Chapter 11

ELEVEN

CHIP

"Thanks, Colette," I said as I picked up Reese's Prescott Tech cell phone and took it off speakerphone. With it held to my ear, I added, "We're still in the beginning stages of creating the business, but I wanted to make sure I was checking all the boxes."

"If every business owner on Megelle Island had a strategic mind like yours, I wouldn't work so much overtime." Colette chuckled. I heard her typing on her keyboard through the phone. "I've got both you and Pickles set up with Prescott Tech for your own phone lines. All you need to do is run down to Easy Electronics on Main Street to buy the model you want. I'll give them a call once we hang up so we can get you plugged in and ready to work."

"Can I get a computer there too?" I leaned back against Holden's sofa and gestured to his laptop I'd borrowed about twelve hours ago. "I officially need one of my own. Can I get an email and everything? I hate that I feel so stupid right now."

"Don't, Chip. You're not the first siren I've worked with. We understand how new all of these things are for you guys." Colette's voice was warm and kind. She'd really been a lifesaver for me this morning. "And if it makes you feel better, nearly every adult who is planning to venture into First Realm for the first time feels this overwhelmed and confused.

I let out a deep breath. "That actually does help."

"OH, Mr. Prescott just walked by. Just hold on one second for me. Let me inform him our sirens are finally coming onshore and see if he has any specific requirements or suggestions. Don't hang up. Be right back."

"I'll be here," I said and sat the phone back on the coffee table next to Holden's laptop, putting it on speakerphone so I could hold my cup of hot chocolate in my hands.

I hated feeling a step behind everyone else just because sirens were too afraid to spend time on land. That was part of the reason I was so driven to change lives for all sirens. But I wasn't going to be satisfied with just bringing us on land here on Megelle Island. Sure, that was step one. If the wolves could live fully functional lives among the mages, fae, and vampires, then there was no reason sirens couldn't too. I wanted us to all be a part of this society.

However, my dreams were bigger. My entire life I'd listened to my dad tell us about the Seven Seas, and I wanted to explore them. I wanted to see the bright lights of Manhattan from inside Manhattan, not from the dirty waters of the Hudson or East River. I wanted to see Disney World and Las Vegas. I wanted to see the Grand Canyon and Stonehenge. Since Reese married Holden and moved in with him on the farm, Pickles and I had read every book in his library. There was a whole wall of travel books. My favorites were the books by Liam Arrow and Willem Bow. Will was a mage turned vampire here on the Island, but he went by Liam Arrow among the humans. His book Follow the Arrow was written from a human perspective, but his book Bow & Arrow was written for supernaturals. It was basically a manual for how to travel safely.

I wasn't foolish enough to think I could do this without guidance from people smarter and more knowledgeable than me, so I was hoping to try and find him. Peggy said he'd come home for the season, so I was bound to run into him somewhere. If Monroe wasn't such an ass, I would've asked him for advice since Starlight Tours had been running successfully for like a decade. But I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of me asking for help. I'd figure it out all by myself before I did that.

There was rustling on Colette's end of the call and then a deep voice cleared. "Ms. Carden?"

My eyes widened. I knew who that voice belonged to. "Yes, that's me. Chip Carden."

"Hello, Ms. Carden. This is Lexington Prescott."

"Um, hi, Mr. Prescott."

"Colette was just telling me about your new business and your plans—yeah, Colette, copy me on that email please. And copy her father, King Tirian. Did you get an email set up yet, Ms. Carden?"

"Oh, uh, not yet. I don't have a computer and I . . . don't know how?—"

"Colette would be happy to set that up for you, if you'd like?"

"That would be amazing?—"

"How does Chip Carden at Prescott Tech dot com sound?" Colette asked in the background. "I can do it right now so we can get you on these emails from the start."

"Yeah, that's nice and easy. Can you make Pickles one too? Like mine and super easy?"

Colette chuckled. "Luckily your names are super unique, so yes."

"Thank you, Colette." Mr. Prescott cleared his throat again. "Right. Now, Ms. Carden, while I am honestly ecstatic to hear about what you're trying to do for the sirens, I have to warn you that there will be some complications and extra steps you'll need to take."

I nodded and grabbed a pen. "I can do whatever you need me to do, sir."

"I don't have the authority to prevent you, or any siren, from leaving the Island and venturing into First Realm. However, I do have the authority to deny the documentation and things you will need in order to pass as a human. But don't worry, I'm not trying to deny you. Once these email addresses are set up, we're going to set up a meeting on the Island for us to discuss everything you need to do. Prescott Tech intends to help you with everything."

My eyes watered. "Thank you, Mr. Prescott."

"Ernald and Fina Vauntero run the Megelle Island branch of Prescott Tech. As soon as Colette informed me of your intentions, I gave them a call. They're speaking with the King and Queen this afternoon on your behalf. The four of them will also need to be in this meeting."

I licked my lips. "I understand. I think?—"

"You're not in trouble in any way. Sirens are a more complicated species as your shifting has its own set of rules. As with wolves and jinns, we need to ensure the safety and secrecy of our people among the humans. Your father will need to be involved?—"

"Can you not tell him yet?" I said in a rush. "I'm about to do a presentation to him about our business, and I'd like him to hear it from me first."

"Colette, delay sending that email by two hours."

"Yes, sir."

"Now, I can't be back on the Island until Saturday the tenth. Colette, please schedule us in for after midnight?—"

" After midnight? " I heard myself whisper before I could stop myself.

Mr. Prescott chuckled. "We're vampires, Ms. Carden. Very busy vampires. I'm afraid that's my first available."

"That's fine. I just was surprised. But totally good. We'll be there."

"Good. Ms. Carden, we'll speak soon," he said gruffly. "Here's Colette."

The line was silent a moment and then Colette chuckled as she returned to my call. "Well, I wasn't expecting that."

I exhaled in a rush. "You and me both. I was already nervous about my presentation, now I have to prepare for a meeting with him and the King and Queen? There goes my appetite."

"What are you doing tonight?"

"Uh . . . it's Mischief Monday but sirens tend to be easy targets, so we avoid it. So . . . nothing. Why?"

"Why don't you, Pickles, and your father come over to my place tonight at let's say seven? We'll order food from Bowlicious, and I'll help you guys get everything ready for the big meeting?"

My jaw dropped. "You'd do that for me?"

"For sure. I'm so excited for everything you're trying to do. The sirens have been in the dark for too long. And the jinns. I bet Torren Chase would love to work with you guys to bring more jinns home to the Island."

"Oh my God. Yes. I would love to help. There's gotta be more of them out there!" I bit my bottom lip to rein in my excitement. "You're serious about coming over? To help us?"

"Definitely. I'll swing by Easy Electronics on my way home and grab you two the most user-friendly phones and computers, maybe even a tablet, and we'll get you all set up."

"I'm gonna owe you one hell of a favor."

"Chip, this is what we do on Megelle Island. We help without the need to keep the score even."

I smiled and swallowed through the hot lump of emotion in my throat. "Then yes, we'd love to come over tonight. Can you text my sister your address? Oh, can Reese come too? She's more familiar with the Island."

"Absolutely. I'll text it over now. See you in a bit. Good luck with your presentation!"

"Thank you! Bye!" I hung up the phone and found a text from Colette already flashing across the screen.

I squealed and did a little dance. There was a lot about to happen, even stuff I didn't fully understand, but it was moving in the right direction. Last night after wolf night, Holden and Reese had asked a lot of questions about my rivalry with Monroe—and, by association, Dawson. Holden spoke highly of them, which drove me nuts. Except I refused to let his attitude slow me down. Luckily, Holden wasn't immature and didn't care that he worked with our rivals. There was plenty of room for the both of us, he'd said. Reese had agreed, and her support meant a lot to me. She may have been my babiest of sisters, but she was the first of us to leave the nest and get married, and she did it on land. She was the one who inspired us to actually do more with our lives.

So a couple hours later, after I'd pitched our whole company idea to them, they'd convinced me to make a presentation for Dad and all the sirens. Reese had gone down to talk to Dad and Brownie, who promised to have as many sirens as they could gather in Holden's backyard for our presentation at noon sharp. Holden loaned me and Pickles one of the living rooms in the house to work, and he let us borrow his computer to craft a pretty presentation. I'd gotten a crash course on Pinterest and how to create mood boards of images, so that was what we'd done. Holden's mother and sister had been helping us with the computer part until it was time to make actual posters. They took Pickles to the craft store a few hours ago, and they'd been making stuff since—I hadn't seen it yet.

"Excuse me, Ms. Carden?" I jumped and turned to my right to find a thin, red-haired guy standing in the doorway. "Is that you?"

I nodded, "I'm one of them. I'm Chip?"

"Are you asking me if you're Chip? Is this a test?" He smirked and then gave me a playful wink. "Sorry, you look like you've been up all night working."

I followed his stare to glance around the room . . . and cringed. There were papers and books everywhere. Both of Will's books, by him and Liam, were on the coffee table in front of me with little neon stickers tagging about four dozen pages in each. The empty cups of coffee and hot chocolate were alarming.

"Um, yeah, I should probably eat."

He laughed. "Luckily for you, I brought heaps of beignets for the pack. And a little birdy told me you liked them." He lifted his hand up to show he was holding a brown paper bag.

"Please don't be teasing me."

He giggled and crossed the room to sit on the couch beside me, then handed me the bag. "All yours."

"Thank you—" I frowned. "Shit, I don't think I got your name. Sorry. Who are you?"

He grinned and held his hand out for me to shake. When I did, he nodded his head toward Will's books. "I'm his cooler, younger brother. Caleb Bow at your service."

I gasped. "Oh my God! You own Bowlicious!"

"Yes, I did. With my twin Connor. Have you been?"

"Several times. So good. You guys are talented." I dove into the brown bag with new gusto knowing how great of a cook he was. The powdery dough was so warm and soft. I took a bite and moaned while doing a happy dance. "I need this. My God, so good."

"Glad you like it. But I actually have other gifts for you." He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out two jewelry boxes. One was purple, the other was gray. "Mom wanted you two to have these right away. Says the rest will be done by the end of the week."

I snatched the purple jewelry box and popped it open. My eyes widened. Inside was a necklace made of gold. The pendant dangling from the end of the gold chain was made of some pretty pale-blue crystal or sea glass. It was carved in the shape of waves breaking with little white crystals dripping down. My jaw dropped.

"That's for you. Put that on and you'll never shift without your consent again." Caleb winked, then jumped to his feet. "What's all this, anyways?"

"Oh, um . . ." I licked my lips and shook my head, still dazzled by the necklace. "My sister and I started a travel company for sirens, so this is the evidence of the presentation we made and are about to share with the rest of the siren community to convince them to do business with us."

"Ah, so that explains Willy's books." He picked up the Bow & Arrow book and flipped through the pages. "I'm sure this has been helpful. There's so much info in it."

"You have no idea. Still, somehow, I need to know more. I may not be able to control myself if I see him out in real life."

"Don't be silly. Will loves talking about traveling and helping people plan their travel. It's his obsession and career for a reason." He dropped the book back to the table. "Holden has his number. Give him a call anytime. I promise he'll love it."

"Thanks, Caleb. That means a lot."

"There you are!" Trevor, Holden's younger brother, moved into the room and over toward Caleb. "You're late."

Caleb rolled his eyes as he fisted Trevor's shirt in his hand and dragged him flush against his body. "It was a beignet emergency."

"There better be one left for me?—"

"I hid a whole bag just for you?—"

"That's my man." Trevor kissed Caleb roughly, then pulled away. "I need a beignet right now."

"Sorry, Chip, boyfriends can be demanding." Caleb waved to me, then dragged his boyfriend back out the doorway he'd come through. "Come on."

"Chip?"

I flinched and looked to my left to find my sister Reese standing in the other doorway. "How does that work?" I pointed in the direction Caleb and Trevor had gone in.

She grimaced. "We don't ask. Now, you ready for your presentation?"

I nodded and tucked my hair behind my ears. "Yes! Where's Pickles?"

"She's outside. Everything is set up and ready."

I pushed to my feet, grabbing Holden's laptop and Reese's phone before marching toward her. "How's my turnout?"

"Oh, nearly everyone has come." Reese grinned.

"Wait!" I spun on my toes and leapt back to grab the jewelry boxes. "Peggy had Caleb drop these for us—wait, everyone? "

"Nearly." She chuckled. "They're pumped. You ready?"

I pushed my shoulders back and held my chin high. "I'm so ready. This will be the easy part. Oh, that reminds me, can you come with me and Pickles over to Colette's house tonight? With Dad? She texted you her address."

She pursed her lips. "I don't know of a Colette, but if you need me there, then I'll be there. Plus . . . it's Mischief Monday."

We both shuddered.

"I'd love to not be the target tonight. Shit, how are we getting home?—"

"I'll have Holden come get us. Don't worry." She pushed the back door open, then spun to face me while she moved backwards. "Deep breath. Brace yourself."

"Uh oh . . ." But then she turned away and I saw the crowd in front of me. There were so many sirens huddled together on Holden's back lawn that I didn't know where to look or what to do with myself. The moment my foot hit the wooden deck, dozens of eyes looked right at me. My pulse fluttered as my stomach rolled. Nah, it's okay. You've got this. I cleared my throat and walked to the edge. "Hey, everyone! So, I called you here today because I wanted to tell you all personally about the travel company Pickles and I have started. It's called Chickles. Our company is catered entirely to the wants and needs of sirens."

Hands shot up into the air.

My eyes widened. I threw my hands up. "Pickles and I have a presentation we've put together for you. If you still have questions at the end, I'll be happy to answer them!"