“What do you mean?” Chidi asked.
Marisa shrugged. “One such as you are looks to me with the notion that I might have answers to all your many questions. In truth, the greater curse is having so many choices lain before you and not knowing which to choose.” Marisa spread her hands out over the remaining scatter of symbols. “So many choices, Chidi, but only by making them do you learn if they were favored, or failure. Only by making such choices can you move forward. That is one of the greatest lessons of all that both my father and failure taught me, Chidi Etienne. Much as others would malign it, I have found that sometimes a step backward can also move one forward too.”
Marisa turned silent then, moving her pieces across the table in ways that Chidi could only guess at that which the mystic Silkie saw played out.
“I know what it’s like to make bad choices too,” said Chidi when she could not stand the silence between then any longer. “Judging by everything you’ve said about me and Allambee, even having these pieces here . . . it seems like you’ve made more right decisions than not.”
“Have I?” Marisa asked, bemused. “I suppose we shall never know until we turn back the tide, or else the Others hold sway for the errors we made.”
A host of further questions plagued Chidi’s mind then when Marisa went silent again. For a moment, Chidi thought to continue her badgering of the mystic Silkie.
The want of fresh air and to escape the smaller quarters won out.
Leaving Allambee to sleep, Chidi headed up the ladder to reach the main deck inside the captain’s quarters. There, she found Girard slumped in his chair, his feet crossed and resting on the dash as he ate beef stew from a tin can with a plastic fork. Beyond the window, the seemingly endless stretch of Salt lay before them, The Lady Cat cutting through the chop, bound ever onward toward the east.
Girard gave her a wary look as if he had just spotted a stowaway upon his ship. When Chidi waved acknowledgement of him, however, Girard grunted and turned back to the open ocean ahead.
Where is Bryant? Chidi wondered, not spotting him inside the cabin. Turning, she found him alone, outside the captain’s quarter and upon the main deck at the furthest reach of the boat. For half a heartbeat, Chidi wondered if Bryant was considering jumping off. Do I leave him alone and go back down? Chidi asked herself. Or would he like some company too?
In the middle of her inner debate, Allambee climbed up out of the lower decking to join her. He grinned at her as he came on, his smile infectious to the point it pained Chidi’s cheeks.
“Hello, Chidi,” he said. “Marisa told me that you had come up for air and that I should join you.”
“Oh,” she said. “Well, I was just about to go back down. I think Bryant prefers having some time alone.”
The cabin door behind her was opening before she had finished her sentence.
“How’s the word puzzle working out for you down there, partner?” Bryant asked. He smiled when Chidi faced him. “You ladies figure anything out yet about these keys we’re looking for?”
Chidi shook her head, despite his amusement.
“Yeah, I didn’t figure,” said Bryant. “If it helps, I been trying to put my big ol’ brain to the task.”
Chidi cocked an eyebrow. “You don’t have the symbols to look at . . .”
“Don’t need ‘em,” said Bryant. “’Cause I ain’t focused on whatever it is Miss Bourgeois is trying to translate. I’ve been trying to work out this whole five pieces of two thing she mentioned instead.”
“And?” Chidi asked.
Before Bryant could answer, Girard piped up instead. “Take it outside, will you?” he barked. “I go to sea for the quiet. Not to hear you lot gossip like a pack of ninnies.”
Bryant snorted, then waved Chidi and Allambee to follow him out onto the deck again. The Selkie marshal held the cabin door open for both, then firmly latched it behind him to not bother Girard any further.
Though she could hear Bryant grousing to Allambee about Girard as they both followed her outside, Chidi doubted that the captain of their journey would hear them over the speed with which his boat flew across the Salt. The moment she crossed the threshold of the cabin door, Chidi looked up at the night sky and drank deep of the salty, sea air. She had hoped to see the stars cast out over the darkened sky, finding not a single one to peek out among the rumbling and moving storm clouds overhead. Choosing one of the bench seats as the boat continued skipping over the water, Chidi looked back to Bryant with the question she had thought to ask inside. “Well? What did you come up with about Marisa’s five pieces of two?”
Bryant scratched at his whiskered cheeks. “Don’t rightly know as I can put a finger on it for certain. Guess I’m still trying to wrap my head around how something can be five pieces . . . but also be two at the same time.”
Chidi imagined Bryant felt as perplexed as she in the moment. As she was trying to think of a response, Allambee spoke up with one instead.
“There are five of us on this ship,” he said. “And two of them are women.”
Chidi turned cold at his words, even as Bryant scoffed.
“Schyeah. Now, that’d be a fun trick, wouldn’t it?” he asked, more to himself than Chidi or Allambee. “Spin this whole riddle and destiny talk on us. Meanwhile, she’s really just counting out how many of us are here.” He chuckled. “‘Course, she would make the part about two special pieces in reference to you ladies, huh?”
Chidi frowned at his jesting tone.
“What?” Bryant asked, acting affronted. “You believe the kid, partner? Think he’s onto something?”
“I don’t know,” said Chidi, rubbing her arms as the boat sped on, the damp of sea-spray striking her skin with cool water. “Maybe. I mean, there are five of us on board. And two of us female. Five pieces, but also two.”
“Don’t see how it could be that simple,” said Bryant. “If you believe all this nonsense, that is. Even if you do buy into all this destiny talk, magic riddles, and whatnot, I can’t see how some wizarding, Ancient race with prophetic powers would make something so simple and easy to be figured out over a few days at sea.”
“Maybe it is though,” said Chidi. “Neither of us had noticed there were five of us on board and two of us women before Allambee mentioned it. Perhaps the answer is that simple. What better place to hide a treasured thing than in plain sight where most would never notice?”
Bryant snorted. “Well, with that kind of logic, I suppose someone could make almost anything fit your narrative. All kinds of things out there that people convince themselves of wanting to see and believe in. Don’t mean a lick of it is true.”
“How do you mean?” Allambee asked.
“Just look around,” said Bryant. “Count up anything on board. Long as there’s five, then you can make something else up about there being two of them to go with it. Like, say for instance, ‘Oh, lookie over there. Them’s five fishing poles and two tackle boxes.’ Maybe they’re what Marisa’s got us chasing after.”
It’s not, Chidi knew, even as she turned away from him to look out at the open Salt. As she did, Girard’s boat hit a rough stretch of waves, bashing through the water, and nearly sending Chidi stumbling overboard. She caught herself at the side, even as one of the waves crashed over the edge and drenched her Silkie suit.
Bryant was at her side in an instant. “Whoa there, partner. You okay?”
Chidi nodded, then cleaned off the wet from her face with the sleeve of her Silkie suit. Even as she wiped it clean, however, she could not rid the taste of brine in her mouth. The Salt . . . she thought, glimpsing a streak of lightning far out on the darkened horizon line. Chidi licked her lips, tasting the traced remains. “What if it’s the Salt . . .”
“Huh?” Bryant asked.
“Marisa’s riddle,” said Chidi. “What if the five pieces are the Salt. The five oceans. Their names, I mean. The Atlantic,” she glanced over her shoulder at another onslaught of waves from the ocean they traveled. Chidi rea
ched into her memory, then, for the names of the others beyond her sight too. “Pacific, Indian, Arctic . . .”
“That’s only four, Chidi,” said Bryant. “And four oceans are all them teachers I had ever drilled in my head back in the day.”
“They taught you wrong, then. There are five oceans,” Chidi insisted, turning in the direction of the one she had not mentioned. The same direction that Marisa had sent Declan Dolan. “The Southern Ocean is the fifth and least known of them.”
Of all the five oceans, Chidi had never seen the southernmost. There had been a time when she was younger that Chidi had thought to flee from Henry and swim for the icy, southern waters, if only because he frequently warned her of the dangers awaiting all Selkies there. The frigid, southern waters teemed with those ranging in service of the Blackfin, or else the Painted Guard on patrol, all warring and watching over the ice mines where the most violent and unruliest of Selkies were sent and never returned.
“Southern Ocean?” Bryant asked, his tone skeptical, even as Chidi nodded. Again, Bryant shook his head at her suggestion. “If Marisa wanted us to go there, partner, then why are we headed east right now? And why would she have gone north before?”
Chidi’s face flushed under his questions. “I didn’t say Marisa wanted us to go south,” she said. “And I don’t think Marisa would take there anyway. There are too many dangers for our kind there. Orcinians,” she said when both Bryant and Allambee gave her a questioned look. “Most of them outcasts and ravagers, loyal to the Blackfin.”
Bryant waved off her concerns. “Well, you don’t gotta tell me twice to avoid them waters, then. Marisa though . . . don’t think that girl minds a little bit of trouble. Then again, she does seem to have a talent for finding her way out of it too. Mess with the bull long enough, though, eventually you get the horns.”
“Maybe,” said Chidi. “But, like I said, I don’t think Marisa wants us to go south. She mentioned a few days ago that she had sent Declan Dolan there already.”
“Aye, that’s what she said,” Bryant reiterated, more to himself than Chidi, his eyes narrowing. “Sent him south and she went north . . .”
Goose-pimples prickled up Chidi’s arms when his voice trailed off. “What?” she asked him. “What are you thinking?”
“Five oceans, like you said, right?” He held up his hand and stretched all five of his fingers wide. “Assuming that’s true, let’s say there are five oceans in this world, Chidi . . .” Bryant held up his other hand, then made a fist before extending two fingers like a peace symbol for her to see before asking his question. “What’s on top and bottom?”
Chidi crossed her arms, even as she quietly answered. “Poles . . .”
Allambee stirred. “Poles?” he asked, then looked to Bryant when the Selkie marshal nodded. “What are these poles, Mr. Bryant?”
“South Pole and North Pole, kid,” said Bryant. “Sandy Klaus and Christmas, elves and whatnot. The twin poles of Earth, both on opposite sides. Keeps us all upright and spinning around, no?”
Chidi could not speak to that, but Bryant’s words had her mind reeling. What if the five oceans and the two poles are the answer to Marisa’s riddle? She wondered, toying with the idea, even as her conscience urged her to doubt it. But, if that’s true, then why are we going east, like Bryant said?
Chidi could make no sense of it. She estimated Bryant was having no such luck either, the Selkie marshal running his fingers through his hair as he yawned.
“I don’t know, partner,” he said. “I just don’t know. All this yammering on about riddles and five pieces of two crap is about to do my head in though, I’ll tell you that. Need me some coffee to help make this headache go away.” He yawned again. “That, or at least help me to stay awake.”
“Why don’t you get some sleep?” Allambee asked.
“What, and miss this boat party with you two kids?” Bryant replied, giving the young Kenyan a wink. “Nah, a little coffee is all I need.” He eyed the captain’s cabin doorway. “Only trouble with that is I gotta go down and spend a few minutes with Bourgeois to get it.”
“You don’t like her?” Allambee asked.
“Can’t say as I do,” said Bryant. “Like some of my ol’ buddies used to say in school, ‘That girl gives me the heebie-jeebies.’”
Allambee smiled. “I remember school . . . I miss it too.”
“Yeah?” Bryant asked. “Why? All I ever wanted was to get away from such a place.”
“I miss learning and my friends also,” said Allambee. “But I miss my mother most.” He chuckled when Bryant and Chidi exchanged a look, then went on. “Do not worry over me. I miss her very much, but I would rather be here with you both and on the way to meet my father.”
“Uh huh,” said Bryant. “This daddy of yours, Allambee, you got any idea of where we’re supposed to meet up with him?”
“No,” said Allambee. “I have never met him before.”
“We know, kid,” said Bryant. “I just mean to ask if you got any ideas or anything of where he might be now. ‘Cause the way I figure it, Marisa’s been dragging you all over the map with this promise to meet him, but can’t say as I see how she’s given you much proof as to why yet.”
“Bryant,” Chidi scolded him.
“Nah, don’t try and call me down, partner,” he said, not unkindly. “Just trying to point out the larger point that Marisa’s got us all by the short-hairs. Each of us chasing something that matters. Something personal. Don’t none of us know how long any of this is supposed to take before we get our answers either.” He turned back to Allambee. “Bourgeois came to take you from your momma how long ago, kid? Months? A year?”
“I don’t remember,” said Allambee. “I have not counted the days or nights since I last saw my mother, but I knew that when I left her, it would be a long while before I would meet my father.”
“How did you know that?” Chidi asked. “Did Marisa tell you?”
“No,” said Allambee. “I knew it when my mother told me to be brave for her and for my father also.”
Bryant smiled at that. “You are brave, kid. I’ll give you that. All the things you’ve seen and been through already?” He did a double-take of Chidi as he spoke, his cheeks blushing. “What you both seen and been through. Hell, I wouldn’t have made it when I was the age that either of you came into all this mess.”
“You would have, Silkstealer,” said Chidi quietly, the corners of her mouth teasing if only to show Bryant she meant the word as an acknowledging testament to all she knew he had likewise endured. “You’ve made it this far.”
Bryant nodded in solemn reply. “Maybe you do have the right of it, partner. Way my Susie used to say it, I got the makings to be one helluva stubborn bastard when I got my mind set on something.”
Allambee laughed.
Chidi did too then, the three of them continuing on as one until she took notice of it, her memory not serving to offer a reminder of when she had last shared such mirth with others. All her thoughts of fear and doubt and unconscious worry removed for the moment. In her heart, Chidi wished it would last awhile longer, that the three could pretend they were merely friends on a deep-sea excursion, each with no knowledge of all that swam beneath them and abroad.
Cuing on Chidi’s silence, Bryant called to Allambee. “This daddy of yours, kid, you know what you’re gonna say when you finally meet him?”
“No,” said Allambee. “In truth, I am a little bit afraid. But I will put on a brave face as my mother instructed me to do.”
“There’s no shame in being afraid, kid,” said Bryant. “’Specially not in front of your daddy. Any father worth anything would tell you the same.”
Allambee nodded. “Did you know your father, Mr. Bryant?”
“I surely did,” he replied. “Good man, my daddy. Even if he was a little rough at times with the discipline.” Bryant shrugged. “‘Course, looking back, I can’t say as I didn’t deserve most of it. Made me who I am anyway. All them lesso
ns he taught hadn’t failed me yet, rather.”
“He made you a great man,” said Allambee. “As I wish my father could have done for me also.”
“You’re on your way, kid,” Bryant smirked and clapped him on the shoulder, rocking Allambee roughly back and forth. “Always thought a boy needed his daddy, but I think your momma did right fine raising you alone.”
Chidi could not fend off her immediate grin when one spread across Allambee’s face as well.
“Anyway,” Bryant continued, releasing his hold over the young Kenyan. “Count yourself fortunate to have a good momma in your life. Raised you well, taught you enough to keep your head about you. Knew you were strong enough to go out in the world and take it on. That’s a good, strong woman to put that heart in you, son.”
“Yes,” said Allambee. “My mother is one of the great ones, as you say. From the stories she told me, I think my father is a great man also and would have helped to raise me if he were given the choice.” He looked to Chidi with the same shining innocence in his eyes that she remembered seeing when first meeting him on the lonely beach outside of Chicago. “And you, Chidi? What would you say to him, if you were me? If you were meeting your father for the first time?”
The question stumbled Chidi. For a moment, she was transported back to the little girl she remembering being once, those few scattered memories she desperately clung to and yet kept locked away deep within the recesses of her mind. All to protect them from Henry’s wroth and the other sort he meant to instill in her. What would I say to you, Papa? Chidi wondered, remembering all the times she would sit upon his knee and rest her head against his shoulder as he sang her off to sleep, or else to banish all the nightmares that had woke her in the night. What would I say if seeing you again? Would you even recognize me at all now?
Salt Storm: The Salted Series: Episodes #31-35 Page 14