When we entered, Brian and another man were sitting on the couch laughing together. By the easy way they sat together, it was obvious they were old friends. Of course, Brian was staying in the suite with us as our chaperone. While it may not be popular on Earth for engaged couples to be chaperoned before they get married, it was part of Therian culture and something both Jason and I asked Brian to do for us on Earth.
“Hey Fry,” Brian said as he stood, “I want to introduce you to my friend Josh, he’s the ruler of Carnivoria.” Brian swept his hand at the other man who also stood.
He was almost eight feet tall and had short blond hair. It was evident by his tanned skin that he spent a lot of time in the sun and the laugh lines around his blue eyes made me like him immediately. His open-necked shirt was tight across his chest and arms, evidence of his muscular frame under his clothes.
“Lord Vifaru,” I curtsied as Jason bowed at the waist.
“Please just call me Josh when we’re in private,” he smiled and the twinkle in his eye let me know it would be easy to be friends with this man. He held out his hand to shake and I went first, followed by Jason.
“I’d love to hear how you came to know this reprobate,” I said to Josh as we sat on the opposite couch.
“I was an exchange student in Cetacea in my final year of Shapeshifter Academy and we were roommates,” Josh explained.
“That’s not much of a story,” I complained when Josh stopped talking.
He shrugged, “Brian wasn’t really happy I was his roommate because I was from Carnivoria and he thought he was better than me because I was a land-based shifter while almost everyone else at school was sea-based of some sort.”
“You’ve got to admit, a rhinoceros has some disadvantages in the water,” Brian laughed.
“No doubt, but a kraken has even more limits on land,” Josh answered with a grin and it was obvious this was an old argument.
“We faced some obstacles and went on some adventures together that made us appreciate our strengths and weaknesses and became friends. We’ve kept in contact all these years, but rarely get a chance to see each other in person.” Brian smiled.
“As much as I’d like to hear your war stories, I’ve got to get some sleep,” I said with a yawn. I kissed Jason goodnight, said goodbye to Josh and Brian, then headed to my room, shedding my dress as I walked to the bathroom to get ready.
Athas 15, 10,258
Theria
Royal Palace
Jason and I lay on the shore of the lake, our tails submerged in the water. When I’m partially shifted like this, with only my lower body in mermaid form, I can breathe with my lungs and speak normally. The lake stretched outward from the palace for miles in every direction and I knew from experience it was over four hundred feet at its deepest point. The clear water of the lake reflected trees along the shore and right now, the surface was as smooth as a mirror. The shoreline where we lay gently sloped into the deeper parts of the lake so the water in this area was warm enough to swim in; this is where I taught the children.
My hands were behind my head as I watched the fluffy-white clouds drift across the blue sky, and I listened to the water nymphs playing nearby. They kept calling for us to join them again, but since we wanted to lay in the sun, I mentally told them to go away but we would join them later. They left us alone, but not before splashing us as they giggled and swam away to find others to play with. Even though I knew we would be returning to Earth tonight to continue the hunt for Akore, I was at peace.
“What are you thinking about?” Jason asked.
I turned my head towards him and smiled, “you know it’s dangerous to ask a woman what she’s thinking about unless you really want the answer.”
Jason laughed, “I really want to know.”
I turned on my side, propped my head up on my hand and smoothed my other hand along the side of his face, feeling the rasp of his whiskers on my palm. I leaned forward to kiss him quickly and smiled when he leaned forward for more.
“Do you miss living on Theria?” I asked. “We both had to adapt to life on Earth when we were trapped there, but at least you lived here for nine months before returning to Earth.”
Jason thought for a moment before answering, “Not really because I get to be with you.” He put his finger on my lips before I could say what I was going to. “I’m not just saying this to make you feel good, it’s how I feel. Two years ago, if you would have asked me if I would ever give up being a sasquatch, I would have told you there was no way I would ever do that, but then I met you. I knew you were my future and if I wanted us to be together then I would use my final transformation to become a merman so we could get married one day.”
“Which is exactly two months from today,” I added, moving closer to Jason.
“I can’t wait,” he said and kissed me again. “But it’s the same way I feel about living on Earth. As members of Tionchar, we have an opportunity to make a huge difference on the planet we called home for so long. Theria has its own set of problems, like the rebellion King Alister had to put down a few months ago, but we aren’t needed here as much as we’re needed there. Even though there are people on Earth more evil than Akore, they don’t have the magic he does and the humans don’t have the ability to combat his powers.
“We’ll serve on Earth for another twenty years, then come back here to live the rest of our lives together. An’Ceann willing, we’ll have centuries to enjoy our home planet; but I really don’t care where we end up as long as we’re together,” he finished with a grin.
“May I join you?” my mother asked as she stepped into view.
Jason and I were startled into silence by her sudden appearance, but Jason shifted into his human form and stood, the magic of his thought medallion clothing him in the Captain America swimsuit I bought him.
“Lady Zhaleh,” Jason said coldly as he bowed to her. I was watching closely to see how she would react, or I would have missed the flash of pain that came over her face before she bowed her head in acknowledgment.
“I deserve that,” she said as she gently placed her hand on his arm. “Jason, I humbly ask your forgiveness for the way I treated you by arranging the dinner between Cynthia, Tetraodon and myself. I insulted you and my daughter and for that I am truly sorry.”
Jason’s face was passive as he digested her words then nodded. “Lady Zhaleh, I will leave you and Cyndi alone because while I appreciate your apology, I’m not really the one you need to make amends with. I love your daughter and she loves me and we’re going to make a life together with or without your blessing. While we don’t need your approval, I know Cyndi’s heart breaks because of the way you treat her. Don’t waste this time,” Jason said, then bent down, kissed the top of my head and walked towards the palace.
I turned back to stare out at the lake while my mom settled down next to me and shifted her lower body into her mermaid form. We shared the same iridescent vermillion green, deep purple and cobalt scales on our tails and flukes, but the bright-orange color and shape of my ventral fins came from my dad.
After sitting in silence for what felt like an eternity, Mom finally began to speak. “My father wanted a boy and the only thing I ever wanted was to make him proud of me. He was cruel to me with his silences and indifference. I never understood what I had done to make him resent me so much and after years of trying to please him, I stopped consciously trying to gain his approval. My mom was wonderful, kind, loving and everything that my father wasn’t but it wasn’t until after she was gone that I really began to appreciate how much she gave up to give me a wonderful childhood.
“When I was old enough to enroll at the Shapeshifter Academy in Cetacea, my mother sent me to live at the school and would visit me during the breaks rather than have me come back home. My father never visited, but I was fine with that. I met your father my final year in school when he was transferred from the Royal Shapeshifter Academy where he had been learning what he needed to know to one day rule Ceta
cea.
“That final year was the best of my life up to that point because I met your dad, developed deep friendships with Brian and his roommate at the time and started to break free from the chains of my past that had weighed me down. Unfortunately, it was towards the end of that year that my mother died, and my world was rocked.”
There was so much pain and sadness in my mom’s voice that I scooted closer to her and put my arm around her in comfort. She stiffened in shock for a second then relaxed into my embrace, but I still didn’t say anything because I knew she wasn’t finished sharing her story.
“Your dad knew how devastated I was and didn’t want me to have to go home to live alone with my father, so he asked me to marry him. Even though we had a deep friendship, we didn’t start off with the love that you and Jason evidently have; that developed over time. We made a life together and we respected each other. The day you were born, I couldn’t believe how perfect you were, and your dad and I wanted to share you with the world to show you off. I even reached out to my father and invited him to meet his granddaughter.
“On the day you were to be presented to the kingdom, a messenger from my father arrived to deliver his condolences that I had borne a daughter to the ruler of Cetacea rather than a son who could be the legitimate heir. When I heard the message from my father, I looked down at your beautiful face and wept because I was suddenly afraid that I would hurt you the same way my father hurt me. I handed you to your dad and left the room. Something broke in me that day and I decided the only way to not become my father would be to keep a wall between us so I wouldn’t hurt you and to let your dad be the one to give you the love I was afraid to.”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” I protested as I turned to look at my mom.
“I know, and it wasn’t something I realized until Muir pointed out that I had turned into my father and I needed to make things right with you. I told him I had done too much damage, but he encouraged me to talk with you anyway. When you left last month, I reached out to King Alister and asked for his help. He sent a unicorn shifter to Cetacea who had worked as a psychiatrist on Earth during the exile. She’s been working with me to help me become the person I always should have been.” Already softly crying during her lengthy explanation, Mom burst into heavy sobs for a moment before gradually regaining control.
I was shocked by her revelations; I had never seen her like this before. She had always been the epitome of strength but sitting next to me was a woman wracked with sorrow and guilt. If she had come to me in her typical cold fashion, I wouldn’t have believed a word she said but I could tell she was being sincere. Even if I didn’t fully understand her reasoning for putting up this wall between us, I recognized she wanted to start tearing it down so we could have a different relationship in the future.
We sat together for hours and talked about the things we had missed over the past hundred years. When she asked me about my life on Earth, I really believed she wanted something different for us. She actually laughed when I told her about my party business and how I would dress up as a mermaid for children’s parties. She told me about her relationship with Muir and how they quietly got married over thirty years ago but had kept that secret until recently when she acknowledged him as her Consort.
Jason joined us to let us know it was almost time for Alister to open a gate for us so we could go back to Earth. He was surprised when mom hugged him tightly, after she had shifted back to her human form, and sincerely thanked him for taking such good care of me.
After embracing me, she held me at arm’s length and smiled. “I am proud of the woman you are and grateful you are willing to give us another chance. There’s nothing I can do to give us back the years I wasted, but I will do my best to make the time we have left together something we both consider precious. I love you, Cyndi and I don’t ever want to do anything that will make you doubt that, ever again.”
She kissed me on the cheek. We were both crying when Jason put his arm around me, and we walked towards the palace so we could finish the mission we had started on Earth.
August 20
Cape Town, South Africa
Port of Cape Town
“Are you here for business or pleasure?” Department of Home Affairs Officer Booysen asked as she looked at the man standing in front of her and studied his passport.
“A little bit of both,” he smiled, concentrating to make sure his disguise spell matched the picture on the documents he had given her.
“And you traveled here on the vessel Khipius from Mumbai?” she asked as she glanced at his paperwork on the counter in front of her.
“That is correct,” he said as he willed her to pass him through customs.
“You are the only passenger listed on the manifest, Mr. Acharya. Isn’t that unusual?” she persisted.
“Not necessarily, Officer Booysen. I happen to enjoy traveling by sea and since I own the boat, I can choose whether I want traveling companions. This time I did not. I used the fortnight it took for us to travel here for meditation. It does wonders for the mind, body and spirit.” He smiled again, trying to keep his temper in check. “Is there an issue with me traveling alone, except for the crew, of course?”
Instead of answering his question, she slid a laminated sheet of paper through the gap in the bottom of the security gate and asked, “Have you seen this man?”
He looked down at the artist rendering and saw his natural face staring back at him. He had to admit it was a very good likeness. “May I?” he asked and at her nod, he picked up the sketch to look more closely. After taking the amount of time he felt necessary to study the image, he shook his head.
“I’m sorry, I’ve never seen him before. I assume he is a criminal of some sort?” he asked as he slid the sketch back to the woman in the security booth.
“Yes,” Officer Booysen answered as she eyed him suspiciously. She pursed her lips and appeared to make up her mind as her demeanor changed and she stamped his passport and placed his paperwork inside the book before handing it back to him with a smile. “Welcome to South Africa Mr. Acharya, enjoy your stay.”
Akore thanked the woman, placed his passport back in his briefcase then walked away with his attaché in one hand and the handle of his suitcase in the other. He didn’t hurry through the passenger terminal, but he could feel the magical energy draining from the small arcane crystal attached to the leather thong he had tied around his neck. The crystal was supplying the power for his disguise spell and once the magical energy was gone, his disguise would drop; then one of the many extra guards present in the terminal would attempt to arrest him and that would interfere with his plans.
He finally made it out the front door and saw the driver holding a sign with the name Ramesh Acharya printed on it. He was standing outside a Range Rover with blacked-out windows and turned to open the back door after Akore nodded to indicate he was the person the driver was waiting for. He left his suitcase for the driver to deal with and dropped his disguise spell the instant the door was closed. He mopped his brow with a handkerchief to remove the perspiration he knew came from adrenaline rather than the temperature since it was only twelve degrees Celsius outside.
While the driver put his suitcase in the back of the Range Rover, Akore pulled another necklace with a larger arcane crystal from his briefcase and placed it around his neck. There were only five more fully-charged crystals in his briefcase and it would take a full week to charge those that had already been depleted. He was annoyed that he had to flee his compound in Goa but if there were a sorceress on his trail, he couldn’t take the chance of discovery without more magical energy at his disposal. Unfortunately, the larger arcane crystals he brought with him from Claw were destroyed in Goa when the missile spell was launched to follow the discovery spell back to its originator; but he did gain the information that he was facing a sorceress from Claw.
He had enough magical energy to drain the lives from the people at the compound and destroy it before escaping on th
e Khipius. The driver got back into the vehicle and smoothly pulled away from the terminal. He already had information on where he was to take his passenger and knew not to engage him in conversation of any kind. As tempting as it was to steal his life-force, Akore refrained because he needed the driver to transport him until he could access one of the vehicles at his home.
Besides, he still had the energy he took from Joki on the way to Cape Town. Akore was irritated that he would need to take care of the household duties until he could find a replacement for his efficient servant, but the voyage took longer than anticipated. Ever since the charm on the Flor do Mar was disrupted, he had to absorb energy more frequently just to maintain balance. Instead of once a month, his continued existence required taking a life every fortnight. No matter, soon he would have the arcane crystals he buried on top of Table Mountain over five hundred years before when he escaped from Claw, and he would regain his former power. And with over a million desperate people living in shanty towns nearby, he would have energy resources for centuries to come.
August 27
Newport Beach, California
As I drove down the highway with the top down of my 1969 VW convertible, I thought about our inability to find Akore, or whatever he was calling himself now, and how frustrating that was. Hillaes continued working her magic spells but the results returned negative each time. INTERPOL and the investigative arm of Rex Industries were working together to seize Akore’s assets but since he had over five hundred years to establish his wealth, this turned out to be a monumental task. Josef confided that one of the hardest things they faced was working with a human agency without revealing the existence of magic, shapeshifters and other dimensions.
Jason, Brian and I returned home after spending another ten days in India, working with Hillaes on magical solutions. Before we left for Alister and Aileene’s wedding, Hillaes discovered the remains of the arcane crystals Akore installed to defend his compound. Even though they were shattered and no longer able to hold a magical charge, Hillaes was able to get an impression of the spells contained within. While the rest of us spent time at the palace before and after the wedding, Hillaes and Wu used the time researching everything they could about Akore and ancient magic used on Claw.
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