Deep Betrayal

weak, while my muscles twitched with pent-up energy. “Calder will be back soon,” I said.
    “Doesn’t that sound lovely,” she said, drawing close. I tried not to show my surprise at her appearance. I could count every one of her ribs. Her eyes bulged in sunken sockets. Her pale, milky hair floated sparsely around her face.
    “What do you want?” I asked. “Where’s Pavati?”
    “She’s already left,” Maris said. “She couldn’t stay a minute longer now that …”
    “So she did love Jack after all.”
    Maris rolled her eyes. “She chose him, yes. But she had no choice but to end him once she heard his confession. His mind was too addled. I’d warned her about that when we left last fall, but she never listens. There would be no reasoning with him, and we can’t afford for him to continue to interfere with our hunting schedule. Humans have a way of ruining the best laid plans.”
    I didn’t know exactly whom she was referring to, there were so many options at this point. My name was probably at the top of her list. Although, was I still human? How did that work?
    “Where did Pavati go?” I asked.
    “She’s hoping to pick up with that blue-eyed boy.”
    “Daniel Catron?”
    “Is that his name? He’s her Plan B.”
    “I’m sure he’ll take it,” I said, although I couldn’t helpthinking, Poor boy . I was pretty sure I knew what Pavati’s intentions were in regard to Daniel, but it was still impossible to imagine him fathering Pavati’s child, let alone parenting it for its first year. Daniel was just a kid. But, then again, it wasn’t like he was going in blind.
    Maris laughed condescendingly. “Of course he’ll ‘take it.’ Pavati’s completely intoxicated on what she absorbed from that Pettit boy. She’ll stagger into Cornucopia, and that blue-eyed boy will scoop her up so fast.… After the deed is done, she’ll head to New Orleans. I’m meeting her there in a few weeks.”
    “So you’re leaving, too?”
    “Maybe no one believed what Jack Pettit was saying, but the results of his actions have put people on edge around here.” She pulled her arms through the dark water, drawing herself closer to me. “There’s no good hunting these days. Tomorrow’s the Fourth of July. There will be a lot of party boats on the St. Croix River. I’ve got a favorite spot just north of the Stillwater lift bridge. Lots to choose from. That should sustain me until I get to the Gulf.”
    “Uh-huh.” I shuddered, trying to picture it. Clouds shifted and let the moonlight shine through, dappling the space between us. For a second, it made Maris almost pretty. Like she used to be.
    I wondered when the emotional cravings would start for me, or if they would at all. I couldn’t imagine being miserable as long as Calder was with me. So far I felt nothing but awe and amazement.
    “Calder says he didn’t change me. Was it you?”
    Maris smirked and said, “No. You changed by yourself. Strange, that. I would have thought if it was going to happen, it wouldn’t have taken so long. But Calder was ridiculously slow when he started out.… Still, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a mermaid whose transformation skills were so delayed. Must be your diluted genetics. Hmmm. No ring,” she said, touching my throat. “I didn’t want to go before I knew my family was all right.”
    “All right?” I sounded like an idiot, but I hoped her assessment meant I wasn’t so delayed to be stuck like this.
    Reading my thoughts, she smiled apologetically. “All I ever wanted was for my family to be together. That’s what’s most important. Our family looks different today than it did a few months ago, but I can be flexible. No one can replace Tallulah, but Mother would want us to be together. You, your sister, your … dad.” The concept was obviously still difficult for her to grasp. “Calder, too. Oh, speak of the devil, here he comes.”
    Calder’s dark hair streamed behind him as he swam a torpedo’s course toward my side. My anxiety subsided at the sight of him—transformed—his silver-sequined tail bending the water.
    “Calder, it’s all right,” I said, repeating Maris’s assessment. “She’s just leaving.”
    “I’m sure you’re not sorry to see me go,” Maris said, but he did not react to her goading. “Oh, that’s right. Lily, you’ll have to translate for us.”
    “Ask her why you can’t change back,” Calder said as he pulled me to his side.
    Maris appraised us with