Chapter 14

Maggie saw Adam surface and let out a sigh of relief. What if he had drowned? But no, he was all right. And he was carrying something. Probably that what Barnabas did not want him to find out.

Well, she could now tell Barnabas that he had failed, and gloat to his face.

Oh, yes, she was going to gloat! He owed it to her.

Adam reached the shore, tired and out of breath. His gills had closed as he was reaching for the surface, and there had been desperation in his last strokes. He might never break the surface, never breath air again... But he had made it. He sucked in air deeply almost tasting the oxygen...

"So you got it!" Maggie said. "you did it!"

"Yes." Adam was not sure what she meant but nodded agreement.

"What is it? Let me see."

She reached for it before he could order his thoughts and brought the head to eye level.

She became stone in half a second.

Urien felt uneasy sleeping in the same apartment as David. There was a certain tension in the air and he did not know what to attribute it to.

It was not David. He had been cordial enough. It was something else. Something against which he had brushed once, and to which he did not want to come close to again.

Could it be the apartment itself? David had shared the apartment with Hallie and his son. Now Hallie was gone and Elliot lived with Carolyn... could it be that the apartment itself had not wanted them there?

Nonsense, how could an apartment want or not want?

Very easily, he reminded himself, where members of the Collins family were involved.

In which case all the could hope was that the apartment thought kindly of him. If no, then he would have some problem.

Adam stared, open mouthed at the petrified Maggie. What had he done? She was dead, he had killed her... He had not wanted to... He had only wanted to...

Why had he carried the head with him? Why hadn't he left it where it had fallen?

It did no good. He had killed Maggie Evans. He was a fool... what had he expected? To marry the mermaid? But now he knew that the mermaid would have killed him if the gorgon did not. That was what Quentin said, that the mermaid was the male, and the gorgon the female. That the mermaid probably wanted to offer him as food for the gorgon, so as not to be devoured himself.

He had dismissed it as nonsense when Quentin said it, but it was not.

They had locked him up to protect him, but he had escaped and thus he had doomed Maggie.

Down the beach, Tammy and Joe approached him.

"That's Adam" Tammy said. "But what is that thing next to him? It seems like a statue."

"Well, he probably switched from painting to sculpture."

"But a statue here?"

They approached Adam "Did you do this?" Tammy asked, admiring the great likeness to Maggie that the statue had.

"Yes." Adam admitted, sobbing.

"But why put it near the water?"

"What is this?" Joe said pointing to an object by Adam's feet. He bent down and picked it up.

"No!" Adam shouted. "Not again! Put it down!"

But it was too late. Joe had become petrified.

"Joe!" Tammy shouted She reached for what Joe was holding.

Adam finally reacted. He took her by the arm and pushed her away. "Don't let it look at you, or you too..."

Tammy understood. "You! You did this to him! You turned him to stone, same as Maggie!"

She began to hit Adam, who did not defend himself. Yes, he had done this. He deserved to be punished.

"And this thing too!" she circled around it, avoiding its dead gaze "I should thrown it back into the sea!"

"No." Adam ventured to say "There may be a way to reverse the process. We may need the head for it."

That Tammy could understand. She took a deep breath, took off her jacked and wrapped the head in it.

"I guess it is safe enough to handle now. No way that anyone can be in front of her eyes."

Adam nodded. Yes, it was safer now.

"We can't leave them here. The water and salt will do them little good."

"We may need help to carry them."

"So go get it."

By then Quentin had gotten there. He looked at the two statues and sighed.

"You had to bring the head, didn't you?" he said resignedly.

"Yes." Adam admitted. "But it may be that between Angelique and Julia, they can be restored."

"You got the gorgon head?" Julia asked Angelique.

"Yes. In the freezer. That will make it keep. It does not work on inanimate objects, or I'd have no freezer now. It does work on all kinds of living things. I got a most beautiful sculpture of an hydroponic lettuce." You'll have to be careful to get samples out of it. Actually I don't think it is such a good idea to perform tests at all. I am tempted to put it in front of the mirror.

"That would doom Maggie and Joe, unless you know of another way to restore them."

"I don't. but I don't want to make things worse, and while that head is there, there is always the danger of someone else being turned to stone... I know that it is heartless, but it might have been better if Quentin had abandoned Adam to his fate.

Julia wanted to protest, but didn't. Two innocent people, Maggie and Joe had already paid the price. And Tammy. Who knows how many more could the head claim if they were careless around it? Even she, herself, could be turned to stone. And all because Adam still refused to grow up.

"In any case, we'll get to learn something about gorgons and mermaids."

"Like it is wise to avoid both."

"And that they are the same species, male and female... it would make an interesting scientific paper."

"Maybe, if you think that the risk is worth it."

Sabrina glared at Quentin and Barnabas. "What do you mean, Maggie turned to stone?"

"Exactly that. She got in the path of a gorgon's glare, and she was turned to stone."

"But how? Do you have it here?"

"Of course not" Barnabas protested "Do you expect me to keep such a dangerous thing around?"

"So how come?"

"I had Adam locked up in the basement for his own protection. Maggie set him free and Adam went into the water to kill the gorgon. And, like an idiot, he brought the head back. Maggie got in its path, and so did Joe Haskell. Now they are statues, both of them."

"It is all your fault, then!" Sabrina shouted at Barnabas.

"No, it is yours." Quentin said. "It is your job to keep Maggie on a tight leash when she comes to Collinsport. You know how she gets around Barnabas."

"I warned him that she was here, and to make himself scarce!"

"Maggie came in the daytime. What did you expect him to do, then? Why did you leave her alone?"

"You should have kept the door locked!"

"And you should have been at all times with her. Damn it, she is your responsibility." Quentin insisted.

"Three is no point in auguring this." Barnabas intervened "for all we know, Angelique has found the answer by now, and you will get Maggie back."