Mermaids And The Vampires Who Love Them

27. CUPID'S JEST

I feel Pierce's jealous frown on the back of my neck as we fly from West Marin Heights to the DOT Corporation barn where we are having our first press event planning session. Having 'disposed' of the real party planner, we are going with Cupid to meet with the mysterious boss himself! Apparently, this party is too important to hand off to underlings. But the closer we get to the barn, the tighter the knot in my stomach becomes. I am worried about two things: 1. Will our disguises be enough to convince the boss that we are human event planners (and not supernatural beings)? And 2. Will I be able to stop myself from throwing the evil boss into the merfolk tank with an electric eel, a box jelly, and a starving lionfish?

The afternoon sun is warm, the sky is a deep, show-off blue, and the few clouds look like frothy dollops of sea foam. A day like this should be for lounging on a rock in the ocean, watching the humans frolic on the sand, not bringing down a criminal mastermind. As we fly higher, the air chills my skin, especially as I'm clinging for dear life onto the ice sculpture that is Pierce Knightguard. But I endure the ... um ... hardship. Thank Poseidon, he can't read my mind right now. I may never let him drink my blood again!

But even as I think this, I know it's a lie. My blood is singing with the desire to become Pierce's lunch. Shut up, blood!

Pierce has barely spoken to me since Cupid planted that kiss on me in the cafeteria, though. I think he noticed that I kind of liked it and that I sort of tried to kiss Cupid back. But Cupid's got powers! Love powers! It's not like I go around throwing myself at random gods. (It doesn't help that Cupid's flying ahead of us and looking back over his shoulder every few minutes and smirking.)

"Ouch, you're crushing me, Waverly."

"That's because I'm not interested in falling. We're not over the ocean now. That's a forest. It's a long way down. There are very pointy treetops I'd like not to impale myself on."

Never anger a vampire poet boyfriend. Not because you're worried he might drink all your blood, but because the brooding is as annoying as sand-burn. Is it wrong that I'm thinking about impaling him on the pointy treetops? No, I suppose that wouldn't be a great plan. Maybe instead, I should hitch a ride with Cupid, though that probably wouldn't make my life any easier.

Cupid spins and dives toward the earth. Pierce, not to be outdone by Cupid's flying artistry, twists, and we plummet. I clutch my wig and scream. It's like the Undertow, the spinning roller coaster at the boardwalk, I try to tell myself. But myself argues back and says that there's very little probability of death on a rollercoaster. The ground is moving quickly toward us, a blur of sand-colored grasses and dirt road.

At the last moment, Pierce turns us right-side up, and we land hard on our feet. I glare at Pierce but decide not to say anything about his competitive stunt because we have a job to do. And if I'm being totally honest, I love that he is possessive of me. It makes my spine prickle, and my cheekbones ache because I grin whenever I think about his jealousy. I am a very bad mermaid.

"Why did we land in a field next to a road?" I ask. Before we started our hair-raising descent, I could see that the barn was still relatively far off, over the next knoll. Around us are brown hills, and the licorice smell of fennel floats on the light wind. Even though there's a breeze, my head is hot under the wig, and I haven't worn contacts in so long—since the last time Carla and I went to the boardwalk—that I keep wiping my eyes.

Cupid starts to answer me, but Pierce interrupts him, causing Cupid to stick out his tongue super immaturely. "We landed here because we obviously can't fly into the human enclave. The 'boss' can't know we're supernaturals; it'd blow the whole thing. We are just ordinary party planners here to rescue his event. We talked about this, Wave. Weren't you listening?"