I doubted love would save the ecosystem problem we had, but it would be nice if it were that easy.
Mina was chewing on some beef jerky when I arrived. She was a nice woman, quirky, doing whatever she wanted, including wearing crazy onesies and hoodies and ruling over Seahill with her genius brother and Phillip. A tough cookie.
“Esme’s in the medical room waiting—come on and join the night shift.” She greeted me at the elevators and walked me over to Esme, who was waiting there with a sweet smile on her elf-like face.
All the girls here were so beautiful. Each unique in their own way. I was honored to be a part of them and truly felt like I was becoming one of the family.
Esme was gentle as she looked me over, and her diagnosis was unfortunately easy. Upper respiratory infection. So, my earlier thoughts were true. I was getting sick from being in the water. Even with antibiotics, I wouldn’t get better until the irritant was gone.
As soon as I got in the car to go home and rest, drink lots of fluid as Esme told me to, I noticed my phone had a voicemail on it.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Arthur
“Try again.” Draco was trying to work with me to see if my powers over the water could help fix the issue with the algae and toxins in it. So far all I’d done was push it around, as if I was holding a large spoon and stirring it.
Of course, my physical body was here and trying to remedy this issue, but my mind was on Gwendolyn. She’d texted me at two in the morning three days ago and told me she was going out of town and would be back soon. That was it, and I was freaking out at having not heard from her. Phillip was too busy trying to save the earth—I didn’t want to ask him to pry into her futures to see if anything bad was going to happen to her. I didn’t care that she’d left, but the radio silence was killing me. Plus, I missed her.
“We’ve been at this for hours, and the most I’ve done is pushed it around. Probably making shit worse.” I was frustrated. Water was my thing, but I couldn’t do anything to fix this. People of Seahill were getting sicker by the day, and they were starting to panic. Can’t live somewhere that is hazardous to your health. Terratrex was taking a bit of a PR hit, and still they ignored the problem. Denying it was their prime preoccupation right now.
Money still ruled supreme when it comes to the earth. People with power only cared about more money, not the environment. It was difficult to fight against Terratrex when the trees they were experimenting with could cure world hunger. For a hefty price, of course. What country wouldn’t give them everything they had to help feed their people, making them dependent on the government? The whole situation sucked. Of course, I’d been invited over to have a family dinner, and that didn’t help anything. But instead of joining the family occupation of being an asshole, I talked about my art, and all the good I was doing in the world. I thought it was going to give my dad a heart attack that his once-favored son was a hoarding artisan that played with trash.
“This is one problem I don’t know how to fix. We’ve yet to see all the powers resurface this decade. For all we know, someone in France could have the gifts to sort this mess out. But the Hero Society is still new and growing.” Draco looked frustrated along with me, the dead fish, crabs, and seaweed floating around while we watched the swells roll to the shore.
“Mankind has stopped caring about the only planet they live on. Centuries ago, everything used to be so pure. Not plastics, no trash like we have everywhere now. The air was cleaner, and the water sparkled. I’m glad my time as an immortal is done, for I don’t care to be around when the earth takes its last toxic breath.”
He shook his head thinking about it.
Immortality had to have sucked, watching everyone you cared about die, witnessing how far mankind has fallen from the connection to one another and nature.
There was hope, though. Companies like Griffin Enterprises were fighting to make the world a better place.Wewere fighting to make the world a better place. More people with powers were stepping up to the plate every day, wanting to use their gifts for good.
With a renewed feeling of hope, I got back to trying everything I could think of to help the issue in front of us. I’d deal with Gwendolyn and everything else later—right now I had to give this everything I had.
Apparently, everything I had wasn’t enough. In fact, the algae were dispersed more and more throughout the water and was going to hit the Davidson current off the coast in approximately three days, and that would be it. There would be nothing we could do once it hit one of those Pacific water highways.
I was tired as hell but managed to paint a large canvas of waves and dirty-looking water. The picture mocked me, but I kept looking at it, trying to figure out what I could do to make it better.
My phone beeped, and I hopped over my chair to see if it was Gwendolyn.
Gwendolyn: Can you come over? I need you right now.
I shot her back a reply quickly as I grabbed a jacket and ran out the door.
Not even bothering with my car, I jogged to her apartment. She answered after the first knock, and my knees went weak. She looked fine—a little flustered, but fine.
Even though I wanted to launch into a million questions, I waited for her to initiate conversation. Too many questions might throw her off.
“Thanks for coming. I—uh—don’t do well with new things, and something new has happened. I have no idea where my head is right now, and I just needed you with me. You calm me down and help me see things differently than my mind is telling me.”
Instantly, I opened my arms for her, and she snuggled herself between them.
“I’m always here for whatever you need me for.” Which I hoped was everything—I wanted Gwendolyn to need me for everything…to be her lifeline when she felt like she couldn’t keep her head above water.
Was it a proper time to propose to her now? The thought ran through my head, and I was about to when she threw me a curve ball.
“My parents died a few days ago, and me being the only kin left to my sister, I’m now her guardian.”
