Member-only story
Desert Mermaids and Other Anomalies
Fantasy
To say Anne-Marie Buchamp was an overachiever was an understatement. Frankly, it was her father’s fault for leaving such huge shoes to fill with his solo quests by ocean or by foot in the desert. In the realm of archaeology, he was a legend — but Anne-Marie had learned that often that moniker came with a price: usually you had to be dead to gain it. As a proud Buchamp, however, she had excelled in her studies at the Academia of Florence while also achieving high marks in extracurriculars like fencing and martial arts. Her one disappointment was that she had yet to perfect her Latin.
But that mattered little when she was now on what she suspected to be a rescue mission to save her father.
When her father had last visited in Florence during the summer, he had looked the same as he always did: a bit too unshaven, in need of a haircut, and his skin darkened by what could only mean too much time in the sun. But there had been an edge to him, like a touch of anxiety, as he kept glancing over his shoulder as if he expected someone to approach him unawares at any moment.
“Anne, sweetheart, there’s something I need to tell you,” he had said, clasping his hand over hers as they sat in an outside café. She had leaned forward, eager, as if she were just waiting to hear another tale of his escapades — as if she…
