I glanced at my dad to see if he was as annoyed as I was that his girlfriend had crashed in yet again. I’d been home three days and she’d been here almost the whole time. But he was grinning, a completely besotted look on his face as he watched Sabrina. She had him totally wrapped. Double ugh.
I knew I sounded like a spoiled brat who didn’t want to share her toys, but it wasn’t the fact that my father was finally dating that bothered me—I’d been after him to get a girlfriend for years. It was that he was dating her. I knew all he could see was the killer body and sweet smile, but I wasn’t convinced. My dad had notoriously bad taste in women—just look at my mom—and Sabrina was definitely no exception.
I was convinced her sunny personality hid something dark and twisted. Why else would being around her start my powers humming? She’d been here only two minutes and already I could feel electricity sparking along my nerve endings, heat gathering beneath my fingertips. One good zap and—
Mark grabbed my hand, yanked me back to reality. A quick look at his face and I realized he’d known exactly what I was thinking. Terrific. Because nothing screamed long-term girlfriend material like a mermaid bent on murder and mayhem. It was a wonder he wasn’t running for his life.
Sometimes I hated the power I had, the way it made me different from everyone else. Embarrassed at my obvious lack of control, I flushed a little, ducked my head. Mark just smiled—which hinted that his taste in women might be just as terrible as my father’s—and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. At the contact, energy sparked deep inside me, warming me like it always did. Something about touching Mark made my powers go a little nuts.
“Don’t worry about it,” he whispered in my ear. “I think about zapping her every time I see her too, and I don’t even have your skills.”
I giggled a little despite myself. How did he always know the right thing to say?
“Hey, Sabrina. Hey, Dad.” I looked up as Rio sauntered into the room like he owned the place. “Wow, dude. That’s quite a war wound,” he said, ruffling Moku’s wild curls on his way to the refrigerator.
He shot Sabrina a big smile—the biggest I’d seen from him in forever. He didn’t say anything to Mark or me, but that wasn’t exactly a surprise. Rio had been doing his best to ignore me for the last four months—when he wasn’t yelling at me—and today was no different. For a second I thought about saying something to him that would force him to pay attention to me, but the last thing I wanted was to get shot down in front of her. It was bad enough that my entire family adored her. Making it obvious how bad things were between Rio and me was so not going to happen.
I studied him for long seconds, tried to figure out how to get through to this boy I felt I barely knew. At least he looked like the old Rio—his goth phase of the last few months having given way to his normal attire of surfing tees and shorts. At first I’d taken that as a sign that he was starting to loosen up, to forgive me for turning mermaid, but nothing else had changed. He still wouldn’t look at me unless he wanted to tell me off about something. Or everything.
“Look, Tempest!” Moku bounded across the kitchen to me, snapping me out of my funk as he waved his heavily bandaged hand right under my nose. “Sabrina made it look like a serious injury. Do you think I’ll get out of writing in class on Monday?”
“By the time Monday rolls around, I think you’ll be good to go.” I pressed a kiss to the bandage. “Sorry, dude.”
Moku shrugged. “That’s okay. At least I can ride my skateboard some more and not worry about banging my hand up.”
“No more skateboard tonight,” my dad said from the stove, where he was standing with an arm snaked around Sabrina’s waist. “It’s time for dinner.”
“I just love fish tacos!” Sabrina told him. “It’s so nice of you to make them for me two nights in a row!”
I wanted to tell her he’d made them for me, but I couldn’t—at least not without sounding churlish. But then my dad dropped a quick kiss on her lips and said, “No problem. I love making you happy.”
My stomach actually turned.
I told myself I was being ridiculous—after all, hadn’t I just been thinking that I didn’t want to eat the stupid tacos?—but it didn’t take the sting away. My dad was supposed to make special meals for me, not for her. He was supposed to want to welcome me back, not get in good with her. Add in the fact that Rio and Moku were obviously crazy about Sabrina and it was beginning to feel like I was the guest around here. The one who didn’t fit in.
“Hey, Tempest. Can you set the table for six?” my dad asked as he started frying the next batch of fish.I ground my teeth. I so didn’t want to sit through another dinner with Sabrina—after all, I’d already had that privilege twice in the last two days. Once more might kill me, especially in the mood I was in.
“Actually, Tempest and I made plans with the others to go out after the game,” Mark said as I reached for the plates. “But thanks for the invitation.”
“You sure? There’s plenty.”
Mark shook his head regretfully. “We promised to meet the guys for pizza.” Yet one more reason why I loved him—his uncanny insight into what I was thinking.
“But what about game night?” Moku demanded, his lower lip poking out in an adorable pout. “You promised we’d play Clue and Monopoly this weekend.”
“I’ll play with you!” Sabrina volunteered.
My fingers curled into claws, and for long seconds I had the urge to rake my nails down her flawless cheeks. Which was weird. I might be temperamental, but I’d never been a violent person—usually just the thought of hurting someone made me sick. But with Sabrina it was different. Part of me would love nothing more than to unleash something awful on her.
The thought left me shaky and a little sick, because I knew I had enough power to annihilate her if I wanted to. But the horror still didn’t take away the bloodlust pounding through me. I took a step back, then another, suddenly afraid of what I might do.
Moku followed me, throwing his arm around my waist. “But I want to play with you, Tempe. You promised.”
A little of the rage dissipated at Moku’s obvious desire to hang with me. “And we will. Tomorrow. We’ll spend all day together, playing games and making cookies. Whatever you want.”
His little face turned up to mine, his eyes shining brightly. “Pancakes for breakfast.”
I softened a little bit more. “You bet. Chocolate chip, even.”
“Yay! And then surfing?”
“And then surfing,” I agreed, ruffling his crazy curls.
He grinned. “Excellent! I want to show you the new trick Dad taught me.”
“I can’t wait.”
“Me neither.” He hugged me tighter, then motioned for me to bend down. When I did, he planted a smacking kiss right on my cheek. My heart thawed out the rest of the way and I kissed his cheek, too. “I love you, Tempest.”
“I love you too, baby.”
When I looked up it was to find my dad and Mark smiling at us, while Sabrina and Rio glared. When Sabrina realized she’d been caught, her face smoothed out quickly enough, but Rio looked like he wanted to hit me. And when he snorted, telling Moku, “I wouldn’t actually count on one of her promises,” I felt like he had slugged me.