“Excuses, excuses Phoebs. He wants you, he’s hot. What’s so hard about that?” Carmen insisted.
“Who’s Ian?” I asked again, louder this time.
“He’s hot, I know, I know…” Phoebe sighed “but he’s a Son of Daimon. They kind of creep me out.”
“If somebody doesn’t tell me who Ian is, I’ll just go ask Olivia!” That finally got their attention.
“I’m surprised you haven’t met him yet…he’s one of your boyfriend’s friends.” Carmen made kissing noises at me.
“Nobody said Finn’s my boyfriend!” I put my hands on my hips.
“I knew it! You slept with him didn’t you?” Carmen started bouncing in her seat beside me.
“NO! He is NOT my boyfriend and I did NOT sleep with him!”
“But she really likes him…uh oh, her face is getting red. Yep, she’s likes him, alright” Willow grinned at me and Phoebe chewed on her fingernails in deep thought.
I threw my hands up, “Fine, I like him. Happy?”
“Very. Just watch out for your soul.” Carmen continued eating her brownie, a smug look on her face. “I’m just saying.”
“You don’t think he’s creepy?” Phoebe scrunched her nose like we were talking about zombies.
“He’s definitely dark, but nowhere close to creepy.” I chuckled at her.
“It’s not like he’s a pedophile,” Carmen frowned at her, exasperated. “He’s a Son of Daimon.
They’re mysterious, hot and sexy. What could go wrong? Plus, I heard he’s going to ask you to the Cimmerian Shade Ball.”
“Really?” Phoebe’s eyes got wide. She turned to me, “Are you going with Finn?”
“You guys, we aren’t together! I’ve never even heard of the Cimmerian Shade Ball.” My heart squeezed. Would he ask me to go? What if he didn’t?
“Mmmhmm…you sooo slept with him,” Carmen mumbled, as she furiously typed away on her phone.
“It’s the annual dance that the Sons have on the night of some important meteor shower. I can’t remember what’s so significant about that shower, but I think it has to do with Aquarius,” Willow explained while licking brownie crumbs off her fingers, “I’ve never been, but I hear it’s a big deal. Real formal. Like prom dresses and tuxes formal. But of course it’s invite only.”
“Although….as far as I know, your precious Finnegan has never attended.” Carmen said dramatically.
“Why not?” I asked. She looked at me like I was missing something obvious.
“Can you say ‘cursed’? No girl in their right mind would go out with him.” She looked at me, waiting for me to realize she was referring to me. I changed the subject.
“He did show me some cool stuff though.” I scooted to the edge of the cushion and leaned forward. “He showed me that I can manipulate waves.” I heard them gasp. “I actually made them stop! It was wild!”
“Maybe you can help Carmen figure it out.” Phoebe teased from the kitchen as she poured an entire bottle of Hershey’s syrup into her milk glass. Apparently, she liked a little milk with her chocolate.
“I don’t need help!” Carmen was grinning, but I caught a hint of jealousy in her eyes. “I’ve been doing it for years, so
“That’s not the best part, though.” I paused dramatically, “I can breathe…underwater!”
My announcement was met with silence. Then they all start talking at once.
“What?!”
“That’s amazing!”
“You’re so lucky!”
“No way! How’s it work?”
“I don’t know, I just…started breathing water.” I shrugged and purposely left out the whole Finn tried to drown me part. “It was pretty crazy.”
Willow’s eyes widened. “That means you must have an affinity for a sea animal!”
“It does?”
“The sea turtles!” Phoebe jumped up, almost spilling her milky chocolate. “They must have recognized you! That’s why they were around you!” I realized it made perfect sense. It would also explain the images that I saw when I touched the turtle. Wow. Controlling water, breathing underwater, and an affinity to sea turtles. This was seriously blowing my mind.
“So what does that mean? To have an affinity?” I questioned her. “Are they going to follow me around every time I go in the ocean?” I didn’t remember any sea turtles the night Finn and I were swimming. And drowning. And then breathing. And…
“It means you have a special connection with them, so you can communicate with them somehow. It’s different for each person,” Willow explained, reaching for another brownie.
Phoebe sat back down beside me. “I’ve only known one person who had that kind of affinity and it was this guy who could communicate with sting rays. Talk about weird. I don’t think I’d want to be BFF’s with one of those.” She made a face, “But sea turtles are awesome! They get huge and live for like eighty years. And the baby turtles are adorable!”
“Have you ever watched them hatch?” Willow asked me.
“I’ve seen it on the National Geographic channel, does that count?” I tried to remember what the documentary showed. I’m pretty sure that halfway through Laura Beth came in and changed the channel to something much more thought provoking, like Jersey Shore.
Carmen looked up from her text messages with Logan to add to the conversation. “It’s really cool to see - the female turtles lay their eggs on the beach, then leave. After they hatch, the babies find their way to the ocean by following the moonlight shining off the water.”
“We’ll have to take you to see it!” Phoebe declared, “They’re an endangered species but we can still get really close. They usually hatch right around this time. They stay in the nest for a couple nights after they hatch, then when they’re strong enough, they run to the ocean. If the moon isn’t shining, we get flashlights to help them go the right way.” She rubbed her chin and raised an eyebrow at me, “You know, we could just throw you in the ocean; I bet they’d follow you anywhere.” She laughed, but I had a feeling she was probably right.
When Sunday rolled around, I lazily shuffled into the living room to find Phoebe and Willow watching the Weather Channel and painting their toenails. Phoebe was balancing a bottle of neon green on her knees, and Willow was in the process of filling up the room with used cotton balls.
“Dang, Willow. How many toenails do you have?” I ruffled her already messy hair and made myself comfortable on the couch.
“Note to self,” she paused to toss another used cotton ball in the pile. “Any nail polish with glitter in it requires turpentine for removal.”
“I might have an electric sander in my room if you think that’ll help?” I snickered. She tried to throw a Q-tip at me but it fell short, landing on the floor three feet in front of me.
“Oh!” Phoebe pointed at the TV, grinning from ear to ear. “Hurricane Faye’s coming to visit!” By her excitement, you’d think she had just announced that Prince William was coming instead.
“Hurricane Faye? Isn’t that a bad thing?” I’d never been through a hurricane before, but I couldn’t imagine that staying on a tiny piece of land surrounded by water was ideal.
She just giggled like I was being ridiculous. “Of course not! We break out the popcorn and enjoy the show!”
“But it’s a hurricane,” I emphasized, “It could wipe out this entire island and all of us with it.” Did the word ‘hurricane’ mean something different around here?
“We never leave for hurricanes; I’ve been through three since I’ve been here,” Willow looked up from her toes. “It’s pretty amazing to witness.”
Amazing, sure, but from a front row seat right on the beach? Not so much. Something surfaced in my memory. “You know…I saw a documentary once about a hurricane that hit Galveston, Texas at the turn of the last century. There was a school on the beach just like us. But no one was able to warn them about the hurricane, so they didn’t know to leave. When the water started rising, the nuns tied themselves to the little girls to keep
