Deep Betrayal Page 0,8

I mean … you are okay, aren’t you? Because Zach got his mom’s van; he’s picking us up in about twenty minutes.”

My expression must have reflected my general bleariness.

“Beach?” Jules asked. “Remember? You and me … breaking some hearts this summer?”

The paper chain hung from my bedpost, as if wondering whether I’d add a thirty-second link. After last night’s hallucination, it looked even more pathetic than it had in days past. I could see it for what it was now: an anchor, holding me back. Jules was right. I’d let my fantasies get out of control. Leaning out into an electrical storm was just plain stupid. If Calder White wanted to be with me, there was nothing stopping him. Enough was enough. It was time for me to move on.

We didn’t get up to Square Lake until eleven, and by that time the beach was already crowded. Jules and Colleen lugged the cooler down the hill from the parking lot, while Sophie pulled an inflatable raft behind her. The boys carried armfuls of towels and dumped them in a heap on the sand before taking off running into the lake. Colleen managed to claim the last picnic table, but it had a broken bench and it was covered in sticky pine sap. Out in the water, the boys were already tossing their football back and forth.

I hadn’t been in the water since that disastrous day in May. Now that I knew my father was a merman, I didn’t know what my half nature would mean.

The lake sparkled with sunlight. It was beautiful, but I hung back and adjusted the straps on my vintage bathing suit.

So what? I thought. So what that I’d never transformed into a mermaid in all the times I’d swum in Lake Superior. Maybe it was like bee stings, building up in your system over time until one day you’re stung and your throat swells shut. Maybe, with me, it would just take one more trip into the water before genetics would catch up with me. Would I really want it to happen here? Now? In front of my friends and a beach full of strangers? That would be my luck. Why did I agree to come again?

Of course, Calder would say I was being ridiculous on all accounts. But then, he wasn’t here to tell me that, now, was he? Moving on, I reminded myself.

“Coming in, Lily?” Rob called.

I cupped my hand to my mouth and yelled back, “In a sec.”

I’d been stupid last night, thinking I’d seen Calder below my window. If it had really been him, he would have waved. He might have even rung the doorbell. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a brown oval spiraling toward my face.

“Heads up!” someone called.

I managed to catch the football between my elbow and my ear. “Thanks, guys. That’s awesome. Hysterical.”

Rob was there a second later, laughing and apologizing and dragging me into the water. I protested, pushing at his chest and trying to sit down so he couldn’t budge me. I grabbed at his biceps. He wrapped his arms around my hips. I was waist deep before I knew it and tingling from toe to hairline.

It was too late now. Whatever was going to happen, was going to happen. I dunked under, conscious of the muffled voices above me and the rush of churning water around me. The soft sound of leh, lee, leh, lee and then my name called out. “Lily.”

I resurfaced with my chin up, my wet hair dragging down my back. A feathery touch glanced across my foot, and then someone was prying my legs apart and swimming through. My feet left the ground as I rose, involuntarily, out of the water, astride Robby’s broad shoulders. He started walking toward Scott while I struggled to keep my balance.

“Chicken!” Colleen yelled as she scrambled onto Scott’s shoulders.

Ah, crap, I hate this game. I’d had enough water wrestling for one lifetime—that was for sure. But before I could say no, Colleen and Scott were coming at me with better motivation than I could muster. Even though Scott could barely see without his glasses, he was taller than Rob so they had the advantage, and Colleen’s hands were like chicken claws, clenching and unclenching.

“You’re going down, Hancock,” Scott said.

No doubt.

Colleen’s fingers laced through mine and her wrists bent to get better leverage.

“Come on, Lily. You can take her,” grunted Rob from below. He held my feet like stirrups and tried to push