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"Mam is fit to be tied," Saraid said the following afternoon, as she and Iseult floated side by side. "She's swearing up and down she'll make Patrick move home if she has to come up and drag him back by the scruff of his neck."
"I don't think she was expecting him to call her bluff and move out," Iseult guessed. "That's why she only let him leave with a suitcase of clothes; but she's going to be even more cross when she finds out he doesn't intend on going back. How're you coping?"
"Mam's ignoring me as usual," Saraid said. "I don't care; it means I can sneak out to Kate's sister's party tonight."
Iseult whistled. Kate Ryan was the daughter of the second most powerful squidding magnate, Nora Ryan. Nora was also a very bitter rival of the Murrays, for her grandfather had been the one captain Iseult's great-grandfather hadn't been able to win over, and the rivalry had only gotten more bitter over the years. But Kate and her older sister Quinn were very nice, and got on very nicely with Iseult and Saraid, much to Sophia's disgust. Saraid, though, didn't really care for her mother's opinions on her friends, and Iseult was in awe at her friend's boldness. "I wish I could come," she said wistfully. Her parents weren't as opposed to her friendship with the Ryan girls, but Iseult knew they'd draw the line at a house party. Quinn Ryan was very rich, but her parties always drew the wrong sort of crowd, and Iseult knew it was for this reason she'd be forbidden to go.
"Why can't you?" Saraid asked.
"My parents won't let me," Iseult said, a slight bitter note creeping into her tone.
"So?" Saraid said. "You don't have to tell them the truth, and it's only up in Galway."
Iseult hesitated. "I can't lie to them," she said regretfully. "They'd skin me if they found out I'd gone to Galway for a party with people they don't approve of."93Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTXThSou89C
"And how else would you be finding out if they're good people if you don't stop moaning like an old woman?" Saraid chided. "I love you like the sister I never had, but you can be such a goody-two-shoes sometimes. Why not let your hair down for once? Anyway, I'm heading up on the train later; if you're not chicken, meet me at the station at four-thirty, else I'm goin' without you." So saying, she took a deep breath and went underwater, but Iseult stayed on the surface, her mind roiling with new and dangerous thoughts.
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Iseult like everyone at the station was staring at her, and she kept her head down as she hurried through the afternoon crowds. Getting permission to go to Galway had been surprisingly easy; she'd told her parents Saraid and her were visiting Kate, and while they'd raised their eyebrows, they'd raised no objections, instead admonishing their daughter to watch her step, and to come straight home if anything happened, even if it was the middle of the night; an Uber would cost far less than the price Iseult would pay for getting herself into something she couldn't get herself out of. 93Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡylIxv1utrP
Though relieved to have gotten permission, Iseult still felt incredibly guilty, and when Saraid saw her, she frowned. "How big a lie did you tell?" she asked. 93Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ65pNnKQo8z
"I said we were going up to visit Kate," Iseult said. "They told me to watch my step and come home, even if they had to fork out for an Uber."
"Well, there you go," Saraid said, taking her arm. "You didn't tell that big a lie, and what they don't know won't hurt them. Now let's get a move on; we've only ten minutes to the train, and if we miss it, it's another two hours, and all the fun will be over by the time we get there."
As Iseult let hersefl be pulled along, she wondered, with a queasy feeling in her gut, just what sort of "fun" Saraid was so keen not to miss out on. And suddenly, going to Galway seemed to be a very, very big mistake.
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