Leah and I are at the gate waiting to board our plane.

“I just wish I had time to tell Fiske about our plans so he could relay the message to Damarian,” I say.

“Maybe it’s better this way.” Leah squeezes her small bag to her chest. We both packed light, since we didn’t really have time. “In case this is another bust, you don’t want him to get too hopeful.”

“You’re right.” I lean back in my seat and sigh. “Are we pathetic? Following the words of a twelve-year-old girl.”

“I thought she looked more like thirteen.”

I give her a look.

“Maybe we are nuts. But she did have a determined and intense look in her eyes. She really believes that plant exists.”

“Just because she believes it exists, doesn’t mean it does. I just hope we’re not wasting time. I don’t know how long Damarian and I have until the bond is completely severed.” I blink away tears.

“Do you feel him at all?” Leah asks.

I shake my head. “And I’m finding it hard to like…remember what it was like when I was able to hold him in my arms. When I was able to get lost in his beautiful eyes. When I felt his lips against mine.” I touch my lips, feeling how cold and empty they are.

Leah pats my back. “This trip won’t be a bust. I’m sure of it.”

I touch my bracelet. I don’t feel him, but it comforts me to know that at this moment, he could be touching his own bracelet and thinking of me. I wonder if he found the Orja plant, if it revealed itself to him. For all I know, it may be too late and the plant refused to help him.

My phone rings. “My mom,” I tell Leah. “How does she know I’m up to something? It’s like she has a superpower.”

“You’ll have to answer your phone eventually, or she’ll call the cops.”

“Maybe.” I slip my phone back in my pocket. “But not right now.”

A few minutes later, Uncle Jim calls.

“Great, she’s sending reinforcements.”

Leah scans the screen. “Maybe now would be a good time to take one of their calls.”

“But what will I tell my mom? That I’m flying across the country to seek a plant a twelve-year-old girl told me about? She’d call the airline’s security and demand they hold the plane until she got there so she could drag me off herself.”

“Cassie, give her some credit. She’s been taking this whole mermaid thing very well. I’m sure she’d understand.”

I don’t know if she’ll understand, but she’ll definitely worry. And I hate making her worry. But it suddenly dawns on me that avoiding her calls is doing just that. I press the answer button. “Hey, Uncle Jim.”

“She’s alive.”

I laugh lightly.

“So what is going on? Your mom called me all frantic. She’s acting as though you were abducted.”

“Can you tell her not to worry? I can’t speak to her right now, but just tell her that I’m fine. I’m with Leah and we’re um…” I glance at her for help.

“Taking a small break from life.”

“Taking a small break from life,” I say, then give her a what-did-you-make-me-say? look.

Uncle Jim is quiet for a bit. “Taking a break from life? Cassie, your wedding is next week. You have time to take a break from life on your honeymoon.”

My wedding. Next week? Tears blur my vision. I don’t think there’s going to be a wedding.

Leah takes the phone from me. “Leah here. Cassie’s been really stressed about getting married. You know how it is, promising yourself to someone forever, all the preparations…it can take a real toll on a girl’s emotions.”

I don’t know what Uncle Jim says, but Leah smiles.

“Yes, and we need to make sure Cassie is emotionally healthy for the wedding. So don’t worry, by the time I’m done with her, she’ll be the perfect bride.” She grins widely. “All right. Bye!”

She hangs up and hands me the phone, the grin still on her face.

“What on Earth did you just do?” I ask.

“It works on my dad all the time. Just tell the guy you’re feeling emotional, and they get all bent out of shape. And to be honest, nothing I said was a lie. You are an emotional wreck and when I help you find the plant, you will once again be bonded to Damarian and you will be the perfect bride.”

I lean back in my seat again and close my eyes, forcing myself to relax. Leah’s right. I’ve been so stressed about the wedding and then about the bond. But I don’t know if I can relax.

“Cassie, this will be our first time in California. Think of it as a mini vacation.”

Still with my eyes closed, I shake my head. “We’re not going there to have fun. I can’t lose sight on the mission.”

“Of course. But it wouldn’t kill you to make the most out of a sucky situation.”

I open my eyes and nod. Once again, she’s right. Being in a sour mood won’t slow the severing of the bond or restore it. I need to go with a positive mind and hope for the best.

***

“Are you sure this is the place?” Leah asks the cab driver.

He throws her an annoyed look. “How many times do I have tell you that this is the right place?”

We’re parked before a huge house in a very wealthy part of LA. I don’t know what Leah and I were expecting, but not this. I suspected the address the girl gave us was a private home, but such a rich one?

“Don’t lose hope,” Leah whispers to me. She turns to the driver. “Wait here.” She opens the door and gets out, and I follow.

“I’m trying to be positive,” I say, “but I’m starting to think the girl was just screwing with us.” We’ve wasted money and emotions, but mostly importantly, we’ve wasted time.

“Well, here goes nothing.” Leah stabs her finger into the bell.

I hear it echo throughout the house and that makes my heart race. Please, please let us find the answers we need.

“Hmm, maybe no one’s home,” Leah says.

I hug my upper arms. Once again, we’re back to square one. I can’t even get a message to Damarian because Fiske is waiting for me in the Atlantic Ocean and not the Pacific. And it’s not like I can communicate with other sea mammals or fish to get him the message.

“So…how about some California pizza?” Leah asks, pasting on a smile.

I know she’s trying to lighten the mood and make me feel better, but I feel so helpless and lost.

Just as we turn to leave, the door to the house opens and a woman in her mid-twenties appears. “Can I help you?”

“Oh, good you’re home,” Leah says.

The woman’s eyebrows crinkle. “Do I know you?”

“Oh, no. I’m just glad we didn’t come all this way for nothing.”

She looks even more confused.

“What my friend means,” I say, “is that we’re looking for information.”

“Yes, about what?”

I glance at Leah, once again not sure what to say. She gives me a reassuring nod. I take a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Do you know anything about a special plant that has healing powers?”

She looks at me like I’ve lost my mind. I don’t blame her. Perhaps I should have spent the five-hour flight formulating a plan.

“I’m not a botanist,” she says. “I think you’re at the wrong address.”

“No, of course you’re not,” Leah quickly says. “Um, the plant was grown in the late 1800s and most of them died out. But there are some hidden around. Do you, er, know anything about this?”

This is too humiliating. We seriously should have thought this through. I mean, this woman lives in a beautiful house in a super wealthy neighborhood. I highly doubt she’s harboring a long-lost plant.

“Honey, what’s going on?” The door widens and a man comes into view. “Is everything okay?”

The woman shakes her head, giving us a polite but semi-scared look. “These girls are looking for…sorry, I don’t really understand what you’re looking for.”

I tug on Leah’s arm. “Let’s get out of here. This is stupid.”

“No, please don’t leave,” the man says. “Are you sure we can’t help you?”

I shake my head, fighting the wave of helplessness that’s about to crush me.

“You don’t by any chance know of a plant with healing powers, do you?” Leah asks, ignoring me as I continue tugging on her arm. “We came all this way from Florida. Do you know anything about it?”

The man shakes his head. “I’m sorry—”

“Are you sure? Look, if you’re keeping it a secret, I get it. But you’ve got to help us. This is a matter of life and death.”

Okay, maybe she’s being overdramatic, but if I’m no longer bonded to Damarian, it would certainly feel like death.

The man raises his hands, giving her an apologetic look. “I’m sorry. I have no idea what you’re talking about. My family is in real estate, not plants.”

I tug on Leah’s arm once more. “I want to leave.” I face the man and woman. “Sorry for bothering you. Leah, come on.”

She finally lets me pull her away and down the stairs. “I don’t want to fail you, Cassie,” she says.

“Just because I may lose love, doesn’t mean you can’t achieve it. Don’t base your life on mine, Leah.”

“It’s not that.” She folds her arms across her chest. “I just want you to be happy. You’re my best friend. You’ve been through so much—”

“Dad, please don’t,” the woman’s voice says, slightly worried.

I turn around and see an elderly man, maybe in his early 80s, hobbling on a cane toward the top of the stairs.

“Dad, you know how hard it is to go down the stairs.” The woman takes his hand and stops him before he tumbles down the steps.

“You, girl,” her father says, not paying attention to her. “You spoke of a plant?”

I step closer. “Yeah. Do you know anything about it?”

“Of course I do!”

“Please don’t take what he says seriously,” his daughter tells us. “He has Alzheimer’s.”

He yanks his hand away from his daughter’s. “I don’t have Alzheimer’s. I’m not talking crazy.” He pins his eyes on me. “The plant you’re seeking, the Orjalion White Heart? I know about it.”

It feels like the wind just got knocked out of me. I dash up a few steps. “Yes, that’s the plant. How do you know about it?”

“My great grandfather was the person who discovered the plant. It was purely accidental—he had been digging for gold on some land he bought and found it. It made him very rich. People from all over the country and the world afflicted with any every disease known to man came to buy the plant from him. My grandfather continued growing it after him. But after seventy years, the plants starting dying. My grandfather spent a good portion of his years searching for more of the plant. He couldn’t find any more. A local fisherman found a plant that looked identical to it caught in his net. My grandfather wanted to plant it, but the plant didn’t survive after a few hours. He hired as many sailors as he could to search the ocean, but not a single sample was found. At this point, all the plants on his land had died.”

My stomach feels fizzy. “So there aren’t any left.”

He shakes his head. “There are some that have survived, but they are not easily acquired.” He looks me up and down. “Not many people are aware of its existence. How do you know about it?”

My tongue gets dry. If I don’t tell him the truth, he won’t tell me where I can get the plant. But how can I tell him?

“Um.” I hug myself. “It’s kind of a personal matter.”

“Well, without a good enough reason, I’m afraid I can’t help you.”

Leah pushes before me. “Look, I know this is a rare plant and you can’t just give it to anyone, but Cassie’s not just anyone. She’s um…well…er…” She tips her head back. “She has a very strong connection to her fiancé. I’m talking about really strong. They have the most epic love story in the world. I’m telling you, their life should be a movie.”

I give her a look.

She clears her throat. “What I mean to say is that their love is special. The kind of love that only happens in fairytales. Out of this world, smack in your face, head over heels, hearts in your eyes, a big ass cupid arrow—”

“Leah, I think he gets the point,” I mutter.

“They deserve each other,” she says. “They deserve to be happy. Without the plant, they’ll lose their strong connection and their love. They’ll lose each other.”

The daughter and her husband just stare at us, totally baffled. Her father’s eyes move from her to me, lingering on me for a long moment. Finally he says, “I see in your eyes how desperately you need the plant.”

I nod. “You have no idea.”

He’s quiet for a few seconds, his eyes still on my face. Then he says, “Okay. I just want to know one thing. How did you learn about the plant’s existence?”

It feels like my mouth is clogged with cotton balls. “I…I can’t tell you that.”

Again, his gaze remains on my face. He’s going to say forget it. After coming so close, we’ll just have another door slammed in our face.

He nods slowly. “Very well. The fact that you refuse to disclose that information is a good sign. It means you won’t divulge the secret of the plant.”

“I won’t,” I say. “I promise I won’t.”

He turns to his daughter. “Please get me a pen and paper, sweetie.”

She still looks totally lost, but she disappears into the house.

“Dad,” her husband says. “You never told us about this…this plant.”

“And this is all you will hear of it.” He narrows his eyes at him. “Many selfish people have spent their entire lives searching for this plant. It destroyed them, it destroyed their families, it destroyed their lives. It cannot fall into the wrong hands.”

He looks taken aback.

“Yes, I think you are selfish, young man. I still think you’re not good enough for my daughter.”

The man shifts in his place. “Dad, we have company.”

He mutters under his breath that he doesn’t care that they have company, and adds a few curse words, too.

His daughter returns with the paper and pen. “Here you go, Dad.”

He writes something down and hands it to me. It’s another address, but in a different city.

“I don’t know where this is,” I say. A city called Mushberry. I can see the laugher in Leah’s eyes. Who names a city Mushberry?

He chuckles. “Of course you don’t. It’s not on the map. Good luck.” He hobbles back into the house.

The husband rubs the back of his neck. “Sorry about that. My father-in-law…well, he is a character.”

“This is the sanest I’ve seen him in the past two years,” his wife says. “I hope whatever he’s telling you is the truth.”

I slide the paper into my jeans pocket. “I hope so, too.”