Deep Betrayal
her to be a myth. That may be our problem.”
“What is she talking about?” I asked, interrupting their tête-à-tête.
Calder answered me without taking his eyes off Maris. “She’s blaming the attacks on the origin of our species, an ancient water spirit named Maighdean Mara.”
I looked back and forth between their faces; their glares only intensified with the passing seconds. “Oh, come on,” I cried. “You’re not serious.”
“You prefer the first option?” sneered Maris. “That your father is hunting this lake? Taking the most succulent morsels …?”
“If you want to learn the truth,” Pavati said, making us all turn in her direction, “go to Cornucopia. Someone there can tell you. I’ve tried to warn the boys myself, but …”
“But what?” asked Calder.
“Let’s just say I’m not welcome in that town anymore.”She twisted her long dark hair around one finger, the memory of earlier flirtations lingering on her face.
“Who’s this ‘someone’ we’re supposed to talk to?” I asked, clenching my toes in the sand.
Pavati’s eyes narrowed as she looked me up and down. The wind blew the tatters of her yellowed dress like feathers on a storm-mangled bird. “I don’t remember his name. He’s the woodcarver’s youngest son.”
“That’s all you have to go on?” Calder asked.
“Blue eyes,” said Pavati.
Maris said, “Calder, you do know what else you have to look for, don’t you?” There was something soft now around her eyes, something I hadn’t seen before. For a second, I thought she was worried about him.
“Seriously?” he asked. “Not all the legends can be true.”
“If one is true, the other is, too, and you have to make sure she recognizes you as one of her own. There’s no telling how she’d react if she sniffs out your human birthright. Don’t look at me like that. I’m too weak to do it myself. You must find the dagger. You can’t get to Maighdean Mara without it. Three green stones, Calder.” Then she sighed deeply, adding, “I do hope you discover the truth. I don’t think we’ll last much longer.”
Calder and I walked silently around the point and south toward the spot where Phillip’s boat was anchored. Neither of us wanted to admit the impossibility of Maris’s suggestions, but we didn’t have much time to discuss it. As we approached the boat, Jules stood on the bow, yelling and pointing at me.
“Are you okay?” I called, cupping my hands on the sides of my mouth.
“You! Where were you?”
“We swam to shore and took a walk,” I yelled back.
“A little private time,” Calder added, but Jules’s hysteria had her immune to whatever projections he was trying to make. Or maybe we were still too far away. Calder grabbed my hand and we jogged the rest of the way down the shore.
“Enough with this wandering off without saying where you’re going!” screamed Jules. “We got cold and realized you weren’t here. We thought you both drowned! None of us know how to start the boat.” Then she paused. “What the—? Oh, for crying out loud, now where did Scotty go?”
Zach stood up and dropped the towel he’d wrapped around his shoulders. “Wasn’t he over there?” he asked, pointing a short distance toward shore. “He was a minute ago.”
“Damn it, all of you quit fooling around,” Colleen said. “It isn’t funny. I want to go” Phillip and Rob jumped back in the water. Rob yelled for Scott. Phillip turned in the water and yelled toward shore. I felt all the blood drop out of my head as if I were a human thermometer plunging toward zero.
“You’re serious?” cried Colleen, now panicked. She held Scott’s glasses tightly in her fist. “Scotty!”
There was a boat anchored nearby, but I couldn’t see that anyone was on board.
Colleen yelled, “Somebody do something!”
Phillip and Rob got back into the boat. Calder ran into the water and made a shallow dive, swimming under the boat and popping up on the other side. He shook his head at me.
“Scott!” I cried from shore. My worst nightmare. Coming true. How had they done it? We’d been with them the whole time. Except for Pavati … she’d come later.… Could she have acted so quickly? Water spirit, my ass. This was Pavati’s doing.
A hundred feet down shore, an oblong shape on the sand caught our collective attention.
“Scotty!”
My friends all jumped in the water and raced for it. Calder got there first. He lifted Scott’s limp
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