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other matter that her mouth was on fire. She didn’t know whether she should spit it out or continue to gag it down her throat, so she just started to dance uncomfortably around the room.
    “Here,” Thomas said handing her a tissue. He was trying to hide his smile.
    Penny grabbed the tissue and spit out the fish. The servant handed Penny a glass of blue liquid to cool down her throat. Penny gulped it down without a second thought. She was expecting water, but it was a bitter, gelatin-like substance. Penny spit out the drink in a shower all over the servant.
    Penny looked at the servant horrified. Then she looked over at Lorelei and was about to profoundly apologize for making such a spectacle over the Nixen food, but the mermaid burst out laughing. The rest of the group followed, even the servant started laughing . Penny started laughing at she got over the horror of spitting up over the help and the fire still burning in her mouth.
    The group laughed for almost five minutes. After a while, the laughter died down and Charles picked up another sea urchin and handed it to Penny.
    “Here, these aren’t so bad,” Charles said, smiling. “I’m glad you tried that piece before I did.”
    “Yes, because Penny handled that so gracefully,” Thomas said, rubbing Penny on the back.
    “Shut up, you don’t know how spicy that was!” Penny said and then shoved the sea urchin in her mouth. “That one was better.” Penny could have had bull testicles and thought that they were delicious after that spicy raw fish. The sea urchin still didn’t totally take the taste out of bitter gelatin and spicy fish out of mouth, so she grabbed another half and shoved it in her mouth. The slimy texture of the sea urchin slightly masked the previous flavor. Penny collapsed in her chair exhausted from the whole ordeal.
    “You all probably need some rest,” Lorelei said, raising herself out of the pool. “I know vampires don’t necessarily sleep, but perhaps some is in order for tonight?”
    “Yes , thank you Lorelei,” Thomas said, standing up.
    “In the morning I will take you back to the surface where we can discuss our plans,” Lorelei smiled. “But tonight we rest.”
    Penny was beginning to like her a little more. She was offering to help them even though they had just met and Nixen and humans – or vampires for that matter – had never been allies before.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

( CHAPTER 4 ) Charles’s Decision
     
    “It’s my choice,” Charles yelled. Thomas, Charles, and Penny sat around a table at a local pub discussing the ransom note. There was no time to stop and mourn their father’s death. After a brief respite at the Nixen homeworld to eat and patch up the wounded, t hey had less than a week to figure out what they were going to do. Charli and Lorelei decided to stay back in the hotel room. Lorelei said that she had been injured slightly and needed to rest. No one else remembered her being injured, so they assumed that she was just trying to be polite and leave the family to themselves. Charli just didn’t feel like being around humans.
    “But you know it’s a trap,” Penny yelled back at him. “I can’t just let you go back in there because of my grandmother.” The loud argument between the Americans had gathered a lot of looks from neighboring tables. The waitress hanging out behind the bar seemed hesitant to go over to the table and take their orders.
    “Look, my job is to protect humans and other innocent creatures,” Charles said, standing up and pounding the table. “You grandmother is about as innocent as they come. Plus she was put in danger because of me.”
    “No,” Thomas said, “It was my fault. I didn’t stop the attack on Penny’s family.” He stood up from his chair and got his face right into Charles’s.
    “Stop it!” Penny screamed. “It doesn’t matter whose fault this whole mess is. Honestly, I am glad that everything has happened, even though