by JE Hunter
“Don’t forget what you learned this afternoon.” Mira Tiderunner looked at us tersely. “There will be an exam on Monday and anyone that can’t tell me the difference between bi-lateral symmetry, tetramerism, pentamerism, hexamerism, and octamerism, and give a living example of each, will have an extra report to write. Class dismissed.”
There was a sudden scraping of chairs as the students collectively climbed out of their desks.
“Come on, Nessa. It’s swimming time.” Colleen pulled on the loose strap of my backpack as I swung the other over my shoulder. This was the first day I was going to do something fun after school. I was determined to let nothing ruin it.
“Caesar, it’s time for our afternoon water polo game!” Shia cut me off as she raced across the room to the pirates. “I think the mermaids are going to win today!”
I glanced at Caesar briefly. “I don’t think so,” he said, a smirk on his lips. “Today it’s the pirates and vodianis turn to win.”
Colleen pulled harder, forcing me to follow her out of the room. My good mood slightly diminished.
“Kyle and Zeke are going to meet us at your place. Orcies can swim pretty fast, so they’ll probably get there before we do.” Colleen led me out the door and down the path to her house. “I just have to drop off my stuff and then I’ll meet you at your dock. Probably fifteen minutes, sound good?”
“Awesome,” I said. “Don’t be late. I don’t want to waste a minute of my freedom.” Colleen and I parted ways. I continued through the damp woods to my house. For once it wasn’t raining, though the sky was grey and looked like it might start spitting at any moment.
I hurried back to the house. “I’m home,” I yelled. There was no response. I peaked my head into the kitchen and saw a single slip of paper where Grandma usually sat. I picked it up and read the fancy, cursive script.
I’ll be at the Tiderunner’s if you need me.
Grandma.
“Definitely not,” I whispered to myself, crumpling the note, tossing it into the trash. “I could do without you for an evening.”
I had a quick drink of water and ran upstairs to change. Just as I was finishing, I heard the distinct sound of an orca clearing out its blowhole. I went to my window and looked out. Swimming the bay in front of my house were two beautiful killer whales that could only be Kyle and Zeke. How it was even possible that they could become so large was beyond me—but then again, I had no idea how I could walk on water and control tidal forces either.
I rushed down to the dock, glad to see Colleen waiting in the water for me. She was in her human form. I smiled at her as she swam closer to the dock. “You were right, you know, about going to a magic school being cool. I can’t believe that’s Kyle and Zeke out there.”
Colleen laughed, looking over her narrow shoulder at the orcies. They were bobbing their heads straight up out of the water, watching us. “Seeing them in this shape sure is something—no matter how many times you see it.”
I looked out at the whales, admiring their smooth black and white bodies and pointed dorsal fins. “Want to see something cool?” I asked them and Colleen at the same time. The orcies made a high-pitched chirping sound that I took to be a yes, and Colleen nodded.
“Okay then, here goes nothing.” I held my breath as I walked from the beach out onto the water. It was a lot easier today than it had been with my grandma. I could feel the smile spread over my cheeks as I made my way out to the whales.
“Nessa, that’s amazing,” Colleen cried. “I’m shapeshifting now. Do you want to follow us or do you want Kyle to give you a pull?”
I looked back at Colleen. “A pull?”
Her large, dark eyes flashed with amusement. “Just hold onto his fin and he’ll take you along with him. It’s fun. I promise.”
I nodded my head once. “Sounds like a good time.”
Colleen melted from a brunette girl into a brown fur seal. I dove into the water after warming it. I made sure I could breathe before looking around. Kyle—at least I assumed it was Kyle—I couldn’t tell him and his cousin Zeke apart in their Orcie forms—swam up to me, butting me gently with his black head. He swam past me. I reached out just in time to grab his fin with both hands.
It was the most amazing ride I’d ever had in my life. The water running over my skin felt like warm silk. Colleen danced around the orcies in her selkie form as we moved deeper out into the ocean, through sparkling schools of fish and forests of seaweed. I let go of Kyle’s fin after about twenty minutes, using my own muscles and sea-witch powers to move through the ocean. I loved every minute of it.
After an hour we collectively turned back toward the island, and I followed my friends back home. Once we reached the bay, Kyle and Zeke headed north to the Tiderunner’s land, and Colleen headed around the island to her house. I climbed out onto the beach alone, making sure to leave all the water in the ocean so that I emerged dry as a bone, and then made my way inside, completely exhausted.
I shuffled my way down the wood-paneled hallway to the sitting room. Using the embers left from the morning, I stared up the fire. I sat down in my new favourite recliner, between the window and the fireplace, and picked up the book I’d left sitting on the coffee table the night before. After covering up with a blanket, I kicked my feet up, relaxing into the heat of the fire and the words of one of my favourite authors. I was completely absorbed in the storyline when banging on the window made me jump, sending me tumbling over the armrest and onto the floor in front of the window. I landed flat on my stomach. I looked up.
Grinning at me from the other side of the glass was Caesar. “Nice legs,” he said, eyeing me up.
I flushed, pushing myself up onto my knees in an effort to cover my scantily clad self. I was still wearing my bathing suit since I hadn’t expected company.
“What are you doing here?” Snatching the blanket off the chair, I wrapped it tightly around myself before marching over to the front door.
Caesar met me at the entrance. Laughing, he leaned against the frame of the open door, looking at me with his steadfast, gorgeous grey eyes. “It’s five o’clock. I'm here to get you, or did you forget the plans we made at lunch already? I imagine it is pretty difficult keeping your thoughts straight when you're always daydreaming of me.”
“It can’t be five o’clock already.”
“Daydreaming can eat up a lot of time.”
“I don't daydream about you. If you must know, I went swimming and then I was reading. I guess I just lost track of time.” I gripped the blanket tighter. Caesar looked into my ocean blue eyes, drawing me into his gaze. I moved forward, sure that it was only to move out of the draft, but when he reached out and touched my hair, I started.
“That might be true, but you aren’t exactly getting sick of my presence.” He let go of my hair, smiling brightly and dropping his flirty tone. “I brought you something.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a thick piece of parchment folded into quarters. I took it gingerly and unfolded it. It was the kind of map that you could find at the beginning of a thousand page fantasy novel. At the top of the page it read, “The Map to The Most Beautiful Treasure.” My eyes quickly scanned the black lines.
“This is a map to my house.” I looked up at Caesar.
“I’ve got it memorized, so I thought I’d give it to you for safe keeping.”
I didn’t know what to say. The drawing was gorgeous. The island was outlined in black pen, and on it was mystical rendition of the path between the school and my back door, complete with dragons and gargoyles. It was intricate, thought out, and magical. “I can’t take this. It’s too good. You have to keep it.”
Caesar shook his head. “It’s a gift. And there’s no time to argue about it. I'm here because you're supposed to be accompanying us to town. We need to get supplies for the camping trip tomorrow—remember?
“Right, just give me a second, I need to put some pants on.”
“Why bother? A treasure l
ike you should never be hidden.”
I rolled my eyes at him before shutting the door and dashing up the stairs.
My room was a disaster. All the time I'd spent in there lately meant that it had been turned from a nicely organized box into the ruins of a teenage temple destroyed by a pack of wild hyenas. My clothes were everywhere. I stepped over the piles of fabric, safely tucking Caesar’s drawing into the journal Mom had given me, and then I turned back around.
“Great.” I growled, frustrated at my lack of organization. I plucked a few items of clothing off the floor that I knew were clean: a pair of tight black pants, a blue shirt with a picture of a dark blue wildflower on it, and a long, charcoal grey, woollen sweater. I left on the gold star earrings I'd gotten from Marnie—I'd been wearing them all week because they reminded me of home. Grabbing my black knit hat and my purse, I made sure I had my money—Grandma had already made good on her promise to give me an allowance.
Back downstairs, I found Caesar leaning against the front of the house, sheltering himself from the rain. “Hmm,” he said when he saw me, wrinkling his nose up as he took in my pants. “I liked the swimsuit better.”
“I like you better when you aren’t being such a Romeo.” I headed down the stairs to the boat, wanting to stay one step ahead of Caesar. I liked him, but I was beginning to think he was into Shia, and I had no intention of embarrassing myself by admitting that I liked him. On the dock, Juan, Markus, and to my surprise, Amynta, were waiting for us.
“Come on, little witch,” Juan said, with his lilting Spanish accent. His usual black bandana was tied over his head. He was bent over the side of the boat, untying the ropes holding the vessel in place. He was wearing a black hoodie and jeans that were already half-soaked from the rain. But just like most of the students, he didn't seem to mind.
Amynta offered me her hand and I accepted, climbing over the side of the boat and into the white interior. “You look happy,” she said to me. She was wearing a thick, white sweater, the kind that was made to keep you warm in the middle of winter, yet she still wrapped her arms tightly around herself the minute she let go of my hand.
“I am. This is my first trip to civilization in a week. Who wouldn’t be excited?” I peaked over my shoulder at Caesar who was climbing aboard after me.
Amynta followed my gaze, nodding. “Ah. I see. You know, it's too bad you haven't been able to hang out at the boarding house this week. I don't think I'm the only one that would enjoy your company. Now that you're free, you'll be able to come around more after school. I’m not the only one that would like that.”
Amynta and I sat down on one of the benches. On the floor was a cloth someone had used to dry the seats. Markus fired up the engine, and then smoothly pulled away from the dock.
“I don’t know what your talking about.” I put my purse on the seat beside me, keeping a firm grip on it for the bumpy ride.
“Come on, you know Caesar has a crush on you. And I really enjoy talking to you at lunch.” Amynta tilted her head, reaching up to hold her hair as Markus kicked the boat into high gear, picking up speed, shooting us across the water. It felt strange and loud to ride a boat with the motor running again. I'd already become used to Grandma's way of magically driving the boat.
I shook my head. “No way. He’s totally into Shia.” But as I said it, the image of the amazing, artistic map he’d given me came to mind.
The beautiful sound of Amynta’s tinkling laugher fell over the waves. “You’re wrong about that. But if you don’t believe me, you should ask Caesar yourself. I really don’t think you want to miss an opportunity like that.”
I blushed ferociously, looking up to assure myself that Markus, Juan, and Caesar weren’t eavesdropping on our conversation. “I don’t know, Colleen told me some stuff about the pirates. About how they tied her up in a net last year and really embarrassed her. I don’t know if I want to be involved with a guy that can do something like that.”
Amynta frowned, glancing at Markus. The tall, blonde pirate was standing behind the wheel, steering us toward town. “Markus told me about that. He really regrets his actions. Caesar does too. You should give him a chance. If you like him, you owe it to yourself to try. He’s a great guy, Nessa. Did you know that he spends a couple of weeks on land every summer in order to help construct homes for the poor in the Caribbean?”
I bit my lip. I didn’t know that, and learning it made me that much more interested in Caesar. But what if she was wrong? What if I admitted that I liked Caesar and he told me he was into someone else? “I don’t know,” I told Amynta. “I don’t think I know him well enough to be anything but friends with him.”
She tilted her head to the side, looking at me like I was a zoo animal. “It’s your decision. But don’t be afraid to talk to me if you begin thinking otherwise. I suppose there’s always the potential for a friendship to grow.”
I watched the pirates. Caesar and Juan stood at Markus’ side, pointing this way and that with excited looks on their faces. Every so often they’d all look at the same place, yelling excitedly to each other. It was like watching a bunch of guys watching their favourite hockey team, only there were no sports being played on the ocean.
“What are they doing?” I asked Amynta.
“What they do best. They’re listening to what the sea tells them.”
I reached up to hold my hat down as a gust of wind threatened to lift it off. “What does the sea tell them?”
Amynta looked at me, just as excited as the pirates. “It tells them where to find treasure.”