by Gabi Moore
“They changed their suits,” Sean said to Dion, as he glanced back to make sure Emily wasn’t glaring at him from the window.
“They’re elementals,” Dion explained. “They can alter their forms if they want to do so.”
“Which means…” Dennis said as she looked too at the window. No sign of Dirce. “They could just get rid--”
“Calm down, tiger. They’re not human and spend most of their time around sea animals. The last thing you want to do is anger them and have the entire group turn into giant starfishes.”
Appias turned her blond head back to Dion. “We were hired and given pretty stones. Some of us think we’re not being fully compensated for the work he wants us to do. He didn’t tell us exactly why he wanted you blocked. Besides, the water in those pools is foul. It smells like a chemical freighter. It would take days for it to get acceptable to us. Then it would get stagnant and smell worse in a few days.”
“So what you’re telling me,” Dion said, “is that you’re open to a counter-offer.”
Back on the other side of the pool store, Emily and Lilly were busy with Dirce. She needed to be brought up to speed about humanity and the culture where she was right now. Dirce had little contact with humans in hundreds of years. The nymphs didn’t need to interact with them, as they preferred to stay away from humans, who were annoying, and fouled up the ocean. Every year brought more of them around her and her sisters, but they felt the ocean was big and there were plenty of places to move. The only thing they liked were the trinkets the human sometimes tossed away, which they used to decorate their cave. They liked coins the best as they could be cleaned and stuck to the walls with the polished stones they would find every now and then in sunken ships.
“We like the clear ones the best,” Dirce told her. “Sometimes we find them in rings. Right now, we have one entire wall lined with the clear ones. When the sun comes up, it makes them shine. We like to watch the patterns the sun makes on the opposite wall.”
“Diamonds.” Lilly said. “You have an entire wall covered with diamonds?”
“Is there something wrong with that?”
“No, just make sure you or your sisters never let anyone know about it. Those stones are expensive and people would try to get them.”
Emily decided after she watched the men bump into each other as they went past Dirce there had to be another reason for their allure. Dirce fit the average ideal for an attractive young girl, but styles and tastes did vary over the years. Would she be shorter if this took place fifty years ago? Somehow, these elemental knew how to bring out the desire in men.
“Anyway,” Dirce continued. “didn’t you tell me people keep rocks as pets around here?”
“Different kind of rock. These are just rocks people find on the ground.”
“So why would the clear ones have more value?”
Lilly started to explain the joke to her and decided it would be lost on Dirce. It was lost on most people and she just didn’t want to explain the concept of satire to the elemental nymph. It was difficult enough to make her understand why she needed to cover up at all times. If she planned to stay around Dennis long-term, there were many hurdles she would need to pass over.
“So, why should we help you instead of your uncle?” Appias said to Dion. “We don’t see much reason to do it. What can you give us that your uncle can’t? I don’t see you with vast wealth and resources. After all, isn’t your uncle an elemental worker too?”
“He’s the wrong kind of elemental worker. He went down the wrong path to earn his ability. He may have the fifth elemental power, but he never learned the ones before it.”
“So why should we care?”
“He’ll find a way to get out of any promise he makes. You go down the path he did and you think you’re a divine being without any responsibilities. Nothing of what he tells you is true. What did he tell you about me?”
“He said you would have power over us and every other water elemental on the planet,” Aginappe said. She was a little bit taller than her sister was and colored a deep black shade of coal. Years ago, Aginappe had found an African sailor stranded on a beach and fell in love with him. She matched his image of the perfect woman and decided to keep it forever after he died from malnutrition.
“Yes, I will be able to bind elementals,” Dion told her. “But it takes a tremendous amount of energy and concentration to do it just once. I have no interest in ruling over the sea or any other place where water elementals thrive.”
This provoked another long conversation as the rest of the elementals whispered to each other and sent messages down the line. After five minutes, they seemed to reach a decision. Meanwhile, a small crowd built up at the other side of the fence, not helped by the slow movements of cars and trucks who tried to get a close look at the young women relaxing in their bikinis as the sun reached its apex. By now, the two sales clerks were busy with all the customers who’d decided to come into the exterior of the pool store and look at the models on display. They were forced to pull extra help from the other side of the store.
“We’re willing to listen to anything you can offer,” Appias told him. “But you better make the offer quick because we were supposed to have a meeting with your uncle in two hours. He’ll want to know what progress we have made.”
Dion pulled his two friends back away from the elementals for a conference. “I think I know a way to get them on our side. Normally, I wouldn’t try what I’m about to do, but I think the situation warrants it.”
“Can you share it with us?” Dennis asked. He kept glancing in the direction of the nymphs.
“No, because if it doesn’t work out, I’ll need to come up with another plan. No matter, give me an hour or so and you’ll know what it is. Sean, stay out here and keep the girls in sight. I know that won’t be too hard. I might send Emily out here to help you.”
“Thanks,” Sean grumbled.
“You need to think long term,” he told him. “Emily is the future. These nymphs aren’t.” He turned and looked at Dennis. “Not for you either. You already have one.”
“Did I say anything?” Dennis asked.
“No, but I could tell you were thinking it. You have the bigger task. Dirce will need time to learn how to be around people. I don’t envy your challenge, but fate was set when you two made contact. Yes, I could eventually get her to leave you, but the best thing is to learn to live with her. Trust me, someday you’ll thank me.”
Dion walked back over to the elementals. “I need to go make a phone call. I’m going to leave one of my friends out here to watch after you in case you need anything. Don’t get too close; he has a girlfriend on the other side of the store. She’s with your sister, Dirce.”
“We’re fine right now,” the nymph told him. “We like the attention. Can we ask any of these nice men to get us anything?”
“No. Talk to Sean if you need anything.” He turned and walked back inside the pool store with Dennis.
Dirce was in a deep conversation with Lilly and Emily when they emerged. Dion and Dennis walked over to them and sat down. The hall seemed to have more people in it that when he left.
“I need to go to a pay phone and make a call,” Dion told his friends. “Sean is out there taking care of the other nymphs.” He saw Emily’s eyes flare. “Don’t worry, he’s just there to keep the men away from them and get them whatever they need.”
“I thought you said they were elementals and didn’t have to worry about what humans could do to them,” Emily said.
“They can’t be harmed by ordinary humans. But they still like the attention they get from them. I’m a little worried about what might happen if the wrong person attracts too much attention from a nymph.”
“Do you have a problem with me?” Dirce demanded. She started to get up off the bench.
“No, I don’t. Dennis is very lucky you were attracted to him. It might not seem so right away, because you’re both in unfamiliar territory, but in the end,
he’ll be better off. The same can be said for Sean and Emily, for different reasons. I need your sister’s help against my uncle and I know only one way to do it. So please, excuse me.” Dion turned and walked down the corridor.
“Does he always talk so cryptically?” Dirce asked the others. “I didn’t understand a bit of what he said.”
“Dion tries to explain himself the best way he knows how,” Lilly said. “Sometimes he doesn’t have enough time to get it across. If he has a plan in mind, it will turn out all right. You just have to give him a chance. I’ve seen him turn a whirlwind around, so I think he knows what he’s doing.”
“If you say so,” Dirce said and slid up to Dennis. “I missed you.”
“I missed you too.” And he had. Separation from Dirce for even a few minutes was difficult. He could see Lilly as she watched Dion’s form move away. Even Emily looked forlorn as she stared at the door to the pool store.
“Is there a lake near your house?” Dirce asked Dennis. “I’ll need to get in the water by the end of the day.”
“There might be a pond. I’m not sure about a whole lake.”
“Does it have a cave at or below the water line?”
“I don’t think so. Wait… there’s a creek, which runs past the backyard. I know there was an old bridge over it. They replaced the creek with a corrugated pipe. Would that work?”
Dirce starred at him for a few moments. “I guess,” she sighed. “I’ll have to work with what I have. Does it get very many people back there? I don’t like to be disturbed unless they bring offerings.”
“Offerings?”
“Pretty stones, shiny coins. We like those. People want us to make it rain. We can’t do that, but sometimes we talk to the air sylphs who can.”
Dion made his way to the bank of payphones that were toward the other side of this section in the mall. He didn’t need the map to find them. Each section of the mall had an entire side room where people could make calls from the bulky black phones which were attached to the wall. Usually they were located next to the bathroom as the mall wanted to keep the idle noise limited to one part of the shopping center.
Of course, all four phones were in use. There wasn’t anything else he could do but look at his wristwatch and wait. He glanced around and looked for any security guards. None. Karanzen kept them back today. Once they were inside the mall, there wasn’t a whole lot he could do so long as Dion and his friends didn’t cause a problem.
Dion expected Edward to show up. The little Englishman seemed to know just when he was needed. But, so far, he’d made only one appearance. Perhaps he’d decided to stay put for the time being. Edward did say he only was allowed so much time. It could be he was in the process of conserving as much of it as he could.
“You need anything to drink?” Sean asked the girls who were lying under the sun. It wasn’t too hot outside, but the sun was still sending waves of light to the ground and it heated up.
“No,” one of the nymphs told him. “We don’t usually need to since we spend most of time in water. Don’t need to eat either, in case you weren’t told.”
All of a sudden, they stood up and stretched, which caused more cars to slow down in the parking lot. Sean was certain he saw a man walk into the side of a building as he turned to watch the girls. Eventually, someone would say something about the girls in the pool store outside the display. He could see a number of complaints from their appearance. Not that it bothered the trucks that detoured across the lot to get a better view.
“You can collect the towels,” another one said to him. “The men who brought them to us took the towels out of the cabinet over there.” She pointed in the direction a small locker in the corner of the display.
The nymphs formed a single line, which branched off as they went back into the pools on display. In minutes, they were swimming around the display units and splashing in the water.
“Clean water,” he heard one say to another. “Hate the chemical smell, and there’s no fish.”
“Don’t think the fish would last very long in it,” another one said.
One of the sales clerks stopped his presentation to a prospective customer as two of the elementals walked up the portable ladder and dove into the pool. The man who was interested in it stopped his conversation to watch them surface and swim to the side of the pool.
“Do they come with the pool?” he asked.
The woman who had been in a deep conversation on the phone hung it up and walked away.
Relieved, Dion went to the pay phone and fished through his pockets. Finding some change, he fed a few dimes into the phone’s slot, just in case. When he heard a dial tone, Dion tried to remember the numbers he needed. It came to him and his finger spun them. He waited. The phone on the other side began to ring. He was about to hang up the phone when someone picked it up on the seventh ring.
Chapter 8
“Hello?” a voice said. “Mustalow residence.”
“Mike?” Dion spoke into the phone. “This is Dion. Were you and them still planning on going to the mall today?”
“Of course, we’ve planned this for weeks. Why?”
“I’m over in the blue section. When did you plan to leave?”
“About five minutes. I have to pick half of the club up, there’s another car driven by James and he’s supposed to meet us out in the lot.”
“Do you think the entire group could meet me by the phones in the blue section when you get here? I can’t imagine it taking you any longer than a half hour.”
“Sure. What’s up? Something you want to do?”
“No, something all of you need to see. Trust me on this one.”
“Okay, you’ve never let me down yet. See you later.”
The phone connection ceased and Dion returned the phone to the cradle and moved out of the way so the next person could use it. He walked over to the bench next to the phones and sat down. It shouldn’t be long. He wasn’t sure this was the best course of action, but he didn’t have another plan. Besides, the club really needed what he had in mind.
“And all you do all day long is sun yourself on the rocks?” Emily asked Dirce. “That’s it?”
“Why would I want to do anything else?” she asked her. “We did it for thousands of years. Until the big ships made an appearance, there was nothing to bother us. Every now and then, a human appears to ask for a favor or advice and it breaks up a dull year. We have a whole different sense of time, I try to tell you.”
“Why would you need a cave or culvert?” Dennis asked the small green-eyed nymph who was sitting in his lap with her arm around his neck. The attention was wonderful, but they still got disapproving looks from some of the shoppers.
“It’s where I’ll need to live. At night, we sleep too. I hope my sisters will come with me. Fresh water is different from seawater. The fish are different too. I’m looking forward to a change.”
Dion waited patiently by the phone banks. He knew it would take a little time for his friends to arrive, but there was nothing else he could do. He felt the best course of action was to wait for them to make appearance, and then head back to the pool store. It wouldn’t take too long.
He looked at his wristwatch. It wouldn’t be long before Salacia Delphi arrived and decided whether or not to grant him full elemental powers. He needed it badly to advance to the next one, the element of fire. After that, it would be the fifth element, the one his uncle held. And then he might be able to free his parents.
He leaned back on the bench and waited.
“How many have you sold today?” the first clerk asked as both of them watched what they thought were young girls frolic in the display pools. Why did they all have the same kind of swimsuit on right now? Didn’t they come into the display area in different suits?
“I’ve written up three contracts already. You?” the second sales clerk thought the same thing and looked over into the corner where the swim team’s tracksuits were stored. He didn’t see any extra suit
s over there. “I think the kids from the front room wrote two more between them. That’s a record for today.”
“Has to be the boss’ doing. Only she would come up with something as outrageous as having a girls' swim team come into the store to boost sales.”
“Seems to be working. Oh, someone wants to buy a pool. I’m off.”
Sean made himself helpful, but there wasn’t much these young women needed. They continued to play in the water and occasionally sit on the decks built next to the display pools. He turned to the door back into the pool store and wondered where Emily was and what she was up to at the moment. He missed her and they had only been separated an hour or so. Last night was horrible. He woke up in the morning and needed to see her right away. Was this the effect of being in close proximity to the elementals? He wondered if it would go away with time.
A crowd of high school seniors walking down the mall alerted Dion his friends had arrived. He stood up, walked up to Mike, and shook his hand. He looked down the row and saw the second wave, commanded by James, coming up in the rear. The first group had five young men and the second six, which made for a total of eleven, a perfect number for the job. All he had to do was take them back to the pool store and hope for the best. Beyond today, there was nothing guaranteed and he had no way of knowing whether or not his plan would work, but at least it was a plan.
“Why are your fingernails colored?” Dirce asked Emily as she sat there with her. “I’ve never seen them done that way.”
“It’s called fingernail polish,” Emily explained, holding her hand up so the nymph could see her nails. “A lot of girls and older women paint their nails to make them look nice.”
