wonderful Life . Now be quiet and concentrate. There’s a ton of presents. You’ve checked them all. You’ve shaken some. They rattle. They have tags with your name on them. All you have to do is go to sleep. When morning comes, you get to open them. Do you feel that anticipation? Do you remember?”
    “Yes. I can feel it.”
    “Then jump in the water. Go under and swim out ahundred feet. Think only of that. Happy anticipation. Got it? I’ll be close.”
    I dove, streaming through the water for what felt like a hundred feet, but I wasn’t great at judging distance. I didn’t think I was too far because I could still feel the vibrations in the water from my friends’ splashing and kicking. There were other sounds, too. Squeaks and metallic sounds. Low groans. But no mermaid voices.
    Happy anticipation , I thought, trying to push away the fearful image of a mermaid attacking Jules. Happy anticipation. Christmas presents. Red and green ribbons . I searched forward out into the watery expanse, but heard nothing.
    Boxes rattling , I thought. Tags with my name. No! Not my name. Calder said not to project my name. Christmas Eve. Waiting. Happy anticipation .
    When I couldn’t sustain it anymore, I swam back to the starboard side and Calder pulled me back into the boat.
    “Good?” he asked, wrapping me in a pink-and-white-striped towel.
    “I don’t think I’m doing it right. Any sign of them?”
    “Not yet,” he said, pulling a pair of binoculars to his eyes.
    I waved at Rob as he beckoned me to join them. I held up one finger to buy some time. Damn him for looking so happy. I cringed at the thought of him in Pavati’s embrace. I should be burned at the stake for what I was doing to them. “Should I try again?” I asked Calder.
    “Yes. The next message is peace.”
    “I thought you said no ‘We come in peace’ messages.”
    “That’s not the kind of peace I mean.”
    “You mean like world peace?”
    He lowered the binoculars and let them hang around his neck. “Remember what you’re doing. You’re trying to entice them with the most positive human emotions. Like that movie Jaws . I’m picking the emotional equivalent of blood in the water. Emotional peace is what we’re going for. Serenity. That’s what Maris wants.”
    “Geez, Calder. Can’t we go with plain old happy?”
    “Too generic. We need something more satisfying.”
    “Okay, so maybe something peaceful like lying in a hammock?”
    “That’s good, but you need to add heat to it.”
    “Lying in a hammock on a beach in the Bahamas?”
    “Come in, Lily!” Jules yelled. “What are you two waiting for?” She waved at me and I waved back.
    “The Bahamas are good, but I was thinking of you in that bubble bath.” He smirked.
    “Whose happiness are we thinking of?”
    “Yours. Think about a bathtub. You’ve got the water as hot as you can stand it. There’s a mountain of white froth. Step in. Slide under. Let the water heat you to the core. Let all the tension of the day slide away.”
    “That last part will be tougher.”
    He pulled me closer as if he was going to kiss me, but his lips stopped a fraction of an inch from mine. We were nose to nose, his eyes burning into mine, until I could feel nothing but a slow, yearning heat in my stomach. He pushed the image of my bubble bath so smoothly into my mind that I silently stepped off the swim deck and let the water slide over my skin like silk. I sank below the boat, feeling the warmth in my cells slowly building into a sleepy heat. Peace. Lying in a hammock. Lying in a bathtub. Under the bubbles. With Calder’s hands slipping up … Ach! Damn it. What was it again? Oh, right, weightlessness.