Bubbles and Troubles by Bebe Balocca Page A

called out. “If living elsewhere means death for me, then doesn’t it mean the same thing for Brock?”
    Gavin’s stony gaze remained fixed on the exit tunnel. His broad shoulders lifted and fell with a ragged breath.
    “Like, I understand that he’s a pain in the ass, but he is your son, after all. Did you just sentence your own son to death, Gavin?”
    “You understand nothing, woman,” Gavin retorted. He wheeled about and bellowed at her, “Time and time again, Brock has endangered all that I’ve worked so hard to build here. He ventures into Charade to observe humans, including you, I suppose, for his own amusement, and has come close to revealing our secrets on numerous occasions. He pushes the boundaries of where he may safely travel and still visit the Healing Waters and the Living Earth on a daily basis. He pesters me for greater contact with the mortal world. He doesn’t understand that out there is only pain, loss, disease and death.” He threw her own words back at her. “As you said, Brock is a child. He is a child who endangers the rest of our lives and I will no longer tolerate his presence.”
    Carmen rose, clothed only in a thin layer of shining brown silt. “You know what I think, Gavin?” she challenged him, dripping, with her hands on her hips. “I think you’re a real asshole.”
    Gavin’s eyes narrowed dangerously.
    “I think you were devastated when your wife died, and I’m sorry for that, but dude—it was two hundred years ago! You’ve locked your kids away so that the only company they have is elves and gnomes and trees and maybe a squirrel or two. How are they supposed to grow up when you hide them away from the world? You don’t have to date, although, frankly, you seem like one guy who could do with a good pleasure-fuck if I’ve ever seen one. What you do have to do is give your kids, who are now over two centuries old, by the way, a little more freedom and access to the world.”
    Carmen stared down the massive patriarch of the family.
    Gavin scowled back at her. “You may not tell me what I must and must not do, woman,” he growled. “Since you are so eager to defend Brock, you may follow him into the woods. You’ve sealed your own fate with your rash words. I’ve no doubt you’ll live to regret them when you’re wandering far from this place and your life is slipping away. I have been told that the pain is excruciating.”
    “The fact that you would send your own son to die in such a manner shows your true character, Gavin,” Carmen said, “and, in case you missed it before, you’re a real asshole.” She walked to the edge of the stream and jumped in. After hurriedly rinsing the dirt from her hair, face and body, Carmen emerged and dressed herself in her discarded clothes. She felt the others’ eyes on her as she yanked her jeans up over her damp skin, but was too furious and disgusted to care.
    “You guys can stay here if you like,” she directed at Korbin, Lowell and Paloma, “but I’m going to go try to save your brother. He may be a self-centred child, but he doesn’t deserve to die alone in the woods.”
    Carmen dashed from the flickering cavern into the darkness of nightfall. She heard Gavin’s enraged bellow follow her, “Best save yourself while you’re at it, woman!”
    Moonlight glimmered on the calm surface of the pond. Carmen stood and listened. She heard the muffled padding steps of an opossum, the soft rustle of a corn snake, and the dive-and-snatch of an owl on the hunt. She caught traces of thistle and honeysuckle in the air, and felt the cool, moist air brush against her cheek. Her senses seemed more powerful than before—they flooded her with sensory input, but Carmen had no time to think about that. She needed to find Brock and find some way to get him back to the Healing Waters and the Living Earth before it was too late.
    Carmen squinted and scanned the ground for signs of Brock’s path, but found no hint about the course he’d