ANGEL CLOSED THE STORYBOOK AND SET IT ON THE NIGHT-
stand beside the bed. “I had a fun time today, Michael.” She handed him his bedraggled, stuffed raccoon.
“Me, too.” Michael plunked the animal next to his pillow. “Angel?”
“Hmm?”
“Are you gonna be here tomorrow?” He made a big pretense of arranging the raccoon’s paws just right, and his eyes didn’t meet hers.
“Of course I will, Michael. I had a great time today.” She almost reached out to tousle his hair but stopped her-self. Yes she’d be here, but he was already so attached to her, she shouldn’t encourage more. How would he handle it when she did have to go home? “I’ll send your dad up, okay?”
“Okay,” Michael mumbled.
“Good night.” She pulled the covers over his shoulder.
“G’night.”
At the bedroom door, Angel watched him slip his hat back on his head then settle down. One arm wrapped around Rocky, Michael curled the rest of his body around the toy and pulled the covers tight as if shielding them both from the outside world.
Angel’s heart squeezed. How was she going to handle it when she had to go home?
She didn’t want to think about it and turned off the light—only to have the blue glow of his night-light remind her of her home. Even more than the waters of Atlantis, that soft light reminded her of her birthplace.
The Blue Grotto of Capri was one of her favorite places on earth. Most Mers were born there, in the turbu-lent waters during a storm when Humans had no access to the cavern. Oh, Humans thought it an inconvenience at the hands of the weather, but Poseidon monitored that area closely, knowing exactly when it was needed, and ensured his people would not be discovered.
She’d gone back many times during college to study Human visitors to the cave. They were always in awe, speaking in reverent tones about the grotto’s beauty, some even jokingly claiming that the legends were true, that it was the home of Sirens, never knowing how right they were.
Those Humans who’d appreciated the gods’ beauti-ful creation would want to save the planet. She truly believed that, and it gave her hope to teach them the error of their ways.
That’s why she was here, first and foremost. That had been her dream ever since she’d seen that first Human all those selinos ago. It was the reason she’d studied and worked as hard as she had. To make a difference.
But it was going to hurt to leave Michael. And
his father.
She clicked the door closed, then rested her head against it. She couldn’t think about Logan. Not about how hard it’d be to leave. The Coalition was in its in-fancy. She was going to have her work cut out for her
when she took office. There was an Advisory Board to assemble and all the committees. Mers to put in place within Human societies to work beneath the radar from that side, children to educate… Logan could only be a pleasant pastime. A temporary distraction.
If only there was some way he could be more.
She shook her head. There wasn’t any way. Unless she was willing to break the cardinal rule of their society by telling him the truth, she couldn’t have Logan and her world, too.
Regretting the reality that made it so, Angel turned around and—
Hit a wall.
And not the plastered kind.
The tall, dark, and handsome kind.
She didn’t need to look up to know who it was.
But, somehow, just like last night, she couldn’t seem to help herself.
She also couldn’t help noticing that Logan didn’t step back.
“I, um, was just coming to get you,” she said. There.
That sounded normal. Pleasant. Conversational.
Then Logan did step back and her tummy twinged.
That wasn’t normal. But it was pleasant.
Better than pleasant, actually.
“Oh?” Logan ran a hand through his hair.
“Um… yes. Michael. He’s just about to fall asleep. I didn’t want you to miss saying good night to him.”
“Thanks, Angel. For putting him to bed and playing with him earlier.”
“Oh, it’s no problem. That’s what I’m here for, right?” “About that. Can we talk?”
Her heart sank. Can we talk was never good. She’d been wondering if there could be something between her and Logan, yet he wanted to “talk.”
Color her embarrassed. She just hoped he didn’t ask her to leave—especially now because she’d seen the tips of hammerhead tails offshore earlier. Knowing Harry, he wasn’t giving up.
“Um. Sure. I’ll wait for you on the lanai.”
He moved past her and opened Michael’s bedroom door. “I’ll be down in a few minutes.”
Q
“You’re in for it, you know.” Ginger wriggled her serpentine neck through the yellow hibiscus hedge next to the lanai. “You’ve got a shiver of sharks just off the beach, slobbering all over the place, not to mention scaring every living thing into hiding. How am I supposed to get anything to eat? I still say you ought to raid the fridge for those prawns.”
“Ginger, I’m not raiding anything for you. I’ve got enough troubles as it is.”
What if Logan asked her to leave? Aside from the obvious worry about Harry, she would return home with nothing. A few dozen pages of notes weren’t going to absolve her in The Council’s eyes from coming ashore, and those observations certainly wouldn’t give her the cachet she needed for the job.
Never mind what leaving Logan and Michael would do to her.
Angel kicked off her shoes and dropped into a lounge chair. The scent of hibiscus filled the air as the flowers neared the end of their one-day lives. She fiddled with one of the dying blossoms in the hedge
next to her, feeling the correlation with her own life a little too closely.
“Troubles. Right.” Ginger flipped her head upside down. “You don’t know what trouble is. Living all high and fancy as a princess while some of us are left to survive on our wits. I’d trade places with you in a wingbeat.”
“The difference between us, Ginger, is that all you think about is yourself.”
“And maybe that’s where your problem comes from. Do you really think you can save the planet? Honestly? And creatures say I’m vain.”
Angel flicked the end of Ginger’s beak to get her to leave her alone, and the flamingo undulated her neck as she backed out of the hedge.
Was that it? Was she vain to think she could do this? Was it an impossible task? Was Rod right? Was she des-tined to be Just Angel the rest of her Immortal life?
That she was questioning herself bothered her. Maybe she was going about this the wrong way; she didn’t know anymore. It’d seemed like a good idea, but now…?
Now Michael’s emotions were involved and so were hers and, Hades, she couldn’t even manage to stick to her convictions about not falling for a Human.
Falling for—?
No. She was not falling for him. She wasn’t.
Really.
Angel sat up and smoothed her pants over her knees. There was a difference between wanting someone and falling for him. Huge difference. Life-altering differ-ence. She hadn’t fallen.
Had she?