Miss Nobody

Chapter 39

BLOOD IN THE WATER

Evening Day 23

The Sex Magic was subtle but created a static in the air, my tiny hairs stood like they were magnetized by an invisible force.

"Mmmm." The Sheriff laid on his back next to me. The cuts and wounds mended.

Knitting together across his body. "I'm still tingling." He chuckled and pulled me close to him. "The pain is gone."

I rested my head on his healed chest.

He snuggled into me. "You probably don't want to talk about this." He paused briefly. "I don't understand why Keiran and my sister were after you. I've never seen her like that before." He stared at the ceiling.

I shrugged nonchalantly, the opposite of what I actually felt. "They were being controlled by my evil mother."

"Like possessed?"

I sat up and leaned against the headboard, wrapping the blanket around myself. "I guess. Something like that."

He sat up and turned to look at me. "She must be a powerful Witch? Having both my sister and Keiran under her power this entire time."

"I have a feeling she pays powerful Witches. She would never get her hands dirty."

He looked at me questioningly. "She might not have the Magic herself. Why is she trying to kill you?"

"I don't know." I shrugged.

"Death by a thousand cuts," Keiran said in my head. "She's a narcissist, so it's about control. You're an object to her, something she owns. You're right about her hiring someone. We never had direct contact with the bitch. Our orders were given to us by others. Always a different voice in my head."

"And Bishop knew nothing about this?"

"No. Elenora wasn't a big part of your...destruction. She was working on other projects for your bitch mom. Now I know how Elenora was making her money. I had no idea she was selling women."

I closed the connection between us to the size of a pea and told Bishop what I did know, "My evil bitch of a mother was married to a man named Ron before I was born. Ron wanted to transition into a woman and she didn't like that very much."

Bishop cocked an eyebrow.

"There was a long and bitter divorce. Mainly on my crazy mothers side. Afterward, Ron transitioned but during the process, he met Elenora's mother. Your Mother too, right?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Her name was Willow."

"Willow and Ron had Elenora. When my bitch mother found out she cursed them, or hired someone to curse them. To give up their first born. It devastated Willow. She left Ron, who was a woman by then, and met your father."

"And went on to have seven sons." He smirked. He interlocked his fingers with mine and absentmindedly played with them.

"Where are you in the line-up?"

"I was the last one. She died giving birth to me."

"I'm so sorry." Tears pricked my eyes as I imagined a tiny baby with no mother.

He shrugged. "It was a long time ago. What happened to Ron after my mother divorced them?"

"Keiran doesn't know." I dabbed at the tears in my eyes with the blanket.

Bishop laid next to me and beckoned me into his arms. "I wonder what their name was after they transitioned?"

"Can you find out?" I turned to face him. "Did your mom know?"

"No one ever talked about any of this."

Keiran poked at my brain and I opened the imaginary window. "Elenora kept a diary. That's how I found out about all this in the first place. Tell Jonny to let me out and I'll look for them."

"I'll do some digging. Is Keiran in your head?" Bishop leaned over me.

"Always." I sighed.

"Tell him to go away." He kissed me, slowly.

I wrapped my hands around his strong back, running my hands down to grope his butt. I closed the window back down to a tiny crumb, shutting Keiran out.

Bishop nibbled on my neck, chills ran down my shoulders. He pulled back. "What's wrong?"

"We have to go back there," I said quietly, not wanting it to be true. I shivered.

He laid back against the pillows and stared at the ceiling again.

"Keiran says she kept journals."

He nodded and pulled me close to him. He grabbed my leg and pulled it across his stomach. He squeezed my thigh. "We'll go in the morning." He turned to face me. "I don't want to waste this night with you thinking about these terrible things." He smiled and leaned in to kiss me.

I pushed him over onto his back and straddled his waist. I rubbed my pussy back and forth over his cock and bent to kiss him.

He moaned, his cock hardening under me. He held my hip tightly with a strong hand. His thumb slid against my clit and his cock hit me in just the right spot, making me pulse around him. His hands held my hips roughly and grinded me against himself. "I can feel you coming."

I collapsed onto his chest and caught my breath.

He thrust himself inside me and moaned as he came. "Damn."

I rolled off of him and he pressed himself against me. Settling in to sleep with his comfortable warmth on my back.

Early Early Morning Day 24

I woke to the pleasant morning sunlight peeking through the small window. My stomach rumbled with the smell of bacon and eggs. I pulled one of Bishop's larger shirts over my head and sleepily made my way to the kitchen.

Bishop was standing in front of the stove cooking breakfast. He was out of his uniform, wearing only a pair of swim trunks. He turned to me with a smile. "Morning. I like to drink my coffee on the deck." He went up the little stairway with some coffee cups and I followed him.

He sat on a small outdoor couch and poured himself a cup of coffee. He offered me one.

"No thanks, I don't drink coffee." I sat next to him and enjoyed the fresh air and beautiful lake scenery.

We sat quietly next to each other while Bishop drank his coffee. My mind was blank, peaceful, tranquil.

He suddenly jumped up from the couch and dove over the railing and into the water.

I rushed to the side of the boat looking for him.

His head popped up out of the water and he grinned at me. "Come in, the water is so nice."

I laughed. "I like looking at the water, not being in it." I shuddered thinking of the unknown under our feet.

His laugh was cut short as he quickly disappeared under the water.

"Sheriff?" I called after him. Fuck. I looked around for a safety ring. "BISHOP!" I screamed out over the water as it got darker and darker.

I rushed down the narrow staircase back inside his boat. I pulled open a storage closet and grabbed a big flashlight. I hurried up to the deck and scanned the dark water with the bright light.

Bishop shouted for help further than my light could reach.

A small row boat next to the Sheriff's boat bobbed in the water and I ran to it. I deftly untied the tether to the dock and tossed my flashlight and then myself into the small vessel. I rowed to the area I last heard Bishop and scanned the flashlight over the surface of the dark lake. Nothing but calm waters, too dark to see the stars in the sky.

Bishop's voice was close to the small boat. "Help me Jane." The boat dipped as he grabbed onto the edge. "I'm caught on something. Help me." He reached for me.

I grabbed onto his hand and arm but it was too slippery and I couldn't get a good grip. I looked down and screamed when its bluish-gray coloring and webbed fingers grabbed for me.

A flash of sharp teeth jumped at me from the water and I fell backward over the edge of the boat and into the cold, dark, lake. My screams were swallowed by the water as I went under. I held my breath and searched for the way up. The flashlight spun next to me and I grabbed it before it plunged to the bottom. I swung it around wildly as I looked for the surface.

The beam of light stopped on Cherry's frozen face. Her skin pale and swollen. Her pretty eyes gone, only dark holes remained. Her dark hair gently swayed around her. A small fish swam out of one of the empty sockets and nibbled a hole in her cheek.

Before I could scream under the water bluish-gray arms with webbed fingers grabbed at me from behind her. They yanked me forcefully into Cherry's body, squishing her frozen body between us.

Little pieces of her corpse came loose and hovered around us, clouding the water.

I glimpsed sharp, shiny teeth before a knife sliced through the water, severing the abnormal head of the thing holding on to me. It released my arms and something grabbed the back of my borrowed t-shirt and pulled me swiftly through the frigid water, away from Cherry's body. A kaleidoscope of stars spun in front of my eyes but we broke the surface of the water before I passed out and I gasped for air.

Nen slowly rose in the water next to me in the small space. As soon as his mouth was above the water he said quietly, "don't be afraid." His long neon green hair mixed with my red waves on the surface. He held a webbed finger up to his mouth. "Shh, the water can hear," he whispered.

I must be dreaming.

"Hold your breath." He grabbed the front of my t-shirt this time and pulled me under the water, swiftly swimming somewhere. The scenery flew by us in a blur.

I clung to his arm and struggled to not breathe. The colorful stars reappeared along with the desperation to inhale.

We broke the water and I gasped for air. My feet touched the sandy bottom and I crawled my way out of the water and collapsed on a small beach.

Nen bobbed in the water, only his bright green hair and shoulders visible. The walls surrounding us were rock. Half of them carved into shelves holding shiny household items and trinkets. Waterlogged books and sun-bleached wood in gnarled shapes.

"What is this place?" I wanted to ask him what he was but it seemed rude and I remembered mermaid stories. The old wives tales of beautiful beings luring humans to the water's edge.

"It's safe here." He walked out of the water, naked, and sat next to me on the sand. "You're lucky they didn't get you."

So lucky. "Why is Cherry under the water?" I asked quietly, averting my gaze.

"Humans often drop other humans in the lake. We never know why."

"What was that...thing?"

"A Nixie. They feed off the engorged flesh from the bodies. If we can't get the bodies into The Gardens before they come, the Nixies."

"Am I dreaming?" I pinched my arm, but my skin was so numb I couldn't feel anything.

"You're more awake than any other human I've met. Most scream and faint or run away."

"It's hard to scream underwater."

"You shouldn't be here. Shouldn't be under the water." He shook his head. "Why were you under the water, in the middle of the night?"

"I've been sleepwalking." I shivered. "I'm looking for something in the water."

"What?" He stood up and helped me get to my feet. "Maybe it's here." He gestured over the shelves.

The shelves blended with the surrounding rock in my vision and a memory surfaced.

***

I was in my car under the water. My seat belt too tight around me. I struggled to pull it out of the buckle as my car filled with water. My bag of money floated next to me. Fuck. I didn't have time to gather it and save myself. I worked all summer at the brothel to earn that money. I had an appointment with a lawyer in a few hours. His card floated from the bag of money.

That bastard! Keiran forced my car into the water with me in it. I have to kill him or this torture will never end.

The buckle was jammed with something and wouldn't release me from its binding. I punched the glass window of my door, doing nothing but cutting my knuckles open. The small amount of blood swirled in the water. A large quartz crystal point rolled across my dashboard and I grabbed it before it rolled out of reach. I jammed the point into the window and the window shattered into a million pieces. I held my breath as the water rose above my nose.

The car jerked as my door was rent open. A green-haired mermaid was tearing my seatbelt apart but I blacked out before I saw his face.

***

"It was you. You saved me from my car."

"No." He shook his head. "I didn't."

"But I saw you, your hair."

"I pulled you out of the car but I wasn't able to save you. I thought you were dead."

"What did you do...after that?" I swallowed the bile rising in my throat.

He hesitated. "I'm sorry."

I shivered. "Just tell me. What's done is done."

He looked down at the water.

"The investigators couldn't figure out where I had come from. I was naked and there was nothing in the report about me being wet."

He nodded. "I couldn't risk you leading them back to the Lake."

I nodded, encouraging him to continue.

"I pulled you through the underground waterways. Brought your body up through the storm drain and put it in the ditch. I took your clothes and made sure you were completely dry before I hid behind a tree."

I sat on the sand and looked over the water. Little snippets of that night coming back to me. His green hair a beacon while I was in and out of consciousness. He was gentle with my bruised and battered body.

He sat next to me. "I waited. Until a homeless woman found you and then I disappeared before she noticed."

I nodded. "Thanks."

"Do you know how you got in the water?"

"Someone pushed me in."

"I can help kill him if you want?"

I looked at him quickly and imagined him luring Keiran to the water's edge. "Drowning isn't painful enough for him."

His green eyebrows rose in surprise. "An ex?"

"Something like that." Never in a million years did I think I would have to claim Keiran as an ex. Even now, I wasn't sure if it counted. For either of us. He was under a spell and I was lied to and manipulated.

He laughed.

"We were put under a spell."

"Magic?" He stood quickly, stepping away from me like I was contagious. "That's why I can't influence you. You have Magic?"

"Influence me?"

He shrugged. "Just a test. You can't feel my pull at all?"

I shook my head and stood up, brushing the sand from my ass and legs.

"That's why the Nixie breached the surface of the water. They never do that but they couldn't influence you to jump in like they do with other humans."

"That's good?"

"Yes. Very much so." He stepped closer to me. "You are very lucky. Although, you did end up under the water anyway. Twice now."

"Yeah, well. Lots of crazy things happen in this town apparently." Going for a swim was the least of them. "What did you do with that bag of money that was in my car?" I changed the subject, the slightest of hopes he had it stashed somewhere in his cave.

"After I left your body, I went back to look but...everything was gone. The car was empty."

"Would the Nixies have taken it? Are there more of you down there? More...Mermaids?"

He grabbed my hand. "The tide will come in soon. I need to take you back." He pulled me back to the water.

"Wait."

He turned to look at me. "We'll take the shortcut through The Gardens but you won't like it." His arms were strong around my waist. "Maybe just keep your eyes closed." He pulled us under the water and quickly swam, pulling me along with him. His human legs faded into a green mermaid tail.

It wasn't far before we reached an ornate arched gateway. The algae-covered sign read The Garden. The stars sparkled in my vision.

Nen leaned down and put his lips on mine. He gently blew into my mouth and I inhaled his breath, the stars faded with the oxygen.

I held onto him as he swam us through the bodies. The human remains clung to the bottom of the lake floor. The bodies swayed gently as we made our way between them. I snapped my eyes shut and regretted not doing it sooner.

The Garden was nothing more than a graveyard. The bodies preserved from the icy lake water. The colorful stars danced in front of my eyes and I welcomed the darkness this time. Hoping I woke up from this nightmare.