Waters of Chaos

By Claudette Gilbert

In modern day Seattle, Mandy is a young witch with the gift of moving things, even material things like magic. But while her skill is unique, she lacks power. Only a joining with the Duke of the House of Merlin will provide the power she needs to fully use her gift. But at what price?
The independent Mandy clings to her freedom in the face of her family's opposition until an idiot prince of the undersea realm of the Puget Sound mers threatens to drown the whole world. Can she stop Prince Dormolon? And at what price?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Claudette Gilbert
• Release date: Oct 14, 2011
• ISBN: 9781466109858

Claudette Gilbert

I've been a writer for most of my life. I started writing fiction when I was in grade school--with illustrations done in crayon! As an adult, I became a technical writer and wrote instruction manuals, procedures, and user guides for several different companies. But fiction has always been my first love, especially science-fiction and fantasy. I love to spend time with my computer on my lap and my cat, Baby, beside me as I explore the "what if."

Book preview

Waters of Chaos

by

Claudette Gilbert

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2011 by Claudette Gilbert

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Cover photo by © Iperl | Dreamstime.com.

* * * * *

Mandy

Mandy found the mermaid seated on the deck outside Ivar's Fish Bar on Pier 54. The Fish Bar was a casual, walk-in adjunct to the more upscale Ivar's Restaurant next door. The mermaid sat facing the shore at one of the blue, metal-mesh tables at the end of the long, narrow open area on the edge of the pier. For the sunny but windy Seattle afternoon, fishgirl had glamoured a low cut pink tank top, tight jeans, and red-soled designer sandals with four-inch heels. Not bad for someone who didn't even have legs. The look went well with the long blonde hair and sea green eyes.

The girl was good; Mandy had to give her that. Although the spell that allowed them to breathe air was the first any mer learned, this mermaid had to be powerful to hold the designer glamour while breathing as normally as any landlubber.

But if Mandy put her mage-sense to work, she could see the slimy looking fishtail and the pointed teeth that bit into the plate of fried clams. Mage-sense also showed her the silver band just above the tail fins that marked this mer as the girlfriend—and possibly fiancé—of the mer Prince Dormolon.

Mandy smoothed her businesslike white blouse and the navy blue trousers that covered her own very real legs. Larry Rand, her boss at the bureau, had seemed to approve of her appearance this morning when he'd briefed her.

Prince Dormolon would be next in line to the throne of the Puget Realm, Larry said, if the merfolk weren't matrilineal. Word is, he'd like to change that, but that's about as likely as finding our Queen shopping for a ball gown at the local discount store. The mers have been around a long time, longer than humans have, even longer than we witches have, and they don't like change. My guess is he's gone off in a royal snit, but his mother is the Queen of the Puget Sound mer pod, and he's been missing long enough for her to become concerned .…

Larry continued to fill her in on the background of the case as he went to the antique china cabinet that took up one side of his office and brought out cups and saucers in a pretty, Blue Willow pattern. The china was definitely not bureau issue.

Coffee? Tea?

Coffee please, Mandy said. Cream and two sugars.

She felt very mature and sophisticated, having coffee with the boss while receiving her first ever assignment as a new agent of the Paranormal Activities Bureau, the PAB. It turned out that no one had seen Prince Dormolon since the Fremont Summer Solstice Festival in June, which put His Piscine Highness among the five magical persons missing in the Greater Seattle area.

We have word that his girlfriend, a mermaid named Sennusi, plans to have lunch at Ivar's Fish Bar today, Larry told her.

Mandy nodded. The restaurant was built right over the water on Puget Sound. It attracted a fair number of merfolk as well as kelpies and other members of the magical community.

So, just ask her, girl-to-girl, if she knows where this mullet-brain Prince is hiding.

I can do that, Mandy assured him as she held her cup, inhaling the invigorating aroma of fresh coffee.

But watch yourself, kid. I've got a feeling about this one.

I'll be careful, boss. As well as being a senior witch, Larry was a powerful psychic, and when he 'got a feeling,' it was wise to pay attention.

Still, she was eager to prove herself as an agent. Especially, since she'd flat out refused any of the career choices her family had urged on her. She would not become her family's heavy transport specialist. Not when doing so meant obliterating her own personality by tying herself to the magical equivalent of a supercharged battery. Mandy was a fluke, a witch born with the rare ability to move things merely by willing it. But while she had an astonishing range—she could move anything, even non-physical forces like magic itself—she had very little power. So, it was essentially a useless gift, unless