The Secrets of Pimsim Cove - 10. Chapter 10

Turning, just in time to control my dive into the cool ocean water, I arched my back and sliced through the water without a splash. As soon as my feverish skin was wet, scales sprouted everywhere.

The green sparkly scales matched my tank top. I held my feet out of the water and squealed when I saw that they went all the way down my legs even covering my feet.

“Finally!” I whooped and hollered. Sean swam beside me to inspect my progress. He frowned at my floating legs, instead of sharing the excitement that I felt.

“What?” I demanded. “It’s a whole lot better than yesterday. Then, it was only a few scales here and there, but today, I’m totally covered. I would consider that progress, wouldn’t you?”

He pulled my arm out of the water and inspected the green scales covering my upper body and smiled. “Yeah, it’s still very impressive, but without a tail or gills--”

“I know,” I snapped my hand out of his grip. “But watch this.” I said with a wicked smile. Taking a deep breath, I concentrated on the scales. Thinking about deep dark purple, my scales shimmered and changed color.

“Wow!” Sean gasped and my smile grew even wider. I waggled my strawberry blond eyebrows at him. “If you think that’s impressive…watch this!”

Concentrating on the span of purple scales, they suddenly shifted into a pattern. Elaborate green vines twisted and grew along both of my arms and a flower pattern decorated my neck that continued across my face and over my forehead. I knew that I had amazed him when his perfect mouth dropped open and he was speechless.

***

Who wouldn’t love spending the day, frolicking in the ocean with Sean? He’s tall, dark and deliciously sexy…not to mention that adorable Irish brogue. I don’t know if my legs were just getting stronger from all of the swimming, but it was easier to keep up with him today.

But, I still felt a pang of sorrow when he told me that he had to go.

“I promised to meet Da at Ember’s Grotto.” He said as he turned back towards the open waters when we were only a few yards away from the McLoughlin’s dock. I watched him swim away and wondered if Sean had ever taken anyone to the Grotto.

He said that it was a kind of teenage hangout. The Grotto was this deep dark underwater cave. Apparently young Triton boys thought it was a wonderful place to take girls, to scare them.

It was kind of like the Human version of a gory slasher movie. No matter what the species, the objective was always the same…get a girl really scared and she’ll jump into a guy’s arms.

I wondered about it, but I didn’t have the nerve to ask Sean if he had ever taken a girl to the Grotto. There wasn’t time to be a jealous-green-demon when he was going off to search for Talbot’s Ring to free my dad.

Besides, Sean never mentioned anything about having a girlfriend and he really seemed to like me as much as I liked him. Maybe Cassy was right. I would find the perfect guy when I least expected.

Cassy had told me over and over again that love will find you when you’re not looking for it! With a big smile brightening my face, I decided to swim closer to the shore. I squinted at the coastline in the distance and tried to measure the length between the McLoughlin’s little cottage and the D’Gloma’s home further down the shore.

They were only separated by five homes, but the first one turned into a tiny dot on the shore before the next house even came into view.

“Oh well…too bad the D’Gloma house wasn’t quite close enough to just ‘casually’ stroll by without looking totally stalkerfied.” I giggled to myself. I’d never stalked a guy before and wasn’t about to start now.

Easily reaching the sandy shoreline, I pulled myself out of the gentle water and climbed up the narrow stairs that led up the steep embankment to the McLoughlin’s house. My legs felt a little like jelly walking on land.

Without a towel to dry off, I squeezed the excess water from my long ponytail and let my clothes drip water down my scaly skin.

“Try…yellow!” I giggled again, when my scales turned from a vibrant red to bright canary yellow. “That is so uber-cool!”

“Yeah, it’s something else, alright.” Rook’s voice sounded conflicted.

I yelped as my head shot up. I hadn’t noticed him sitting in the rocking chair on the back porch. I immediately glanced over my shoulder to see if Stonebrook’s boat was tied to the dock, but it was still empty.

“Uncle Rook,” I sounded as nervous as I actual was. “I…I…I didn’t see you there.” Oh goodness, could I sound any more like a moron stuttering like that?

Disappear, disappear, disappear, I commanded my colorful and patterned scales as I watched him get up and cross the small area of the porch and stop right in front of me. It was no surprise that my body didn’t listen to me…why not, her favorite passtime is, ‘let see how much we can embarrass Anna!’

“So, it is true!” His green eyes narrowed as he inspected my unique design. Then as if he could read my mind he added. “They will disappear once your skin is dry. As you get more experienced, you’ll be able to better control it regardless of water or not.”

Rook’s face was so hard to read. Unlike Dad who always had a warm smile waiting, Rook’s face was often cold and unemotional. “Are you mad at me?” I blurted out without stopping to think about what I would do if he actually was mad, but right now I really didn’t care…I just needed to know.

His sudden look of surprise was welcoming. “No, Anna, I’m not mad at you…not in the least.” Rook’s hard, chiseled face softened as he returned to his comfy rocking chair and sat back down.

His worn blue jeans were streaked with black grease from the motor shop and they hung low on his trim muscular waist. The afternoon sun danced along his golden skin tanning it a darker gold to where his masses of freckles were barely noticeable on his bronze skin. “I’m not mad; I guess I’m just a bit surprised, that’s all. Actually, I think your scales are very beautiful.”

That suddenly made me blush and my scales turned bright pink to match. Rook saw the instant change and chuckled. Patting the chair beside him, he asked me to join him. The afternoon sun was shining down on the cushions making them toasty warm. So hopefully, I would be dried in no time and back to scale-free.

“So…how’s the knee?” He asked. I didn’t need to ask how he knew. If he already knew that I had hurt myself, then he already knew what I did and the whole embarrassing story of how it happened.

I’d forgotten all about the gash running just under my knee until he just mentioned it. We both glanced down at the butterfly clips that Sean had placed and I was glad to see that they were still in place, but an angry dark bruise was already forming around my entire knee cap.

“Michael?” I asked and he simply smiled and nodded.

“Yeah, Michael.”

I rolled my eyes. It was bad enough living out the embarrassing event in front of the breathtakingly gorgeous Sean and his ultra-sexy father, but I guess everyone in Pimsim Cove was going to enjoy every last bit of my humiliation.

“Why’s this stupid Ring so smurfing important anyways?” I blurted out and carefully watched Rook’s face for any sign of anger, but there wasn’t any anger, only remorse.
He ran his large calloused hands through his shaggy strawberry hair, before rubbing his fingers over his weary eyes. “I deserve the truth.” I whispered. “I’ve handled the rest of this crazy situation…I can handle the truth.”

You know Anna, this whole thing started out as a childish prank when we were kids. When Michael, W.S., and I were only about your age.” He took a deep breath and began to explain what had happened all those years ago. “Talbot’s Ring isn’t just any ordinary Ring--”

“Well, I’ve figured that much out on my own…oops…sorry…please continue.” Yeah, I really need to stop doing that!

He chuckled before continuing. “It’s the ‘Ring of Sons.’ It originally belonged to the Great King Marcus--”

“Hey, I know who he is! Uhmmm, sorry!” Rook just smiled at my eager interruption.

“I’m glad that Sean’s been teaching you about our culture and history. Don’t apologize, that’s actually a good thing, Anna. Well, the Ring is supposed to have the power to produce sons and Triton Kings can only pass their throne down to a male heir.” Rook chuckled at his childhood memories.

“Even as a child, Windsong was a great artist. For fun he crafted a replica of the Ring of Sons and it was absolutely amazing. Down to every last detail, it looked identical. He sculpted a dark, midnight blue marble out of glass in the watery depths of the hot vents. It is exactly like the dark blue pearl that is nestled in the center of the real Ring. W.S. spent days bending pewter into the shape of the intricate bands that circled the fake pearl and then painted them gold with plain old enamel paint that we got from Sullivan’s Hardware Store.”

“How could Talbot not have realized that the Ring on his finger was an imposter?” I asked.

“Because, it was never on his finger. The Ring of Sons belongs to the King, but it’s always worn by the Queen. We just wanted to see if anyone could tell the difference and W.S. thought that the Solstice Festival would be the perfect occasion to try it out.”

“Our only opportunity to switch out the real Ring was when the Queen’s jewelry was cleaned, to prepare for the celebration. So we snuck into the Palace and made the swap. We enjoyed our little secret, laughing behind Talbot’s pompous back. At the time, he already had three daughters. You see a King must have a son by his seventh child, if not the throne will be passed to his first grandson. But if a King dies without an heir, then his nearest living male relative shall become the next King.”

Talk about your total male dominated society! “So, how come if you guys swapped the Rings all those years ago…what took so long for Talbot to discover that his Ring was a fake?”

“When the Queen and his seventh daughter died during childbirth a few weeks ago, Talbot discovered that the Ring his wife had been wearing for all these years was not the true Ring of Sons. Talbot went ballistic. His guards kidnapped W.S. and he sent a message telling me to return his Ring…” Rook sighed, “and you know the rest. Michael and I have been searching endlessly for the Ring, ever since.”

“Why don’t you just tell Talbot that you need Dad’s help in order to find it?” I asked.

“Believe me, Anna, I’ve already tried that. Talbot’s a hateful man. He would rather see W.S. rot in his dungeon than make it any easier on Michael or me to find his stupid Ring. Now that the Queen is gone, Talbot has nothing but time. He still has to replace his dead wife before he can impregnate a new Queen with a son.”

The pain from admitting his mischievous ramparts of youth was evident on Rook’s unshaved face. The last thing I wanted to do was blindside him, but I still had one last question that I needed answered. Rook had been honest with me so far, so I rushed the question before I could change my mind. “You’re going to use the Ring to bring down Talbot, aren’t you?”

He sucked in a sharp breath as if he had been punched in the stomach. “Never! I have no intention of using the Ring to overthrow the Kingdom. That bloody trinket is not as valuable as my brother’s life!” He growled.

I wanted to believe him, but I was too scared to. “But, I thought you wanted to overthrow evil Talbot. Sean told me that the people want you--”

“I’m not a leader Anna, and I’ve never wanted to be!” Rook growled. “But our people do need a new leader…they deserve an extraordinary man to be their next King, but it’s not my place to lead them. Talbot’s almost out of options…but I still believe that a change will be coming very soon.”

Rook’s eyes stared out over the calm ocean. He watched the water while I watched him. I’m sure that he knew that I was staring at him, but he didn’t flinch or blush or even clench his jaw like he loved to do when he was aggravated. I continued to stare at him. The man was completely oblivious to me, lost in his own thoughts.

“W.S. is really lucky to have you as his daughter.” Rook said without pulling his eyes from the water. Without another word, he got up and headed down towards the dock. Watching him walk away, I knew that every woman in Ireland must be beating down his door trying to become Mrs. Rook McLoughlin.

The thought made me giggle. When he was halfway down the dock, I got up and sprinted towards the edge of the steps.

“Hey,” I shouted down to him and his head peered back towards me. “What’s it like? You know…to actually make the change…from Human to Triton?”

A wicked grin curled around his face as he broke into a run, dashing towards the end of the dock. He vaulted from the end, soaring amazingly high into the air. His powerful arms and chest flexed keeping his dive perfect as he glided towards the water. Hitting with hardly a splash, only a moment passed before he erupted back out of the water.

The sunlight splayed over his light blue scales as the saltwater cascaded down his massive tail. “FREEDOM!” Rook roared as he sliced back through the water and disappeared into the sea without even making a ripple.

***

Rosy was in the front sitting room, sewing the last few stitches of her dress for the Solstice Festival. She smiled when she saw me walk in. I felt a pang of guilt when she placed the beautiful burgundy dress aside and didn’t look at it again.

“Anna, I’m glad you’re home, dear. Do you want to set the table while I put the finishing touches on dinner?” She asked as she got up and headed towards the kitchen. I wanted to follow her, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away from her pretty summer dress.

The awesome color would turn her scales the most amazing shade of rich burgundy. As if it was calling my name, I inched closer to the dress, needing to feel the soft material.

“Anna?” I snapped out of my trance, jerking my hand away from the dress. “Child, are you coming?” Rosy called from the kitchen.

I shook the fog from my head and answered, “Yes, Grandma, I’m coming,” then hurried off to help her with dinner.

***

“Do you want me to get out the rest of the plates, Grandma?” I asked her when I saw only two plates sitting on the table, but when I turned back towards the kitchen, Rosy met me at the doorway. She quickly side stepped to the left to avoid a collision.

“No need dear, it’s only going to be you and me for dinner tonight.” Rosy juggled a fresh bowl of salad from her garden in one hand, a platter of sliced roast beef in the other and a basket of buttery rolls that was looped over her arm, hanging from her elbow.

“Oh goodness,” I gasped, grabbing the platter of meat before she dropped it. “You couldn’t wait another two seconds for me to help you?” Rosy’s pearly smile lit up the room as she set the salad and rolls safely on the table beside the rescued meat.

“Pish Posh, child, I might be an old lady, but I can still manage to get our dinner from the kitchen to the dining room, all in one piece.” We both giggled when I dipped down and plucked a cherry tomato off the floor. The small red tomato had obviously tried to make a run for it when Rosy was teetering with the salad bowl in her arms.

“All in one piece, uhmmm? Well, at least now I know where I get it from.”

Rosy set the two plates, with one on each side of the table, directly across from each other, and served a thick slice of meat on to each plate. “Where you get what, dear?”

“My stubbornness!” I chided.

“It’s a family trait…passed down from generation to generation. It does a girl well to have spunk and to be able to keep the boys on their toes.” She beamed at me with pride. “It’s nice to know that you have more of me than just your lovely green eyes, dear Anna.”

Dinner was nice as we chatted away about our family tree, genetics and she told me stories about her spirited youth in Pimsim City, but neither one of us mentioned the fact that tomorrow was the Summer Solstice Festival.

Rosy hadn’t offered to show me her dress that she had been working on for the celebration. I had to prepare myself that I would probably be sitting home tomorrow…all alone.

Okay now, let’s just keep avoiding the big purple elephant in the room right now. I tried to hide my disappointment behind a cheerful façade, but the fact that I couldn’t participate in something that was so near and dear to Rosy, something that she had worked very hard at and the McLouglins’ were a part of…left me a little sad.

More than that, I was furious that I was going to miss my opportunity to sneak off inside the Palace during the hectic party to hunt down where that maggot of a King had stashed my father. How was I going to find Talbot’s dungeon now?