Mer Tales 01 - Everblue

don’t even know.”
    He patted my back. “Mom will be mad, but it’s better to tell her the truth than have her find out otherwise.”
    “ I didn’t mean to lie. Everything was so fuzzy at first and then when I remembered—” I pulled away and looked at him with my tear streaked face. “Wait. Why are you still home? Aren’t you supposed to be at work?”
    “ I don’t need to be in until nine.”
    “ Oh.”
    “ Feel better?” He smiled warmly with knowing eyes.
    I shook my head.
    “ Good. This was a hard lesson to learn, but always remember; the truth will set you free.”
    “ Thank you, Dad.” I hugged him again. And does it ever.

35
FIN

    “ Crap,” Tatiana said as we crouched in the bushes next to our former house. “What are we going to do now?”
    I rubbed my hand across my forehead as the early morning sun sparkled against the snow patches scattered across the ground. The Jeep wasn’t in the driveway where I’d parked it. But that was the least of my worries. Azor and a few of his men just walked inside, obviously looking for me and quite possibly my sister as well. Without the Jeep, we were stuck.
    “ The first thing we need to do is get some clothes. Right now we look like we should be in Hawaii, not in the middle of an extraordinarily cold spring in Tahoe.”
    “ Oh, good idea,” Tatch said as she wriggled her bare toes in the snow. “I do have Mom’s credit card.”
    “ You what? Never mind.” I creased my brow. “I was thinking more along the lines of borrowing instead of buying. We can’t go walking into American Eagle Outfitters looking like this anyway.”
    Tatch bit her lip. “I wonder if anyone is home at Ash’s. I could borrow something of hers and get you an outfit from her dad’s closet.”
    Ashlyn’s name sent an anxious tingle up my spine. If only she was home. What I wouldn’t give to accidentally run into her. But I didn’t trust myself from grabbing her and kissing her madly if I did. More than likely, she would still be at the hospital, giving us an opportune time to break in.
    “ Earth to Fin.” Tatch snapped in front of my eyes. “What is it with you when I mention her name anyway?”
    “ Nothing. Yeah, that’s actually a good idea.”
    I glanced over at the house and stopped breathing. Ash was limping on crutches up the path from the dock, her father by her side. The world stood still for a moment as the sun filtered through her curly red hair. She was better than I thought and already at home.
    Tatch’s gasp broke the spell. “Oh my starfish! What happened?”
    I grabbed her arm as she lurched forward. “No! You can’t go!”
    “ But don’t you see her?” Tatch flailed under my grasp. “She’s injured or something.”
    Everything inside me wanted to run to the dock, scoop Ash up off her feet, and carry her the rest of the way. “We can’t reveal ourselves to her. She’ll have too many questions.”
    “ Fish sticks! That’s ridiculous,” she said in admonishment and yanked her arm back. “You can just wipe her mind afterward. I have to know.”
    She looked up at me with such earnest concern that I nearly caved, but now that Ash was promised to me, the incantation wouldn’t work. “I can’t—don’t want to do that to her anymore. It’s not right.”
    “ Oh, geez, Fin. That’s never stopped you in the past,” Tatiana whimpered, watching the two of them disappear inside. I felt her pain and tried not to show it. “Why not?”
    I sighed, wondering if now would be a good time to tell Tatch the truth. “I just don’t think it’s right to do that anymore.”
    The night before, on the way to Fannette Island, we happened upon The Sea Star , floating abandoned right off shore. I tried not to make a big deal about it, but Tatch insisted we return it to Ash’s family dock at least. Seeing her now flooded me with relief, but the brevity sliced right through my soul, leaving a longing to hold her I couldn’t quench yet. Staying hidden and convincing Tatiana to do the same took all my strength.
    At the same time, Colin pulled up to the house in the Jeep. We ducked down behind a bush just in time. Tatch elbowed me as I mumbled a few curt words. But when Colin stepped out wearing my “silence is golden but duct tape is silver” T-shirt, she was the one holding me back.
    “ I could kick his ass,” I growled.
    “ Shhh! If they hear us, it’ll be all over.”
    Another man exited on the passenger side and turned around—Chauncey,