With the gentle rock of the boat making her drowsy, Peg
closed her eyes and tilted her head back to feel the sun’s
rays on her face. She sighed contentedly at how wonderful
it felt to be a wife again—even if she was married to the
most contrary, scariest, never-give-up-or-give-in man on the
planet.
Oh yeah, Gretchen Robinson’s bones were rattling in her
grave.
Peg lifted her head to see Jacob and Peter leaning over
the side when something gently bumped the boat. They
were wearing matching life vests with their names
embroidered on them—that she happened to know they’d
switched—trying to coax Leviathan closer with gummy
worms so they could pat him.
“Mom, he came!” Jacob softly whispered.
The whale always did. Peg guessed Leviathan knew the
sound of their particular motor, because none of the
scientists had been able to get a picture of him despite
having spent two months trying. “But I don’t think he’s into
gummy worms,” she warned. “And stop feeding them to
Hero before you make him sick.”
“Yuck, Levi’s got stinky breath,” Peter said, scrambling
away when a misty spurt came out of the whale’s blowhole.
“You would, too, if al you ate was fish and you couldn’t
brush your teeth.”
“I can’t wait to show al them scientists my pictures,”
Jacob said, resting his chin on his hands on the gunwale as
Hero rested his doggy chin beside him, both of them
eyeing Leviathan eyeing them back. “I can’t believe Mr.
Steve’s gonna give us ten whole dol ars just for a picture of
a whale.”
“There’s the camera on the console,” Peg said, nodding
toward it because she was too lazy and contented and
pregnant to move. Lord, she’d forgotten how al she’d
wanted to do was sleep through the first trimesters of her
pregnancies. “Duncan showed you how to use it, so go on
and take a bunch of pictures. Ten bucks wil buy quite a few
cinnamon buns.”
“No, Mom, remember we said we’re gonna buy Nerf
swords,” Peter reminded her for the tenth time that
afternoon.
Peg had lost that particular battle, seeing how the twins
had Duncan on their side. Damn if she didn’t lose more
arguments to her husband than she won—although she won
the real y, real y important ones, so she guessed that made
them even. Like this boat; Duncan had gotten her a
pontoon boat so he could have the fast and way-too-sexy
boat for himself. But the reason she could lounge around in
the sun for another half hour before she had to meet the
school bus in town was because herfast and way-too-sexy
boat would get them to Ezra’s dock in ten minutes.
Yup, there was nothing like having rousing arguments
with a big strong man and winning the ones that counted.
Life was good. Everyone was happy, including her mom
and Aunt Bea, who were both enjoying the attention of
several eligible men from Robbie’s and Duncan’s crews. At
Duncan’s suggestion, Peg had told her mom and aunt that
she was pretty sure only men born in the Bottomless Lake
area were susceptible to the curse. The women had looked
through their family history, and sure enough, al the
husbands who had met an early demise had been locals—
which meant any male from away was fair game.
Chris Dubois and Aaron Jenkins had disappeared off
the face of the earth just like Duncan had said they would,
but everyone knew the lowlifes were stil around because
there had been several hit-and-run attacks on the resort
site. It was virtual y impossible to guard fourteen miles of
road up through the wilderness, and sometimes a bridge
under construction got blown up, grade stakes got
relocated, and equipment tires got shot out with a high-
power rifle. Occasional y notes were left saying it had been
the work of one or another radical conservation group, but
everyone in town knew Chris and Aaron were the culprits,
since most of the protests against the resort had died
down. Aaron’s poor wife, Phyl is, was so embarrassed that
she’d filed for divorce and gone to live with her sister in
Indiana.
There’d only been one attack on the site where Duncan
was building their new home on the fiord at the base of his
mountain, and then it appeared to have been interrupted
by … something. Peg suspected Duncan had had a little
talk with his mountain about napping on the job after he’d
found the slightly scorched pile of lumber, because he’d
taken a hike up to the cave and there hadn’t been any
incidents since. In fact, despite every board and nail having
to be hauled over on a smal barge, Peg guessed they’d be
moved into their new home before school started in the fal .
Oh yeah, she was married to a very relentless man.
Mac and Olivia would be home in a few days, which
meant Olivia hadn’t fol owed through on her threat to push
Mac into the Grand Canyon—probably afraid her husband
might decide to rearrange the national landmark. And
according to the letter Olivia had sent Peg, the bone
marrow transplant had gone wel for both little Riley and
Sophie, and Riley’s prognosis was very promising. But
then, why shouldn’t it be if the stepdaughter of a friggin’
wizardwas involved?
“Here, give me the camera,” Peg said, dropping her feet
to the floor of the boat and holding out her hand. “I’l take a
picture of you two patting Leviathan just to make Mr. Steve
real y jealous.”
“I bet he’d be real y jealous if you took a picture of us
ridingon Levi,” Peter said, one of his legs already halfway
over the gunwale.
“Oh, no you don’t,” Peg yelped, jumping up and pul ing
him back with a laugh. “The water’s too cold and Leviathan
might accidental y squish you.”
“No, he wouldn’t,” Jacob said, immediately jumping to the
whale’s defense. “Duncan told us Levi’s a rescue hero.” He
pointed toward the whale’s tail. “See, he’s even got a
badge. Duncan cal ed it a tattoo and said it means he’s
from Alantus. It’s a tide … a trilide …”
“A trident,” Peter said. “It looks like a fork you eat with,
but Duncan cal ed it a trident just like Pesidon carries. He’s
the boss of the ocean,” her son added with great authority,
his little chest puffing out against his life vest.
Peg smiled, remembering how it had taken Duncan
nearly a week of subtle corrections before he’d final y
gotten al the children to drop the “mister.” He’d introduced
them to Leviathan the day he’d taken the kids to see where
he intended to build their new home, and he explained the
whale was from a faraway magical island by the name of
Atlantis—which was, Peg had final y realized, why Henry
Oceanus was so wel versed on mythological gods. So
when the twins told people in town about their pet whale,
everyone thought her boys had quite the imaginations.
“Okay, stand just a little bit apart,” Peg said, looking at
the screen on the camera, “so I can get Leviathan between
you. You get in the picture, too, Hero. Smile. Smile,
Leviathan!” she cal ed out, which effectively put huge grins
on the boys. Only the whale slipped below the surface just
before she could snap the picture, and Peg looked up when
she heard the sound of a fast-moving boat coming from the
far end of the fiord.
“Oh, shoot,” Peter said, also looking toward the boat. “I
bet it’s them scientists and they scared off Levi before we
got our picture.”
“I already got some of him,” Jacob said. “Look in the
camera, Mom.”
Peg took one last glance at the fast approaching boat,