Mermaids in Turkey

Chapter Fourteen

"Nehir!" 

She froze in her tracks, spinning around a cookie dangling from her mouth "hmm?" she said through the mouthful. 

"This necklace, did you ever see Leyla wearing it?" 

She cocked her head like a parrot as she studied the black and white photograph "uhuh-she never took it off" 

"Where is it now?" 

Nehir shrugged her shoulders. 

"Please think, its very important" 

"You can check her room, its probably in there"

Ayça nibbled on her lip to the point of almost drawing blood "Nehir, please I really don't want to go in there" 

She must have seen the pain mixed with fear in her eyes for she finally relented and went into her aunts bedroom. Ayça picked at her nails as she paced back and forth in the hallway outside of her mothers room. The hands on the clock steadily making their way downward with each passing minute. And if they buried her with it? Then what?  She thought about having to open her dead mothers grave but quickly shook that thought out of her mind. No, if they buried her with it then it was over. 

Nehir emerged from the room grinning from ear to ear like a cheshire cat as she swung the necklace back and forth like a pendulum. 

Ayça let out a giant sigh of relief "You are amazing" as she reached for the necklace but Nehir snatched it away. 

"Im not giving you this until you tell me why its so important to you? I thought you hated my aunty Leyla" 

She pinched the bridge of her nose "I don't have time for your games, give me the necklace" 

Nehir shook her head as she put the necklace in the pocket of her shirt and folded her arms over her chest. 

Ayça scratched her eyebrow while letting out an exasperated groan "Its going to help us save the hotel." 

She watched her cousin's face light up like a Christmas tree "Really? Do you really mean it?" 

"Yes, now give me the necklace" she demanded as Nehir dropped it into her outstretched hand. The pendant at one end was shaped like a key but at that opposite end it had a heart. With the tip of her finger she could feel a tiny clasp on the side.  After she made her cousin promise not to tell her aunt Selma about the necklace she rushed in the direction of her room. 

As she fumbled with the clasp, trying to dig it open with her fingernail she crashed into a towering figure. 

"Sorry" she murmured not bothering to look up as she continued blindly on her way. 

"Good morning Sancak" 

She wouldn't have recognized him if it wasn't for him calling her sancak because there was something off about his voice.  The tone was flat with a hint of sadness. His eyes were red and there were dark circles under them. 

"Are you alright?" 

He nodded and chuckled as he ran his fingers through his hair "Yeah, listen I was kind of a jerk to you yesterday. Im sorry, I was out of line. I've just um-have got a lot of stuff going on" 

She knitted her eyebrows as she studied his slumped shoulders "whats wrong?" she asked him as he lightly stroked that beauty mark of his. 

She raised her eyebrow at him "Or are you loosing sleep over me?" her gaze intense under a pair of thick lashes while shifting her weight from foot to foot. 

He chuckled stroking his chin with amusement as he stepped closer to her and gently brushed a tendril of hair away from her face "Sancak, I never loose sleep over a woman"