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This one was tiny, had black and white hair that looked like jellyfish strands and eels. This one may be significantly smaller, but already strong. I could feel the electric currents all through the body that was lit up with a slight blue glow. Once its eyes opened, I smiled and indicated her direction. All of us were under the water, oblivious to whatever was happening on the surface above.
At least until we surfaced. These babes had to do that as well. I exited the water first, noticed Mr. Mayhem was seated, subdued as though he had lost everything when he lost that hand. A bandage on his remaining stump had somewhat stopped the bleeding, but he would never use that hand to cast or curse again.
Maxine offered me our first little one which I wrapped in a blanket Ellie had conjured for us. It would take a few minutes before it would settle and we would be able to identify what genitalia the little one had. Ellie offered another blanket and I traded my first born for the blanket to wrap my second born in. This one was smaller, but already about to put up a fuss about the delay for food. I could see it clear on the furrowed brow. This water baby was most definitely of Maxine’s line. I was surprised when Braz accepted the tiny bundle so I could take the remaining wrap and help Max out of the water. “She looks gothic. I like it.”
I snickered. He would, as a gargoyle, appreciate the ancient qualities of that one’s genetics.
As Max let me help her out, I could see her body was already healed, parts of it already reverting to regular Maxine-size proportions. “They are anxious to feed, My Love.”
She glared at her father as I helped her to a nearby seat. Ellie thought of everything. Ellie said as if reading everyone’s mind about this location, “I almost forgot about it. The pool is closed for repairs, but when you mentioned a closed body of water, I knew I could just put the water in here. Plus, seating in case anyone passed out.”
She looked up at Braz.
He cooed to the little bundle in his arms, “I wasn’t going to pass out.”
I was exhausted and so was Max. I helped her into the seat and before she could say anything beyond her laughter at the banter going on around us, her father asked one question, “Are they both girls?”
“Doesn’t matter.” I took the little hellion I was sure was female from Braz and handed it down to Max.
“It does to me.” He lifted his stubborn head.
Maxine looked beneath the blanket of the aggressive, tiny bundle and asked, “Why?”
I accepted the calm and peaceful babe from Ellie and snuck a peek just to satisfy my own curiosity about the situation. I knew it. I knew it from the easy temperament and the mer-coloring, but I had scarcely hoped to dream such a thing was possible.
Her father said, “I need a male heir, Maxine. I cannot pass the Mayhem fortune to a female. The contracts are centuries old. I can’t give it to you, Maxine. And if I fail to give it to a male heir, it will be given away. You will have nothing. I didn’t make the rules. I just have to play by them.” He looked at the sleeping bundle in my arms and said, “But I can pass it to my grandson.”
The tides are changing.
Her mother had said that. Her mother was still alive unless… I asked, “Did you destroy the island?”
He shook his head. “No. I wanted to banish you there first.”
He seemed to age right before our eyes. As if his magic was fading out of him. As if he may have been using it, just like her mother had, to keep an image of himself that portrayed what everyone thought rather than what was real.
“Father?” Maxine tilted her head.
“She’s here.” The skies darkened but no rain fell. “I failed the bloodline. She’s come to take me. To take revenge.”
CHAPTER 21
Maxine
I expected to see my mother, but only saw Case, rolling right on into the enclosed area as though all this were normal and Ellie’s magic perimeter for privacy didn’t mean boo.
“She’s here,” he said again. “I didn’t fail as a Mayhem. There is a grandson.”
As my father pleaded a case no one understood to an entity no one else could apparently see, Case began to turn, faster and faster, until the metal gave way to new shapes and finally settled on an ethereal creature with glowing skin, flowing hair made of black eels and green snakes.
It drifted closer and said, “This is for you.”
A small black case was placed next to me as she looked at the tiny, but fierce, little monster in my arms. “May I ask a favor?”
I nodded. Had Case not saved my life, done more than anyone could expect from a familiar? “Name her Opal, after me.”
“Opal?” I asked.
She held up a tiny rock I had found one day when I was little. Snooping about in my father’s archives. I wasn’t supposed to be in there, and no one ever mentioned the tiny object being missing, so I hid it with other secrets in my case.
