a pointed look. "They will only lead to a case of crabs and heartache."
"I think we should meet without him." Trisha and Aiden followed me out of the library. "We can just tell him we aren't going to meet two Wednesdays from now."
"I agree. Mrs. Williams should understand."
The last thing I needed was for my grades to slip too.
Chapter Seventeen
My world was becoming a blur of school and trying to locate my mother. The police didn't seem to care that she was still missing. It didn't help that all the evidence pointed to her taking off. It was no use telling them it was out of character.
I rolled over in bed and stared at my alarm clock that was about to go off. I had been up most of the night listing payments that had to be made as soon as I got any money from the fund my mom had in my name.
I wanted to just stay in bed and wait for everything to be over, but she wouldn't want me to do that. I turned off the clock before it went off and went into the bathroom to take a shower.
I looked in the mirror and frowned at my reflection. I barely recognized myself, even though I looked the same. My hair had certainly seen better days, but nothing else had changed.
The change had come from inside and I saw it in the way my shoulders pulled forward slightly and the frown that was etched on my face. Even my eyes looked sad.
I smiled at myself in the mirror and my cheeks shook from the effort. Why was I even fighting this battle with the Tritons? They were consuming me and leaving me a shell of myself.
I sighed and got into the shower. The water calmed me down immensely and I started to feel a little better, but then my mind traveled to them again.
Mr. Nguyen had warned me to stay away from them. I ran over the conversation a hundred times a day. He knew small pieces of the puzzle and it was my job to put together.
I wrapped a towel around myself and went back into my room. I laid back on the bed and stared at my ceiling. What was I missing?
The knife.
I rolled over to the other side of the bed and reached under my mattress, sliding it out of the place I had hidden it. I held it in my hand and examined it closely. It was almost as if it was a piece of art with the inlaid designs in the hilt. It made me smile as I turned it over in my hand. Why would my mom have this knife?
A siren's knife, Jax had called it when I was hiding in the back of his SUV. What did that mean?
I laid the knife on the bed and opened up my laptop, bringing it with me back to the bed. I pulled up the internet and typed it in. Nothing came up, so I tried abalone knife. There were plenty of knifes that had abalone hilts, but none that looked like my mom's.
My mom's looked like it would be used to kill someone. It had a nine-inch blade that curved slightly at the end and it was sharpened to a thin edge that would cut like butter.
Abalone shell was said to have protective properties that would protect from bad intentions. I didn't believe that rocks and minerals had abilities like that though.
I typed in siren, even though I was well aware of the stories of them from Greek mythology. They were dangerous and lured sailors to their deaths. Maybe the knife was an antique object thought to be from them.
I looked at the knife again before sliding it back under the mattress. Mr. Nguyen said not to let anyone know I had it, so my questions would remain a big fat mystery.
The first swim meet of the fall season was jam packed with spectators. I stayed as close as possible to the stands as swimmers dashed past me and readied to swim in their heats.
Even though there were plenty of swim meets for me to take photos, getting the bulk of the shots early was best since the farther I got into the school year, the busier I'd be. Especially with college applications being due anytime between November and January.
During the heats that the Tritons were in, I watched them closely and took plenty of photos and videos. I was fairly certain