The Merworld Water Wars - Finned Part 6

What lovely mental imagery. Don't gag-don't gag-don't...gag. Enter gagging. I sounded completely spastic, and that's probably nothing to how I looked.

"What can I do?" Trey asked. Judging by his smirk and crinkled brow, Trey was either on the verge of unrecoverable hysterics or calling the paramedics.

"Air-GAG-outside-now."

He took my hand, weaved me through the many disgusted faces, and opened the doors to the terrace.

"Was that as embarra.s.sing as it felt?" I asked.

"That depends. How...embarra.s.sing...did it feel...exactly?"

"Great. It was that bad. I hate fish."

"Maybe I should call you Gaggles instead of Squiggle."

"Does a well-placed knee mean anything to you?"

"Got it. No Gaggles. Hey, Marina?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you ever look at us and think maybe we do better..."

"As friends?"

Trey nodded. "You feel the same, don't you?"

"Sometimes best friends are just meant to be best friends, no pa.s.s go, no benefits."

"Oh, well, I don't agree about the benefits part."

"TREY!"

"Kidding, kidding...kind of. How about some punch?"

"I'm thinking yes," I said, fanning my face with my hand.

"Be right back. Don't go anywhere, and for G.o.d's sake stay away from the crab puff girl," he said, squeezing my hand before leaving me alone on the mammoth terrace.

I waited and waited as the ticks and tocks clicked on.

"You're not right back," I muttered after too much time had pa.s.sed. Trey would never leave me alone this long, and my tummy started embracing nervous waves of ick-never a good sign. "Okay, that's it. I'm coming to find you, Trey."

I headed for the terrace doors, but stopped cold when I heard Benji and Troy in a heated discussion just inside the ballroom.

"You know what people are saying," said Benji. "She's not one of us, and Katrina would kill her if she even suspected you might have a connection."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Troy grumbled.

"You know d.a.m.n well what I'm talking about," said Benji. "You're falling for Marina Valentine."

GASP! Falling? For me?

"Don't be ridiculous, Benji."

"I'm not the ridiculous one. It can't happen no matter how attracted you are to her. It's not recommended for good reason."

Nosy s...o...b..

"I have never been less connected, less attracted, or less interested in someone than I am to Marina Valentine."

I found myself desperately searching for a quiver in his voice, a brief hesitation in his delivery, or a clearing of his throat, but there was nothing. He meant every word. My mom always says, "There's nothing worse than kicking people when they're down." Well, I disagree. Kicking somebody-annihilating more like-while they're up, happy, and hopeful hurts far more because you fall that much further and hit that much harder. At least I did learn something about Troy Tombolo tonight: two words-pompous jerk.

I emerged from the shadows, sauntered by the pair of them, and briefly glanced at Troy, giving him my best expressionless face. While avoiding the still eager crab puff girl, I continued meandering about, looking for Trey, trying to ignore the painful pounding of my heart.

"Looking for something?" said Katrina, her voice oozing venom, while two of her sleazy friends blocked my progress down the hall. Her barely-there, red lace costume matched the jewelry she always wears-apparently, her fas.h.i.+on sense flat-lined with her personality.

"My date. Haven't seen him, have you?" I replied coolly.

"Fortunately, no. So, how are things going with you two? I'm always interested when two Normals hook up. It's so...cute."

"Girl talk? Really?"

"You're right. I care about as much as an octo. Have you met Mitzi and Nerissa? What am I thinking? Of course you haven't. Girls, this is our new Normal."

"I'm not your new anything," I said.

"Feisty, isn't she? As you know, it's Halloween, that magical goblin-ghoul time where people celebrate living and dying...in costume. So, tell me, Marina, why did you not at least mask your face for my costume party? I mean...way to show a lack of etiquette. Did your mother not teach you any manners?"

"Well, getting invited to a costume party with scarcely twenty-four hours notice is hardly adequate time to find a costume. Tell me, Kat, did your mother not teach you any manners?" By the ghastly shade of maroon appearing through her overly made-up cheeks, I'd say I struck a nerve.

"She did wear a costume, Katrina," said Nerissa, who looked a lot like a stoned giraffe. "She came as herself. What could be scarier than to look like that?"

While stout, pug-like Mitzi roared with laughter, Katrina's mouth curled into a devilish grin. "You did dress up! Applause, applause. Couldn't have picked a more frightening look for you," she sneered.

"Nor I for you, Kat. Tell me, does dressing like a s.l.u.tty hag take practice, or are you just naturally a loose witch?" Um...did their eyes just flash red?

"I love a Normal with plastic courage. It's so Cowardly Lion. Do you think you're brave, Marina?" asked Katrina, drumming her blood red nails on her pointy chin.

"No doubt."

"Good. Want to walk through my haunted room, then? It's just here, behind this door," she said, moving towards the first door outside of the ballroom.

"A haunted...room? Just a room?" I asked incredulously. Haunted houses I've heard of, but a haunted room? Yeah, not so much. "I really need to find Trey."

"If you're scared, then by all means..."

"I'm not scared."

"Well, go in," she said, opening the whispering door. "Dare you."

Not that word again! "Fine. What do I do?"

"Walk through, then exit out the door on the opposite side of the room."

As soon as I walked in, Katrina slammed the door shut. "Yeah, really spooky-a rubber mask and a giant plastic shark with cardboard teeth. You're gonna have to do better than that, Kat," I shouted after a couple of lame objects jumped out at me. "Is this all you've got?"

Nearing the exit, a hazy blue light caught my eye; sheer black curtains that billowed without a breeze barely concealed its glow. As I approached the curtains, I could hear distressing cries growing louder and louder. I felt drawn to the blue glimmer and desperate, terrifying moans. When I parted the curtains, a ghostly reflection stared at me from within an ornate porthole mounted on the wall, only it wasn't my face looking back at me-it was that of a girl, silently screaming. Her espresso skin was pale and chalky, her violet eyes wide with terror. Directly above her image, a blood-red stone glistened from within the frame, like the eye of the devil. Soon, more faces joined her, but they were partially obscured by foggy wisps. They kept floating around, fading in and out of focus, restlessly looking over their shoulders, as though something or someone tried to pull them away from me. Their eyes pleaded for help, while their m.u.f.fled screams filled my ears with static I wished I could comprehend.

"What do you want?" I asked, placing a hand on the porthole.

Misty gray claws shot out from inside the porthole, grabbed my shoulders, and pulled me against the ice-cold gla.s.s.

"I am you...you will be me," they whispered in my ear.

My strength waned. Pure panic filled my mind, and my last shred of sanity rapidly vanished. The terror was so loud in my head, I couldn't hear my screams. Just when I thought I would melt through the gla.s.s, strong, warm arms lifted me off the ground. Soon, the blue light faded from sight, and I felt the cus.h.i.+on of a chair underneath me. I heard the laughter of partygoers in the distance.

"Trey," I said, feeling very dizzy.

"It's not Trey."

I opened my eyes and gazed in wonderment at the concerned face of Troy Tombolo.

"You? You pulled me out of that room?"

"I heard your screams," he said. Only now did I notice he had been holding my hand. I immediately yanked my hand from his. "We need to get you home."

"Where's Trey?"

"I don't know. Someone said he left."

"He wouldn't leave me."

"Let me take you home," he said, offering me his hand.

With Trey gone, I knew I had no other option. "Fine, but I don't want you to."

I initially ignored his attempts to help me up, but could hardly refuse when I nearly fell to the ground. He effortlessly scooped me up and carried me to his truck. I wish I could say his arms repulsed me, that the beat of his heart failed to quicken my own, and that his lips didn't entice me after the hurtful words they spoke earlier, but I cannot. I hated myself because of it.

Neither of us spoke a word the entire way home. When he stopped in front of my house, I immediately exited his truck and ran to the front door. I wanted away from him, from his smell, from the warmth of his body...from my feelings. I wanted to sit by my bedroom window, stare at the sea, and not think about the porthole faces, Troy, or the fact that I saw Trey's lonely jeep in Katrina's driveway when we left, still waiting for its owner...still empty...just still.

Chapter Six.

Visits With Mr. Campbell, Troy, & a Seal Pup.

November: Giving thanks & wondering why Monthly Life Caption: Confusion All the Way Around Mood: Confused, sad, questioning.

Eating: Not much (shock).

Music: The Great American Songbook (my comfort music, thanks to my great-grandfather) November 18th: Still no sign of Trey. Trey has been missing since Halloween. I had hoped for a true Halloween night, and it didn't disappoint. Trey was gone, and my life was suddenly c.r.a.p. I'm missing everything about him: his humor, his support, his desire to make me smile. My grades have even slipped, and my mom, bless her, has avoided going all helicopter on me. Instead, she has been using every nosy administrative busybody at her disposal to learn new tidbits on Trey's whereabouts. According to Vice Princ.i.p.al Smarmy, Trey's grandfather informed the school about his grandson's habit of wandering off on fis.h.i.+ng excursions. Bull c.r.a.p! He never, ever would have left me alone at a Ravenflame-happy party. Oh, and on top of everything, those porthole people have been haunting my dreams since Halloween, leaving me disoriented and drenched in sweat during the witching hour.

Trey's disappearance hasn't only affected the Normals. The Fairhairs appeared much more anxious than usual. By contrast, the Ravenflames had this silent fury boiling just beneath the surface. Interestingly, their red streaks appear brighter. The tension between the two groups has never been greater, particularly during lunch.

Today, the cafeteria could pa.s.s as a graveyard on the brink of becoming a war zone, where the Fairhairs were like the scared humans and the Ravenflames were bloodthirsty zombies.

"I'm going to take time from my busy thinking schedule and get in the way of yours. You're too quiet. You usually talk so much I want to claw my ears off," said Polly. "And you're not eating. Humans need food, even when their b.u.t.ts don't."

"Zero appet.i.te," I said, sipping a little milk.

"Of all days, I guess today would be the toughest," said Meikle.

"What's today?" I asked.

"Did you sniff too much incense again? She wouldn't know about today. We weren't allowed to disclose our birthday with anyone in the inst.i.tution, unless we wanted to lose our vocal chords," said Polly.

"I know that!" Meikle snapped. "I just thought he might have told you by now, Marina. Today is Trey's birthday."

"I had no idea. He never said anything. I broke the birthday rule on day one, talking about that dang Snitch Demon date. Pavlov's dog, I'm not. I'm glad you told me, Meeks."

Still completely in her own world of mind dump, Polly said, "We could exchange bodily fluids, but not birthdays, or breast size, for that matter. My breast size is obviously of the jealous-causing kind. And I'd tell you when my birthday is, but I'd rather have you throw me a surprise party with cake and presents...and a tiara."

"You really don't get how monumentally screwed up you are, do you?" said Meikle. "You told me all about your birthday last year, along with some bonus details no one wanted to know."

"Yes, but I haven't told Marina. Meeks won't share her birthday. Too cheery a day for her. She probably thinks presents and cake are evil."

"Presents are evil. There's always a price attached to them, and I don't mean of the sticker variety. Cake, I like."

"We don't care, Meeks," said Polly. "You know, Trey has disappeared before, usually to follow the scent of a lie. He always comes back."

"According to the tea leaves, this time is different," said Meikle.

"Tea leaves are a fool's future-reading tool. Marina had the only reliable talent, but she chucked it away with her temper," said Polly, throwing up her arms.

"Have either of you been to see his grandfather?" I asked, barely able to think.

Meikle and Polly looked at each other warily.

"Um, well, he's-" started Polly.

"Completely bats.h.i.+-"