Free Landlocked (A water witch novel) by C.S. Moore Page A

squeal and tell me he wasn’t a girl in a very feminine voice.
    Sunday was always my favorite day, and I wasn’t going to let a little thing like last night take that away from me. I had an awesome family and the most amazing best friend in the world, who needed a stupid boyfriend? I brushed my teeth and threw on some Victoria Secret sweats; they were amazingly comfortable and the only ones this season that didn’t have ’PINK’ written across the rear. Why it was in vogue to use one’s tush as advertising space I couldn’t understand. I didn’t want to think that my butt and a billboard had anything in common. I pulled a comb through my long wavy hair and relished leaving it down, a thing I rarely did.
    I opened my door quietly and tip toed down the stairs. I had never been up this early on a Sunday and wasn’t sure if Dylan and Sylvia slept in or not. I heard their voices just as I was about to round the corner of the stairway, but their hushed whispers made me pause. Why would they be whispering? They couldn’t be that worried about waking me up, could they?
    Dylan was speaking. “I’m not sure that he was bad, he could have just been curious.”
    Sylvia cut him off. “But you smelled traces of the concoction where he had crouched in the shadows. Why would he have that?”
    “They aren’t all bad. For all we know, he was making a delivery for people like us,” he said. “I’m just saying I don’t think we need to get any ideas until Mari has a dream or I sense something’s amiss.”
    “She did have a dream. And then what happened at the swim meet. If her speed doesn’t get talked about, even after the changed time, I’d be surprised. And now this…” Sylvia’s voice was quivering. “We need to get her out of here now. Maybe a week down at the lake house, then we can come back and test the water. Search the town and see if this voodoo man is still lurking about or if his presence was just a coincidence.”
    Voodoo man? What in the world were they talking about? None of what they were saying made any sense, but whatever it was made them feel that they needed to get me out of town for my own safety… which was ridiculous, even for them. I didn’t have any mob bosses that I was going to testify against, so who would be a danger to me? I started to feel guilty for overhearing a conversation that was definitely not meant for my ears, so I tip toed back upstairs and recreated my descent a little more loudly, try not to be too theatrical. When I came into view, Dylan and Sylvia were their normal cheery selves, seeing them go from the strange conversation to the people I was used to freaked me out… who could just flip a switch like that?
    “Hi, Mari, how was your night?” Sylvia asked a bit too quickly.
    I wondered if she meant how was your night as in did you and Clarissa have fun or did you have any freaky dreams? “Good.” I lied without feeling bad about it; after all, they seemed to lie to me with ease. “I mean the movie was dreadful, but Clarissa makes everything fun.” I thought of Clarissa, how I'd left her all alone the previous night, and the weird guy who'd followed me. I wanted to call her but knew that she wouldn’t be awake and if I called to wake her up, I might just get an earful.
    “You sure?” Sylvia asked, Dylan seemed happy with my answer but Sylvie called my bluff.
    Dylan’s head snapped up. “Is everything all right? Is there something you’re not telling us?”
    I rolled my eyes. Why did they have to be ridiculously overbearing, worrisome, and intuitive? I knew they loved me, but Lenny loved his mice too and look what happened to them.
    “No, I’m not good.” I sighed.
    Sylvia appeared to be about to have a heart attack and Dylan frowned deeply like this was the worst bit of news he’d ever heard.
    “It’s nothing serious. Calm down. It’s just a boy I kinda liked doesn’t like me. That’s all.”
    “A boy not like you, that’s impossible!” Sylvia said,