“They did come.” He gave her a look. “Did you enchant them?”
“Not a word.” Thanks to the fish vigilante.
Bence seemed grudgingly impressed. “Good work.”
“Um, there was a man who helped me catch the fishermen. A tall guy in a wetsuit? Said he last stayed at the resort six years ago. His name is Torbjorn from Hyllestad.”
Bence’s eyes went wide. “No kidding?”
His response was telling. “Who is he, Bence?”
The supervisor looked down and scratched his chin. “Hmm. Well. Sounds like Lord Magnussen.”
“Is he a potential problem? Like . . . with the sirens?”
Bence’s hand moved to the back of his grizzled neck. “He’s an odd one—some kind of scholar, with lots of degrees. Studies magical creatures in the oceans. Naw, I wouldn’t worry about him.” He gave her a crooked smile.
Feeling somewhat better, Ellie stepped back out on the open dock and heard someone call her name. She turned to see a small herd of Zeidan children scamper across the beach and onto the dock. Their feet pounded along the boards. “Ellie! Cinder Ellie!”
From them, the nickname was no insult. She went down on one knee and opened her arms to receive their exuberant hugs. They were wet, sand-covered, and warm in her arms, and they quite melted her heart. Even Rafiq gave her a quick one-armed hug before backing off with a sheepish face.
“Do you have to be out there on the lake all day?” “Don’t you get sunburned?” “Did you really rescue Aisosa?” “Have you seen the lake monster?” “Do you like swimming?” The questions flew at her from all sides, and she could only laugh.
With her arms around Rita and Karim, she said, “I wish I could stay and play with you, but I’ve got to get back on patrol. But first I will answer your other questions, so listen closely! I apply a charmed spray to protect myself from the sun. I did have the pleasure of meeting your lovely friend Aisosa yesterday. The lake monster was napping this morning just north of the island. And I love swimming. There now.” She smiled around at them. “Are you happy?”
Rita’s lower lip started to quiver, and Karim said, “But we want you, Ellie.”
Ellie hugged them close, and when Rita’s arms slid around her neck, her heart seemed to expand inside her chest. But she had to set them down and keep them from swarming her again while she said, “Oh, sweeties, maybe we can see each other in the garden or on the beach sometime soon, and then you can tell me about your latest adventures, all right?”
Karim scowled but nodded, and Rita tried to smile, blinking fast. Ellie squeezed Karim’s hand, kissed Rita’s round cheek, and gave Yasmine and Rafiq loving smiles. “I have to leave now. Will you stand on the beach right over there and wave to me while I drive away?
The children nodded, brightening. Yasmine and Rafiq led their siblings back ashore while Ellie hurried to climb aboard her scooter. She drove out a little way then turned back to face her little fan club. “Soon!” she called.
A little chorus of echoes, smiles, and waves sent her on her way.
Ellie awakened on the third day of her lake patrol feeling decidedly blue. She had caught glimpses of Omar only from a distance during the past two days, usually near the guests’ dining hall in the company of several other young men, including that odd champion of panfish, Torbjorn. While this was considerably better than seeing him in the company of fawning girls, she wasn’t sure whether he noticed her at all.
The Zeidan family always reserved the royal suite for four weeks; Omar had missed the first two weeks, and the third was flying past. Ellie’s heart hurt at the thought of not seeing him again for an entire year . . . or ever.
This was bad. This was very bad. Her heartache was nonsensical, of course, for she scarcely knew the boy and had conversed with him only a few times. She was simply infatuated with his looks. And perhaps also with his gentle voice and his reputation as a true gentleman and his mathematical genius and the way he interacted with his younger siblings and . . . She could go on for hours, but what was the point? The brain fever would surely pass once he was out of her life for good.
After feeding the sprites and imps, she slipped into another of her practical swimsuits and a pair of sport shorts—the resort’s dress code was stricter for staff than for guests—and pulled her hair into a high ponytail. At least she looked clean, not sooty or gray, she mused while regarding her reflection. The charmed sun-deflecting spray preserved her fair complexion, protected her eyes, and kept her hair from drying out.
She was pretty, she knew, for male guests frequently sought her attention and pelted her with admiring comments on her face and figure, some appreciated, most not so much. But amid crowds of attractive young princesses and noblewomen who frequented beauty spas, wore the latest and most extravagant fashions, and had full access to Prince Omar’s time and attention, Ellie felt like a shadow.
Another quick breakfast, a few greetings exchanged with coworkers, and she was off to the lake. The guests usually didn’t show up directly after breakfast, so she and three other lifeguards straightened the various storage sheds filled with sports gear, swim fins, wetsuits, and life vests, cleared the beach of any rubbish that might have washed ashore overnight, then paused to enjoy a few minutes of silence and sunshine before their real work began. Iridescent dragonflies supplied air cover, snatching midges and mosquitoes in midair.
Ellie was out on the lake when the first guests arrived, flying over the waves with the wind in her face, her ponytail streaming behind. How could anyone feel depressed on this glorious summer day at the most beautiful place in the world? She was a lucky girl with a fascinating future before her. She didn’t need a man to complete her; she was a complete person with much to offer the world.
It was all true. Her feelings didn’t respond to her own voice charms, but who could deny the truth? She lifted her chin and put Omar out of her thoughts.
This lasted until close to noon, when she noticed a guy on a single water ski fly up the ramp, stick a perfect landing, then shake a fist in triumph. A trick skier with brown skin who looked like Omar. But he couldn’t be Omar. Had one of his brothers arrived? She slowed her scooter to watch.
While the ski boat raced across the lake, the skier did numerous front flips and side flips off its wake with perfect control. Definitely Omar, she decided, and he was even better than she’d remembered. He must have been skiing at other venues all these years. As the ski boat passed her position, she vaguely recognized its driver as Torbjorn, the fish guy. Where was the spotter? There didn’t seem to be a . . . An instant later she sat upright on her scooter with a jolt. A man was driving the ski boat and heading straight toward the island! The buzzing sound in her head . . . Sirens! She must stop him! She must—
The skier flew high into the air, lost his ski, did a spectacular aerial cartwheel, and landed hard on the water. “Omar!” she cried, and her scooter was in motion. All thought of Torbjorn and sirens had fled. The water around Omar seemed to boil as something huge passed below.
“No!” Ellie cried in horror. Omar had popped to the surface and was upright and conscious, paddling with his arms and staring about with wide eyes. Ellie was racing toward him, calling his name, when a huge, weedy-looking head rose from the water just ahead.
She had to turn her scooter aside and drop her speed. The lake serpent turned toward her, revealing strange yellow eyes with slitted pupils and a mouthful of dagger-sharp teeth. Then it arched out of the water with its mouth agape and crunched down on something floating on the surface. The water ski!