“What?” I was incredulous. “Why on earth would you do that?”
The wind caught her hair and lifted it up, swirling it about her. She looked so similar to the mermaid statue in her bedroom. She reached up and caught her hair, pulled it down, twisting it until it was in a corded pony tail.
“Geiruna never gives anything away without a price. If you buy it, then you don’t owe her anything.”
“Why didn’t we just leave? We didn’t have to buy it at all.”
“Then we would’ve insulted her and sometimes that’s worse than owing her a favor.”
“Just who the heck is she?” I asked. “This all sounds too weird!”
“Morgandy, there’s a reason I asked you to come and spend a few weeks here. There’s a lot I need to tell you and I hope you’ll listen and try to understand. So far, you’ve just gotten angry, so it doesn’t fill me with a lot of confidence that you’ll try to be fair.”
I looked down into the water. It was dark – filled with sand the waves were churning up. She was right. Come to think about it, she had always been right about things. I felt a bit ashamed.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. She heard and smiled.
“Let’s go sit on the beach and have a chat.”
We walked out of the water and up the beach to where we’d left our things. Mom sat down, crossed her legs, and faced me. She took my hands in hers.
“The world I live in is much different from yours and your Dad’s, Morgandy.”
I almost spoke but decided against it.
“You’re seventeen now and some changes are going to start to happen.”
Yeah, hormones and all that crap. I’d already been through it.
She continued. “These changes are going to be much different from the normal changes that humans go through.”
Humans? She was speaking like they were a different species.
“I want to be here to help you along the way. You have already started to notice a few odd things happening. You’ve never been able to figure out why it is you’ve had this ability to know when things are up – when people aren’t being truthful or a situation is about to happen. You also attract odd humans. This has been all your life, right?”
I nodded. She changed the subject.
“Have your legs started hurting at all?”
“Um, no…” I frowned.
“They will. You must tell me the instant it happens. There’s so much more to tell you.”
“Like what?”
“Well, for instance, Geiruna. Her name means spear of wisdom and you can take the spear part quite literally. She is old and wise but she is also cunning and you have to be careful around her. Our family has never owed her anything and she would like that to be different. That’s why I had to pay for your necklace. She would gladly take your soul if she could.”
I couldn’t stop myself.
“Take my soul? Do you realize how ridiculous that sounds? We aren’t from a different world, Mom. We don’t have supernatural powers and turn into fairies or vampires or anything. She can’t take a soul. Do you know how crazy you sound?”
“Yes,” she answered. Unwrapping the stone and chain, she threaded the necklace onto the pendant.
“I don’t want you to feel guilty about wearing this, Morgandy. I would’ve bought it for you anyway. I was watching you – you’ve always loved blue stones.” She smiled and reached up toward my neck. “I bought this for you because I love you so much and I know you’ll take good care of it.”
When she was finished, the pendant hung perfectly just above the middle of my chest. I was surprised at how heavy it was.
“It is stunning on you.” Mom smiled lovingly and hugged me.
“Thank you,” I started to say, but her smile stopped me from saying anything else. We both looked out to the sea. I felt a shiver up my back. A black fin cut through the water just a few yards from the beach. Instantly, Mom stood.
“We have to go home. Now.”
“Mom, it’s just a shark.”
“No, it’s not.”
“No!” Mom’s cry pierced through the house. She’d asked me to stay in my room while she found out what was going on. Her cry brought goose bumps to my skin and I wasn’t waiting around anymore. Diving through my bedroom door, running past the pool, and flinging open the living room doors, I came across her lying on the floor in Tammer’s arms.
“What’s wrong?” I screamed and ran to them. Tammer looked up at me, his handsome face pained. “Has she been hurt?” I yelled at him.
“No, she’s not hurt.” Gathering her into his arms, he stood and faced me. “Please stay here. I’m going to put her to bed. I’ll be right back.”