“Th… thank you,” I stammered. Now that I was fully awake, I couldn’t quit shaking. The air temperature had to be seventy degrees or more but it felt like thirty.
“Yeah, don’t mention it.”
I made to get up but my body rebelled. My strength was gone, my hands and feet numb. My eyes followed him as he stood and disappeared into the cabin. I bit back the urge to ask him to stay. The dream, or the reality of the dream, crawled up my back with spiny fingers. Not all of it had been real. My father’s voice. The spark of his eyes. That was dream.
I searched the sky, comforted by a slight breeze that I could feel but not hear out on the open water. A seeming endlessness broken only by a seam of almost light on the eastern horizon as the sun prepared to rise. Stars twinkled as if moments before my world wasn’t so out of control. How was it just all gone?
Sol returned with two towels. He bent down and wrapped one around my shoulders, tucking the ends together in front of my chest. My fingers remained numb and unresponsive. He lifted me off the wet deck and put me on the seat. It was wet too, but decidedly softer.
“Th… thanks.” I watched, shivering, while he used the other towel to dry himself off. The left leg of his shorts was shredded, the fabric stained a dirty pink. He too still bore the marks of shark’s teeth embedded in the thick muscle of his thigh. Blood drained from my face leaving me lightheaded and slightly nauseated. He ended up stripping down to his boxer briefs, offering a sly smile from behind the long coils of his hair. We might be half-brother and sister but that didn’t make me blind. Didn’t stop my eyes from roaming over his torso, appreciating the strength on display. He used that strength to defend me. He killed for me. I was right to be impressed.
His eyes were dark when they met mine. Darker than the night sky. Darker than the deepest part of the ocean. Where had all the colors gone?
“I lied, you know. About that kiss. It wasn’t like kissing a sister.” Sol leaned over, placing a hand on either side of my legs. Not touching, but I could feel his heat, the warmth of his breath. “I kind of feel like doing it again.”
I held his gaze, not even daring to blink. “I think you just almost lost a leg, and like you said, I almost ended up as parts.” I hated the way my voice quivered. “What you’re feeling is something else.”
He didn’t relent. Did I really expect him to after what I just witnessed?
“You want to test my theory? Would you stop me?”
“Yes,” I said without the slightest hesitation, knowing it wouldn’t come to that. Was this his way of getting both our minds off what had been a near fatal experience? A simple hug and a thank you wouldn’t do it for Sol. He had to take what he did and turn it into something twisted, as if he were afraid of being labeled the good guy. Why did he try so hard to make me think less of him?
“To which one?” he questioned, mocking.
Before I could clarify it was most definitely the latter, his head descended. I sucked in a breath as his mouth sailed past mine and he kissed my cheek. His laughter tickled my ear as he pushed himself away, securing the towel around his waist, his eyes light with teasing.
“You’re probably right. Besides, do you have any idea what Noah would do to me?” He mock shuddered. “Not to mention Athen.” His teasing ended there and the corners of his mouth turned down. This time I thought his shudder was real. I felt it too. The reverent fear at the mention of my father’s name. Our father. It’s what sparked my dreams every night.
“I’d never live to see another sunrise,” he said before disappearing once again into the cabin.
I stared after him. Jerk. One minute he was saving my life, the next he was deliberately making me uncomfortable with talk of kisses. Now he was bringing me something to drink. Something hot and steamy. He held it under my nose. I took it, my fingers trembling slightly. I couldn’t seem to make them stop. I dipped my nose and inhaled tentatively, not sure what I was expecting. All I smelled was chocolate.
“It’s just hot chocolate,” he assured me. “Though I could put a little something extra in it if you want. God knows I need it.”
“What’s wrong with me?” I stuttered my way through the question. Sol took the seat opposite me.
“You might be in shock. Or it could be the crash after the rush of adrenaline. Not every day a shark tries to eat you. Even for us.”
He watched as I took sip after sip, patient and parent-like, until my drink was almost gone.
“Better?” He raised one eyebrow at me.
I nodded, finishing the last sip, letting it warm me from the inside out.
“Good. You want to talk about it?”
“About what?” My head spun in an attempt to keep up with his train of thought. I still felt like I was being circled by sharks.
“The dreams, Caris. This is the third time in two weeks.”
“What’s the third time in two weeks?” I parroted, genuinely confused.
“The whole sleep swimming thing. This is just the first time it veered into the life threatening.”
“Wait.” My hands fell to my lap, still clutching the mug. “You’re saying I’ve done this before? Swimming in my sleep? Is that even a thing?”
“Apparently it is. I followed you two times before tonight.”
“How? I thought you were banished? It’s why I thought I was still dreaming.”
Sol had taken it upon himself to exact revenge on Jax Harrison, who among other things, dared to insult me. As a result, Jax spent days in the hospital. As a whole, the males of our species didn’t take insults very well. Especially when they were directed at a female.
Sol propped his foot up on the seat next to my leg, displaying the ankle monitor he wore.
“That’s banishment? You’re under house arrest?”
“What? Did you think Mag’s was going to cast a spell and lock me in some secret prison hidden in the far off Deep with giant electric eels keeping guard?”
An accurate description of what I envisioned banishment to mean. I clenched my teeth, rankled he could coax a smile out of me.
Of course, he laughed.
“Only someone who’s lived her life seeped in magic would come up with that kind of scenario. Sorry to disappoint you. Simple lander technology. I try to gain land this sucker goes off, and I mean that literally. Two minutes and boom.”
“Really? That seems extreme.” Though maybe not. He could have easily killed Jax.
“Well, it was either this or two years in the Facility.” He pointed to his ankle. “This isn’t a bad gig.”
“Was it worth it?” I’d seen pictures of Jax. Seen the harm Sol so easily inflicted.
“He threatened you.” His eyes were like onyx. He was about to say something else when the door to the cabin slid open.
“Sol,” a sleepy feminine voice called.
“You have a girl in there?” I whispered. I tried to peer around him and get a look at her, but all I got was the flash of tan skin and a dark curl before he stepped in front of me, blocking my view. He turned his back and sauntered over to the door. They exchanged a few whispered words then he melded his mouth to hers. Her thin arms came around his neck, pink fingernails trailing over the back of his head. After about thirty seconds the door slid shut.
“Yeah, this house arrest is a real tough gig,” I said. “Who is she?”
“Nobody important.“ He shrugged the question off.
“I get it. You don’t kiss and tell.”
“I wouldn’t go that far. I’ll tell you all the details if you want to hear them.” He smiled wickedly. “Why you so interested?”
“Time for me to leave now and let you get back to your company.” His hand on my arm stopped me from reaching for the side of the boat.
“She’ll wait.” He put both hands on my shoulders and turned me gently so I faced the eastern horizon. “Have you ever seen the sunrise from the end of the world?”
“Is that where we are? The end of the world?”
“Feels li
ke it sometimes.” His hands slid from my shoulders and he put the towel back in place. “Just wait.”
The sun blossomed over the edge of the water like the unfurling of a flower. Seemingly time-lapsed, the next slow increment more dazzling than the last. It was breathtaking. Nothing but water and sky as far as the eye could see. It was like being at the end of the world. We basked in it, the moment made all the more glorious by the shadow of my nightmare that wasn’t.
“You’ll dream of him until you go see him. What are you so afraid of?”
“I don’t know,” I confessed. Was it my father that sacred me? Was it me? A combination of both?
We watched until the sun was fully up. In the new light of day it was like the dream, the storm, the sharks never happened. I dropped the towel. My eyes fell to the water. It chopped around the boat, dappling in the new morning light.
“There’s nothing out there. You’ll be safe.”
His words set me at ease. I had no doubt if there were something out there he wouldn’t let me go. I paused and looked back at him. “Don’t tell Noah about this.”
“Keeping secrets from lover boy already?” Sol arched one eyebrow.
“He worries.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” Sol dangled his foot at me. “And he sure as hell isn’t likely to come to me.”
I dove, putting thoughts of Sol and sharks and Athen behind me. I had a calculus test to cram for.
Two
The buzz of my phone woke me. I lifted my head, bleary-eyed, blinking to ward off the sun shining brightly in my windows and doors. My study guide was stuck to my cheek by the glue of my slobber.
“Crap.” I peeled the paper off my face and picked up my phone, checking the time. I had just enough to make it to school. My phone vibrated again, reminding me I had a new message. It was from Noah.
need a ride after school?
I sat up, throwing my feet over the side of the bed. The end of Noah’s braid slipped out of my fingers. I stuffed the nearly two-foot length of hair back under my pillow. A souvenir from Jax and his cronies. Having caught Noah in a moment of weakness, they cut it right off his head. A few days later I’d found myself in possession of it. I’d intended to donate it to Locks of Love, but I was having a hard time parting with it. It kept me company when he was gone.
Sometimes Noah’s “job” took him away for days at a time. He basically did favors for Marshall Shaw, a government agent who had a special interest in all things waterbreather. Marshall acted as a liaison of sorts between local government officials and the still widely arcane community of waterbreathers. If Marshall thought Noah could help out with a situation, Noah got a call. Usually, it involved some kind of search and rescue. This time a fishing boat with four crew sank a hundred miles off the coast of Texas. Two of the crew hadn’t been wearing life vests, and Noah was good at finding people. I’d been trying to keep up with it on the news but hadn’t heard anything since the day before.
I bounded off the bed after typing my response followed by a slew of emoticons. Hearts and smileys and lips. That he was going to pick me up from school was enough to get me showered and dressed in record time.
As I hurried down the stairs, I finger combed my still damp hair, the euphoric high I’d been on since receiving Noah’s message waning with each step I took. My dad was already in the kitchen, fully dressed in slacks and a button-up shirt. He was usually still in his shorts, sweaty from his morning run.
“Good morning,” he said.
“Morning.” My breakfast plans consisted of grabbing a protein bar from the pantry. My dad had a different idea. Bacon, scrambled eggs, and sliced strawberries filled the plate he slid across the island with the command, “Sit.”
I did. “I don’t have time to eat.” I picked up a strip of bacon.
“Make time.” His brisk tone didn’t match the tenderness in his eyes.
Next came a glass of ice water and some apple juice. I drank the whole glass of water, knowing I’d be cooped up indoors for the next several hours. “Thanks,” I said.
He waited for me to take a bite of eggs. Dark circles smudged his eyes. When I didn’t sleep, he didn’t sleep. And last night… no way could he have missed that storm. If he’d come to check on me…
“I went to your room last night to check on you, make sure everything was all right.”
I washed my eggs down with some apple juice. “Dad…”
“Your bed was empty.” An edge crept into his tone. “It was storming. I had no idea where you were. Didn’t know whether I should worry. Were you with Noah?”
“No,” I said, not elaborating further. I’d rather him think I was with Noah and deal with the ramifications of late night meetings with my boyfriend than tell him the truth.
“Then what’s going on?”
Yeah, I really didn’t have time for this. “I’ve just been having weird dreams. Really intense dreams.”
“So did you wake up and go out to the beach? Were you in the water?”
“Not exactly,” I said, purposefully evasive.
The muscle in the right side of his jaw ticked. “Caris, I know there’s a lot I don’t get about who you are, what you are, and I’ve been trying to give you the space and time you need to sort this out. I thought we were in a good place.”
“We are,” I said, determined to keep us in a good place.
“Is it Athen? Is he pressuring you?”
“No.”
“Then what?” He studied me for a few seconds, and all I could do was sit there as he stood on the other side of the island looking like he had no idea what to do, what to say. He expected the truth from me. He deserved the truth. But honestly, I wasn’t sure he could handle it. I could barely handle it, choosing instead to ignore it. Clearly a strategy that wasn’t working.
“I didn’t want you to know,” I said in a small voice.
“Know what?” he asked, his brow furrowing under the thick wave of his hair. Guilt pricked at my conscience. More gray hairs had sprung up around his temples. More than he had a few months ago. His eyes widened as though something just occurred to him. I almost shielded my eyes against the light bulb I envisioned coming on.
He sighed and leaned his elbows on the granite counter top. I wanted to be normal for him. I wanted him to see me that way. “You share his ability, don’t you? Control of the wind, the rain.”
“Yes. Sort of.” I would almost rather talk about sex than discuss anything that had to do with my father. I didn’t want to be like him and every day that passed moved me closer to what I was beginning to believe was inevitable.
“What do you mean, sort of?”
I shrugged and played with my eggs. Control wasn’t a part of it. Not yet. I’d tried to find a pattern as to what triggered the episodes. Stress. Hormones. Anger. Fear. It could be all, it could be none. Usually, it came so suddenly, so out of nowhere, I felt like I was always ten steps behind trying to catch up with it.
A slow rumble of amusement built in his chest.
“What’s so funny?” I asked, slightly annoyed.
“Last week. The patio dinner I had. The tossed umbrellas, spoiled food. The downpour that literally came out of nowhere. That was you?”
“Yeah, I think so.” I slid off the stool and carried my plate to the sink.
When I turned back around there wasn’t a hint of the humor from seconds before reflected in his expression. I held to the counter behind me, bracing for the impact of a reprimand. Or worse yet, outright rejection.
“You want me to tell you it’s okay to go talk to him? Is that what you’re waiting for?”
Rape. It was such an abhorrent, repellant word. And my father, Athen Kelley, raped my mother. I was the result. He’d spent seven years locked up in the Facility, away from the sun, away from the water, no small punishment for one of our kind. My mother had found a way to give me to this man that raised me as his own far from this place and anyone like me.
“No.” If I had at all been
tempted to go see my father and “talk” about things, I’d buried it, not wanting to risk rocking the boat with my dad. He still came first. Would always come first. He walked over to me and put his hands on my shoulders, eyes intent on mine.
“I’m telling you now, it’s okay, Caris. You need this.” Resignation dulled his blue eyes. “He can help you in ways I can’t.”
And that admission cost him. It was evident in the look on his face. Disappointment weighed heavy on my already tired limbs. I couldn’t take many more nights like last night. And if Sol had been telling the truth, and last night wasn’t the first time I’d swam in my sleep, no wonder I was so tired.
“Did you really think I would love you less?” he asked.
Deep down, a vulnerable girl still existed who feared exactly that. One still unsure, trying to cling to a normal life. My dad and school represented normal. I didn’t want to jeopardize either of them.
“Well, I don’t.” His hands slid from my shoulders as he sighed before he glanced down at his watch. “You’re late for school. You want to stay home and rest? You look tired.”
“No. I have a test.” One I was destined to bomb since my eyes had crossed and I’d fallen asleep within thirty seconds of pulling out my study guide. Sitting around the house wasn’t going to help. Maybe a little normalcy would.
“You going somewhere?” I asked when I noticed a small suitcase by the door leading into the garage.
“Last minute business trip to Atlanta. In light of this conversation, I was thinking about canceling, but on second thought, it might be a good idea. Maybe me not being here will make it easier for you to deal with all this. I don’t want you using me as an excuse. Will you be all right for a few days?”
“Yes.” Any other time I’d be excited about the prospect of having the house to myself. Between school and helping Maggie out at her shop, Noah and I were behind in our alone time. This would give us a chance to play catch-up.
Waterdreamer (The Emerald Series Book 2) Page 2