by JE Hunter
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“Hurry, Nessa. We're behind schedule.”
I ran into the house, scrambling to collect the groceries we'd bought for the camping trip. I’d spent most of the night tossing in bed, trembling between nightmares of the hunter. The lack of sleep meant I was running around in a fog, and hadn’t been ready to go when the other students showed up at the house.
After last night, the last thing I felt like doing was going camping on an even more remote island. But the constant assurances that I was safe eased some of my worry. I grabbed the last of the plastic bags full of food and started for the door, before remembering that I’d also come inside to get my lip balm.
I ran up the stairs to my bedroom. My purse was lying on the floor where I’d left. I picked it up, rummaging through it blindly, surprised to feel a heavy, cold something lying at the bottom. I pulled it out. In my hand was a gold doubloon about two inches across. On one side was the image of what looked like a Spanish conquistador, on the other was a sailing ship with multiple masts. I smiled; Caesar had probably put the coin in my purse to cheer me up. A real treasure for a treasure, he would say. I would have to thank him for it later, but since I didn’t want to loose it, I placed it on my desk and resumed searching for what I’d come for.
Reaching into my bag, I pulled out my lip balm. I slipped the tube into my pocket and then ran back downstairs, forcing myself to smile, forgetting about last night and the hunter. The boundary would keep the hunter away. Even if it failed, I still had over twenty classmates to keep me safe. It was either go, or hang out here alone. I grabbed the groceries I’d left at the bottom of the stairs and ran outside. Camping could be fun, couldn’t it?
Grandma, Joanna, and the Tiderunner family were waiting to see us off. The Tiderunner family was much larger than I'd thought, there were about twenty of them, and each one was enormous, as if their orcie form was too big to fit into a normal sized human body. Standing together on the beach, they looked almost like an angry co-ed rugby team—if every member of the team was over six foot five. I dodged between them, ran out onto the dock, jumped onto the boat and handed the grocery bags to Amynta. She looked at me slyly.
“Nothing happened,” I told her for the umpteenth time. She'd been on me all morning; she was sure that Caesar and I must have kissed last night. “He was just there to make sure I didn’t freak out before Grandma got home. Seriously.”
Colleen, Kyle, and the other orcies, the mermaids, the sea nymphs, and the vodiani—over half the students, were already in the water, ready for the big race to see who could make it to the other island first. Apparently, this race happened every year. The pirates, Amynta and I—the land-born Neptunians—were all on my grandma's boat. We’d sail to a small, neighbouring island—still within the boundary—for a little bit of freedom.
“That’s everything,” I said to Markus. He nodded at Juan to untie the rope securing the boat the dock.
“Remember, no boys in girls’ tents and no girls in the boys’ tents,” Grandma called, frowning.
“And be careful and responsible,” Joanna yelled out right before Markus started the motor, signalling the beginning of the race.
I smiled. This was my first weekend ever without adults. Back in Surrey, someone’s parents had always supervised sleepovers. This was an escape to adulthood—my first glimpse at not having senior backup. I was more excited now than I’d ever been in Surrey.
“Woo!” Amynta yelled. She danced on the floor of the boat as Markus rocketed us across the waves. I danced with her. This life was beginning to feel like a grand adventure—and while some parts of it still felt weird, dreamy, crazy, and completely unnatural, other parts were like watching the most beautiful sunset from the snowy, jagged peak of a mountain.
Amynta grabbed me around the waist, pulling me close to her. “He's staring at you.” I didn't have to ask who she was talking about. “You know, you look really good with your hair down, and without your hat. You should wear it like that more often.”
I slowed my dancing only momentarily, caught off guard by Amynta's comment. My hat was packed securely in my bag because I didn’t want to loose it. My long red hair blew around in the wind. “I... I'm not so sure. I think I still like my old hair better. This color’s a bit too bold for me.” And Dad wouldn’t like it. “But I guess I’m getting used to it.” And there was what Caesar had said the other night, about it not being a choice. Dad had loved the brown hair I was born with. If he knew that this hair was natural to me too, he’d love it, right?
Amynta gave me a puzzled look. “I think it's beautiful and it suits you—the Nessa I know. I think Caesar really likes it too.”
“Caesar and I are just friends—secret friends actually.”
Amynta pulled me down on to the bench. “Secret friends? Why?”
“Because of Colleen. She’s made it pretty clear she doesn’t want me to be friends with Caesar, and, well, she's my friend. I’m not the kind of girl that throws away friends for a boy.”
Amynta shook her head. “You wouldn’t be throwing away a friend. It would be her choice to toss your friendship away or not. You need to be honest with yourself. Do you like Caesar? As a friend?”
I nodded slowly, considering Amynta’s words but balancing them on my own scales. “Yes. I do. He's fun. He listens. But Colleen’s great too—except the listening about Caesar thing.”
“Do you like him more than a friend?”
My heart thumped. “How could I not?”
“Then why not give it a shot? If Colleen is really your friend, she’ll get over it.”
Markus slowed the boat. We were already pulling up to a small, sandy beach on the neighbouring island. Behind us, I could see the foggy coast of the island we called home. I grabbed my backpack and some groceries while Markus guided the boat as close to the sandy shore as he could get, anchoring the boat in couple feet of water.
“Need a hand?” Caesar asked, having already jumped over the side of the boat. He’d rolled up his jeans to keep them dry.
“I'm a sea-witch. I think I've got this covered.”
“This should be interesting.” Caesar stood back to watch.
I conjured up a staircase of water to descend. I stepped over the side of the boat, beaming.
“It looks like someone's finally getting the hang of things,” Caesar said once I was standing on the calm, flat surface of the water.
“Thank you. I think I am.” I gazed at Caesar and was immediately drawn to the way his eyes shone in the sunlight.
Quickly enough, he broke my gaze, pulling himself up over the side of the boat. “I'll get the other supplies,” he said. I took that as my cue to head to shore.
I lugged my bags up the beach to the grassy clearing that held the remnants of an old, burned out fire pit. I was the first one to arrive, and a sliver of fear slid up my spine at the realization. For a very brief moment, I was alone.
I’m within the boundary. I gripped my bags tighter. The hunter can’t get me here. Last night, the thought of the boundary had calmed me, but what had really made me feel safe was Caesar. When I crawled into my bed after he'd gone home, I’d kept my thoughts focused on him so that I wouldn’t think about the hunter. I tried not to think about what might have happened. Of course, not all the bad thoughts had stayed away. I’d still had nightmares.
As the terrain changed from sand to rock, I stumbled, catching my foot on a small ledge. My body fell toward the trees. I regained my footing just in time. A sudden crunching came from the underbrush. I turned my head; I saw nothing but large cedars, Douglas fir, and small ferns that grew in the shady habitat. I shivered, my hands gripping the grocery bags like a vice-grips.
“Are you okay?” Amynta asked, catching up to me. Her arms were empty because she was wearing a large backpack containing everything she could possibly need.
“Um. Yeah. I don’t know. I thought I heard something.”
Amynta reached over, giving my shoulder a soft squeeze. �
��It was probably just a bird. There’s nothing to fear out here, Nessa. The boundary keeps us safe. The hunter can’t get past it. Besides, I think your grandma and some of the other adults around here are going to do some hunting of their own today. The hunter won’t bother us anymore.”
I shook my head, fighting to steady my nerves. “I know you’re right. We’re safe out here. I know that. I’m just a bit shaken up after last night, that’s all.” Amynta and I walked a little bit further into the grassy clearing. I put my load of camping stuff on the ground. “So, is this coast anything like your home island in Greece?”
Amynta slipped off her pack. “Greece is nowhere near this lush. I love the damp greenness of this place. But the water—the water in Greece is absolutely beautiful.”
I caught a slightly wistful look in her eye, the part of her that missed Greece I supposed, and wondered if my eyes had the same wistfulness when I thought of my old house back in suburbia and my life with Dad. The past few weeks had changed me, I knew that now. I was getting used to living on an island, and not having the many amenities of a busy city. I liked being able to open my window and hear the sound of crashing waves and wind in the trees. I didn’t even mind living with Grandma. But my heart ached for Dad—Mom too—I’d give almost anything to see her today.
Not wanting to cry, I distracted myself by picking up the bags of groceries, moving them closer to the fire pit. The swimmers hadn't arrived yet, so I watched Amynta deftly set up her royal blue tent. I attempted to set up the tent I was supposed to share with Colleen. Never having slept in makeshift housing before, I wasn’t surprised when I became lost in a muddle of poles, strings, and tarps.
“You haven’t camped much, have you?” Amynta placed her hands on her hips, inspecting the mess around me.
I shook my head. “Not with tents. Sometimes I'd get sent to summer camp or my family would go somewhere for a few days, but we always stayed in cabins.”
“Here, let me show you. It's pretty easy once you’ve seen it. My brother taught me how to set up my tent before I left home.” Amyta handed me the poles and demonstrated how to put them together.
“Is your brother a siren?” I asked, snapping the pieces together.
Amynta laughed, the sound washed over me like a gentle rain. “No. Men can’t be sirens. He’s a fishcaller—blessed by the gift of fishcalling. Some say sirens were made to lure sailors who were harming the sea, and take revenge upon them. A fishcaller—the male counterpart to a siren—can call up fish, bringing great catches to those who respect and worship the sea.”
I held out a completed pole to Amynta; working together, we strung the tent over it. “Take revenge? Like hurt someone? Have you ever… would you ever?”
Amynta laughed again, switching sides to secure the second tent pole. “Fortunately for me, sirens have become more civilized since the days of ancient Greece. Nowadays, we try to protect the sea by merely guiding ships off course—although that's proving to be more and more difficult thanks to electronic guidance systems and GPS.” She sighed, looking sad for a moment. “It's becoming difficult for us to find a place in this world. The fishcallers are much better off.”
“Do you have any more siblings?” I watched as Amynta lifted the canvas contraption, pulling up the middle of the bright yellow tarp. She clipped everything into place, making the tent finally look like something I could sleep in.
“A younger sister. She’s only ten. We’re not that close because of our age difference. But I miss her.” Amynta brushed off her hands, inspecting her work. “Now throw your stuff inside and we’ll be ready to party.”
Amynta didn’t seem to want to talk any further about her family, so I let it drop. “Any guesses about what we do at this party?” I opened the door, putting my stuff inside like Amynta had suggested.
She tossed her curly blonde hair over her shoulder, giving me a dazzling smile. “I’m not quite sure, but I bet it involves a lot of swimming. I'd put my suit on if I were you, because I’m not the only one that's going to want you to warm up the water.”