Mermaids And The Vampires Who Love Them

30. BARE-CHESTED WEREWOLVES

Days have passed, but no one has heard from Fintan since he was abducted by dragons. And poor Pickles! As soon as this is over, I'm determined to visit her on Mt. Olympus, where Cupid has hidden her from her mother. But it's Halloween, and as the saying goes, the show must go on. We have to do this for the kidnapped merfolk and the oceans. Pickles and Fintan would want us to go ahead, but it's not as fun vanquishing a villain without all your best pals.

Today we will take down Darkins, rescue the merfolk, save the bay, and finally get back to the standard teen problems of dating, math homework, and overprotective parents.

So far, there are sixteen of us West Marin Heights students hiding behind a knoll near the dusty dirt road that leads to the Darkins compound. We're waiting for Cupid to bring the last group of students over in his chariot. Then we'll lay out the details of our plan for everyone.

My mouth is dry, and my stomach is twisted in knots. So much is riding on us today, but I'm excited too. We are doing this!

While we wait, Thunder and Lily-Bella have wandered off and disappeared behind an enormous eucalyptus tree. Pierce has gone ahead into the compound to scope out the positions and number of Darkins' guards. Shelly is sitting by herself in the meadow, picking at the grass. She's been a bit of a loner since abandoning me in the barrel that night. We haven't told her yet about her mom being here. We don't trust her not to do something rash.

A tractor rumbles by on the road beneath us, startling me. It's the same road where Pierce 'borrowed' a car last time we came here. The sun is high in the sky, and I'm sweating in my leather pants and black wig, but there's no help for that. Today I am Kelly Spring—party planner extraordinaire.

I wipe my forehead with the back of my hand. There's a sudden blissfully cool rush of fennel-scented wind as Cupid sweeps by and steers Apollo's golden chariot to a flat spot in the middle of a stand of trees at the top of the knoll. Four werewolves hop over the side—Gunther, Tamar, Charlotte, and Kiara. Vang, the cute vampire from art class, opens the door, jumps out, and offers his hand to Khione, goddess of snow. She takes it and steps gracefully to the ground, a flurry of snowflakes spiraling up and down her thin body. She seems oblivious to the way Vang is looking at her.

I walk over to greet the students and direct them to where everyone is waiting. Cupid winks at me. He's been teasing me all morning about my 'Kelly' outfit. He's wearing his Peter Gibbons suit, this time with a bow tie and a pink carnation in his lapel instead of a gerbera daisy. His curly blond hair is slicked back, and a pair of horn-rimmed glasses sits low on his nose even though I'm pretty sure gods don't need them.

"Does Apollo know you've 'borrowed' his chariot again? Or are we going to have to rescue you later from where you're pinned to a rock in Hades?" I ask.

"Of course he doesn't know! I'm not an idiot," Cupid says.

"That's up for debate," I say.

"There is something about gods that you do not know," Cupid says as he releases the alicorns from their golden harness.

"Enlighten me."

"We never learn from our mistakes! It's against our religion."

I snort. "Besides the likelihood of Apollo locking you up in Hades again, what if a guard from the compound sees magical winged unicorns chomping on their grass?"

"Do not worry, my dear. They have a glamour upon them that makes them look like ordinary horses to humans."

One of the alicorns whinnies in protest.

"What is it, Sprinkles?" says Cupid.

"She says, 'I am no ordinary horse, you arse,'" I translate for him. "Her words, not mine."