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"You got it, kiddo," Austin said. He pulled out a small first aid kid from the kitchen cupboard and went around to Jace's back. He quickly cut away the bandages and started cleaning the wounds.

"Miss Prince-Hughes," he said murmured. "There are marks here inconsistent with sores resulting from poor hygine."

Nixie looked over at Jace's back. There were long welts, huge bruises, and scrapes that didn't look like the wounds he had described. Someone had willfully harmed his boy, and that made her mad.

"Do we need to take him to the hospital?" she asked.

"No, they're not infected or anything. I can handle this. He doesn't even need stitches," Austin reassured her. He quickly put antibiotic ointment on each wound and applied an appropriate bandage that will stay in place. "There," he said, putting the last bandage on. "I'll re-bandage you every morning until these are better. Just don't go riding dirt bikes or anything, ok kiddo?"

Austin and Nixie exchanged a glance.

"Don't you dare corrupt him," Nixie ordered. "Besides, we need to get everything packed up because the company jet is leaving for the first house I'm going to have you, Jace, investigate. Which means we're heading for the Swiss Challet first--Sovenn took me there only once and we didn't even stay a whole weekend, so it's a good canditate for a hiding place."

"I'll grab your luggage," Austin volunteered as he left the kitchen.

Nixie lead the way though the hotel lobby. She waved absently to the hotel manager and they got into the car. Austin had expertly packed and loaded everything. As soon as they were inside the limo, they took of to the airport.

The Prince-Hughes Auqaculture Enterprises jet was waiting. It was an ugly plain--the height of aerodynamic art, but painted with fish so stylized that they were difficult to recognize. Austin opened the doors for Nixie and Jace to get out, and then loaded the luggage onto the plane. Nixie just walked from the limo to the plane as if she owned it all, which she did. Inside the plane, she relaxed in a large arm chair. She put down her cell phone for the first time since they left the hotel.

"In a few hours, we'll be in the Swiss Alps. I hope you like snow," she said.

"It's a typical Prince-Hughes house," Nixie said with a twist in her humorless smile. "Three stories, six bedrooms, four baths, rec room, sauna, and a 3-car garage, all of which could have secret panels or safes or passageways. I could take the place apart brick by beam and never find what I'm looking for. We'll stay for a couple of days, until you can assure me that my coat isn't there. Then We'll move to the next house."

As she talked, the plane rumbled down the strip. The small engines roared and it picked up speed. With a final lurch, it left the ground and started to gain altitude.

"I've gotten used to it, honestly," Nixie confessed. "I used to fly two or three times a week. I always looked forward to that time because my cell and laptop wouldn't connect to the network. For a few hours, I was free. But now that you mention it, the clouds are beautiful. Almost like white-cap waves." She watched in silence for a moment. "Now is the best time to ask any questions since we're not doing anything for a while."

((I get it. No worries. ^_^ ))

"I slip it on and go home," Nixie smiled wistfully as she looked outside. "I'll dive under the waves, as deep as I can go, until my belly scrapes the rocks on the sea floor. I'll find my kin, and we'll play and swim together through all the oceans of the world. And I'll never ever ever come up on a human beach again."

Then she looked at the fox-boy. "I suppose it's too early to ask you what you want to do when you inherit my fortune, but...what would you like when we land? Anything at all--ice cream, a toy or book, a piece of clothing--we have to send Austin for something, since I don't want him anywhere near my seal coat."

"I think we can send Austin on that errand," she said warmly. "He might take all afternoon finding it, and that should be enough time for us to snoop around the house. I'm sorry about your clan. My kind were hunted for a long time--seals in general were, for our thick pelts and our meat. We were lucky enough to look like the real things that when humans put a ban on hunting seals, we were saved too."

Nixie wrapped her armes around Jace. It felt so good to snuggle with someone.

"So you're a prince," she concluded. "I was more like a dutchess among my people--my uncle led our group. Not that we acnoleged much athority either way. We were very carefree. Very naive."

She hugged him closer, carefull of the bandages on his back, as she silently remembered her youth in the sea.