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I slid a nail under the flap and pulled open the envelope. Then I pulled the card out. On it was a picture of a dolphin and text that read: Congrats! You are now the proud parent of Dolly the dolphin. Come and see your new pet at the newly opened Silver Springs aquarium.
My jaw dropped open. “You bought me a dolphin?”
Phoebe shook her head. “Adopted. Not bought. It’s a fundraiser they are doing for the new aquarium.”
I spied the fine print at the bottom of the card: No creatures may be removed from the aquarium. This is a symbolic adoption only. I couldn’t help the grin that spread across my face. I looked up and met my sister’s eyes. “This is awesome.”
Phoebe grinned. “A Dolphin for Delphine.”
I rolled my eyes. “What am I supposed to get you? The sun?” Our parents had named us all Greek names, and Phoebe’s meant the sun.
My sister laughed. “Now I wouldn’t mind a good-looking sun god . . .”
I snorted. This really was great. I’d just spent the last week watching a documentary on whales and dolphins. This was the perfect gift. “Did you know dolphins like to blow bubbles?”
Phoebe laughed. “You and your random facts. You should have gone to school for zoology or something instead of majoring in English.”
I twisted my lips. “Yeah, I should have.” Was it too late to go back? Not that zoology would really be a more useful degree. I bet it was just as hard getting a job working with animals as it was finding secretarial work.
Behind Phoebe, Amber, the owner of Jewel’s Cafe who was heavily pregnant with triplets, smiled. “Happy birthday, Delphine,” she said. “I definitely can’t compete with dolphins and gods, but how about a free drink on the house? Anything you want from the menu. You too, Phoebe.”
“Thanks, Amber,” I said. Looking at my card again, I smiled. I guess there were some good things about spending some time in Silver Springs. I did always especially love dolphins, and not just because they were my namesake.
Tripp
“Dammit, Levi,” I said, glaring at the vampire. “Why are there dolphins in the shark tank?” We stood at the top of the ramp that showed visitors a bird’s eye view of the tank. Below us, the main room buzzed with excited aquarium visitors.
Levi shrugged, but he couldn’t hold off the smile that quirked at his lip. “Dunno, boss, it’s your magic.”
I sighed and turned my glare on the dancing dolphins. The sharks had fled back through the portal to their regular habitat as soon as the dolphins appeared. The smell of salty water rolled over me, along with a helping of spray, as a dolphin jumped. Wiping the drops from my forehead, I spun on my heel and headed down the ramp toward the main floor. We needed to get them back into their own tanks before the visitors noticed.
Levi trailed after me. “It seems like the incidents”—he shook his head—“. . . attacks, whatever . . . well, they are getting more frequent, aren’t they?”
I growled. Why had I ever thought that a magic aquarium was a good idea? Sure I wanted to do good after escaping my evil mentor, but I’d bitten off more than I could chew. Ever since we had our “grand opening,” the aquarium had been plagued by mishaps. I honestly didn’t know if I could handle another one. My magic had been working overtime, and my temper was frayed. Over the last week, I’d been closing up misfiring portals all over Silver Springs. I’d thought that was what was causing our problem, but the portal mess had been cleaned up and it still kept happening.
A woman screamed. My head whipped around and I stared at the strawberry-blonde woman with her hands on her hips, yelling at the unkindness of ravens attacking her. She’d been standing near the tide pool of stingrays, which was now empty. Dammit.
Levi and I both ran over to see if we could help. The birds seemed oddly focused on the crazy woman, and she, in turn, acted like she knew them, or at least one of them. Were they shifters or really birds? What was I thinking? Two minutes ago they’d been stingrays. When a suddenly silent raven perched on the woman’s shoulder, she scowled at it suspiciously. Maybe she’d brought that one with her?
But I didn’t have time to make sense of it now, so I shoved my hands into the mass of birds, forcing my magic to turn them back into stingrays. Sweat broke out on my brow as I pushed and pulled the unfamiliar spell, but finally, the stingrays tumbled back into the tank. They promptly disappeared through the portal taking them back to the ocean. I couldn’t blame them, but I hoped they’d come back before the bus from Silver Springs Elementary came or the children would be disappointed.
I wiped my hand across my sweaty brow and wished I’d tied my long hair back today. Levi was seeing to the woman who’d been attacked, and she seemed to be all in one piece. I looked around, hoping that we were safe for the moment. My eyes scanned the lower level then up the ramp to the shark—now dolphin—tank then back down.
Another blonde woman strolled toward the exhibit where the dolphins swam. Her long hair fell straight down her back and light blue jeans cupped a perfect ass. I could just imagine how it would feel in my hands. I shook myself. I had more to worry about right now than checking out random women. I shot another gaze around the main room. The attacks hadn’t been coming so quickly before, and I didn’t know what had changed. We might need to shut down the aquarium until I could figure out what was going on.
But I returned to the woman, giving her another glance. She looked oddly familiar. Hadn’t I seen her somewhere recently? Maybe at a party? She took the ramp up to the top of the tank then leaned over the edge, peering in. A dolphin with a strange collar—were those gem stones on the collar?—met her at the top and she reached out her hand to pet it.
I headed up the ramp, because that just seemed strange. Dolphins were friendly but it almost looked like they were talking. Of course, we were in Silver Springs . . . I froze as strange orange lines erupted from the blonde woman and raced toward me, and I felt the magic hit like a ton of bricks. I stumbled and barely kept my feet. I narrowed my eyes at the woman and noticed more orange magic linking her to Levi and his brother Roman, my vampire coworkers. A fourth orange line surged toward someone else, who I couldn’t see in the crowded main floor. More strange magic. What crisis would it cause now?
Something stirred in me, some kind of emotion. I shoved it back down as fast as I could and scowled. Was this some new incident? Was that woman behind the other attacks on the aquarium? My gaze was darting between the woman and this strange magic, trying to make sense of it, when all hell broke loose.
The blonde woman screamed, reaching into the tank for something, and her feet lifted off the ramp. The dolphins chittered.
Levi took off up the ramp but his movements seemed slower than usual. Roman and I headed up as well, and something gold colored slid down through the tank. The dolphins nudged at it as if they wanted to play, or maybe they were trying to retrieve it for her.
I stumbled to a stop, grabbing the handrail, as all of the portals I was supporting—that let the animals roam between the aquarium and the sea—suddenly stopped working. I pushed out with my magic and . . . nothing. I’d been completely cut off. I frowned at my fingertips, looking for the magic that had been with me my whole life, but it was gone. What the hell?
I took a breath, not knowing what to do or what to think. Was it just me? Was this another attack? Had she caused it? Or was she a victim as much as I was? I kept climbing the ramp. I needed to get to the bottom of this and fast. The animals wouldn’t be happy to be trapped here, and even if I got the portals working again, they might not return. I’d have to call on that loafer, Hudson, to help. As a sea turtle shifter, he claimed he spoke “the language of the sea” or some such nonsense.
