Chapter Twenty-Five
I was midway up when I heard him behind me, heavy footsteps plodding along the marble floor. As I turned around, he came into view. His ripped torso, and arms like steel girders, reminded me I needed to be careful how I spoke to him.
“Josh? What is going on here?”
“We need to talk. Now!” I called out.
“It’s early, Josh. Would you please keep your voice down?”
I started to call out I don’t care if it’s early, but I didn’t want our talk to begin with him bouncing me off the walls. So I nodded, and came down to meet him in the entryway.
“Hey, man, we need to have a chat,” I said when I arrived downstairs.
“About what?” he inquired, his eyes going dark and secretive.
“Is there a place where we can have some privacy?”
“What is this about?” he asked, his curiosity turning to annoyance. His eyes narrowed at me.
“Okay,” I said, taking in a deep breath. “What were you doing in Alan’s backyard two nights ago?”
His eyes narrowed more. He stared at me for several seconds. Then he burst into laughter. “For a minute there, you had me. What is this, some kind of joke?”
“The joke is on me—me, Alan and Conner, I guess. Does the Countess know? Of course she does. You’re her slave.”
When I called him a slave, Petros’ nostrils flared momentarily. Then, he smiled, an attempt at shaking off the anger that was rising inside.
“If you’re trying to get me to attack you, it—”
“Does Lara know? Do the Duprees? Whoever your accomplices are, you guys almost succeeded in killing us all last night, along with Great Aunt Winsome.”
“Last night?”
“The Lycorian from Alan’s pool followed us to the Wonder Water Bottling plant. If the rest of the sea trolls discover the location of Winnie’s hot spring, it’s on you. No matter how much you might try to deny it. You set us up. It’s on you.”
“Lower your voice,” he said, his own voice dropping several octaves. He peered around, making sure no one had overheard. “Follow me.”
“Where to?” I demanded.
“Please! I will explain all. Just follow me.”
Something in his attitude had changed when I mentioned Great Aunt Winsome. So I followed. He led me through one of the high ceilinged archways, and down a long corridor. We reached a low archway, passed through, and then went down a short flight of stairs. We entered a padded room laden with all sorts of weights and workout equipment. It appeared to be a gym of sorts, although there were no mirrors present.
“This is Rive and my private workout quarters.”
“No mirrors?”
“Yes, well, we don’t need to be reminded of how we look.”
He pointed to a simple, wooden chair by the water cooler. As soon as I sat, he stepped up to me.
“How are you so certain I was in the Feinman’s yard a few days ago?”
I squirmed in the chair, suddenly feeling as though I was on the witness stand.
“You were captured on the surveillance equipment Alan, Conner, and I installed. Didn’t know about that, did you?”
“Ah,” he said, and nodded. “Who else knows of this?”
“No one.”
“What about Alan?”
“I haven’t told anyone, yet.” Stupid! As soon as I said it, I got the feeling I’d signed my own death warrant. “But Conner will check the equipment when he comes over tonight,” I added, hoping the lie bought me my life back. “If I’m not home tonight to erase it, well…” I let the sentence trail off.
“I do not wish to harm you, Josh.”
“Okay. Cool.” I cast another quick glance toward the doorway, planning my escape route just in case.
“And you say the Lycorian followed you to Great Aunt Winsome’s last night?”
“He attacked her. He could have killed her. He could have killed us all.”
“Oh, my,” he said, and began pacing. “It’s not supposed to be like this. It was never supposed to be like this.” His words filled with sudden torment. He stopped pacing, and peered at me. “I suppose I owe you an explanation,” he said, grudgingly.
“Uh-huh. I suppose you do.”
He heaved a labored sigh. “To do that, I must tell you of an incident that occurred several years ago.”
Petros’ Tale
It happened shortly after Rive’s arrival. I was quite happy having Rive around. Before him, there hadn’t been another for quite some time. I also enjoyed that we both enjoyed working out. I was hoping we would become friends.
The turn was easy for Rive, much easier than it had been for me. He was so in love with Asia. He was devoted to her, and the Nereid.
We started working out together. This was long before the workout room. We would work out in the meadow, or along one of the hidden trails. We were both dedicated to making sure we were strong and fit to defend our lovers and all the Nereid.
Quite by accident, I discovered a lovely stretch of beach just above Malibu, near the Ventura county line, that was deserted in the early morning just prior to sun up. I told Rive about it, and we added running on the beach in the mornings to our regimen.
It was glorious running along that stretch of beach in the early morning. It allowed us time to bond, as well as to get away from the compound for a little while.
We’d been running on the beach for about two weeks, when one morning, as the sun began to rise, Rive spotted what looked to me like a giant clump of seaweed lying in the surf. Rive said that it wasn’t seaweed. It was a human, and that he’d seen him move.
I wanted to keep running. I didn’t believe it was a human, and even if it was, we were supposed to remain unseen. With no Nereid around to charm the person, our secret would be out if a human saw us.
Yes, there were occasions when we encountered humans on the beach, but we were counting on a person seeing two satyrs running in the distance as believing it was nothing more than an early morning optical illusion.
On this day, Rive would not be denied. He insisted on investigating. When we arrived at the shore, I saw that Rive had been right—sort of. It wasn’t seaweed we’d seen being tossed in the surf, it was a sea creature.
We knew of Lycorians, of course. We knew of their blood thirsty desire to wipe the Nereid from the face of the earth, but neither of us had ever encountered one before, so we didn’t know what the creature was. What we saw was a creature who was dying.
Rive had been in medical school when he met Asia. So even while I told him we should leave the creature and run on, his commitment to the Hippocratic oath made him stay, made us stay.
We dragged the creature from the surf, and Rive attended to him until the sun was up, and we had to vacate the beach or risk being seen. We found a small cave. We dragged the still unconscious creature into the cave, and promised we’d return.
During the day, Rive acquired medical supplies. We gathered lots of water and some food. We were aware there was the chance someone had found the creature and killed it, or the creature had regained consciousness and returned to the sea, but by then we were obligated.
We were both on pins and needles when we returned to the cave the next morning; both overjoyed to see that the creature was still there, and that he had awakened.
“You’re back,” the creature said, although he didn’t speak. The creature was a telepath. He communicated with us through his thoughts.
“You’re awake,” Rive said. “Don’t speak. Rest.”
Rive knew just what was ailing the creature. He gave him antibiotics, and told him to stay put for another few days, and to eat and drink lots of water. We stayed with the creature until the sun came up. Only then did we depart.
When Rive returned home, he told Asia what he had done, saved a life. When he described the creature, Asia became quite alarmed, telling him the creature was the Nereid’s sworn enemy, a Lycorian.
Rive s
aid he didn’t care. It was a life, and he had saved it, and that’s what he was sworn to do. Asia said he should have let it die, but since he hadn’t, when he returned to the creature, if it was still alive, he should kill it.
Rive was quite emotional when he told me what had happened. He loved Asia. In his mind, she was perfect, but he couldn’t take a life, especially a life he had saved.
When we returned to the cave the next morning, we found it empty. I breathed a sigh of relief, and I imagine Rive was doing the same. I had yet to tell Eudora of what we’d done. Maybe now, I wouldn’t have to.
We were standing in the cave, staring silently at the spot where we’d left the creature.
“Breakfast gentlemen,” we heard. It wasn’t spoken. It was in our heads. We turned to see the creature entering the cave behind us carrying a freshly killed goat.
While we didn’t join him for breakfast, we stayed and chatted. We were both very uncomfortable, but at the same time, we were both overjoyed that the creature was returning to good health.
“You two are very brave,” the creature said in our heads.
“I know we risked the chance of being discovered, but it was well worth it,” Rive replied.
“I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about risking the wrath of the Nereid.”
Rive and I looked at one another—caught.
“You know?” I said.
“At first I was too depleted to notice. But it’s hard not to notice two satyrs. Once I recovered, I recalled that satyrs are sworn to protect the Nereid. That’s when I knew.”
Rive and I looked at one another, and we both erupted with laughter. I can’t say why. I’ve never quite been able to put my finger on it. That day, Rive and I and the creature became fast friends. His name was Laertes.
My dedication, however, is to my one true love. There are no secrets between Eudora and me. That evening, I told her what we had done.
I expected her wrath. We’d just saved the life of the Nereid’s sworn enemy. Eudora has had members of the tribe put to death for far lesser offenses.
Perhaps, it was our love for one another that spared me. She told me she was proud of me, happy that Rive and I had bonded, but that friendship with the creature was impossible. She told me that if I could not swear that I would kill the creature the next time I saw it, that I must swear to never see the creature again.
So Rive and I swore we’d never see the creature again, and for many years we held true to our promise, until a few weeks ago.
“What happened a few weeks ago?” I asked.
Petros, who was once again pacing, stopped and looked at me. “A few weeks ago, Eudora’s sister, Roxanne moved out of the compound. Nereid have left before, wanting a different life. Not often, but it happens. But this was family, her sister. It pained Eudora deeply. She wept into the night. She was inconsolable.”
“I can’t picture Eudora weeping over anyone.”
Petros glanced at me with twitchy eyes. I guess I shouldn’t have said it. I again measured the distance between myself and the door.
“Eudora is a very emotional woman, capable of deep, deep love,” he said softly.
Clearly a side of Eudora I hadn’t seen.
“So what happened after her sister left?”
“One morning, a few days after Roxanne moved out, taking Eudora’s favorite niece with her, Eudora came to me, and began asking questions about the Lycorian. She wanted to know if I thought we could find him again. She said we’d saved his life. He owed us. Now it was time to repay the debt.”
I stared at him, my mouth dropping open as it all came together. “Eudora told you to hide the Lycorian in Alan’s pool. She was committing her sister and niece to death. That doesn’t sound like sisterly love to me.”
“She didn’t want the Lycorian to kill them,” Petros blurted, raising his voice.
“Lycorians see Nereid as an irresistible dining opportunity. That’s what they do.”
Petros’ shoulders slumped. “I know, I know. And that’s what we told Laertes to get him there. We told him these were bad Nereid and that he could do himself and us a favor. We’d make it easy for him to have two tasty Nereid. But that was all a lie. All we wanted to do was frighten them back home. Nothing scares a Nereid more than a Lycorian.”
At that moment, I understood. “But Roxanne thwarted you. Even though she knew there was a Lycorian next door, she refused to return.”
“Even after Rive and I put the dead coyote in the neighboring pool, even after I smashed the sliding glass door.”
“That was you?”
“It was a desperate attempt to lure them back before something horrible happened. The night you recorded me, I was making a last ditch attempt to get Laertes to leave your friend’s pool and return to the sea. I promised him all kinds of favors. He said that Rive and I had double crossed him, just as his people said we would.” Petros began shaking his head back and forth, his deep despair written all over his face.
“And still he refused to leave,” I said, jumping ahead.
“He lost all faith in us. He told me he wouldn’t leave until he got what he came for.”
“That still doesn’t explain how he knew that we were going to Great Aunt Winsome’s. Someone had to alert him.”
“Not necessarily. He could have overheard. He no longer trusted us. Perhaps he ventured outside the pool desperate to get what he came for, and overheard you talking.”
“Perhaps,” I said. I wanted to believe Petros. He seemed far different than the satyr who’d pounced on me in the garden that night.
“Alan has got his mind set on killing the creature,” I said, peering into his eyes.
“I know,” he replied.
“I promised I’d help. I’m sure you also know that if we try, we die.”
He stared at me for several seconds, not speaking, just staring. I had no idea what was going on inside.
After a while, I spoke up again. “We can’t get Roxanne to pull up stakes and return here, and the creature won’t leave until he’s gotten what he came for. Looks like I don’t have to worry about becoming a satyr like you after all. I will be dead long before that ever happens.”
“Don’t say that. We have to capture Laertes, and return him to the sea unharmed. While he will still be angry at Rive and me, it’s the only way to prevent an all-out war.”
“No one said anything about war.”
“Think about it. The Lycorians warned Laertes we would double cross him. If he is harmed or killed, they will be proven right, and they will want revenge.”
Petros and I sat in silence for several more minutes, the fate of the Nereid scrawled across both our faces.
“I got it,” I said. You’re right. Rather than kill the creature, Alan and I will capture him. Alan will still look like a hero to Alexia. All she cares about is getting the creature out of the pool. So we capture him, and return him to the sea. No harm, no foul.”
“Good idea, but how?” he asked, intrigued.
I told him all I’d been told about subduing the creature. “And now that we have the enchantment, once he’s back in the pool, he will be easy to capture.”
Petros gave me a quick shake of the head. “He doesn’t trust us, Josh. The creature will be on high alert around the Feinman swimming pool. There will be no way to trick him out of the pool drain long enough to enchant him. For your plan to work, you will have to lure him away from the Feinman’s to someplace where he believes he’s finally going to get what he came for. You’ll need to catch him off guard, and to do that, you’re going to need bait.”
I found Conner in his bedroom.
The drapes were drawn, and he was lying in bed, the room bathed in darkness. He wasn’t sleeping. He was staring at the ceiling.
“Conner?” I called softly, and he stirred.
He sat up, rubbing his eyes. “What’s up, Buttsoap?” His eyes were red, with dark circles beneath them.
“Buttsoap?”
??
?What can I say? I’m out of practice.” He grinned at me. “What are you doing here? You guys kill the creature already?”
“You and I both know that’s a fool’s mission,” I said, straight-faced.
“Ain’t that the truth. So, what’s up?”
“Are you still in the summer drama program at school?”
“Uh-huh,” he replied. “Why?”
I caught him up on what had happened the previous night, and my conversation with Petros.
He looked at the scratch on my arm. Then he moved to the window, opening the drapes, letting some light in. He came back, and examined the scratch more closely. He began to pale. “And you say you got that from the creature last night?”
“Yeah, but it’s no biggie. It doesn’t even hurt.”
“I gotta disagree with you, Josh. It’s a biggie, all right. It’s a very big biggie.”
He reached down to the cuff of his jeans, and began rolling up his pants leg.