The Mermaid's Chest

  The Mermaid’s Chest

  By

  Donald L. Wigboldy Jr

  Copywrite June 2012

  https://www.facebook.com/BattleMageATaleOfAlus

  Other books by Donald L. Wigboldy Jr.

  From the Tales of Alus series:

  Battle Mage: A Tale of Alus

  Battle Mage: Winter’s Edge

  Battle Mage: The Lost King

  Battle Mage: Dragon Mage

  The High King: A Tale of Alus

  The Emperor’s Shadow War

  Modern Tales:

  Voran the Night Guardian

  Chapter 1- Fish Out of Water

  An airplane’s engines rumbled from behind the white stone front of the international airport as it took off from the runway. The rumble barely deafened the cars’ engines as they passed or stopped to pick up their passengers from the arrivals doors. With waves and smiles, family and friends greeted each other as they quickly loaded luggage into trunks and back seats.

  Sitting on her hard shelled suitcase, the brunette sat looking worried as if she feared the unexpected. She looked at her cell phone, not for the first time over the past twenty minutes. Flipping through the contacts list, the girl looked at the number she had only used a half hour earlier.

  Another rental car came and went as a blue minivan rolled up taking its place and honked. The driver looked familiar. As he opened his door and looked over the windshield moving around the front of the vehicle he waved and called out, “Phoebe, oh my goodness, you look so grown up!”

  The tall brunette smiled and stood to wave back before grabbing for the handle of her carryon bag. “Hi, Uncle Ron,” she greeted with only a little shyness restraining the girl’s expression. Her pronunciation of his name made the man chuckle as the front and side passenger doors opened to reveal a woman of a similar age to her uncle as well as two girls nearer Phoebe’s age.

  “I still love the way you say my name with your accent,” the older man said with a grin as he grabbed for the suitcase that had served as her seat for the past twenty minutes.

  Blushing a little, the girl touched her right cheek self consciously with her free hand. “Oh come on, Uncle Ron, don’t tease me. It’s not like you don’t have an accent to me.”

  “She has a point, Ron,” the woman hanging onto her door, while standing right behind it, said with a shake of her head to her husband. “Her Australian accent isn’t that strong anyway. With a little time, she might even pick up a southern accent and drive her folks crazy by the time she goes home again.”

  “Nancy!” protested the man half heartedly as he dragged the piece of luggage to the back of the blue minivan. Pressing his key fob, the back door popped open and the two of them quickly stashed the girl’s luggage.

  As she neared the open side door and looked in at the two blond haired girls inside who offered up hellos of their own, Phoebe noted how much they looked like younger versions of their mother. The brown hair and eyes of her Uncle Ron, which were near mirrors to her father’s and her own, seemed to have been trumped by Aunt Nancy, though their faces were a blend of both making two pretty blue eyed girls.

  “I can’t believe that you’re finally here and we get to see you face to face,” the older of the two girls said as she hugged her cousin after sitting in the middle chair beside her. “How was your flight?”

  “It was all right most of the time. We had turbulence a few times along the way though.” Making a bit of a sick face, Phoebe admitted, “Even on such a large plane, I got sick.”

  Responding to Phoebe’s sick face with a sympathetic mirror on her own, her cousin Emily said, “I haven’t flown on an airplane yet. Too bad you got sick, but you’re on solid ground again and safe.” A particularly large bump as the van clipped a pothole sent them into a bounce on the seat causing the blond to grin ruefully. “Well, mostly solid anyway.”

  “Are you ready for an adventure in America, Phoebe?” Uncle Ron asked glancing back to the girl using his mirror.

  “Ron,” Nancy admonished pointing towards the car slowing ahead of them.

  “Oh yeah, I can’t wait to see your house. The pictures that you’ve sent us have been nice, but I can hardly wait to see it for myself.”

  The rest of them either smiled or laughed at her comment. “Well, you’ll have to wait a little longer,” Emily confided first to her cousin beside her. “Dad rented out a river front house for our vacation, so we’ll be there for a week first. We can go boating and swimming, or maybe go to Fort Sumter one day.”

  The younger girl in the backseat groaned. “Leave it to Emily to try and make us go some place historic while we’re supposed to be on vacation!”

  “Shut up, Faith!” the older blond scolded her sister angrily.

  “Emily, we don’t use that kind of language,” Aunt Nancy scolded in turn. “Now apologize to your sister.”

  “Yeah, apologize, Emily,” Faith mocked from the backseat.

  Rolling her eyes at Phoebe, who could merely shrug as she could empathize having a younger sister of her own, Emily said less than sincerely, “Sorry.”

  Talking in a more hushed tone to her cousin while the sounds of the car and the radio, which was turned down playing a country music station, drowned her whispers. The blond said almost conspiratorially, “Faith prefers boys to history.”

  “Speaking of boys,” Phoebe said changing the subject slightly, “Where’s Adam? Is he still at university?”

  The girls giggled, “College? No, Adam and his friend are already at the cottage.”

  “It’s actually going to be a pretty big crowd there,” Uncle Ron said from his driver’s seat as the van slowed for a red light. “Some of the girls’ friends along with Adam and his friend are staying with us for the week, so there should be plenty of people to keep you busy, Phoebe.”

  Forcing a weak smile, the shy girl said, “Great.”

  “You’ll love my friend, Katie. I’ve known her forever,” her bench mate assured her.

  Faith gave a sniff of disapproval from behind her sister, drawing an annoyed look from Emily. Catching Phoebe’s eye as her cousin turned to look at the sound, the younger girl added, “I don’t really know what you see in her. She’s a bit of a loner. Except for you, I don’t think she has any other friends.”

  Giving her sister a cold look, Emily replied, “Katie’s very cool and pretty too. She has a lot of friends, especially boys. Just because she doesn’t have a lot of girl friends, doesn’t mean she’s a loner, Faith.”

  “Oh, so she’s a tomboy? That makes it better?”

  Emily groaned and turned back to look out the front window even as she ground her teeth.

  Attempting to make her cousin feel better, Phoebe said, “I’m sure I’ll like her anyway. If she’s your friend, she must be all right.”

  Phoebe spent much of the remaining ride sightseeing out of the side window. Despite being half a world from home, the girl thought that there were many similarities to the landscape that she was used to, but of course the main difference at the moment was Australia was now in winter while South Carolina was entering summer. Though Queensland never became too cold even during the winter, the land still experienced a change that seemed similar to her new surroundings.

  Living just outside of Gold Coast, Phoebe was used to seeing the water in both canals, rivers and even the ocean, but she wasn’t a very good swimmer. The fact that the first place her family was taking her was to a cottage on a river didn’t make the girl feel any better either. Looking on the bright side, Phoebe figured that seeing her cousins and their friends should still be fun, even for a girl who was somewhat shy.

  When the van pulled up in front of the two story house, Phoebe was rather surprised. It was much bigger than she would have assumed a rental cottage would be.

  “Well, we’re here!” Uncle Ron proclaimed rather late as the girls were already exiting the van. He popped the back hatch while removing the key from the ignition. “Can you girls give Phoebe a hand and show her where the room is?”

  “Yes, dad,” Emily answered as the two older girls began pulling the luggage from the back. “Already on it, but thanks for asking.”

  “Smarty,” was the response from the front seat, albeit Uncle Ron was good natured about the ribbing. “I thought I raised you to be the nice one, Emily.”

  “Yeah, but mom said otherwise,” the blond laughed as she and Phoebe began walking the suitcases into the house.

  “What are you bringing me into this for, young lady?” Aunt Nancy asked from the doorway as Faith snuck past trying to avoid carrying the luggage with her hasty retreat.

  Phoebe noted the dark green siding with white trim. It wasn’t a color she liked on a house, but the exterior was still impressive. As the two girls pushed through the screened back door into a kitchen and dining area, she noted that like many cottages it seemed somehow reversed. The eating area was the entry from the driveway side, but the large living room that could be seen through an open half wall ahead of them opened up with a view of the water with large windows extending from floor to ceiling.

  “This way,” Emily motioned for her cousin to follow her to the right where a door could be seen at the end of a short hallway revealing a bedroom. Instead of heading straight, however, they turned at a staircase on their left that had been mostly hidden by the kitchen wall.

  Thumping up the stairs as they dragged the luggage, the two girls made enough noise to let anyone know they were coming. A split at the top of the stairs revealed three b
edrooms and a central bathroom. Heading into a room that looked decorated for a girl’s taste with dark pink walls and light pink comforters on a pair of full size beds with their floral prints, Emily proclaimed, “This is ours. We’ll have to share with Katie, but Faith and her friend are in the next room. Adam and his friend, David, are in the other room while my parents are downstairs. I think they’re hoping that being on a different floor will help them sleep if we stay up too late talking and such.”

  With a slight smile and a brief nod, Phoebe admitted, “Sensible of them. It will be nice to try and catch up. It’s been ages since I’ve seen any of you in person, though the internet does help to still keep the family together.”

  “Yup,” the blond said with a nod, “I don’t know what we would do without it. Since you were born in Australia after Uncle Henry took a job there and married Aunt Sylvia, we’ve only been able to see and hear you on the computer or phone. It does make the world a little smaller that way.

  “But it’s still better to see you in person,” Emily added with a big hug for Phoebe, who returned it almost as warmly.

  After sitting on the bed as Phoebe began emptying her bags into one of the chest of drawers and closet, Emily casually asked, “So if you hadn’t come to visit us, what would you be doing now?”

  Biting her lip in thought a moment before answering, Phoebe shrugged, “Pretty normal stuff. I finished school last term, so normally I would have to do that, but I guess that means I probably would have needed to get a job to keep busy. On my days off I could get together with my friends and hang out. We go shopping or hang out at the beach and watch people a lot. There are a couple good restaurants to hang out at also. Pretty normal stuff I would think. If we have enough money there are even some theme parks to go to nearby.”

  “Nice,” was Emily’s reply, “maybe I should have visited you instead.” With a little chuckle, the girl rose from her seat. Noting that Phoebe had finished her unpacking, the blond grabbed her by the arm pulling her from the room. Her cell phone was in hand, but all but ignored as the two started back down to visit with the others downstairs.

  They were still walking down when the girls noticed that there was a bit more noise than expected. Emily moved past Phoebe as if she was almost forgotten in the moment. “Katie?” she asked before anyone came into view.

  “Hey, Emily, I brought someone else along as a surprise,” a cheerful voice greeted as the two girls moved back into the walkway beside the kitchen.

  A petite blond with lightly curled hair waved as she spotted her friend. A second girl, a brunette with dark blue eyes gave a half smile and waved a bit more curtly. “I hope it’s all right?” the second girl added with a bit of worry in her voice. “My parents were going to be out of town for a convention and my brother went to camp already. I was getting a little lonely at home.”

  With a cheerful reply, Aunt Nancy tried to make her feel better by answering, “No problem, Taylor, there’s plenty of room. The girls were already going to have to share one of the beds anyway. Now it’ll be four of you there. That’s all.”

  A third, younger girl was grabbed by Faith. “Come on, Brook, I’ll show you our room,” the youngest Cantrell said quickly pulling her friend towards the stairs.

  Katie shrugged, “Since I was roped into driving Brook for your sister, when I found Taylor was going to be stuck at home I sort of invited her. We were already coming anyway, so I figured what’s one more?”

  A couple boys entered from the riverside doors in the living room. “Hey, mom,” a blond haired young man greeted as he and his brown haired friend entered. Both were athletic looking to Phoebe’s eyes and the blond was easily recognizable as her cousin Adam. She had seen pictures and it hadn’t been that long ago that Adam had sent a video through the computer as well. Carrying their towels and just wearing their swim trunks and sandals, the boys were a bit red from the sun. “Well, the boat’s all fueled and running nicely. We filled up at the landing. It was a bit pricey though.”

  Getting the hint, Uncle Ron said, “Just let me know how much it cost me so I can write it down.”

  Coming over to the kitchen, the two young men noted the four girls with smiles. Adam’s friend noted Phoebe along with the rest. “Who are all these lovely girls? I knew I was going to be on vacation, but I didn’t think it was going to be in heaven.”

  Adam’s eyes brightened on seeing Phoebe as well, before he introduced them all, “You know my sister and those are her friends, Katie and Taylor, who I didn’t realize would be joining us. The last but not least is my beautiful cousin Phoebe apparently.” He finished with a grin that quickly sank as he thumbed in the direction of his friend and added, “This unfortunate piece of trouble I call my friend is David Curtner. Watch out for him, girls. Half of what he says is lies.”

  “Hey!” the dark haired young man protested. “Don’t besmirch me in front of the beautiful ladies. Brothers don’t sink each other before they get a chance to try.”

  Laughing at each other, the boys drew the girls in with nervous giggles of their own as well.

  “But seriously,” David added after a moment, “how lucky are we? Just two guys and so many pretty girls around.”

  Uncle Ron pretended to look fierce as he cut off the dark haired friend, “Better be careful, young man. Half those girls are family and the rest I know their families.”

  Feigning fear, David backed away hands raised as if to show that he was unarmed. “I have been warned, sir, though I will admit that I am still forced to admire their beauty.”

  The girls began to roll their eyes at the cheesy lines and Katie was the first to turn to Emily and ask, “Anyway, now that the entertainment part of our arrival is over with maybe you can show us where to put our stuff, Emily?”

  Retreating from the kitchen even as the two boys began talking in whispers to each other, the four girls went up to the room once again.

  Chapter 2- Jetlag

  With the four young women all inside of the “pink room” as the girls were officially calling it, the room felt a lot smaller, but while Phoebe watched the three friends chatting together it did afford them enough room to move around without running over each other. Katie and Taylor were stowing their clothes like Phoebe had earlier as they talked.

  “I’m glad your parents didn’t get mad about me coming along,” Taylor was saying while she put her shirts in the lower drawers of the dresser Phoebe had used for her clothes.

  Katie made a sound through her teeth as if she were annoyed. “Tch, I told you it would be fine. You had to get all worried over it on me.”

  “I know, but I wasn’t invited.”

  Cutting into the conversation, Emily said, “If I had known you didn’t have anything to do, I would have asked you to come though. I’m sorry.”

  “Gah!” Katie cried out in exasperation. “Neither of you need to be sorry, silly girls. We’re all here now, so let’s try and have some fun.

  “Speaking of fun, your brother and his friend sure looked good with their shirts off, didn’t they?”

  Making a face at her friend, Emily quickly stated, “He’s my brother! Like I think about him that way, now David on the other hand I can certainly agree on.”

  The three friends giggled as Phoebe smiled and added, “Well being family, I have to go with Emily. David does have a nice body. You two can look at both, I guess.”

  “Oh, more for us then,” Katie stated with a devious grin.

  Emily rolled her eyes and made a gagging gesture at the other blond haired girl.

  Taylor sighed as she watched the other two teasing each other. “Like either of them would think of us like that. They’re college men after all.”

  The two blonds looked at each other and seemed to read one another’s minds as they turned back to Taylor and declared in unison, “They’re boys.”

  Katie continued by adding, “Girls are what all guys think about, especially college boys. You don’t think David wasn’t at least half serious when he played up to us down there? Come on.” Taking off the blue button up shirt to reveal her red tank top, the girl stated, “Besides we’re pretty hot aren’t we?”