by JE Hunter
“Are you sure you just didn't leave your backpack unzipped? Because anyone could have knocked it over,” Amynta said the following afternoon. We were hanging out in her dorm room, painting our nails.
“I'm sure. Someone went through it. I just have this feeling that someone is…watching me, or something. After all that stuff that happened with the hunter, and on the camping trip, I can’t help but be weirded out.”
Amynta blew on her right hand, trying to speed the drying time of her bright red polish. “Well, if someone did go through your bag, it was probably Colleen's brother, Jack. He's always doing stuff like that. I think he gets pretty bored out here since there are no other kids his age. And I really don’t think you’re being followed, Nessa. Though I can understand you having that feeling since you were almost kidnapped last week. But the boundary–”
“I know. I know.” I didn’t want to hear her say it, but I had to admit, Amynta was right. I was hearing things in the bushes, thinking I saw things moving when they shouldn’t be. I was really starting to lose my marbles. “I just…I guess I’m just used to the city, and concrete, and loud noises that mask all other noises. This world is different and I’m not used to it. Not to mention I’ve been sleep deprived—mostly thanks to the books Grandma is making me finish reading by the end of the month.” I finished putting the gold polish on my toes and wiggled them, smiling at the way they shone. I checked the clock for the fourth time; it was only four-thirty, I didn't have to be home for dinner until seven. The school schedule only went until three o’clock, which allowed the students to have enough self-study time to fulfill the human government requirements. Mostly, we used the time for socializing. “Do the pirates go out on these treasure hunting adventures a lot?”
Amynta screwed the cap back on her bottle of polish. “I don't know about these pirates, since I've only known them as long as you have, but the pirates that I have known in my life would be out on the water every chance they got.”
“Oh.”
“Don't sound so down about it, Caesar really likes you. Pirates that have girlfriends and wives tend to spend a lot more time on land. I know Markus wants us to spend some time together after supper, so I'm sure they won't be out too long.” Amynta sighed dreamily. “He's the best kisser.” She tilted her head, looking out the window at the rain. “How does Caesar kiss?”
“I'm not telling you that.” I climbed off Amynta's bed, leaving her there to giggle at me.
“Tell me, or I won’t let you borrow my gold polish ever again.”
“Not fair, that’s the best colour for toes and I can’t buy it anywhere around here.”
Amynta shrugged nonchalantly. “It doesn’t matter to me what colour your toes are, but if it matters to you…”
“Fine. He's dreamy. Best kisser I've ever kissed.” I walked over to the far wall where Amynta had a laptop open to play music. I chose a new song.
“That’s not the kind of detail I'm looking for.” She rolled her eyes at me.
“Feel free to tell me about Markus if you want to gossip. This doesn't have to be a one way street.”
Amynta's lips curled up into a smile. “Well, he likes to be all tough and bossy, but when we're alone together he's so nice to me. My favourite thing is the way he loves to run his hands through my hair, it makes me tingle.”
I scrolled through Amynta's music list absentmindedly. “Caesar's touch makes me feel like I'm on fire.”
“See, that's what I'm talking about.” Amynta jumped off the bed with an overabundance of energy. “Do you want some tea?”
I nodded and she bounded out of the room just as quickly, leaving me alone. The dorm rooms were a descent size; there was enough space for a double bed, a desk, a dresser, and a closet. On the wall above the desk, Amynta had hung a large Grecian flag. The opposite wall had a large window. I walked across the room and looked outside. From the second story, I could just make out some of the shapeshifters through the rain. They were jumping off the cliff into the water. I watched Colleen take a running leap, shapeshifting in mid-air, diving into the water as a seal.
What would it take for her to be my friend again? I missed hanging out with her more than I thought I would. She was different than my other girlfriends. She loved swimming and sushi and wasn’t into clothes. I found it refreshing. If only she liked pirates everything would be great. There was no way I’d give up Caesar, he was fun, handsome, and such a good kisser, and he meant more to me than anyone else on the island—except maybe Amynta who was already feeling as much of a best friend to me as both Marnie and Colleen had been.
“What are you doing?” Amynta came back into the room carrying a tray with a pale blue teapot and two large, white coffee mugs.
“Just watching my non-friend go swimming with other shapeshifters—including Shia—yet again.” I rested my hands on the windowsill.
Amynta put the tray down and came over to look out the window with me. “She's just trying to get you to flip—you know, trade Caesar for her.”
“You think?”
Amynta tossed her long blond hair over her shoulder. “Of course. She's jealous. You found Caesar and you're happy. If I had to guess, I’d say she’s had her heart broken.”
“You can say that again,” I muttered under my breath.
“What was that?” Amynta asked.
I debated telling her what Kyle had told me, but decided it wasn’t my story to tell. “I said I think you’re right. It would make sense if she’s had her heart crushed in the past.”
Amynta picked up the teapot and nodded. “Eventually the jealously will fade away and she’ll talk to you again. You just have to give her time.”
“How can you know that?”
“I don’t; I’m just being positive.” Amynta handed me a steaming mug of tea and sat back down on the bed just as the sound of a large crash came from downstairs.
“Was there anyone else in the kitchen?” I asked.
Amynta shook her head. I slipped off the bed and put my mug back on the tray, hoping no one had been hurt. Amynta did the same, following me down to the kitchen. The long white room with wooden tables and benches was empty. I nodded at a shattered jar in front of the doorway. Splashes of raspberry jam were scattered all over the floor and the lower part of the walls. Broken glass was everywhere. “I don’t suppose you know who did that?”
“Wasn’t me.”
There was no one in the kitchen, so I hopped over the mess of jam and looked out the door, checking the nearby woods. “There's no one around. That's weird. The jam definitely didn't try to walk out of here on its own.” I placed my hands on my hips, studying the shattered glass. “If someone wanted a snack, why wouldn't they just make it here instead of taking the jam wherever it is they were going?”
Amynta was already at the sink wetting a dishrag and unspooling a handful of paper towel. “I don't even know why someone would need a jar of jam at this time of day. Jam is strictly a breakfast food in my mind.”
“Maybe there's a hoarder.”
Amynta laughed. “Maybe there's a thief.”
“Maybe it was Joanna?” I suggested, rolling through more possible scenarios in my mind.
“No, she always prepares dinner at her house and brings it over here at seven sharp.”
Amynta handed me the wet rag and we bent over the mess, carefully picking up the glass before wiping the floor.
“There have been a lot of strange occurrences around here lately. Are there any Neptunian powers that I don't know about? Telekinesis, maybe?” I was hoping Amynta would say yes, because I didn’t need any more reasons to starting thinking that the hunter had made it past the boundary and that everyone on the island was wrong.
Amynta shook her head. “No. Neptunian magic is purely water related and has nothing to do with mysteriously broken jam jars or searching through backpacks.”
I paused in my cleaning. “You think they're related?”
She looked at me with her green eyes, the
furrowed brow above them indicating she was thinking deeply about something. “I think it might be one ten-year-old neighbour, if that's what you mean...and I hope it's nothing more.” Amynta bit her lip. I could tell she was thinking the same thing as me, even if she didn’t say it. She, too, was hoping that it wasn’t the hunter.
A small feeling of unease, the same feeling I got whenever I spent all night watching too many scary movies, moved from the base of my neck down the rest of my spine. “What if it is more?” I asked. I sat back on my heels, tucking my hair under my black hat. “What if he found a way to counteract Grandma’s spell?”
“He wouldn’t be able to do that…unless...”
I looked at her, eyes wide. “Unless what?”
“Unless he had a sea-witch in his employ. But there’s no way.” She shook her head emphatically. “There’s no way that a sea-witch would work for a hunter.”
“Boo!”
Amynta and I both screamed, falling away from the door. I looked up into the face of Juan, who was laughing hysterically, Markus and Caesar right behind him.
“Not funny.” I said.
Juan stepped over me and kept going down the hallway. “Muy divertido,” he called over his shoulder.
Caesar offered me a hand; I took it with a grumble. He said, “You two are a little bit wound up.”
Amynta nodded at the pile of dirty rags and broken glass. “Someone created quite the mess down here. We've been cleaning it up. We were talking about the hunter.”
I flushed. “But we know that the boundary is meant to keep him out.” Meant to, but maybe not doing.
“Come on.” Markus picked up our rags, taking them over to the sink to rinse them. “Let's go watch a movie, maybe something with real monsters in it.”
I rolled my eyes as Caesar wrapped me in a hug. Real monsters: as if there were such things.