Deep Betrayal Page 0,60

a bad idea? Surely he had better instincts when it came to merman matters than I did. But no, I had to go plowing ahead, so certain it was the right thing. Dad would have never left if I’d only kept quiet.

Sophie reached into her pocket and pulled out the prism from her Girl Scout project. She dangled it over the side of the boat and let the sun work its magic. A spray of sparkling color reflected off the water and the side of the metal boat. Rainbow beams twirled around in a circle, hitting our faces, as the prism spun on its string.

“What are you doing, Sophie?” I asked.

“Fishing,” she said, as if this should be obvious. She wouldn’t look at me, either.

Calder shifted in his seat and kept his head buried in an old National Geographic.

“You’ll have better luck if you put some bait on a hook,” I said. “Maybe they’d like salami.” I grabbed a sandwich from the cooler and broke off a corner for her.

“You fish your way,” she said. “I’ll fish mine.”

Calder didn’t seem as amused by her as I was, and seconds later the first lake trout darted toward the surface, knocking its side against our boat with a soft thud.

“See?” she said smugly. “They like the colors.” My skin prickled when she added, “Isn’t that right, Calder?”

Calder laid down his magazine but kept his eyes cast down. He dragged his foot through the scattering of sand on the bottom of the boat.

Sophie continued, “I was playing with the prism one day when I was working on my Girl Scout project. A whole bunch of fish started circling around the dock. I put the prism away, and they went away. When I pulled it out again, they came back. Calder likes prisms, too.” She looked up, seeing for the first time the way I stared at her.

“Don’t be mad!” she said, looking away quickly. “I didn’t mean anything by it.”

Calder asked, “What do you know, Sophie?” His tone was serious but nonthreatening.

She shrugged. “I watch. People think I’m too little to notice stuff, but I know.”

Sophie spoke only to Calder now. “You and my dad disappear. You’re gone for a long time. When you come back, your hair is wet. When I hug Dad, he’s cold. Once when you came back—you weren’t here, Lily—you found my prism and dangled it over your head. I know what you are. I know Dad is the same.”

“That’s enough,” Calder said, and Sophie shut up, her cheeks flushing scarlet.

I leaned forward, touching her arm. How long had she known? Why hadn’t she come to me? She must have so many questions.

Sophie reached over the side of the boat and tickled a silver fish. “I watch you, too, Lily.”

Okay. Now you can shut up.

“I know what you’ve been doing with the stopwatch.”

Calder’s expression went from sad to anxious.

“I tried to copy you,” Sophie said, “but I couldn’t do it. Besides, it’s too cold for me. I guess I can only see the colors. She says it’s because I’m a ‘Half.’ ”

“She? Who’s ‘she’?” I asked. “What colors?”

Sophie swallowed hard. “I can see the prisms in people. That’s why I wanted to do the science project. When you’re happy, you look so pretty, Lily—like raspberry ice cream—but right now you don’t look so good. Are you okay?”

I turned to Calder, but Sophie’s question did nothing to shake the rigid set of his jaw.

Sophie was still talking. “But you don’t look as bad as Gabrielle’s big brother. It makes me sick to look at him.”

“What have you been doing with the stopwatch?” Calder asked me.

This was not the way I wanted to tell him. Sophie realized a little too late that he didn’t have a clue. She shot me an apologetic look before turning her attention back to the fish circling the boat.

“I’ve been experimenting to see how long I can go without air. My best time so far is four minutes, thirty-two seconds,” I said sheepishly.

“No tail,” he said, but it was a question, and the anxiety in his eyes needled me. Why didn’t he want that for me?

Oh. I could read it there on his face. He was worried that if I was a mermaid, I would fall into their mental funk. Well, that was silly. Why would I need to look for energy in other lives when I was perfectly happy myself? Calder and I would still be enough for each other, wouldn’t we? Even if his