by K. Lyn Hill
She obviously hadn’t been expecting such an intense welcome because she starred at him with wide eyes. “I highly doubt it’s been two hours, Eli. Are you alright?” She eyed him wearily as she pushed through the door.
Was he alright? Nope.
She must have sensed his hesitation because his best friend was looking at him like he wore a clown mask while riding a donkey. “I was just worried after everything. You weren’t fully healed, and people are looking for us.”
Her eyes softened but he didn’t want her pity. “I’m sorry. I got held up. Damien found me.”
He stilled. “Damien found you?” He had told Damien where to find her, but the idea still rubbed him raw. He didn’t think Damien actually would.
“Yeah he said you told him where to find me.”
His muscles bunched at the thought. Jealousy roared through his veins. What was going on with him? “Yeah I just didn’t think he would have found you so quickly. What did he say?” He asked cautiously.
She sank onto the bed as if just remembering she was stabbed and needed a break. “He wanted to make sure I was alright.”
“Alright?! You were rotting away in his dungeon with a festering wound that you got because of him!” He seethed.
Aerity shot him a funny look. “Eli, I would still be in that dungeon if it wasn’t for him.” She was right. It was only because of Damien that she was safe. It just killed him to know it.
He sighed “I know. I’m sorry. I just want all this to be over.”
She stood up and walked over to him, wrapping him up in a hug. “We will get through this. You and I. We are a team.” He relished in her words and gripped her tighter. He didn’t care that she was dripping wet and he was now just as drenched. With one last squeeze she stepped away.
He noticed the new bag at her side. “Did you have fun shopping?”
A grin made her face brighten. His heart skipped a beat. “Of course! I got more knives!”
He chuckled. Of course, she did. Leave it up to her to spend all their money on weapons.
She must have read the thought on his face because she rolled her eyes. “I got other stuff that we needed too and I didn’t spend all of it.” She went to grab some dry clothes as she playfully shoved him on her way to the bathroom. “Better get to bed. We leave bright and early tomorrow.” She sang as she went into the bathroom.
“If you stay in those wet cloths, you’re going to get sick.” She popped her head out of the bathroom and shot him one last conspiring smile. “And nobody likes a Mr. sniffles.” She winked after quoting from one of their favorite movies and dodged back into the bathroom. Despite everything, she still knew how to smile and see the best in the situation. That annoying, stupid little pang in his chest only grew.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Aerity
The next morning, they were woken up before the sun could even reach the horizon. If she could even call it waking up. She hadn’t done a whole lot of sleeping. As much as she had desperately tried drifting off into a numbing dreamland, her mind was replaying on a loop all the unending questions of what lay ahead in her future.
The birds sang as if there was nothing dooming about the day, even though she felt a chill down to her bones. The sun had just barely begun to creep up and she was able to see the rays of orange and yellow reflecting off the tip of the water. The sparkles caught in the morning sunlight, giving the water an almost reddish, pink hue. It engulfed her anxiety, helping to push in down for now.
She watched as the crew hauled fishing supplies onto the moistened deck, careful not to lose their footing. Nala was apparently the ships healer because she was walking up the gang beside Natalia, holding what appeared to be a med kit. A Young boy ran alongside them. Surprisingly, in her entire stay with Natalia, she had never once seen who occupied the little bed that she had slept in. Aerity wondered if the little boy in front of her was the owner.
Eli walked next to her in silence. He had been quiet since they had gotten up. Not that she could blame him. She was sure he was lost in his own unsure thoughts; the same as her. He glanced at her and then shyly ripped his gaze away. She wondered what was going on in his head.
Focusing her attention on the boat ahead, she let go of a sigh. This was it. Her new future. Where just a few days ago, she assumed her future was to marry Damien. So much could change in the blink of an eye. Nothing was a sure thing in this world. That was one thing Ceranthium and her homeland had in common.
“Are you nervous?” She barely heard Eli’s question over the raging of her heart.
“Huh?” She turned to look at him as he tugged on the bottom of his shirt. She had only ever seen him sure and confident. Seeing him like this tore at a sliver of her heart. The kind of sliver that frayed and unraveled the moment it was pulled and tugged.
He nodded toward the boat, his expression blank. “Are you nervous? About where we are going? What we will do?”
Of course, she was. But he didn’t need to hear about her own insecurities right now. “I think that everything will work out alright.”
He paused. ‘How do you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Not worry.”
“I’m plenty worried. But worry won’t change our predicament. It won’t magically suck us back home. Whether we like it or not, this is our new life.” Unless of course they could find a way home, but it was a fat chance of that. All this time had passed, and they were only further away. “I say we make the most out of it.”
He seemed to take in her words, his mind rolling them over. Testing them. Processing. The muscles in his neck bunched as he worked his jaw. Eventually he nodded and led the way to the ship.
Once the crew got settled and everything was ready to go, a foghorn echoed through the air.
It was time.
People hustled around the ship, preforming their assignments like they had all done this a thousand times before. She felt the tug of the boat as it began to slowly pull away from the dock. Her eyes met Natalia’s as she stood behind the wheel. Strong and confident. Her hair now fell loose, waving in a wild dance accompanying the wind. The woman was in her element. This was where the captain was meant to be. Where she belonged.
Aerity felt a twinge of envy and it made her wondered where it was that she was meant to be.
Caught up in her thoughts, she hadn’t bothered to glance up. Now that she had, she realized just how far from land they had truly gotten.
The air flowed in a fluttery current around her face as she got sprayed with the salt mist. Her mind seemed to get snatched up in the unsteady wind, shifting and twisting her thoughts into oblivion. She felt as if she had finally broken the tiny piece in her soul that had been desperately waiting to fall apart.
Her past life seemed like such a distant memory. A shell that had been battered and tossed around the shore until it blended in with every other grain of sand. Is that what she had become? Just one more fleck to be crushed under the weight of ignorant feet? She once thought that she was strong. Someone who waved the red cape and then shoved it up the charging bull’s rear end.
Her life hadn’t been perfect, but it was a good one. She didn’t have some ridiculous notion that she was an angel but by no means did she think herself deserving of this. Whatever this was. She had lived in her little bubble of a world and existed. Now her life was a shit show and she was the main attraction.
Even if she could return to her old life, could she ever continue the same way again?
She was irrevocably changed. Morphed. For the good or the bad, remained to be seen.
And lost.
She was so so lost.
“What do you want most out of life?”
Aerity was so entranced by her thoughts that she hadn’t heard the captain approach, even with the heavy echo of her footsteps on the wooden, deck. Her body groaned and protested as she twisted around to lean back against the ships railing. “Right now? I could really go for a freakin taco.”
&n
bsp; The captain eyed her with humor and leaned against the railing to match Aerity’s stance. “I know the secrets you hide. The person you really are. You make jokes to run from the pain that’s burning a hole inside of you.” She turned towards the water and closed her eyes. Aerity stood frozen, drinking in the words that she knew defined her so well.
She swallowed as the captain continued. “I know because I do it too.” Aerity turned her neck to face her and found a thoughtful expression staring back. “But women like us are fighters. No matter how much we laugh or suck down the pain, we fight. With everything we’ve got until we can’t fight anymore.”
Her eyes began burning as this woman tore open her soul like a book and exposed the contents for all to see. “Life is like the ocean. There are storms and turbulence. You may need to detour around them or adjust your path, but in the end, even if it takes extra time, you will reach your destination.” Aerity wanted to chuckle at the analogy but she didn’t. It made too much sense to laugh.
“What if I don’t know what my destination is?” Aerity whispered, partly rhetorically, partly hoping for wisdom. She felt like her heart was gripping a floaty in the middle of the sea. Lost, small and about five minutes from popping and sinking to the bottom.
“I don’t always know where I’m headed either. The ocean speaks to me and I listen back. It is my home. I belong to it and it to me. You will find your home and it will call to you. Just be sure that when it does, you listen.” She didn’t even feel herself nodding but the captain must have taken that as the end of their conversation because she pushed out of her position with her left leg as Aerity stared out into the vast expanse.
A few moments later a hand touched her back and at first, she thought the captain had returned but then she smelled Eli’s familiar citrus scent. “Hey.” Her voice was small and uncertain.
“Hey.”
She held no additional comfort in the fact that his voice wasn’t as smooth as it normally was either. They were in this together, but it didn’t change the fact that they were IN THIS.
“You look deep in thought. Debating about whether to raid everyone’s underwear drawer and hang them on the mass?” Eli asked and she couldn’t hold back her lips from twitching.
“Maybe. If I hadn’t seen the bathing habits of the men on this boat. I can only imagine what said underwear would look like. It might scar me for life.”
He chuckled as she felt secure arms wrap around her gently. He tucked his head on her shoulder, careful not to jostle her anywhere she was injured. It wasn’t a lover’s pose, nor a seductive one. Just family. At least that’s how she viewed it. “What are we going to do?”
She thought she heard his voice crack but ignored it. “I don’t know.”
There weren’t many times that they were serious with each other, but they were in the middle of the ocean, in a parallel universe, behind hunted. Yeah, she would say that they deserved a little heart to heart.
It lasted about one minute before Eli broke the spell. “I know what I want to do with the captain.” He set his hands into claws and growled. She burst out in sweet laughter, the first genuine laugh she had in weeks. She sobered up and glanced at him. His eyes reflected a depth that hadn’t been there before.
“We will figure it out.” He knew what she meant in every sense of the word. He always had.
She watched as head bobbed and he glanced down. “You always do.”
His tight expression and the hardness around his eyes made her crave simpler times. Times when they only needed to worry about how they were going to avoid getting caught when they did something stupid together. It brought her mind back to New Orleans. It may have been a disaster in the making but at least she had an idea about where her life had been heading. Back then, at least she had a choice. Something she doubted she would ever get back again.
∞∞∞
New Orleans, 3 Years Ago
Aerity
“What’s shaken, bacon?” Eli said as he sidled up next to her. Of course, he bumped into her while she was trying to balance about ten heavy books up in the air. They had nicknamed their lockers the iron giants because they had to have been created for Nephilim. Aerity was short enough that it was a massive hemorrhoid in her butt crack every time she had to drop her books off. Could you get a hemorrhoid there? Maybe not. But it most certainly would be as uncomfortable as she was right now balancing on her toes, trying not to tip over. Which collage actually had lockers? Hers did. It made her feel like a high school student all over again.
She had been so excited to hand over her books to the pit of despair, aka her locker, that she hadn’t noticed Eli coming. Otherwise she would have braced herself because he insisted on being a dick when she was loaded down with stuff. Her calves burned with exertion as a bead of sweat dripped down her face.
“You really need to clean out your locker. What is that smell?! Is that a dead rat?” Eli removed the pencil from behind his ear, using it to poke at the unknown darkness.
“Nope, it’s a piece of bologna.”
He made a disgusted face and pulled back like he was waiting for something to jump out at him. “You had bologna last week for lunch.”
How he remembered that was beyond her. This coming from the same guy who wore two different colored shoes because he was hung over and went around telling everyone he was secretly colorblind.
“I was just saving it for later for your lunch on Friday.” They had this tradition that they would each bring the other weird, gross food on Mondays and see if they could get sick and give them an excuse to skip out on their classes. She shivered, not wanting to even bring up things that Eli had made her eat in the past.
“We are trying to make each other sick, not send each other to our deaths.”
She scoffed. “Oh please, bologna lasts forever. It’s practically made of plastic.”
Eli leaned against the locker as a group of girls walked by, giggling. His attention span was that of a 5-year old and he instantly forgot they were having a conversation, nodding in the girl’s direction. “Sup ladies.” God, he was such a cornball. She rolled her eyes when he flipped a curl out of his eye sensually. A few shot her dirty looks before turning back to a smiling Eli. One girl bit her lip trying to be sexy and Aerity almost got sick without even needing the bologna.
She couldn’t help herself. It was disgusting how many girls spread their legs for Eli. A place she would never dare to enter. Now that was just gross and these girls looked like a gas station on a long road trip. Overused and watered down, a desperate quick stop. Eli deserved better than this trash but that didn’t stop him from filling a tank with a dirty hose.
Turning to the girls, she flashed them a big smile. “Don’t worry girls, I heard that if you’re really careful that the herpes won’t spread. Besides, Eli’s putting cream on it, so you barely can tell he has it.” The horrified looks that crossed their faces had a genuine smile blooming across hers. They shuffled away like a bunch of ants running away from a boot.
She let loose a cackle.
“Seriously, Aer?!” Eli was pissed but it only made her laugh harder. “One of these days, I’m going to cockblock you and your gonna see how fun it is.” He grumbled.
She ignored him, shoving her books deeper. “Oh please. I already have a stay at home cockblocker. It’s called a dad.” The last book was particularly hard to get in. Eli moved behind to help her. His chest caressed her back, but the feeling didn’t excite her in any way. People always told her that she couldn’t have a guy best friend without feelings getting involved.
Well she begged to differ. Her and Eli managed it just fine.
After they wedged all the books into the dank locker, she puffed out a breath and slammed it closed. It may have needed an extra little shove because of how full it was but she made it work.
“So are you ready for this weekend?” Eli obviously was already over her little announcement because a wicked gleam entered his eyes. She had told him last night that th
ey were getting a free trip. Her and her father were given it randomly, saying that they had won a contest. She couldn’t recall having entered for anything but she wasn’t complaining. At first, they had thought it was a scam. But they had checked into the flight and everything and it was legit. Some corporation had all the expenses cared for. All they had to do was go. Her father couldn’t travel because he was working on a big case that he couldn’t take off from, so he had said that she could use the tickets and invite a friend.
Everyone already knew which friend she would invite. It was a given. Her and Eli were inseparable. Well, unless he was chasing some dirty hoe.
But the timing was also great because the next day marked the beginning of their spring break. She was itching to get out of this small town and have an adventure. It came at just the right time. It was a little odd how everything fell into place. She didn’t
want to kick a gifted horse in the mouth, but she couldn’t help but have a little nagging flutter in her mind. It kept flashing a neon sign about just how perfect the timing was. But was it a little too perfect? “And to be real, your worse than my dad and that’s hard to accomplish.”
“I am not!” Eli defended.
She paused and crossed her arms over her chest. “Oh yeah? What about Eric?”
His lips curled up. “Eric is a pansy.”
She laughed. “No, he’s just delicate. He’s a sweetheart though.”
Eli continued to glare at her. “You seriously would have gone out with Eric? He’s so…good.”
He said it like that was a bad thing. “Yes and he’s also respectful and kind and would cherish me. Not to mention he’s the only guy who has been willing to face the wrath of my father.”
They began making their way down the hallway when Eli slung his arm over her shoulders. “Aer, that’s because he’s a goody two shoes. You need a prankster. Someone who is tough and can keep up with you. You’re a ball of fire. A guy like Eric would suffocate your light.”