Secrets of the Deep (16 page)

“Some kind of agent for the Dark Druids.”

Jake paused and gave the Guardian a grim look. “Hadn’t thought of that.”

“Worst case: the Dark Druids have found you and have sent a pretty girl to lure you into a trap,” Maddox said. “She could be a witch or something, too.”

Jake’s face hardened, and he looked again at the doorway ahead through which she had disappeared. “We’ll see about that. What do they take me for?”

But when he started to move, Maddox held him back again. “I said worst-case scenario. I don’t actually sense a threat.”

“You’re sure?” Jake asked.

Maddox nodded.

“Oh, good.” Archie sighed. “I knew she was too pretty to be wicked.”

“Maybe she’s just a nosy neighbor here to poke around,” said Maddox.

“Or an ordinary thief,” Jake added. “I say we find out.”

They peeked around the corner of the hallway just in time to see the girl sneaking into the large bedroom that the three boys shared.

Jake glanced at Archie, impressed. “You weren’t fooling. Angel!”

“I told you.”

Jake looked forward again and a scowl flicked over his face. “Hey. Why’s she going in our room?” Suddenly, the would-be Lightrider slipped around the corner and strode after the intruder.

“I’m sure there must be a perfectly reasonable explanation,” Archie whispered, hurrying after him with Maddox, but his cousin shushed him and then drew upon his old thieving skills to open the door silently.

The minute the room came into view, though, Jake abandoned stealth, for the girl was reaching up toward the top bookshelf, where he had left the orb they’d found today.

“Hoy! What do you think you’re doing?” Jake barked, bursting into the room.

The girl froze.

“Put that down!” he ordered.

She blinked—then ran.

Or tried to.

Rather than bothering to chase her, Jake and Maddox both watched in surprise as she wobbled, clumsy as a newborn foal. With the orb tucked under one arm, she hitched the hem of her skirts up a bit to avoid tripping on it as she ran.

But, oddly, rather than watching where she was going, Bellissima kept glancing down at her bare feet, as though she wasn’t quite sure how to work them.

She clambered out the opposite doorway, where a few tiled stairs led up to the kids’ private rooftop terrace. The boys glanced at each other, more puzzled than worried now that they had seen her.

Then they merely walked after her.

“Excuse me! Miss!” Maddox called in amusement.

Jake was rather more blunt. “Get back here, you!”

“Don’t be mean to her, you’ll scare her,” Archie chided.

When Jake saw her ragamuffin dress, he seemed to draw the same conclusion: that she must be some poor, destitute thief. “You know, if you want food, we’ve got loads of it to spare downstairs!” he called in a semi-friendly tone. “You’re welcome to eat. Steal the silver if you want. I can even lend you money if you’re broke, but you cannot have my orb. Give it back.”

“
Your
orb?” she shot back with a swirl of midnight tresses and a flash of outrage in her beautiful blue eyes as she glared over her shoulder at him.

She seemed to be getting the hang of running, though, and did not bother arguing further, but pounded off across the terrace.

“What a bizarre person,” Jake murmured.

“Let’s split up,” said Maddox, gesturing to them to go opposite directions and fan out around the rooftop patio.

Reaching the opposite side of it, their lovely burglar disappeared down the set of stairs that led to the girls’ bedchamber. Beside it was the sitting room that served as their makeshift classroom.

But all the rooms in this house had multiple doors to let the sea breezes flow through freely. It would be an easy matter to get there first and block her exits.

Archie trotted obediently after the intruder as Jake had directed him, while Maddox went in the opposite direction. Frankly, though, he was not sure what he’d do if he did catch her.

Meanwhile, his cousin chased her out the other end of the girls’ shared room, adding a bearlike roar at her just for effect. Archie shook his head, suspecting that Jake was enjoying this just a bit too much. Typical.

Then Archie stepped into their makeshift classroom to head the beauty off.

“Leave me alone!” she bellowed.

“Easy now,” he said sweetly, trying to be as diplomatic as his diplomat parents. “No one’s going to hurt you.”

“You’ve already done that!” she snarled at Archie with a not-so-pretty sneer.

“I say!” He had no idea what she was talking about as he attempted to corner her politely in the classroom, at least until Jake and Maddox could arrive. He was having trouble being as stern with her as she deserved.

Bellissima lumbered against the study table piled with books, then put her hand out to steady herself, smearing the homework assignments on the chalkboard.

“Be careful around my lab equipment, if you please! It’s fragile!” Archie warned as she tripped alongside the science table laden with laboratory paraphernalia: microscope, burner, scales, various beakers, and the two large jars of seawater for tomorrow’s experiment measuring the densities of fresh water versus salt water.

Just then, Jake arrived, bursting through the doorway with a grin, and with him, as usual, came calamity.

“Now we’ve got you.” He prowled toward the girl with a teasing glimmer in his eyes.

“Barbarian!” she said.

“Trespasser,” Jake countered.

“Thief!” she accused him.

“You’re the one who’s here to steal!” he retorted.

Then Maddox stepped into the doorway she had been trying to reach. Bellissima glanced around wildly, must’ve realized she was caught, and panicked. Clutching the orb like her life depended on it, she tripped backward against the science table and toppled the jars of seawater.

Archie heaved a disgruntled sigh at his ruined lesson, but the girl screamed as the water spilled all over her.

Then she must have slipped on the wet-dribbled floor, for she stumbled to a fall behind the science table, out of sight.

“What the devil?” Jake muttered.

“What did you do to her?” Archie scolded, hurrying over to help the girl up, thief or no.

“Nothing!” Jake said. “That is the clumsiest person I have ever seen.”

“I told you not to scare her.”

“I didn’t!” Jake cried.

Archie walked past his cousin with a huff of disapproval, ready to take matters in hand, since he was clearly the only proper gentleman in the room.

But when he stepped around the side of the table and saw her, his jaw dropped.

“What is it?” Maddox asked from his doorway on the opposite side of the room.

“Er…” Archie wasn’t quite sure how to answer.

In the next heartbeat, Jake came alongside him, propping his fists on his hips. “Well, you don’t see that every day.”

He did not even bother chasing the orb as it rolled away to vanish under a nearby armchair.

“Is she all right?” Maddox demanded.

The girl whimpered, gazing up at them, wide-eyed, helpless.

“I’m not…sure,” Jake said thoughtfully.

“Well, don’t just stand there, you half-wits. Help her up!” Maddox marched across the classroom, but he, too, stopped when he saw her lying there, propped on her elbows.

His eyebrows slowly arching high, Maddox pointed at the hem of her gown. “Uh, is that a tail?”

CHAPTER 8

Catch of the Day

T
ail or no, her beauty had apparently enslaved Archie and Maddox on sight, but Jake wasn’t that easy. He promptly lifted both arms, holding back his cousin and his unofficial bodyguard when the two abruptly remembered their manners and started forward in tandem to assist the fallen Bellissima.

Jake, however, was having none of it.

“Stand back!” he ordered the pair. “Leave her there until she tells us what she’s doing here. And why she has a tail.”

They looked at him in surprise.

“What is the meaning of this?” Jake demanded of their fetching captive. “What are you on about, barging into our party and trying to steal my orb?”

“Your orb? You absurd land boy!” She stopped crying abruptly, as if the tears had been fake all along. Jake refused to admit it, but it was hard to stay angry at such a lovely creature. “That orb belongs to me!” she informed him in a haughty tone. “You stole it, as you know full well. I’m the one who put it in the temple. That’s my special hiding place and you had no right to go there. I’ve come to get it back!”

“Hasn’t she got a cute accent?” Archie murmured, nudging Jake and gazing rather doltishly at the intruder.

Jake gave his cousin a scowl. “Go get the orb, Arch.”

“Oh, er, right.” His cousin hurried away, dropping to his knees to retrieve the artifact from where it had rolled under the nearby armchair.

Maddox crouched down beside her with a somber gaze. “Is there anything we can do to make you more comfortable, miss?”

“More comfortable?” Jake cried, bewildered at the pair. “She’s a thief!”

“She’s a mermaid, I think,” Maddox said with a doting smile fixed on her.

“Aren’t you the clever one,” she retorted with a sneer that he seemed to find adorable, judging by his chuckle. Then she lifted her dainty chin. “And it’s not ‘miss’. You may address me as
Your Highness
.”

Jake snorted, but Archie was agog as he returned with the artifact.

“A
royal
mermaid?” the boy genius asked in wonder.

“I am Crown Princess Sapphira of the Royal House of Oktapian, daughter of King Nereus, heir apparent of the kingdom of Poseidonia—and that orb belongs to me.”

“Mm-hmm,” said Jake.

“You don’t believe me?” she exclaimed.

“Not sure. I suppose you could be telling the truth. But you’re definitely lying about something.” Jake folded his arms across his chest, still making no move to help her up.

He knew he was being outrageously rude, but the watery folk had a certain reputation for being untrustworthy.

Her so-called Highness scoffed, unable to flee, with her legs gone and her bright blue fishtail flopping on the floor. “This is outrageous. I knew landers were barbarians, but this is quite the pale.”

“Jake—” Maddox started.

“No! Don’t help her!” he ordered his friend, who started to reach toward her, presumably to pick her up and set her in a chair. “You weren’t there when Red and I had to fight Fionnula Coralbroom. Even Lydia Brackwater nearly drowned me once, and she was a friendly.”

“Fionnula Coralbroom?” the mermaid echoed, eyeing him skeptically.

“Don’t you even try singing,” Jake warned, “or I’ll put a gag over your mouth.”

She looked startled that he knew about the mermaids’ singing powers.

“I’ll not have you summoning up a blasted hurricane inside my villa,” he grumbled.

She scoffed. “I’m no sea-witch. How do you know Fionnula Coralbroom?” she demanded.

Jake lifted his chin. “I’m the one who put her in jail.”

“Oh, really?” she countered, unconvinced.

“Mm-hmm. And that’s not all. See this?” He tugged his little conch shell necklace out from inside his shirt and showed it to her. “Ever hear of the Order of the Yew Tree?”

“I’m not an ignoramus,” she said, tapping the tip of her tail in annoyance as she stared coldly at him.

“My parents were Lightriders. After one particularly successful mission, my mother received this as a token of gratitude from the Queen of the Nereids. If I blow through it, you’ll have to assist me in whatever manner I require.”

She narrowed her eyes, sizing him up. “First of all, what makes you think that little trinket will even work on me? Nereids are freshwater mermaids.”

“I know what they are. They saved my life when I was a baby.”

She furrowed her brow at this fact, but did not pursue it. “Secondly, I am a royal. I don’t follow orders; I give them—and I certainly don’t have to obey some miserable land boy. Besides, all I have to do is sing and enchant you, and then
you’ll
have to do exactly as
I
say.”

“Then I’ll just have to gag you. Hmm, I should have an extra neck-cloth round here that should suit.”

“Jacob Everton!” Archie said with a tug on his waistcoat, unable to bear the abominable rudeness anymore. “This has gone on quite long enough, I daresay, and you shall do nothing of the kind to this young lady!”

“Aye,” Maddox growled at him.

Jake turned to his friends and was taken aback to find them both glaring dangerously at him, and looking ready to mutiny.

“Hm! So that’s the way of it, then.” Jake snatched the orb out of Archie’s grasp and shrugged the matter off. “Fine. Do as you please with her. I care not. But she can’t have my orb.”

He stepped back, disgruntled, as Archie and Maddox quickly lifted the fishy girl up carefully off the floor and helped her over to the armchair. The mermaid thanked them like they were heroes, but Jake knew she was a faker by the smug, crafty little smile she shot his way from behind Archie’s back.

He let out a Derek-like growl under his breath, then he and Crown Princess Sapphira sized each other up with a long stare through narrowed eyes.

Having settled her into the chair, Archie then turned toward him, still looking indignant. “Now, then. If you can’t be civil to the princess, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

Henry would’ve been so proud at this display of chivalry.

Sucker,
thought Jake. But so be it.

He tucked his conch shell necklace back into his shirt. “Very well, boys. If that’s how it is, we’ll just have to sort this out like rational people.”

“Oh, you can do that?” Princess Sapphira asked sweetly.

Her two champions chuckled at her barb and exchanged an
isn’t she adorable?
glance. Jake’s frown deepened. Blimey, both Maddox and Archie were already beginning to look a bit stupefied by her sea magic, gazing at her like a pair of mooncalves.