by JE Hunter
“What is wrong with them?” I fumed. Colleen guided the boat closer to Ernie's dock. Lucky for us, neither Colleen’s mom nor my grandma had noticed us sneak off. The pirates had been too busy laughing to stop us—not that they knew where we were going anyway.
“They're pirates,” Colleen said. “You should've seen them last year—always trying to get with the mermaids. Especially Jim—he was the worst—I’m so glad he's finished school. I don't know Juan yet—he's new this year—but he seems just as moody and self-centred as the rest of them. I'd stay away from them if I were you, they're nothing but a bunch of liars, cheats, thieves, and heartbreakers.”
“So, which were the ones that, you know…uh…tied you up?”
“Caesar and Markus.” Colleen’s voice was sharp and clipped.
“But they cut you down?”
Colleen glanced at me, her eyes narrowed. “Only because they had to or they would’ve been caught. Look, I told you about that and now you know. I really don’t want to talk about it anymore, okay?”
The sun was just beginning to drop toward the horizon, but the air was still thick with heat. It was a welcome change to have summery weather. It had rained so much in the past week, I’d thought the island would get washed way. “If you don’t want to talk about it, then we won’t.” I bit my lip as images of Caesar’s steel grey eyes and solid abs flashed through my mind. “But for all his infuriating, chauvinistic ways, you have to admit that Caesar's pretty good-looking—in that rugged pirate sort of way.”
“Don't. Do. Not. Go. There.” Colleen groaned. “He isn't worth it. He's a pirate. They're the worst of the worst. He'd probably just cheat on you, or steal all your jewellery or something. Besides, what about that Aaron guy?”
I jumped onto the dock. For once, Ernie was not out to greet us, which I was grateful for. I needed a break from authority. “Aaron’s on a date with a new girl.” I grabbed the rope, pulling it taunt through the loop attached to the wooden slats. “Not that he shouldn’t be. It’s beginning to look like I’m going to be stuck out here forever. It’s good that he’s moved on. It’s not like he’d ever understand me anyway, I mean I’m a witch and he’s normal.”
Colleen jumped onto the dock with me, tying up the other end of the boat. “Well, maybe you'll find someone out here that you like who isn't a pirate.”
I stood up, admiring my work. Considering the first time I'd tied a slipknot was three days ago, I was doing pretty well. “I know. I’m just rebounding, that’s all. Otherwise, why would I think a pirate who's in desperate need of a haircut is hot?”
“Exactly. Did you see the way he looked at you? He's a scumbag! End of discussion.” Colleen marched ahead, pulling her mom's car keys out of her pocket. “Don’t let them fool you. My mom hates pirates too—although she’d never admit it. She told me once that when my parents were ready to leave Scotland and come to Canada that they met a pirate who said he'd give them a ride. He took their money and left them broke at the docks in Glasgow. It took them another year to save up enough money to come to Canada.”
I looked at Colleen, slightly puzzled. “Why didn't they just fly?” I grabbed the car door handle and pulled it open.
She laughed, climbing into the driver's seat. “Because they didn't have airplanes in the eighteen-eighties.”
“What?” A nervous tingle of disbelief hit me. “There's no way your mom's that old.”
“Don't be so surprised. Your grandma doesn't exactly look over a hundred either.”
I sat down on the soft, blue cloth seats, shaking my head. “No. No. Grandma's only sixty.”
Colleen raised an eyebrow as she started the car. “Maybe you should ask her again sometime, now that you know she's a sea-witch. You should count yourself lucky; you'll live a very long and happy life. As long as you stay away from pirates.”
“Right,” I replied, my mind still buzzing over the idea that Grandma was officially ancient—she didn't even look like a senior citizen.
“So, where do you want to go?” Colleen began slowly backing out of the parking stall and on to the gravel driveway.
“I don't know. Anywhere we can hang out and avoid overbearing guardians would be great. Somewhere I can mope over a cup of hot chocolate and a piece of cake because I’m stuck on an island with very limited romantic prospects would be good too.”
Colleen nodded, “I guess that means we're heading to our favourite café. Though...” Colleen paused, taking her eyes off the road for a moment to look at me. “I have to say, you don't really seem that upset that Aaron's going out with someone else.”
I looked out the window. “I know.” I bit my lip and tasted the raspberry lip balm I'd put on during the ride over to the mainland. “It's weird, because I really liked him. But so much has happened this week that my old life just feels...distant...like it happened fifty years ago. Or that it’s just a movie I watched once. And not a very good one at that.”
Colleen must have looked over at me again because the car was suddenly veered toward the ditch.
I grabbed the dashboard. “Watch where you’re going!” The car jerked as Colleen corrected its trajectory.
“Sorry,” she apologized. In the fading sunlight I could just make out the blush in her cheeks. “I don't really drive all that often.”
“I can tell.” Silence flooded the car. I didn't know if Colleen was mad at me for insulting her driving, or if I was mad at her for being such a terrible driver, but I figured that either way it was better if I let her concentrate on the road. My mind drifted back home, to Aaron. The longer I thought about it, the less I could picture his face. His hair was light brown and curly, but what colour were his eyes? Was he half a head taller than me, or did the top of my head only come up to his chin? I'd felt short when standing next to Caesar, so maybe Aaron had been shorter than him. Caesar's hair was definitely darker and he had more muscles.
“So where does Caesar come from?” I asked almost absentmindedly as we pulled into the café’s parking lot. The headlights bounced off the front of the building, making it glow golden in the darkening night.
“We’re not talking about him.” Colleen put the car into park.
“I just asked where he comes from. His looks were almost, Spanish...or something.” I undid my seatbelt, grabbing my purse from the floor of the car.
“You're better off not knowing. And I'm not wasting my time discussing traitors and cutthroats. Besides, we're in human-ville now; we have to talk about normal things.” Colleen got out of the car, slammed her door. Inside the café, she ordered a vanilla steamer. I ordered a hot chocolate and we found an empty table by the window. It was only as I sat down that I noticed him sitting in the back corner.
The grey haired man that I’d met on the ferry, and saw again on the beach with Colleen, was reading a paper. He moved to change the page, lowering the sheets. He turned his head, catching my gaze. My breath stuck in my throat. The way he looked at me with narrowed eyes and a dark furrowed brow—almost like he was studying me—creeped me out. The café was practically empty; there were only two people other than Colleen, the grey-haired man, and me. I forced my eyes away from his, looking out the window instead.
I shivered, turning back to Colleen, scanning the art covered, cream-coloured walls of the café. I used the art to calm my nerves, trying to forget I’d just seen the grey-haired man. I thought about leaving but we’d already ordered and there was no other café in town that was near as nice as this one. Colleen hadn’t felt threatened by the grey-haired man when she met him. Maybe my reaction was all in my head. Maybe it was best if I just ignored him.
“What are we going to talk about today?” I hung my purse over the back of my chair. “You don't like talking about clothes and you don't like talking about boys.”
“It's not that I don't like talking about boys, I just don't like talking about pirate boys.” Colleen pulled a hair tie out of her pocket, reaching back to put her shoulder length hair in a ponytail.
I looked at
her with curiosity. In the week that I'd known her, she hadn't mentioned anything about having a boyfriend. “Well then, what boy do you like?”
She immediately turned crimson. “I don't like a boy.”
“O-M-G! Yes you do! You wouldn't turn that colour if you didn't.”
Colleen flushed even harder and looked out the window. She frowned. “Townies,” she said, just as the bell above the door jingled. In came three local kids around our age.
Two girls and one boy. Both girls were laughing loudly. The boy was flushing bright pink. “Who cares about townies,” I said, “we have more important things to discuss. Such as whom Colleen has a crush on.”
“I don't have a crush on anyone!” Colleen jumped up to get her drink when the barista called her name.
“Okay, what about Claudia? Would you date Claudia?” I overheard one of the townies—a blonde girl with a pixie-cut—ask the boy.
“What? I'm not answering that. She's my best friend’s girlfriend.” The boy was still flushing, looking anywhere but at the two girls he was with.
“You promised you'd answer any question we asked.”
“Not all night!” The boy retorted just as Colleen sat back down across from me. She pushed a mug full of hot chocolate my way.
I grabbed the mug around the handle and said, “Don't think being nice will get you out of this. Do you like Caesar? Is that why you don't want to talk about him?”
“No.”
I leaned back, surprised by the vehemence in Colleen's answer. “Are you sure?”
“I told you what those pirates did to me. They strung me up. Embarrassed me in front of my best friend. They’re responsible for the disappearance of my dad—it was Caesar’s father that tricked my dad into going on a treasure hunt they didn’t return from. I’d never like a pirate. So just leave it, will you? Why don't you tell me some more about the city?”
I shook my head, the heavy disappointment of the night, the week, and the month weighing me down. “I don't want to talk about the city. It reminds me of too many things I don't have.” Like my dad.
“We could talk about favourite movies or something.”
“What about a redhead.” It was the blond again. I looked over to my left, where the group of three townies had sat down. The blond was whispering, but looking pointedly in my direction. “Would you ever date a redhead?”
Her friend, a girl with fake-blonde hair, hid laughter behind her hand. The guy tried to look sneakily in my direction, but it was obvious he was looking right at me.
“Ignore them,” Colleen whispered. “Nessa.” She tapped me with her foot. “Ignore them, they aren't worth it.”
But I couldn't help it. For once, I'd left my hair down, poking out from under the rim of my beige hat. I reached back and twisted my long hair into a thick rope, pulling it over my shoulder. On the island, with just Colleen and Grandma, it'd been easy to forget that I had the worst hair in the world. Apparently forgetting was impossible in the real world. I hated being reminded that my hair was no longer my natural colour. It was no longer the hair I’d been born with. The hair Dad had loved.
“No,” the boy answered.
My stomach felt hollow. It wasn’t the boy’s voice I heard reject my hair, it was Dad’s. If he could see me now, he would be just as angry as Mom had been, maybe even more.
“Good,” whispered the blonde, although it did nothing to hide her words. “Because if you did, I'd never speak to you again.” Both girls broke out in laughter.
I looked down at the table and clenched my fists. How dare she! How dare that snotty little townie who knew nothing about me –about how much I hated my hair, about how it wasn’t my choice, about how I was a sea-witch—make fun of me. How dare she think she was better than me just because her hair was a normal colour and because...because...just because. “Let's go,” I said at the very moment an emergency fire sprinkler burst, showering the blonde and her two friends with water. Both girls screamed, jumping out of their seats.
Colleen stood, grabbing our mugs. “Good idea. I'll just get these put into to-go cups.”
I grabbed my bag, slinging it over my shoulder, giving the blonde the dirtiest look I could muster.
“I’ll sue. I’ll sue this place for ruining my purse. This is Gucci. Gucci.” She sounded like a pig being stepped on.
At the back of the room the grey haired man lowered his paper. He was out of the way of the water, and didn’t seem to be concerned about it. But he was staring at me—again.
He didn’t blink; he just stared at me. A slow, knowing smile passed over his lips.
Colleen skirted the falling water, holding a lid-covered drink in each hand. “What are you staring at? Let’s go.” Colleen peaked over her shoulder at the crazy scene we left behind.
I stomped out of the café, away from the townies, the water, and the grey-haired man. With every step, I felt his eyes on me. I reached the car, resting my hand on the door handle.
“Hello. Imagine running into you again.”
I looked up. He was standing at the hood of the car. His pale eyes with black, pinprick irises gazed at me, unblinking. I didn’t move. From the other side of the car Colleen said, “Hi. Any luck with the business?”
I opened my mouth to tell her to get into the car and drive when the crunch of gravel signalled a car was pulling into the lot. Instinctively, I turned to watch it. It was an old blue Chevrolet. Ernie’s car. My stomach sank, but my heart slowed down. Ernie’s arrival meant we were in trouble, but it also meant the creep who had followed us out of the café wouldn’t follow us any further. I hoped.
Ernie pulled up behind us, rolling down his window. “What are you girls doing? Your grandma’s furious, Nessa, and your mom too, Colleen. You’d better both follow me back to the house. Right now.” It was the first time I saw Ernie’s broad, wrinkled face without a smile on it.
“We were just leaving. See, coffee to go.” I held up my cup and shook it. Then I opened the door, turning back to the front of the car, where the grey haired man was still standing, eyes fixed on me. “Can I help you with something?”
“Just wanted to make sure you were both okay, you know, after what happened with the fire sprinklers in there. Although, I suppose it’s a bit silly now, thinking about it. What harm could a bit of water do.” The grey-haired man shifted his gaze. I knew without turning around to verify it that he was looking at Ernie.
“I’m sure the girls appreciate your concern. I’ll get them home safe.” Ernie’s voice was deeper than usual.
The grey-haired man nodded silently, disappearing back into the café. Colleen and I got in the car. We tailed Ernie back to his house, solemnly. Before we climbed into the boat, he gave us a good look over.
“You’re both okay? Nothing happened at the café?”
“Just a small pipe burst,” Colleen said. “No big deal.”
Ernie nodded like he agreed, but his pursed lips suggested otherwise.
The sun had almost set completely by the time we began boating back to the island. I sat up front, letting the wind whip my hair while Colleen steered us home. The wind felt great, brushing away the tightness in my skin and straightening out my bones. I’d felt off-kilter for so long I wasn’t sure what it meant to feel normal anymore. Just like that, I began to cry. Colleen cut the engine and came to sit with me, letting us float on the dark water, with only the cabin light to illuminate the ship. Above us the stars were shining—night had fallen completely since we’d left Ernie’s dock.
“Are you okay?” Colleen's voice was soft, like the waves. Her words butted up against my insides like the water butted the boat.
“No.” I sniffed, wiping my nose. “Why can't I just be who I was? I loved my hair—loved it! And so did my dad. He told me it was his favourite part of me. He told me to never let it go. If he were still alive...” I shook my head, the tears sticking to my checks. “It should have been my dad coming to the café to tell me I was in trouble tonight. Because
that’s what dads do. I hated when he got mad at me, but when he did, I knew it was just part of the way he showed he cared about me. And now… I just feel so alone sometimes. I don’t have my mom or my dad. I can’t see my old friends. Grandma won’t even let me go home until I get a grip on my sea-witch powers and look,” I thrust my arm out over the boat, where huge ten foot swells were crashing around us. “I can’t control anything!”
Colleen tilted her head. “It’s not so bad, Nessa. At least you haven’t capsized the boat. And you’re not alone. You have me. You have your grandma. And just wait until you meet the rest of the students.”
“I don't know about that, I don’t think Grandma has a sweet bone in her body.” But even as I said the words I realized Colleen was partially right, and the ocean began to calm around us. Even if I didn’t have my old friends, at least I had one new one.
“The other students are great, just wait until you meet them. Like my best-friend Kyle, I think you’ll really like him; he’s completely trustworthy.”
I looked up, noticing a set of red and green lights indicating port and starboard of an approaching boat. I nudged Colleen, pointing my chin in the direction of the ship.
“Ahoy!” A deep, masculine voice called across the water. The motor geared down, allowing the other boat to approach quietly and slowly.
“Who’s there?” Colleen called, once the other boat had stopped. Her voice carried out over the water and disappeared into the hypnotic sound of the rolling waves.
The driver flicked on his cabin lights. I didn't recognize the man driving the boat.
He smiled slyly. “Hey Otter, you forget how to work the motor?” The young man was enormous: he had to be over six-foot-seven with more muscle and fat than any other guy I'd ever seen—except for professional football players—which was exactly what he reminded me of. His dark hair and eyes spoke of his Native American heritage.
Colleen stood, narrowing her eyes at the humongous stranger. “Shut up, Dolphin Boy, or I'll throw you overboard.” Colleen turned back to me, a broad smile spread across her face. “Nessa, I want you to meet my best friend Kyle, also known as Dolphin Boy. He's an orcie: a Neptunian that can shape-shift into an orca whale.”
“Oh.” I moved closer to the middle of the boat. The conversation Colleen and I’d had when we were shopping for blankets came back to me. “An orcie—you're a Tiderunner then—the other family that lives on the island?”
“You bet,” he said. “I didn't mean to scare you. I forget my size can be intimidating for people when they first meet me. One of the only bonuses to being an Orcie is that I can pass for at least twenty-five.”
“That would be good for a few things,” I said.
“So what are you two doing out here? Joanna and Shannon were pretty worried when they discovered the two of you had took off unannounced into the dark.” Kyle tilted his head to the left, giving us a sympathetic smile. “Actually, I think you're both in a lot of trouble. I feel kind of bad dragging you back to what's sure to be an awful punishment. But to be honest, I was worried too.”
Colleen shook her head. “There's no need to worry about us. You know how it is—we just needed to get away from those pesky pirates.”
Kyle sighed. “We've been over this Colleen, they aren't that bad. Just because they hung you up when some bully–”
“I don't want to hear it Kyle, not tonight,” Colleen sighed and went back to the captain's chair. “We were just on our way back to the island, anyway. We only wanted to ride out and look at the stars. I don't know why everyone’s so scared—I mean, really—we're magical creatures gifted by the sea. What harm could come to us on such a beautiful night?”
Kyle shook his head. “You never know Colleen, you never know.” He walked back to the control counsel of his boat, motioning for us to follow before starting up his motor and roaring off into the night.