The Evensong

by Lindsay Payton

  “Wait, wait,” he said before he left me alone. He cupped my face and kissed me, and I let my tongue glide across his lips, tasting the salt.

  He smiled slowly. “I’m glad you were in the trunk.”

  My shower took longer than I wanted it to, but there was so much sand in my hair. When it all seemed to be gone, I rinsed out the clothes I’d swam in, grateful I still had a dry shirt and pants. I dried off quickly and slipped into my confining clothes, quietly going back to the room where Linden was already lying in the bed. It was smaller than his old bed, and there was just enough room for the both of us to fit.

  “Feel better?” he whispered.

  “Yes,” I replied, seeing he had already brought in our bags at some point. I knelt to look through mine, pulling out my pajamas when I found them. I hesitated, not wanting to return back to the bathroom. Instead, I just walked to the corner near the closet and turned my back on him.

  Once I pulled my shirt off, I almost didn’t want to put another one on. Somehow the whole swim had turned my attitude around; I wasn’t uneasy anymore, or worried in the least. Maybe it was Linden, or maybe he was picking up on me.

  I felt his fingers lightly trailing up my spine. I shivered agreeably, and his hands settled on my shoulders. He squeezed as I leaned into him and put my hands over his.

  “Mm, the ocean smell stays on you,” he mumbled into my hair.

  “I can’t tell if that’s good or bad: salty, fish and seaweed kind of smell?” I laughed.

  “Believe me, it’s good.” He kissed my neck before he moved away. I instantly missed his touch and hurriedly put on the shirt.

  There was just enough space for the both of us in the cool bed. Even if Linden chose to sprawl out in his sleep, it wouldn’t be too bad. He already had his arms around me as I lay down.

  “So what happens tomorrow?” I asked, facing him.

  “Mostly just some hellos to everyone, now that most of the anger’s been vented,” he said, moving the thick strands of my wet hair from my eyes.

  “Am I included in all of that?”

  “Yes. I think you should be. Hiding out forever won’t do you much good.”

  He was right, and any other time I might have been concerned, but now I didn’t care much.

  “I guess I’ll deal with it when the time comes,” I said, closing my eyes.

  “Good plan,” Linden agreed.

  No other words were exchanged; there was no need. We both fell asleep fast and carefree while the ocean quietly swooned beyond the window.

  DAY

  The following morning wasn’t nearly as peaceful as I’d have hoped. I was woken fairly early by Tally’s complaining as she walked through the hall. My ‘awful aura’ seemed to have kept her awake all night, and she was stubbornly whining to Rhys to do something about it. I didn’t hear his reply, but Linden sighed and got up.

  “Guess this means the day’s started,” he said, taking a moment to really wake up.

  The previous nights’ elation gone, I sighed. “Guess so.”

  Luckily, Tally seemed to have left in a fit when we emerged from the room. Her wrath still lingered in the house, and I could hear Nerio in the kitchen.

  “You’ve met him once,” Linden said, picking up on my mood. “It can’t get much worse.”

  “Right,” I replied, half believing him.

  Calder and Rhys were sitting at the kitchen table while Nerio hovered over the counter. I could feel his eyes on me as I walked in, shyly sitting in the chair Linden pulled out for me, conveniently next to Calder.

  “Long time no see,” Linden said to the brooding undine. Nerio just nodded once, putting his bowl of cereal into the sink. Sparing me a scathing look, he turned and left, disappearing out the front door. I let out a breath.

  “Well, that wasn’t so bad,” Rhys said, relieved. “I expected worst, to be honest.”

  “Me too,” Linden shrugged, looking through the cabinets. “What do you feel like, Riley?”

  I wished he hadn’t asked. I would prefer to try to remain as invisible as possible, and addressing me brought Calder’s eyes to my face.

  “Um—anything’s fine,” I replied.

  “Easy enough.”

  I sat there in silence as Calder tried to ignore me, though his eyes would sometimes stray my way.

  “Sleep all right, Riley?” Rhys asked.

  “Fine, thanks,” I replied. He smiled, saying he was happy no one tried to make a disturbance, except for Tally’s outburst earlier.

  “She’s got to learn,” he said, shaking his head. “She’s got to be more like you, Cal.”

  He jostled Calder’s shoulder as he stood. The phone was ringing in the other room, and he left to answer it. Linden was still at the counter trying to decide which cereal was best, leaving me too close to Calder with absolutely nothing to say.

  “How’s life, Calder?” Linden asked, graciously breaking the silence.

  Calder glanced up from his food and shrugged. “Same as usual, I guess.”

  “You going to school or what?”

  I caught the way he dropped his chin and smirked. “On and off.”

  Linden laughed sarcastically. “Meaning no.”

  “I don’t want to if I have to keep on moving,” Calder said, his tone hard.

  “You’re missing out,” Linden replied. “I’m right, aren’t I? He is missing out.”

  I realized he was talking to me, and I stuttered to reply. “Um—yeah … yeah, I guess you’re kind of missing out.”

  Calder eyed me for a moment, surprised I’d spoken to him. “Do you go to school?”

  I hesitated, wondering if I should lie. “I’m probably not the best person to ask.”

  “See?” he said, pointing at Linden. “You should be telling her the same thing.”

  “She’s older than you, it doesn’t count.”

  “Not really,” Calder mumbled. Either Linden didn’t hear or didn’t care, and he put a bowl of cereal in front of me as he sat down. I ate as quickly as I could, wanting out of this open, public space.

  Linden continued to talk to Calder, catching up on some things with him. He tried to include me in the conversation as much as possible, and Calder seemed to be warming up to me a little. It didn’t seem so hard for him to look at me anymore, and my stomach settled enough that I could eat.

  I was a little more at ease once I’d finished eating. Linden took my bowl to the sink as he explained what he knew of the day. We could walk around most of the day, but he’d have to come back to the house later. While he was with the others I could either stay in the room or walk the beach. I chose the beach over being confined.

  “All right, let’s head out for a while,” Linden said once he was ready. I stood, eager to get out of the house.

  “Can I come?” Calder asked, ready to get out of the chair as soon as someone answered.

  I was surprised, and so was Linden. But he just shrugged, “Sure.”

  Calder almost seemed more excited than me to be getting out of the house. He kept pace with Linden, walking on his left as I stayed on his right. The three of us piled into Linden’s car, Calder maneuvering around the boxes in the backseat. Linden suggested the pier first for something a little more people-oriented.

  People-oriented was almost an understatement. I thought things seemed relatively busy on the way there, but just the parking lot near the pier was almost full. Outside of the car, shouts and voices carried up to us and I could see the varying boats lining the wooden dock. There was a heavy smell of fish, though it wasn’t necessarily unpleasant. Calder beamed as he stood beside me, looking down at the spectacle.

  “It’s pretty cool, huh?” he said.

  “It’s huge,” I replied. I had never seen so many people in one place. This definitely wasn’t my normal scene.

  Linden appeared from the other side of the car, shamelessly taking my hand in front of Calder. I thought he would respond somehow, but he only observed for a second, then went to the sta
irs leading down to the pier. In my pocket, my phone was vibrating, but I hardly noticed it. Whoever it was could wait.

  I wished that our town had something like this. The occasional farmers market went on, but it was nothing like this. Throngs of people were smashed in front of the booths, waiting and buying. Fishermen were still unloading their boats, the sound of their heavy boots a low rumble in the din. I stuck close by Linden, holding his arm as we walked through. At one point, I felt something very distinct and familiar. When I located the source, I realized it was someone of my kind; a witch. She stood behind a popular booth, and I couldn’t help but try to see between the people at what she was selling. Linden and Calder seemed fairly interested too, but all I saw were crystal necklaces and bundles of herbs. Her frankness about it all surprised me, since I was used to being discreet in my own actions.

  “That’s a rarity,” Linden muttered to me as we walked by. “I think I like your approach better.”

  I smiled, and Calder was frowning slightly as he kept walking. “Do those crystals really do anything?”

  He was searching my face for an answer, and I tried to get over the shock of him talking to me like nothing was wrong. “I don’t know, I don’t know how those work. It’s not my main area of interest.”

  “Oh.” He looked disappointed. “I sort of thought all um,” he lowered his voice to a whisper, “witches knew everything about their craft or whatever.”

  I almost laughed at the way his eyes darted around nervously as if afraid someone might hear. “No, it depends on what your strongest points are. You kind of learn as you go along.”

  He nodded, deciding to think on that a while.

  We had almost reached the end of the pier when I saw Nerio’s head above the crowd. I visibly grimaced and tried to tug Linden back in the other direction, but Nerio had already spotted us. His lopsided grin wasn’t exactly friendly.

  “Well,” he said when he caught up, surveying the three of us. “Never thought I’d see this little group together.” He was primarily looking at Calder.

  “It’s called, you know, acceptance,” Linden replied with sarcasm.

  Nerio just scoffed, then turned his eyes on me. “Enjoying yourself?”

  “I was.” My reply shocked the three of them, but Nerio glowered and a low rumble came from his throat.

  Linden laughed as he pulled me with him past Nerio. “You asked.”

  Calder laughed aloud and followed, getting a hard smack on the head as he passed the giant.

  “Be careful with him,” Linden said lowly when we left Nerio behind.

  “He’s just an idiot. Sorry,” I added hastily, remembering the use of the term ‘brother’.

  “No, it’s true,” Linden said, “but really, don’t test him.”

  “That was great,” Calder added. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him get so pissed so fast.”

  “Not lately, at least,” Linden commented.

  Okay, so I would try not to make Nerio mad. That seemed hard since just seeing me gave him that look in his eye. I glanced back over my shoulder, seeing he was still in the same place watching us. His glare might have scared me if I was closer or stuck in the house with him, but out here I just glared right back.

  After the brief run-in with Nerio, things were better. Linden lightened up, and he hardly spoke since Calder was busy asking me every question that came to mind. Some of the things he asked were ridiculous—“So to fly, do you have to make some kind of lotion or whatever? Does that help?”—and sometimes I admired him for the clarity in his questioning. He was simply deadly curious, and my voice was almost hoarse before we stopped to eat. Linden just let him talk, seeming very entertained. Since Calder seemed so eager to ask anything he wanted, I took note to sometime ask him more about undines. Maybe he could answer the obscure questions Linden chose to ignore.

  The sun was just beginning its descent over the water when Linden announced that it was time to go back to the house. Calder groaned, complaining that it was the last thing he wanted to do, and I secretly agreed with him.

  “I hate ascending,” he mumbled as we approached the house.

  “Ascending?” I repeated, hoping for an explanation.

  Calder seemed like he was about to go on, but Linden cut in. “If you quit whining about it we’ll get it over with sooner.”

  As we stopped in the drive, I could see Tally up in the kitchen windows, staring out at the sea. Not really noticing me yet, she seemed like she could be nice. I looked away before she had a chance to turn and grimace at my presence.

  “So are you just going to stay on the beach for a while?” Linden asked as we got out of the car.

  “I think so,” I replied. “It’d be better than being in the room, at least.”

  “I hope it doesn’t take that long,” he mused, gauging the sun. “When you see the lights on again, it’s okay to come back. But if you need to go inside …” He paused now, looking worried as he glanced at the house. “I hate to say it, but you’ve climbed plenty of roofs before.”

  I was a bit taken aback, but I hid it well. “It’s fine, I’ll be able to keep myself busy. Have fun with your ascending thing.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Oh I will.”

  Calder said a reluctant good bye as he went up the steps with Linden. I waved as I set off across the sand, shoes in hand. I didn’t mind being alone for a while; if they needed their space, I could give it to them.

  I rolled up my jeans to the knees before I walked along the surf, going around the short cliff that part of the house was perched on. This was part of the beach I hadn’t seen, and it looked less inhabited than the opposite direction. I saw a house far in the distance, but it would take me some time before I reached it.

  As I walked, I noticed little specks of white sticking out of parts of the wet sand. There were more here than I had noticed before, and I paused once to investigate. As the water ran over it and back, the sand shifted and I recognized the small white shell partially buried. Pulling it out, I rinsed it off and marveled at its simple pink and white beauty. I definitely had something to do now.

  I left my shoes near the rocks as I kept walking, picking up every shell I found. Some were only shards of something much bigger, and I left some of them behind. I like the peachy spiraled shells and the classic ones that reminded me of mermaids. I held the bottom of my shirt out like a basket, and soon I had to turn back to dump my findings near the rocks. The sun was closer to the horizon now, a large gold and orange globe hovering over the pale blue water. I sat down to watch it for a while, my skin and the tips of the water tinted yellow from the light. As the horizon turned pink and lavender, I lay back on the sand, my skin still warm.

  I couldn’t think of many reasons why I shouldn’t live in a place like this. The weather was perfect, and the town seemed nice. Plus, I should live in a less sheltered area. Home just seemed so small. Even though I would miss the swamps to some extent, the ocean seemed to have so much more to offer.

  The idea that sprung into my mind next seemed so obvious, I wondered why I hadn’t thought of it before. I would project here and try the ocean for myself. It would be so much different than the physical way; there was so much life out there.

  I settled into the sand as best I could, trying to get comfortable. Once I had, I closed my eyes and took a moment to be calm again. And in an instant, I had projected.

  Life was so teeming in every direction. Under the sand there were tiny crabs and slithering little worms. I wasted no time there and went straight for the water. As expected, there was life everywhere. Fish and krill were close, and even the strips of kelp felt very different from any plants back home. Even so close to shore there was a million things to see, and it only got better the farther I went.

  I’ve never been one to lose myself in a projection, but it was easily done in the ocean. The amount of living creatures was so overwhelming, and I was jumping from thing to thing faster than I ever had. If I’d been in my physical body, I c
ouldn’t have done it. Even so, I almost felt a kind of dizziness the faster I went, and I forced myself to slow down a fraction of a bit to get my bearings again. Still, I couldn’t sit in one place too long.

  When I finally let myself free of any other beings, I just let myself float in the water. Again, only the second time I’d ever left a living thing while projecting. I let the waves caress my body, taking me wherever they pleased. Air wasn’t an issue here, and I just gazed up at the distant surface, my eyes never burning with salt.

  Besides the normal sounds, I noticed something that seemed very out of place. It sounded like the whispering of voices. I couldn’t be sure; at first I thought it might just be the water, but there was a distinct sound of words to it. There was no one around me here, and I wondered if someone had come across my body back on the beach. I glanced down at my wrist at the thought of it. Had I a heart here, it would have starting hammering. I quickly grasped the silver thread, which had almost slipped off my wrist. It was strange; I had never seen the loop so loose around me before. Still holding it with one hand, I began to feel unnerved. The voices, the loose thread … it all warned me that I should go back.

  I flitted to a small fleet of krill as it passed, at least being in something alive before I tried to shoot back to my body. Either it was my nerves, or something else that made it harder to return, but I tried to concentrate and not let it scare me. Like trying to push through a soft wall, I finally managed to go back.

  I opened my eyes and sucked in a huge lungful of air, almost choking on it. The sky above me was dark and the pinpricks of stars were already shining. I tried to sit up quickly, but my muscles seemed stuck in a tight mass. The strange level of pain made me gasp, and I lay still, suddenly realizing how cold it was. But was it me that was freezing?

  Once my muscles finally loosened, I rolled over, carefully sitting up. The light breeze that was blowing warm pleasantly warm as I still shivered. This was something I had been warned about before. I had been out of my body too long, and it was suffering for it now. I must have been out for a long time considering there was barely a hint of gray on the horizon and to the left, the house was lit up brightly. Slowly putting on my shoes and gathering my shells, I made the short but arduous walk back to the house.