The Equinox (10 page)

I hop
off the tree, toward my friends, still rattled. I plop down next to a red-faced
Brent. Everyone else just looks dumbfounded.

“Kat,”
Brent is saying as sweat pours down his forehead. “I will never make another snake
joke again.”

I
smile, but inside I know that something isn’t right. I couldn’t control the snake
with my powers, which I’ve learned can only mean one thing; that snake was
controlled by an Equinox.

Against
my urgent and very vocal wishes, the group decides to stay at the spring,
though they plan to take it easy for the rest of the day. The girls sprawl out
on their lounge chairs while the boys take off for the diving plank set on the
other side of the swimming area.

Feeling
restless, I excuse myself from the others and take a walk toward the mermaid
theater. I need to talk to Arabella.

It’s
easy enough to find her since she’s standing under a gazebo, taking pictures
with some kids in her mermaid dress. I know better than to assume that she
wears her real tail above water. That would be impossible, but the mermaid tail
she wears now looks just as real. She sees me as she’s turning away from the
photo booth and waves for me to come over.

“Can
we talk?”

Arabella’s
eyes are wide. “Of course.” She looks around and pulls me into the empty
mermaid theater with stadium seating that faces a curved, floor-to-ceiling wall
of glass. On the other side of the glass holds a reef-like environment filled
with ancient statues and a treasure chest that sits at the ground.

“That’s
where we do our shows, twelve to eighteen feet under water, in the spring,” she
says proudly.

Wow.
“That’s incredible, but your audience doesn’t wonder how you can breathe under
there for so long?”

Arabella
laughs. “We have these breathing contraptions that we pretend to use to fake
people out.” She winks and I smile in response. Oh, the life of a mermaid.
Always pretending.

We
take a seat on one of the benches and I start in, unable to wait any longer.

“Was
Marabella swimming next to the riverboat earlier?”

Arabella
frowns and shakes her head. “No, I think that was Flora. Why?”

I
sigh. I don’t know who Flora is but it really makes no difference. “Well,
whoever it was almost got attacked by a black snake.”

Arabella
shakes her head, as if it’s impossible. “Snakes would never attack us, Kat.
We’re friends with all the wildlife around here. We have no enemies in these
parts.”

That’s
exactly what I thought. “Well, it happened, but I distracted him until she
could get by. Then he showed up again, when my friends and I were tubing. We
were jumping off the rope swing and the same snake threatened Brent.”

Her
face begins to register her thoughts as she comes to the same conclusion as me.

“I was
able to swipe the snake away, but he was resilient and was focused on the
attack. I drove a branch into him and killed him—but Arabella, I swear he
was controlled by something evil.”

Her
eyes narrow as she brings her face close to mine. “You said it was a black
snake?”

“A
very big black snake.”

“Could
it have been
him
?” She whispers the
question but I think she’s already concluded that it isn’t. “Someone must be
following you. Warning you.”

I
sigh. “It definitely felt like a threat, but I don’t think it was Erebus. That
would be rather anti-climactic, wouldn’t it? Besides, this snake was all black—Rose
said Erebus had gold-rimmed scales and I didn’t see any gold.”

“Kat,
I hate to say this but what about your friends? Could one of them be under the
influence of Erebus?”

I
shudder. The thought had crossed my mind. “But who? Trisha will be one of us
and Brent got attacked.” I don’t even mention Alec and Ava because the thought
is a ridiculous one to entertain. Ava is afraid of her own shadow and Alec is
too kind to even be considered something so evil.

Arabella
frowns. “Well, it could be someone else following you.” She shakes her head.
“Let’s just keep it between us for now. Rose will completely freak out and
never let you out of the house again if you tell her about this.”

I
agree with her because I know she’s right.

“I
know this probably isn’t the best time, but do you have a few minutes? I want to
introduce you to someone.”

Interest
gets the better of me and I agree.

“I’m
going to take you to the dressing room”

We
walk down a cement hallway until we approach a room filled with trinkets and
vanity stations that are set up with makeup and jewelry of all shapes and
colors. This is obviously the mermaid’s dressing room. In the center of the
room is a large, brown, cloth couch, and a man sits in the middle. The man is
big and burly with a gray beard. His discomfort shows as he shifts.

“The
young Katrina Summer,” his booming voice practically blows the hair from my
shoulders. His tone is commanding, and very powerful. I know who he is.

“King
Isaac.” I say it with confidence.

Arabella
pulls me closer so that I’m near his extended hand. His handshake feels rough,
prune-like, and strong.

“I
don’t usually come up for air,” he says with a smirk. “But I couldn’t pass up
this opportunity to meet you.

I
smile back at him, unable to peel my eyes away from his. It’s like he has me in
a trance.

“You
remind me so much of your mother.” His words strike me.

“You
knew her? But how?” I don’t hide my curiosity.

“I
did. I’m sorry to hear of her passing. I was actually quite fond of your
mother.” He tilts his head. “You don’t know why, do you?”

“No,”
I shake my head. Clearly, I have no idea what he’s talking about but blood
courses the length of my veins. I know that whatever he’s about to tell me will
be significant. Why else would he put in the effort to leave his sea home to
meet me?

He
sighs and shifts one more time. “Rose is the best at keeping secrets. She means
well, but I don’t agree with her on this one. I think you need to know where
you came from, and now that you’re standing in front of me, in
my
community, I’m going to tell you what
I know.”

Something
squeezes at my insides. “Tell me.” I take a breath. “Please.”

“I’m
the one who found your mom when she was fifteen. Her body was lifeless,
attached to a buoy in the middle of the Gulf. I thought she was dead. She was
smart, your mom, managing to find that buoy and literally hang on to her life. When
I took her to the beach, she was in bad shape but I knew Rose would be able to
help her. Rose healed her and that’s when we recognized the pendant she wore around
her neck.”

“Her
heart pendant?” I ask, eagerly. Yet, another reminder of what I lost on the
night of the wild bonfire.

His
smile has a hint of tenderness. “You know of it then.”

“She
gave it to me, but I lost it.” I look down, saddened by the loss more than he
knows.

“You
lost it?” His voice is incredulous? Angry even. “Kat, you must find it.”

I
frown, panicked. “It’s at the bottom of the bay. At least that’s where I think
it went. I haven’t been able to find it since the Fourth of July.” No need to
elaborate. Arabella knows about the incident so I’m sure he does too.

He
looks as if he’s been stabbed. “Kat, that pendant is the only protection you
have against the Equinox. Your body is vulnerable to the Equinox’s powers. You
need to get it back.”

I
frown. “Aren’t we all?” I understand his urgency but what I don’t understand is
why my mom would have ever acquired anything that had to do with the Equinox.

“Wait.
Why did my mom have that pendant in the first place? Why did
she
need protection? My mom didn’t even
know about any of this back then,” I continue. “She wouldn’t need protection
from some pendant.”

Isaac
looks to have calmed down slightly. “It has an engraving on the outside.”

I
really never looked at it that closely. “I never noticed it.”

“It
has one,” Isaac’s eyes gloss over, appearing to be lost in a trance, bound by
his memories of my mother. “I remember it as if am looking at it now. She had
it because it was given to her to protect her from the Equinox, and that’s why
she passed it down to you.”

There’s
a silence as I try to process what he’s telling me now. He’s got to be
mistaken.

“Kat,”
his words slice through my thoughts. “The Equinox’s host has transcended
centuries, possessing the lives of other Equinox’s—”

“Exactly,”
I interrupt him now. “My mom wasn’t an Equinox. She had nothing to do with any
of this. When she learned what my dad was, she freaked out and took me away.”

Isaac
is silent for a moment and I hope he understands now why he’s wrong. The look
he gives me tells me there’s something more. I need to let him finish. I’m
shaking now—I don’t think I want him to finish.

“Your
mom wore the pendant to protect herself from Erebus…” He stares at me,
waiting for it to click.

I
shake my head slowly. “But my mom—”

From
the look in his eyes, Isaac knows that what he’s saying is painful. “Yes Kat,
your mom was an Equinox.”

There’s
a weight on my chest so heavy, it’s like someone is pressing into me with all of
their might, squeezing the air from my lungs. I’m too numb to do anything about
it. None of this can be true.

“There’s
no way,” I say breathlessly.

He
nods. “Yes, Kat. She was stripped of her memories and her magic before I found
her. Whoever left her in the bay meant for her to die there, but I rescued her
and Rose cared for her.”

“But
who would just leave her there like that—to die?”

Isaac
shrugs. “I don’t know who stripped her powers or who left her for dead. Rose
and I searched for answers for years, but to no avail. All we know is that it’s
a miracle she survived—and that you were born. What’s more a mystery is
why Grace knew to wear that pendant always—and she knew to give it to you
before she died. So even though she lost her memories there was magic in that
pendant that found its way to you. It
belongs
to you.”

I
stand here for a few seconds. Shock soaking me fully, internally, externally,
and I feel as if I’m drowning all over again.