water with newfound concern.
“I thought we were supposed to keep them happy,” I said so that only Calder could hear.
“Oh, they will be. That’s Stockton Island,” Calder said, back to playing tour guide. “Lots of bears. Good hiking.”
“Where’s a good place to picnic?” Jules yelled.
“We just ate,” Colleen said. “God, girl, it’s always food with you.”
“I like to know where we’re headed,” Jules said.
Calder pointed to the channel between Stockton on our right and Hermit Island on our left. “Head for that split,” he said to me, and he left me alone at the wheel. I glanced over my shoulder as Jules and Colleen separated so Calder could sit between them.
Make them happy. That shouldn’t be too hard. Calder took the chart from Zach and showed the girls our route. He dragged his finger across the chart, indicating our intended anchorage—the eastern shore off Oak Island. I’d never been to Oak before. Did he think his sisters were this far north? I guess with all the scouting he and Dad had done, he’d ruled out everything to the south.
Jules and Colleen hunched over the chart with Calder, their three heads close together. I sighed. I knew it was all part of his plan, but it was hard to watch him working his charm on them. Even if he wasn’t getting anything out of it (there was no tingle of electricity in the air), I knew what Jules and Colleen were feeling. Their boyfriends were only inches away, but Calder could be a powerful force of amnesia when he wanted to be. I wondered what images he was pushing on them. The need to take a refreshingly cold swim, no doubt. The sun was hot. That idea shouldn’t take too much persuasion. Maybe images of happiness: puppies, chocolate, kisses. Army surplus stores?
Oh. That last one was for me. “Very funny,” I said, and I wagged my finger at him.
He raised his eyebrows at me and mouthed the words: Watch. Where. You’re. Going.
I looked back at the water in front of us. We were headed straight for a sailboat. I cranked the wheel and missed its stern by mere feet. The captain yelled and waved his fist at me. I yelled my apology, but I’m sure he didn’t hear. The sailboat rocked violently in our wake.
Calder reached over Jules and slapped Rob on the shoulder. “You want to drive?” he asked.
The perma-scowl left Rob’s face. He got up eagerly and took over the wheel from me. Calder left the girls and stood slightly behind Rob’s shoulder, pointing ahead. If Rob had been irritated by Calder before, those feelings were long gone. Whatever Calder was saying, Rob was laughing like it was the most hilarious thing he’d ever heard. For the first time, I was getting a sense of how truly destructive Calder could be. What could he make me think, be, do, if he really wanted to? Could he have made me go to the Bahamas with him, even though he knew how important it was for me to come back with my dad? Could he have made me forget my family even existed, if it meant keeping me for himself? Hadn’t he once told me merpeople were essentially selfish?
I watched him closely. Did it matter? If he wanted me for himself, wasn’t that the same thing I wanted of him? As far as I knew, my free will was intact. My decisions were still mine, and yet … here I was, using my best friends as bait. Had I sunk so low? Was the situation really so desperate? Maybe we should turn back.
Calder reached in front of Rob and pulled the throttle back to neutral. He climbed over to the bow and dropped anchor, coming back to turn off the key. For a few seconds, we bobbed on the waves in silence.
“This is the spot,” Calder said. We were ten yards from the Oak Island shore.
Jules said, “Are you going to bring us in a little closer? How do I get the picnic basket onshore?”
“You can swim off the swim deck on the back of the boat,” Calder said. “There’s a natural warm spot in the lake here because of the way the currents pass through these three islands. It’s a comfortable temperature.”
This was clearly a lie. The shallower water would help. No doubt it would be warmer than open water, but simply avoiding hypothermia wasn’t exactly what my city friends would call “comfort.” Could Calder actually trick their minds into