By the time lunch came there was still no sign of Troy and I was starting to worry. What if something bad had happened? What if he decided he didn't want to be with me anymore? What if-
"Would you stop freaking out? Honestly. He loves us! He told us and his parents remember? And Renee says she has seen it, he isn't leaving us. I'm sure he has a perfectly good explanation." Nan reassured me although I could tell she was also a little annoyed that we hadn't heard from Troy. I try not to overthink the situation as I walk to the lunch room, but it's my specialty. All I can think about is Troy not wanting to be with me because I had kept the truth from him. Maybe he thought I was a liar or deceitful, or-
"Ugh stop! You're stressing me out. Go get a piece of pizza and then go sit down." Nan snapped at me. I didn't try to overthink I just did, especially in stressful situations. I walked quickly thru the lunch line picking up a piece of pepperoni pizza. I walked towards our lunch table and was surprised to see all of girls there already.
"Ugh finally, there you are! Hurry up and sit down so Scarlet can tell us what she found, she refused to tell us anything until you got here." Lily said as soon as she saw me. I looked at her confused as I sat down next to Renee.
"Tell us what?" I asked.
"About Troy!" Lily looked at me like I should have known what she was talking about. "Who would have thought that mermaids ever exsisted!" My eyes widened as I looked at her, how did she know about that.
"Yes I know all about your secret mer lover, who do you think helped Scarlet break into her parent's office?" Lily smiled slyly.
I looked over at Scarlet who smiled sheepishly, "I'm sorry, I know it's a secret but I needed the help. Someone had to keep watch while I broke into my parent's office." I should have known better than to think a secret would stay a secret in our little group. I also couldn't be mad at Scarlet, what she did could have gotten her into a lot of trouble if she had gotten caught.
"Then we really couldn't leave Ellie out, that just wouldn't be fair or nice." Renee added and I nodded that I agreed. Keeping Ellie out of the loop when everyone else knew would have been a pretty crappy thing to do.
"Please don't be mad at us." Scarlet gave me her perfected puppy dog look and I couldn't help the smile on my face.
"I'm not mad with you guys, I promise." I gave her a reassuring smile. "So what did you find out Scarlet?"
"Okay, so I didn't find out an exact answer but something kind of similar." Scarlet started. "I found a story about a wolf and fairy that were mates."
"A fairy? You've got to be kidding me." Lily scoffed.
"Werewolves, mermaids, and now fairies. What's next, trolls?" Ellie asked.
"You guys hush!" Renee said with wide eys, "Keep going Scarlet."
"Anyways, I couldn't find all the details on the story, but I did find out what happened when the wolf marked the fairy." Scarlet stopped.
"What?! What happened??" I shouted.
"Annie shhh, people are starting to stare." Lily said.
"Sorry," I said lowering my voice. "What happened Scarlet?"
"When the wolf marked her the fairy lost all of her powers, and she became human."
"What happened to the wolf?" Renee interrupted her.
"From what I can tell he remained the same. There wasn't a ton of information, but good news is you won't kill Troy. He will just become human! Unless of course mer's react to the mark differently than fairies." Scarlet looked at me and smiled.
It was good news that I probably wouldn't kill Troy when I marked him, great news actually, however it didn't solve the majority of our problems. If I marked Troy and he became human then he couldn't be Alpha or King. He would just be a normal guy that was mated to a wolf. A wolf that needed a wolf for a mate.
"Okay, so say he turns human. Will he live longer like we can or will he have the normal life span of a human?" Renee asked.
"Again, there wasn't a lot of information but it looks like he would live longer like we can. That's if he doesn't get hurt, he would still be human and would heal slowly or not at all if the injury was bad enough." Scarlet turned to look at me. "I'm sorry Annie, I wish I had more to tell you but that's all I could find. I could try breaking into their office again and seeing if I can find more information if you want?"
"We can all break into the office! More eyes could cover more ground." Lily said. The other girls nodded in agreement and started to plan another break in.
"Guys I appreciate it but I don't want anyone getting caught or found out. What Scarlet found already is more than I could ask for. Thank you for being willing to taking the risk for me." I said to them all interrupting their planning.
"You're our future Luna Annie, we would do anything for you." Ellie said, the others agreeing. I gave them a grateful smile and zoned out as they started talking about some party this weekend. If Troy reacted like the fairy did to the mark then he wouldn't die, he would just turn human. Which would be perfect if we were any two other people, two normal people. But no, I have to be the Alpha's daughter and he has to be the King's son. The bell rang singling lunch was over and I realized I forgot to grab my book for Chemistry from my locker before lunch.
"I'll see you guys later." I called to the girls as I hurried to my locker. I couldn't help but look over at Troy's locker hoping he would be there.
"Staring at his locker won't make him magically appear dog." I turned to see Joy standing a few feet away.
"Excuse me?" I could have sworn she called me dog but there's no way she would know I'm a werewolf.
"You heard me mutt. He's disappeared because of you." She just called me a mutt, so she definitely knows. But how? Wait, she just said Troy disappeared.
"Disappeared?! What do you mean?" I asked. "And how do you-"
"Know about you? Our King doesn't keep secrets. I've known about you since day one dog." She snarled at me.
"Where is Troy?" I snarled at her, and my dad thought I was the one with the attitude problem.
"Like I'm going to tell you anything. Just stay away from Troy okay?" She turned to walk away but I reached out and grabbed her.
"Owe! You're hurting my arm!" Joy looked at me and I'm sure she could tell that Nan was close to surfacing because her face turned to a look of terror.
"You will tell me what I want to know, NOW." I growled and tightened my grip on her arm.
"Ouch! Okay, okay. Troy took off to the Ocean to find answers about you two, said it was a matter of life and death. No one's heard from him since he left." Joy whimpered out and I released her arm.
My heart swelled when I heard that, he was out looking for answers for us. On the other hand I was also hurt that he hadn't told me that he was leaving.
"He didn't say when he would be back?" I questioned her.
"No, King Alexander didn't know when he would be back." She answered me quickly. Troy's dad didn't even know when he would be back. Wait, she had called his dad King.
"You're a mer?" I asked.
"I will be." She mumbled as she rubbed her arm where I had grabbed her.
"You will be?" How could she not be one, either she is or she isn't.
"I mean, I am." Her eyes widened as she realized her slip up. I stepped towards her to give her a little incentive to tell the truth, and it worked. "Fine! I'm one but I'm not. I uh, haven't shifted yet."
I looked at her confused, "Don't you just have to get wet and bam! Tail?"
Joy rolled her eyes at me, "Honestly, and he wants to make you Queen. Ha! No it doesn't work like that, we can be in water and not shift. How do you think I did swim team? I uh, just haven't shifted yet, no one knows why." She put her head down embarrassed and I felt sorry for her. Barely, but a little bit.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know." I graciously apologized even if I didn't really mean it.
Joy straightened herself out, "Yeah well now you know and if you know what's good for you, you will keep it to yourself." And she walked away.
So Joy is a Mer also, well kind of. I would keep her secret, I had enough on my plate than to spread gossip about a mermaid without a tail.