Blood of a Mermaid Read Online Free Page B

her emerald eyes blazing. “And you spent far too much time with her last week when your friend John was visiting.”
    Shea frowned. “How do you know? You said you were too busy getting ready for the move to hang out with us.”
    Kae tossed her blonde curls over her shoulder. “I have my ways.”
    Hailey stood up and put her hands on her hips. “Well then, lucky thing for you that I’m leaving for the rest of the summer. Wouldn’t want to cause any rift between the lovebirds. Or is it love- fish ?”
    Shea threw up his hands in disgust. “Hailey, you’re being impossible. I told you before, we’re all friends.” He looked from one girl to the other, noting that both of them were scowling. “Please?” he added, hating the whining note that had entered his voice.
    At that moment, Martha came up the stairs from the basement and emerged into the kitchen, arms loaded with damp towels to be hung on the clothesline. She glanced from one frowning face to the other, before focusing on the mermaid. “Kae, dear, it’s so good to see you again. Your mother tells me you’re headed to University this fall.”
    “University?” Hailey asked, the anger in her voice replaced by curiosity. “But aren’t you only 15?”
    “It’s when we start,” Kae explained.
    “We?” Hailey’s head whipped in Shea’s direction, her eyes narrowing into thin slits. “And you’re upset with me for leaving for the summer? When were you going to tell me that you’re headed off to some mermaid school in September?”
    “That’s different,” Shea started.
    “Different, huh? So when I was busy babbling on to your friend John about starting at Monomoy High School together in the fall, you knew the whole time you wouldn’t be going there. Why didn’t you tell me?”
    Shea looked down at his feet. “It’s complicated.”
    His grandmother spoke up. “Nothing is certain until it is certain.” The three teens stared at her. “Except laundry. If you children will excuse me. Shea, could you get the door?”
    He held the screen door to the yard open for her. When he turned back, he saw Hailey stomping out of the kitchen and down the hall, heading for the front door. “Hailey, wait!”
    Kae shook her blonde curls, moving toward him and putting a gentle hand on his elbow. “Let her go. We still need to talk.”
    He turned back to stare at her, noting the serious look in her eyes and feeling his stomach clench into a ball. She’d used the one phrase a boy never wants to hear from his girl, as it never seems to lead to anything good in books or movies. Or real life, for that matter. His mind spun through the possibilities of subject matter, deciding it was probably her parents raising objections again.
    Maybe they should’ve tried dating in secret? He felt it important to be up front with them, especially since he knew Kae’s father was the merman assigned to keep watch over Shea for the summer, to keep him safe from Demyan. Shea didn’t think the Adluo would be crazy enough to return to the scene of his defeat, but King Koios was taking no chances. There would be no “secret” dating – or secret anything – for the heir to the Atlantic throne.
    It was as if Kae could read his mind, and see the swirl of emotions wreaking havoc in his head. She smiled, her eyes glittering. “It’s not that kind of talk, Shea. My feelings for you are still true.” She leaned in and planted a soft kiss on his cheek. “And you have good taste in jewelry, even if you have awful taste in drylander friends.”
    Something unknotted in his stomach.
    Feelings were proving a trickier thing than learning to swim.
    “Okay, then,” he said, still feeling slightly uncertain. “What is it we need to talk about?”

Chapter Three
    Shea lay on his back, his eyebrows furrowed with frustration and anger as he stared at the ceiling over his bed. The “talk” with Kae hadn’t been what he thought… it had been worse. She was leaving Cape Cod in the morning,