The Secrets of Pimsim Cove - 14. Chapter 14

The swim back to the McLoughlin’s house was long. Since, I didn’t know where I was going, I just headed in the general direction of the shoreline. When I could make out the faint lights of the sleepy little town of Pimsim Cove, I knew that I wasn’t very far away from their home.

The nighttime water was calm. It was as if the whole world had stopped to observe the importance of the Summer Solstice, but the longest day of the year was now over. Stars speckled the purple night like twinkling dots. There wasn’t a cloud or a movement of breeze in the dark sky.

My mind whispered softly to my body, to keep swimming. Maybe if I kept concentrating on the water, I wouldn’t think about tonight’s humiliation. It was a good plan, but it didn’t work and within seconds the tears that I had been fighting so hard to hold back, broke like a dam. Salty droplets overflowed and blurred my vision.

Tears dripped from my chin, mingling with the dark night water making us one, as the sea cried with me. She lovingly brushed each of my tears away from my freckled cheeks, only for it to be immediately replaced by a new one.

How could he? How could Sean have tossed me aside for her…a Princess…a Princess that two other Kingdoms were fighting over?

Yes, she was beautiful and yes, she had the full voluptuous body of a grown woman, but I thought Sean and I had some sort of connection. I thought that we had—Oh my goodness! She’s the reason he was caught slipping into the Palace when he was five…Sean had snuck in to visit Princess Rahuna. Even as a child, he must have been infatuated with her, captivated by her incredible beauty.

Maybe they were secret lovers’? How could I have been such a fool? Of course a guy like him would never be attracted to someone like me. Was I just someone to pass the time with until he could reunite with his true love for another forbidden tryst? But if Rahuna’s a Royal and Sean’s a Greenie they could never really be together…he had told me that himself.

So then, what was I? Was I just some sort of sick, twisted plan B? I needed to get out of this water…I needed to get back into my own skin…I needed to cry on Cassy’s shoulder! She would know exactly what to do.

***

The McLoughlin’s house felt cold and empty. The warm fuzzy feelings were all gone as I rushed up the stairs, my wet feet slapping against the wooden boards with each hurried step.

Everything felt alien to me. Dad’s bedroom didn’t hold the loving warmth that it did just hours ago, before I had my heart smashed into a million pieces.

Peeling off my t-shirt and jeans, I let them drop to the floor with a sloppy wet PLUNK!

My long night shirt warmed my chilly wet skin. I didn’t even bother to towel off the remaining water droplets before pulling it over top of my soaking head. I need my phone, I needed Cassy and I needed her now!

My cell phone was still plugged into the wall outlet. It finished charging hours ago, but I had just left it connected this morning. I ripped it free, tossed the cord into the corner of the bedroom and pushed the center touchpad to activate the phone from the power-saving mode. The display lit up flashing ‘10 missed calls!’

“Oh my goodness!” I gasped into the darkness. The LED light from the cell phone display panel illuminated the room. Clutching the phone to my chest, I ran out of the bedroom, down the steps, and out the back door. I didn’t stop running until I had reached the end of the wooden dock.

“Something’s wrong! It has to be Mom!” I franticly cried into the lonely night.

Pressing the ‘missed calls’ icon on my phone, I recognized both numbers that had repeatedly called my cell phone over and over. My hands trembled as I pressed redial on the first phone number. It was Mom’s cell phone.

RING! RING! RING! When it went to voicemail, I hit end then scrolled down to the other number and dialed Cassie’s cell phone, but that call went to voicemail also.

“Smurf!” I screamed into the silent night. The sound echoed in the still night air. Squeezing my eyes shut and clutching the phone to my chest, I said a silent prayer before checking my voicemail messages.

Scrolling through the programmed phone numbers until I found the one labeled ‘Messages’ then hitting the button, I held my breath until I heard Mom’s voice.

“Hi honey, it’s Mom, I didn’t hear from you today and I wanted to make sure everything was okay. I guess no news is good news right? I’ll call you later. Love ya!” She sounded normal, but her voice was a little more tired when I listened to her second message. “Anna?” Mom sounded weary. “I’m not feeling very well and wanted to talk to you before I went to bed. Give me a call when you get in, alright?”

I jumped at the startled sound of her third message. When I heard her say, “Anna? Where are you, honey? Call me!” Tears streamed down my face. It was the first time that Mom has ever needed me and I wasn’t there for her. My heart ached, but I had to continue on to the next message.

“Hey Chickie, it’s your favorite Caramel Latte!” Cassy’s cool, collected voice washed over me in a calming wave. “First, don’t panic,” too late for that, “but your Mom went into labor a little while ago, but don’t worry, everything is okay! My mom and I are driving her over to the hospital right now and everything is going to be just fine.”

Cassy was always fearless and strong. I was glad that if I couldn’t be there with Mom then at least she was there.

By the start of the fourth message, I was sobbing hysterically. Cassy’s voice searched for me. “It’s me again, where are you? Your mom really wants to talk to you!” I choked back a strangled cry as she told me, “Anna…please hurry up!”

***

RING! I yelped when the phone rang in my hand and I almost dropped the stupid thing into the ocean. “Mom? Is that you?” I blurted into the phone. The evening breeze started to stir. It blew wet tendrils of strawberry blond curls that had escaped from the confines of my night shirt since I hadn’t bothered to pull my hair out of the collar when I pulled it on.

The connection was staticy as the line crackled, but I heard her sweet voice. It was both of them, Cassy and Mom! Tears streamed down my face hearing both of them at the same time. I needed them so much. Then I suddenly heard the most beautiful sound that I ever heard in my entire life.

Marcus squawked. It was the soft little mew of a new born baby. The whole world faded away. I forgot about Sean and Talbot and everything except for this very moment.

“He’s here!” They both said in unison.

“Mom? I miss you so much,” CRACKLE! “Mom!” The phone disconnected.

Flipping the phone over, I typed with lightning speed and hit send. The wind picked up and blew my hair around my arms. I wanted to talk to them, but a text message was going to have to do. Suddenly my phone buzzed. There was one new message. I opened it and was overjoyed to see a video message of a tiny bundle. Only a little pink nose stuck out of the blue blanket wrapped up in Mom’s arms.

“Marcus!” I sobbed. “He’s so beautiful!” I quickly texted back to them.

I was totally consumed by joy and love. This was what I needed. I melted into his image and the rest of the world disappeared…so much, that I never noticed the dark figures creeping up behind me along the dock.

Nor did I see the powerful explosion that leaped from the midnight water, knocking my phone to the wooden planks as it dragged me off the end of the dock and into the murky depths of the sea.

As we tumbled off the dock, crashing into the water, a huge wave splashed into the air, drenching the shadowy figure left standing behind. Its agonizing shrieks shattered the night. I twisted myself around; desperate to see what creature could have made such a terrible sound.

Forest Fairies!

I shuttered at the sight of it, wreathing on the dock, in excruciating pain. She was the same one that had shimmied across the moat when I fell in the meadow. Glancing up at the house I saw three more of them. They abandoned their injured leader and ran back into the dark night, racing towards their mysterious forest.

With two strokes of his powerful tail, my rescuer quickly put a great distance between us and the horrible monsters in a matter of seconds. He was strong and I felt protected wrapped in his arms.

When we were a safe distance away from the shore and the dangers of the Fairies, he slowed down a little, but didn’t immediately release me. I struggled to turn in his arms, wanting to thank whoever had saved me from the Forest Fairies, but my mouth refused to work when I found myself looking into the face of Mr. Royal Pain.

I gasped in surprise. I had expected to see Rook, maybe even Michael, heck I would have been glad to even see rude little Collin, the gatekeeper guard, but never did I expect to see awful, Mr. Pompous Holier than Thou.

“You really should watch out for those Forest Fairies, they are a truly bothersome bunch!” He smiled like we were old friends having a chat over afternoon tea. He continued to hold on to me as he swam deeper into the ocean with every flick of his tail.

“I was starting to think that you didn’t like me, you know, after you punched me and rushed out of the Palace and all. I think we might have gotten off to a bad start… so what do you say about starting over, Anna? I’m Andrew…Sir Andrew, Duke to the King since Talbot is my adoring Uncle. My father, Victor, is not only Talbot’s trusted Royal Advisor, but he is currently the only Successor to the throne.” His smile was a vile as he was.

I didn’t care who he was or how he was related to that evil man, I just wanted him to let me go. I pushed at his chest to break his hold on me, but he only held on tighter and pulled me closer.

“Now Anna, I don’t think you understand the position that you’re in--”

“I understand you better get your smurfing hands off me right now--”

“Or what?” He growled through clenched teeth. “I told you that I can have whatever I want!” When he released his grip on one of my bruising arms, he tightened his grip on the other arm and pulled me even closer to him.

Andrew’s hand clumsily grabbed at my breast and I thought I was going to vomit when he pressed his mouth towards mine, trying to kiss me.

“Get off me!” I screamed at him, but he continued to hold on tight. Andrew pulled me down underwater. I was too weak to fight back.

Suddenly, it felt as if we were hit by a train. The powerful impact knocked me clear out of the water, sending me sailing across the foamy surface of the ocean.

Andrew’s eyes franticly peered through the water trying to find the source of the collision, but he was violently jerked underwater by something below. I turned tail and started swimming back towards the dock. I couldn’t believe that Andrew had dragged me so far from shore in such a short amount of time.

I heard a huge splash as Andrew was tossed from under the water and spiraled through the air. Scared that I was about to be attacked from behind by a vicious shark or something even worse, I swam even faster towards shore.

“Get your filthy Greenie hands off me!” I heard Andrew roar.

“You don’t have your Royal Guards here to protect you, Andrew.” Sean taunted him. My blood immediately felt like someone had dumped ice water into my veins. I froze in the water and turned to the boys fighting in the dark water behind me.

Sean punched Andrew in the jaw. His blond head flew back from the powerful punch, but he wasn’t down for long. Andrew wiped at his mouth smearing blood across his face.

“Keep away from Anna!” Sean growled.

“She’s not yours Sean!” Andrew pounced on Sean pulling him under water. When they suddenly resurfaced I heard Andrew gurgle as they bounced between the water and the air.

Sean recovered easier, since he lived everyday between the two, but Andrew struggled to catch his breath. Pushing away from the fight, Andrew put distance between himself and Sean. “This isn’t over yet,” Andrew leered at him. “I promise you, I will have what I want!”

Andrew knew he couldn’t beat Sean and turned tail and swam off. I was frozen by shock at the sight of these two guys…fighting over me? That had to be the craziest thing I’d ever heard of.

I shook my head to clear the fog and turned my back on both of them and continued to swim towards shore. My movement must have caught Sean’s attention since he began to chase after me.

“Anna, wait!” He called out.

I had nearly made it back to the dock when I had realized that it wasn’t a shark attacking Andrew and that little bit of a head start gave me the advantage over Sean’s powerful tail. I would never have been able to outswim him otherwise.

“Stop, Anna!” Sean said as he swam faster. “Just let me explain!”

Reaching the dock, I gave one last mighty flick of my tail and propelled myself out of the water like I had watched Sean do so many times. I knew that if I could just get to the dock, that I could out run him, but in the water he would always be faster than me.

I didn’t want to hear any of his sorry excuses. I just wanted to be alone and I was right about out running him. Slamming the kitchen door in Sean’s face, I saw the hurt expression in his weary gray eyes, before I dashed up to my bedroom to spend the rest of the evening crying my eyes out.

***

Dark purple still painted the sky. After an eternity of tossing and turning, it was finally too unbearable to stand any longer, and I finally forced my bony butt out of bed.

Sean had sat out on the dock for hours. He was there the first five times I glanced out the window, but sometime before the sixth time, he must have taken the hint that I didn’t want to talk to him and slipped back into the water and went home.

Night still held the sky in her grip, but it would slip through her fingers as soon as the sun reclaimed the new day.

With the house quiet, I poured my heartbreak into my journal while the lavender sky grew lighter and lighter with the start of another dawn. Rosy and Stonebrook must have stayed at their little apartment down in the City.

Rook had told me about it, but hadn’t told me enough details that I would be able to find it without someone’s help, but I really didn’t want to see my grandparents or even Uncle Rook right now.

There was only one person that I wanted to see and if I was going to do it, then this was probably going to be my only opportunity.