“Oh my god, I can already smell it.” Phoebe leaned her head back and quickened her pace. I recognized the street from when Kira and I had bounced down it last night. We passed by eclectic beach shops and restaurants, but I was too distracted to pay attention. Even though I told myself not to, I couldn’t help scanning the crowds of people for a particular guy with dark hair and blue eyes. I never thought he was…real. But sure enough, he was there. And he had saved my life. I got a shiver as I thought about his blue eyes looking into mine and the water dripping off of his golden skin…
“Evil queen alert…” Phoebe interrupted my thoughts with a warning. I followed her gaze to the two girls currently on a collision course with us. If I had to guess, I’d say these were the be-
otches. They stopped in front of us, blocking our path.
“So who’s your new friend?” one of the girls purred. She had hair blacker than night, dark smoky eyes, and appeared to have Puerto Rican or Dominican blood in her. Her skin was the color of dark caramel and she reminded me of a panther watching its prey before it pounced.
“This is Anastasia, our new roommate,” Willow announced, proudly, “Stasia, this is Olivia and Cassie.” She gestured at the other girl who paled in comparison to Olivia. She had a slight figure and light brown hair cut into a long bob. She gave me a tight smile. The panther girl looked me up and down, and then laughed.
“I seriously doubt that,” she smirked at me. “From what I could see this morning, you seriously need swimming lessons.” I felt my cheeks getting hot, but Carmen stepped forward so that she was face-to-face with Olivia.
“Don’t you have some puppies to slaughter or something?” She put her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow.
“Isn’t she just delightful, Cassie?” A sarcastic smile slithered its way onto Olivia’s face.
“Now if you don’t mind, we have more important things to do then waste our time talking to you.”
Carmen and Phoebe glared at their backs as they strode past us.
“Come on you guys, let them go – it’s not worth it.” Willow insisted, ushering us forward.
They turned around reluctantly, still scowling.
Once we arrived at Cinnabon, we ordered as many delicious, fattening things as possible and claimed a table near the window. In the middle of one supersized cinnamon roll, I caught sight of Kira walking through the door. I waved her down and she pulled up a chair.
“How’s your first day going s far?” She asked me.
“Well besides my eyes changing to a freakish color and the entire school watching as I almost drowned in the ocean, I can’t complain,” I snickered.
“I thought your eyes looked different,” she leaned in for a better look, “and please tell me you’re joking about that last part.”
“I wish I was. It was so embarrassing, Kira. Everyone was watching! So much for making a good first impression.” I looked down at my hands and ran my finger over my trace.
“Everyone will forget about it by tomorrow, don’t worry,” she said sympathetically.
“I could hold Phoebe under water and then pretend I’m saving her life?” Carmen suggested.
“Then we’ll be the talk of the school,” she cut her eyes at Phoebe, “but I’m not doing mouth to mouth.”
“Oh, no you don’t. If anybody’s pretending to save a life, it’s gonna be me,” She pointed at Carmen with an icing covered finger. “Besides, I have a camera ready face.” She batted her eyelashes and we all erupted with laughter.
I turned to face Kira, “So why didn’t you tell me about being a Tyde? The girls told me some stuff, but now I’ve got a million questions. I mean, I watched Phoebe create a little sandstorm with one finger. Talk about a wake-up call.”
“I thought it would be better if you witnessed a couple of abilities first. Would you have believed me if I had tried to explain it yesterday?” she asked.
“I would have checked to see if your drink was spiked.”
“Exactly, so don’t worry; we’ll have plenty of time for questions. That’s why you have a mentor. And I must say…I’m one of the best.” She tossed her blonde hair over one shoulder dramatically and posed for us.
“She was asking us if everyone here is a Tyde. Maybe you could explain instead?” Willow asked Kira.
“Well that’s easy enough.” She turned her attention towards me again, while I sat on the edge of my seat in anticipation, “There are four different Orders: Tydes, Sirens, Tritons, and the Sons of Daimon.”
“Tritons are usually pretty nice to look at,” Phoebe grinned, “just ask Carmen.”
“I can’t help it if I’m attracted to the knight in shining armor type. Plus, I’m good at being a damsel in distress.” Carmen fanned herself and pretended to faint.
Kira just rolled her eyes and continued. “Anyway, Tydes can be male or female. Sirens are only female, and the Tritons and Sons of Daimon are only male. That’s where the Sons part comes in,” she grinned at her own corny joke. “We’re all descendents of different sea gods and goddesses.
Tydes are descendents of the fifty Nerieds and we each have varying abilities. Like Phoebe’s sand manipulation. Or Willow healing ability,” she explained. I remembered her seagull trace.
“So what are your abilities? Something to do with seagulls?” I guessed.
“Actually yes, but that’s a conversation for another day.” She smiled like she was hiding a secret she couldn’t wait to tell.
“Now, Sirens are also descendents from the Nerieds, but only one of them. They’re all related to the Neried named Keto, who had a bad reputation for trickery. Long story short, they broke away from the rest of the Tydes centuries ago. When they broke away and created their own Order, they lost most of their abilities. All except for influencing through their beauty as well as the ability to cantillate in order to get what they want, which is a lot like singing but much more beautiful.
Experienced Sirens can be very dangerous.”
Willow nodded and continued where Kira left off. “Tritons are descendents of the Sea God Poseidon. You’ve heard of him right? Well, they have immense strength; therefore they usually end up as defenders and guardians, or knights in shining armor.” She winked at Carmen who shrugged her shoulders innocently. “They also have affinities toward certain weapons.”
Kira began again. “The Sons of Daimon are all descended from the Underworld God, Charon.”
“Underworld?” Fear crept up my spine. “A God name Sharon?”
“Yes, but it’s spelled with a C,” she corrected, “They are the most recognizable because they all look alike with dark hair and dark skin. Only their eye color varies.” A particular pair of deep blue eyes flashed in my mind and I couldn’t help but wonder if that would be the order he belonged to.
“Sons can be very dangerous as well. But that’s why we have schools like Lorelei all over the world; to educate each generation about the other Orders. We find the relationships that are built early on help to keep the peace. For the most part.” She got a faraway look in her eyes and shook her head like she was trying to erase her thoughts.
“Wow.” That’s all I could manage to say as everything slowly sunk in.
“So, that’s the Cliff notes version” Kira assured me with a smile. “I know it’s a lot to digest.”
“It’s just so crazy. I mean it’s an entirely different world that I never knew existed. I always felt like I was different, but I never dreamed just how different that was. The good news is this craziness is a far cry from the ‘normal’ world I used to live in.” I smiled at my mentor and friends and my heart swelled. “I never really liked normal anyway.”
Later that night, I snuggled into my bed, trying to sort through the mountain of new information that had been thrown at me. Sea nymphs? Abilities? Gods and Goddesses? It was all so hard to believe, but it did explain a lot. Weird dreams. Blackouts. Hearing singing in the bathtub.
Well, okay maybe it explained absolutely nothing. But at least now there was a general reason for all the weirdness in my life. The only thing I would have changed is to go back and come to Lorelei earlier. One year wasn’t long enough to figure out an entirely new world, not to mention an entirely new me. All of a sudden, I wasn’t the person I thought I was. This was the trifecta of identity crises.
A brand new school, new friends, and a new me. Once I figured out who my parents were, I’d be able to add another one to the list. What would that make it? A quatrofecta? Anyway, I wasn’t sure where to start to try to
