Page 14 of Ellie and the Prince
“I think that monster likes you,” he responded. “It would never have forgiven me if you hadn’t told it to. And it was showing off for you there at the end.”
A smile crept over her face, and she gave him a twinkling glance over her shoulder. “It was, wasn’t it?” But then she stowed away her bottle and revved the scooter. “I must get you back to shore and send someone after your driver.”
“The sirens won’t hurt Tor, will they? He’s king of a strange agent; he spends his life studying or working. The guy knows everything there is to know about fish. But he’s a good friend.”
“No, the sirens won’t hurt him, but they don’t need encouragement. The last thing we need is for one of them to fall in love with him. Hang on.”
Omar wanted to ask what would happen if a siren fell in love with a man, but he held his tongue, resumed his grasp around Ellie’s life vest, and stared at the back of her neck with her ponytail whipping his face until they approached the dock.
Two other workers were there to meet them and tie up the scooter, including the supervisor, Bence, who gave Omar a hand but ignored Ellie. “What happened?” the man asked gruffly. “Why did the lake serpent attack you? Are you injured, Your Highness?”
“I’m not injured,” Omar said. “The serpent didn’t hurt me.” He turned back to give Ellie a hand, but she was already on the dock and walking away. He shoved his way through the frightened, curious, excited crowd to reach her side. She was talking with three other lifeguards, with her back to him. He wanted to touch her arm but didn’t dare. Instead he spoke firmly. “Ellie?”
She turned, and for an instant he saw her eyes brighten, but then her face went still and she spoke quickly. “Your Highness, I am thankful you’re unharmed. We’re making plans to rescue your friend now.” Then she turned back to her coworkers, who stared at him with eager curiosity.
Omar spent the next several hours repeating the story of his rescue. Again and again, to lifeguards, the resort director, and the staff psychologist, he told everything that had happened (except the details most important to him, of course) and emphasized Ellie’s heroic role.
Later, in private, he would recall every detail of Ellie’s face and voice, and the feel of her—and her lifejacket—in his arms.
Bence was having conniptions by the time Ellie finished her report. At first the supervisor intended to go to the island himself and “drag that bird-brained lord back to the castle,” but everyone on his staff, male and female, declared this a terrible idea.
“We’d then have two siren-crazed men on our hands,” said Kerry Jo, a bubbly blonde lifeguard with a deep tan. “Not a pretty picture.”
“Fine. Then you’ll go, and Ellie and Jeralee. But all of you remember: This guy is breaking rules right and left, interfering with magical creatures. I don’t care if he is a lord; use your magic on him if you have to.” He glared at each of them in turn. “Now I get to go inform Madame Genevieve that we allowed male guests to steal a ski boat and invade the island.”
As Bence stormed away, Jeralee muttered, “Good luck with that,” and flashed Ellie a grin. The magical mechanic was short and strong, with a mop of red-brown hair and a freckled nose, and she’d been Ellie’s best friend since their first summer as interns.
Out on the docks, the three girls prepared for their mission. “What if the sirens won’t give the guy back to us?” Kerry Jo asked. “How do we negotiate? Do we have any authority over them?”
“We’ll manage,” Ellie said, feeling a touch of soothing magic slip past her guard. “We should take two scooters, leaving one of us free to drive the boat back, if it still runs.”
“I’ll get it running,” Jeralee interrupted. “If the propeller is wrecked, I’ll use magic.”
“I met this guy Tor yesterday,” Ellie admitted, “and he seemed harmless enough. He caught some boys fishing and took their gear away. But he wasn’t mean about it, just firm.”
“I think I saw the fish man,” Kerry Jo said. “Tall with buzzed hair?”
“That’s him.”
“I escorted those boys to Madame’s office,” Jeralee said, and grinned. “They told me the weird guy has a pet catfish in the lake. Seriously?”
Ellie kept her opinion to herself. “I’ll do my best to keep Tor under control,” she said. “The sirens stopped calling, so we can hope he’ll be back in his right mind.”
“Yeah, like that’s ever happened,” Kerry Jo grumbled. Her own magic was weak—she used it mainly to keep her hair neat or hide blemishes—but she never seemed envious or resentful. Many of the staff guys cherished unrequited crushes on her while she blithely played the field, but she was also kind-hearted and worked hard.
Jeralee rode on the back of Kerry Jo’s scooter, and it was agreed that Ellie would circle the island alone in search of Tor. She first escorted her friends to the beach, where they could easily see Tor’s footprints on the slope of sand. “Seems so wrong to set foot on the island,” Jeralee commented, “but what else can we do?” Kerry Jo kept her scooter in idle while Jeralee ran ashore.
“The footprints look as if he headed north, or maybe straight across,” Ellie said. “If I find him, I’ll send him back here, so be on the lookout.”
Jeralee was checking the boat’s propeller when Ellie drove off. There was no sign of the fish rescuer on the rocky cliffs at the island’s north end, so she hurried around to the west shore across the island from the beach.
She saw Tor’s colorful life vest first; he was waist-deep in the lagoon. A mermaid with long blue-black hair hovered in the shallows right in front of him. They seemed to be having a conversation, which was odd. But the siren heard Ellie’s scooter, turned to stare with wide dark eyes, then dived back into the lake and was gone. Only after she disappeared did Ellie think of speaking to her.
“Kammy!” Tor called after the siren, his voice strained. “Don’t forget!”
“Stop, Tor!’ Ellie put power into her command, and not the soothing kind.
He stopped, and the light faded from his expression. Ellie immediately felt guilty, but what else could she do? This situation was unlike anything she’d ever heard of.
