The Fate of the Muse - By Derrolyn Anderson Page 0,55

me. They supplied the location, and when it didn’t work out they got rid of him to cover it up.”

She nodded slowly, keeping eye contact, “She’s telling the truth.”

“How did you escape?” a wide eyed young woman with white blonde hair asked from the seat next to Marissa. She seemed excited by the prospect of a kidnapping, almost as if it was a fun thing that should have happened to her.

“I got lucky,” I replied with grim finality. It was the truth, and I could see them exchange little meaningful glances amongst themselves. I knew that no further explanation was necessary; they were all lucky women. They relaxed in their chairs and I realized that it was over. I felt a little foolish for getting so worked up about it. That had been easy.

There were no questions about the mermaids kidnapped along with me, so clearly no one knew about them. Either that, or someone was keeping it a secret. I glanced at Marissa and then Olivia, uncertain as to which one I should trust. I wondered who Peter had spoken to on his last fateful call.

Olivia beamed at me, standing up, “If there are no more questions, I’ll go get Evelyn now.”

When we were safely in the elevator, relaxing under Boris’ watchful eyes, I asked her, “Aunt Evie, do you know which of them Peter called?”

“Olivia,” she said, “Luckily for us.”

“Why?” I asked.

“She’s been wonderful,” Evie beamed, “And she told me you did a spectacular job defending yourself.”

I paused, dying to tell her everything, but curiously unable to, “Olivia … how well do you know her?”

“She’s one of my dearest friends,” Evie smiled, “We’ve been in close contact for weeks now, and she’s been advising me as to what to have you say. It’s been a great comfort to me throughout this whole ordeal.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

BLUE HAWAII

I was nervous as we sat down to breakfast the next morning, for I still hadn’t mustered up the courage to tell Evie about the warning I’d received. It was possible that Marissa was lying, but why? The fact that Olivia was advising Evie on dealing with the council was creepy. It also confirmed to me that there was more going on with her than met the eye.

“Aunt Evie, what happened to Peter’s mother? How did she die?”

“Oh, it was a terrible tragedy!” She shook her head sadly, “She was driving late at night and her car went off a cliff. She must have fallen asleep at the wheel. All they found was a burned out shell.”

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I tried to remember where it was that I’d heard there were no coincidences in the universe. I thought about Marissa’s allegation that Olivia had been behind Peter’s evil scheme to breed hybrids and a cold chill passed through me. I remembered her warm smile and looked down at the goosebumps rising on my arm. What if it was the truth and Evie didn’t believe me? I decided to break it to her after we were both safely back home in San Francisco.

Evie had just poured me some coffee from an elaborate silver service when the front desk called to announce Shayla’s arrival.

“Send her right up!” Evie said with delight, hanging up the receiver with a pleasant smile, “She must be on the way to catch her flight.”

I bit my lip, “Uhm… Aunt Evie, I’m sorry I didn’t mention it last night, but I agreed to go with Shayla to Hawaii… she really wants me there…”

“Of course she does!” Evie smiled understandingly, “Jacques told me he’d have her back by the weekend, so I suppose we can finish up our little vacation then.”

She chattered on, rattling off lists of all the shops, restaurants and runway shows that Shayla was scheduled to be in.

I interrupted her, “I’m sorry, but I decided to go straight home from Hawaii.”

She sighed theatrically, looking at me with disapproval. Her brow knit together, “Marina, dear… surely that boy can wait a few more days.”

Her tone irritated me, “His name is Ethan, and I can’t wait… I want to go home.”

“What about shopping?” she asked in dismay.

“I don’t need anything.”

She scoffed, “You don’t have one au courant look from this season! You’re in serious danger of falling out of fashion. Honestly!”

She was deadly serious, I realized with amusement. The time I spent in Aptos had given me a whole new perspective on Evie.

She pursed her lips and looked at me skeptically, “Darling, don’t you think