Another foggy, chilly morning. The blond boy was running down the sidewalk alone; Beatrice was absent today as she had an early morning soccer practice. He was running at his fastest pace, trying to get some exercise if he couldn't do his laps. He always followed one motto when he was running.
Keep your eye on the safe spot and don't look back. Those words buzzed around in his head as he ran down the cold sidewalk.
He suddenly stopped and rubbed his leg. He'd been getting a lot of cramps lately.
"Why'd we stop?" As voice asked suddenly, causing the boy to jump.
"Don't do that!" He said.
"Do what?" Ally asked, for that's who it was.
"Scare me like that! Warn me before you come up behind me, kay?" The boy said, rubbing his aching leg again.
"Oh. Well you could've payed attention, I was running beside you for at least ten minutes." She said.
The boy looked up at her with a slight look of shock on his face. "You kept up with me?" He asked.
Ally did a shrug. "Yeah, what's the big deal?" She asked.
"No one's ever been able to keep up with me when I'm running." He said, clearly impressed.
"Hm, is that a hint of jealousy I sense?" She asked him with a playful smile.
"What? No. I'm just a little surprised, that's all." He said.
She rolled her eyes. "Boys." She muttered "so sup? What's wrong with your leg?"
"Argh, stupid cramps again. I've been getting them a lot lately." He said.
"You aren't drinking enough. You should bring a bottle of water along when you run." Ally informed him.
"I guess."
"How do you get food and stuff? Not to mention fresh clothes." Ally asked as they began to walk.
"My step-sis takes care of that. Brings me a week's worth of food every Sunday, fresh clothes every other week and sneaks me in for a shower when Lonna and Leon are out for their Friday night date." He explained.
"Oh. Interesting. So you and your step-sister are close then?" Ally asked, eying him over her oval glasses.
"Yup. 'Bout as close as a normal brother and sister I reckon." He said.
"That's cute. So does she call you by something or are you just referred to as 'he' or 'you'?" Ally asked.
"She calls me Mullet Fingers." Said the boy.
"Oh, that makes sense. It's because you can catch mullets with your bare hands, right?" Ally asked.
"Yup." Mullet Fingers replied.
"Very cool. So tell me: what does a fifteen-year-old runaway do for fun during the day?" She asked him.
Mullet Fingers grimaced. "This would be it." He said.
"What? Walking with random people and exchanging facts?" Ally asked.
"Yup, but usually I'm alone." Mullet Fingers said.
"Well you certainly lead an exciting life." Said Ally sarcastically "Don't you take care of those owls anymore?"
"Nah, there's some guy who works at the preserve that does- hey, how'd you know about that?" Mullet Fingers asked.
"I did a little research." Said Ally.
"You mean on that inter-thing?" He asked.
Ally rolled her eyes. "Yes, I typed in blond kid that catches mullets in Coconut Cove in on Google and got three thousand results." She said.
Mullet Fingers looked a bit confused. Ally laughed and said "I'm kidding. My dad has this weird thing about keeping old newspapers and I went through them. I found the one about you and your friends saving those owls."
"Oh." He said.
"Are you still friends with Roy and Beatrice?" She asked him.
Mullet Fingers's expression suddenly turned hard. "Beatrice, yeah." He said through gritted teeth.
"What happened to Roy?" Ally asked.
"No comment. Hey, you wanna see something really cool?" He asked her.
"Okay." Ally said.
Mullet Fingers led her through the woods and all the way to a small lagoon, possibly a small lake. There were thousands of mullets swimming around in it.
"This is where they lay their eggs, see? When they're old enough they swim down the river and into the ocean." Mullet Fingers explained.
"Wow! I never knew this place was here!" Ally exclaimed.
"Like no one does. Not even Beatrice knows about it." He said.
"Then who's that?" Ally muttered, pointing to two men standing a little ways away.
She and Mullet Fingers crouched down behind a bush and listened in.
"And I want you to make very sure, Mr. Brannit, that no one interferes. Build the dam, drain the lake then fill it in with cement and you're home free from there. I am fully aware of your previous 'accidents' while you were working and I assure you, Mr. Brannit, Amer-Coast will not be as tolerant. Make sure it gets done." Said a man's voice.
"Yes, sir, Mr. Rinlae. I won't let you down, sir." Curly Brannit's voice came.
"Very good. The less we have to correspond the better you'll find we get along. Now I must be going, good luck." Said the voice of the other man.
The two walked off as some men planted a sign in the ground. It read:
Future home of Coconut Cove's Amer-Coast hotel.
Mullet Fingers turned to Ally, but was shocked to find that she had disappeared. He looked around.
"Ally?" He muttered.
No answer. He rolled his eyes, got up and hurried off; already working out a plan to stop the construction.
Beatrice walked home after school with her good friend, Tina Patel that day. Tina was a tall, slim, long dark haired Indian girl from Beatrice's soccer team. Tina was one of the few people that Beatrice had confided the identity of her stepbrother to.
"I honestly don't know what to do anymore. I could leave him alone, and go one worrying about him for the rest of my life. Or I could keep pushing him about it until we can work something out." Said Beatrice.
Tina hesitated. "Well, I don't think you should push him, that'll just make him angry. Have you considered talking to him about this?" Tina asked.
"Of course I have, he and I have always spoken our feelings to each other. But every time I try to bring it up he always makes a joke out of it, like I'm being silly." Beatrice said.
"Well maybe you should sit him down and make him understand that you're really serious about this." Said Tina.
Tina was always the best person to come to for advice.
"Hm, maybe I should. Oh, speak of the devil, look who's coming." Said Beatrice as Mullet Fingers ran toward them.
He panted when he finally reached them. "Hey." Said Beatrice.
"Hey. Hi Tina." He added, nodding to her.
"Uh, hi." Tina replied.
She'd met Mullet Fingers on several occasions. "What's the matter?" Beatrice asked.
"You aren't going to believe this." He said.
