“There you go again, being entirely too good to me.” I was torn between sliding back into sleep or finishing what his hands started. Before I could make up my mind, he took his hands out from under my shirt and said, “It’s time to get up.”
“It’s still dark outside,” I protested. Plus, Noah in bed with me felt too good.
“It won’t be for long. You’re officially one of us now, so today is mandatory.” He slowly slid the covers down my body.
“What’s so significant about today?”
“It’s the last day of summer,” he said, like he was appalled I didn’t know.
“And that’s important?” I rolled over and snuggled back into my pillow.
“Will you get up?” He slid the covers the rest of the way off, letting the cool air coming from the open door hit my bare legs. “It’s tribute day.” He got up from the bed and flicked on the lamp.
“I don’t know what that means.” I blinked my confusion, eyes protesting the sudden light.
“I know. It’s best just to show you. Now, get up and put some clothes on.” He looked around my room, his lip curling in mock disgust at my clothes strewn around the floor. “And you need a gift.”
“What?” This had to be a dream. It was too confusing to be real.
“Something to offer to the goddess. Your dad got any rum?” he asked.
“I don’t think so.” Beer, wine, Zing Zang, and vodka. Never noticed any rum. But then, I usually didn’t have to think this much before sunrise.
“Any gold you don’t want?” He searched around my room, his eyes lighting on the necklace hanging over the picture of my mother.
“No,” I said emphatically, glaring up at him.
“God, you’re so cute in the morning.” He leaned over, and I thought for a moment he was going to kiss me.
I turned my head. “Not until I brush my teeth.”
His hand went around my hip and foraged under my pillow. He brought it back out, holding his braid in his hand. “This is perfect.”
“Your hair?” I reached to grab it back, but he snatched it away.
“It’s personal. She loves this kind of stuff.”
“What if I wanted to keep it?” I considered it my talisman.
“You don’t need it. You have the real thing. You need to hurry. Everyone is waiting.” He dangled the end of his hair over my legs.
“Who’s everyone?”
“Everyone.” He tugged on my ankle. “Now go brush your teeth, or I’m going to kiss you anyway.”
I rose from the bed and padded to the bathroom, complaining as I went, “You’re so bossy in the morning.”
Seconds later, I emerged with a bad case of bed head, teeth brushed, toilet used. “Anything special I should wear?”
“I’m pretty sure at one point in our history we did this naked. Unfortunately, we wear clothes now.”
“That’s real helpful.” I pushed aside a pair of shorts with my toe.
“What about this?” He picked up a discarded dress off the floor. “Is this that thing you were wearing the other day?”
“Like I said, real helpful.” I took the dress and carried it back into the bathroom. Slipped out of my tank and shorts and pulled the dress over my head. It was sky blue and hugged my body to a barely decent length. I added a pair of sherbet orange bathing suit bottoms I picked up from the bathroom floor.
Noah had moved to the balcony and stood looking out over the gulf. The water was smooth as glass and still under a gray sky of almost dawn.
“That is that thing you were wearing the other day.” He pulled me into his chest and kissed me, slow and deliberate. When he lifted his head his eyes traced the dark circles I’d seen in the mirror.
“How’s your dad?“
“Better,” I said.
Once my dad had gotten over the shock of what I’d done to Sterling, he’d stared at me for what seemed like forever, as if he were seeing me for the first time. Then he’d walked over and hugged me and whispered in my ear, “I’m glad you’re okay.” We’d said nothing else about it for two days.
“I need to check on him and tell him I’m leaving.”
“Okay,” he said, nodding out toward the gulf. “I’ll meet you straight out there.” He bounded over the rail, landing like a supple jungle cat. His green eyes flashed up at me. “You look really pretty.”
“So do you.” I smiled weakly, unable to shake the sense of sadness even the good things evoked. Noah’s continual sweetness, his overwhelming patience, the way he looked standing below me in the predawn gray, beautiful and tragic. Because with the firing of that gun, I saw the fragile and temporary everywhere I looked.
When I got downstairs, my dad was already out of bed, dressed in a t-shirt and the pajama pants I’d given him for Christmas the previous year. He stood at the back doors, staring out the glass.
“What are you doing out of bed?” I came to stand beside him, eyes narrowed in disapproval.
“Does he do that often?” He looked at me, eyes slightly puffy. “Sneak in and out of your bedroom?”
“Yes,” I sighed, not seeing the point in lying. “Why are you up so early?”
“It promises to be a beautiful sunrise. I didn’t want to miss it.” He took a sip of his coffee. “The better question is what are you doing up?”
“I don’t know. It’s the last day of summer. Evidently that’s supposed to mean something.”
“Ahh,” he said as if he understood something I didn’t. “Well, have fun.”
“You sure you’ll be okay? Where’s Thomas?” I asked.
“I’m fine, Caris. I wanted to let Thomas sleep. Now go and enjoy the day for me.”
I rose to my tiptoes and kissed his cheek. He opened the back door. The wind blew strong and my dad stepped out in it. He closed his eyes and his lips curled up at the corners. The wind ruffled his hair. He looked lean but decidedly better than previous days.
“What is it about wind that makes you feel so alive?” he asked, his smile wistful.
“That’s how I feel when I swim.” When I’m with Noah. “Alive.”
“Well, then go,” he said. “Be alive. And don’t let what your uncle did make you live scared. Time is too short, and you never know… well, you never know.”
You never know when the people you love most will be taken from you.
“I will. Thomas is really great by the way. I’m glad you met him.”
“Me too,” he said. “And next time you’re going to get the bad guy, take me with you. I would have liked to have seen that.”
* * *
I hadn’t been what I was long enough to not still feel the wonder of it all. The way the water welcomed me, sang over me. My skin was a sponge, soaking it up, making it a part of me. We were one; me, the water, Noah, and I wondered what it would be like to just keep swimming, disappear into the Deep and never come back. I wondered if that yearning existed in all of us. To forsake land altogether, give ourselves completely to the Deep.
I let go of Noah’s hand and spiraled deeper while he propelled toward the surface, breaking free on a graceful arch then shooting back down like a torpedo. He was all about being playful and spent his energy putting his body through a series of jumps and flips. A perpetual show off.
I preferred the solace and quiet of the under. That place near the sandy bottom where sound and light faded and movement became a form of worship. At least that’s how I felt here, like an ethereal being. The continental shelf here was shallow and extended for hundreds of miles, providing the perfect playground for our kind. We were limited in our abilities to go much deeper as I’d discovered when Noah and I had followed the coastline all the way to Mexico and back. A week of near perfect existence, testing my strengths and abilities. I was fast, but not as fast as Noah. I didn’t think anything was as fast as Noah.
He swam up to me and took my hand, leading me deeper, and I followed. I would always follow.
A chorus of sounds prompted me to look up. S
hadows crept out of the green murkiness. Not dolphins, like I first thought. People. And not merely people, waterbreathers. Coming from all directions, more of my kind than I had seen in one place before. More than had been at my Soulfast.
There seemed to be a pattern. Small tribes within the bigger one as those I knew, my friends, congregated closer together. My chest constricted as I watched them swim closer. Jeb with his unbound hair flowing behind him as he shot by me with strong powerful strokes of his body. I caught the flash of his teeth before he was gone on a swoosh only to be replaced by Daniel and his lazy lope. Quinn swam right up to me, her smile bright in the green haze, her pink hair like a kite on the wind flowing over her back. Levi and Farron and Sammy, their red heads standing out in the murkiness like beacons.
And then I saw my father, bringing up the rear, Sol close to his side. None of us had spoken to anyone about what he’d confessed about Jamie. But it was there, a permanent barrier between he and Noah. Between he and I.
Athen was impressive on land, but the water transformed him. He seemed bigger. Stronger. His eyes brighter. He moved with such a mixture of fluidity and strength. He’d called me magnificent once and that’s how I would describe him. Magnificent and godly, and considering the company he was swimming in, that was saying something. We shared a poignant look, and he paused in front of me and inclined his head, his eyes flashing like pieces of silver. I took his kiss on the cheek as something like love bloomed between us. Noah’s mom was here and she caressed my cheek as she passed, her dark hair thick on the current, delivering the same almost ceremonial kisses to Noah’s cheeks.
There were others with faces I knew but names I couldn’t recall. Noah and I joined in their procession. I didn’t know where we were going. I didn’t need to know. I was with my kind. A part of the tribe like I’d never been before. My father’s pearl hung in the water under my neck, feather light, as easy as a bubble. The water we traveled through felt old. Ageless and timeless, as if we had always been.
At first I wasn’t sure what I was looking at. Everything was cast in the green dye of the Deep. Sprouting out from the sandy bottom was what looked like a giant fuzzy teddy bear. As we swam closer, it took better shape, and I realized it was a knight. Tall and proud, arms outstretched like it had at one time held a lance and a shield.
It was covered from the bottom of its feet to the top of its helmeted head in a thick growth of sea grass and algae. Fish scavenged around, darting in and out of the swaying algae, some as small as my fingers, others as long as my arm.
Quinn swam right by me and placed a bottle of rum at the knight’s feet and left it there like it was some kind of offering at an alter, the amber liquid sparkling in the green depths.
I noticed other gifts that had been left, some so long ago they were, like the knight, covered in algae and barely distinguishable. I watched as Quinn floated up to one of the arms and hung a shiny gold necklace from one hand. It dangled on the current, catching what light it could flooding down from the surface.
Quinn’s lavender dress hit mid thigh, molding to her delicate hips. Daniel took her hand in his and they moved together so effortlessly it was like watching ballroom dancers or a pair of ice skaters, smooth and perfectly fluid. So intimate and totally enchanting.
Sol’s eyes found mine as he swam passed me, dark and void and repentant. He lay something at the knight’s feet, and when he retreated, I saw it was a single pearl. He cast one look at Noah then darted off alone.
One by one, those of us with gifts took turns laying down our offerings, our tributes. When it was my turn, I uncoiled Noah’s braid from my neck and lay it across the knights thicker one. My hand lingered on its silkiness and I offered a silent prayer to whomever would listen. God or the goddess or the Deep.
Please, keep him safe.
Noah came next and lay a leather string strung with three pearls, light green, almost opaque, alongside his braid. Jamie’s pearls. It was like casting our cares and worries away, unloading our burdens, and the feeling was utterly freeing.
Noah wrapped his hand around mine and literally swept me away. Straight up he took me and when we were about to break the surface he let go and Jeb swooped in and caught me around the waist and glided with me in a series of spirals. My stomach lurched into my throat on a delicious thrill and laughter bubbled out of my mouth. When he finally let me go, Noah caught me again, covering my mouth with his. He lifted it too soon and darted away, and this time Daniel was there to catch me. We lounged in a slow circle, spiraling higher and he passed me off to Levi. Cree swam by and stole me away, pulling me along behind him as if this were some kind of tribal ritual, a symbol of not only Noah’s protection, but the whole tribe’s. I accepted their offer and made my own.
The pace of the ritual slowed and became something quietly sensual. Not in an erotic way, more like a gradual awakening. Quinn led me through a twirling dance, her hair wrapped around my bare arms in a sensuous veil. It had a hedonistic feel to it, a primal energy. Like here there were no constraints put upon us. We were free to be what the Deep demanded of us.
One after the other this ménage of beautiful creatures glided around me, sometimes taking me with them, sometimes leaving me to participate in their impromptu routine. I was seduced by the wave of their hair, the flexing of so much muscle as their bodies worked to propel them around in arcs and dives and circles. The light touches of affection we gave each other with each passing spoke of belonging. They all had their own smell, their own signature. By the time it was over and Noah wrapped his arms around me, I thought I could pick each one of them out just by their sound, their scent.
While we had all come as one, we slowly dispersed, some in pairs or groups, others alone. My only thought was for Noah. It was Noah’s scent that surrounded me now. His signature that filled my head. I slid my arms around his neck and let him swim with me on his back, his pace slow and unhurried as if we had nowhere to go, happy to be with each other. My body mirrored his as we moved, the act of swimming together so natural and essential. I’d missed this in the past few days. Missed the play of his muscles under my hands, the feathering of his hair over my skin. Watching him swim was its own kind of foreplay. He had a beautiful back, his hair contrasting to the hard strength of his wide shoulders. The hard planes of the muscles on either side of the shallow dip of his spine. I ran my finger down that enticing valley and was rewarded with the tremor that coursed through his body. The caress ended as I curled my hand around the rounded curve of his firm ass. I loved that ass. I loved every delicious inch of him.
As if he could divine my thoughts, he flipped over underneath me, his eyes finding mine, dark with need, an answer to my own. I kissed him, lips parting, tongues melding. One touch from the heat of his mouth and I was dizzy with want. I drew away, the smile on my lips an unspoken vow. A promise of forever. I couldn’t take my eyes off of him. Never wanted to. I knew how this would end, with him moving against me, in me, and my whole being sang with anticipation.
He stalled under me, his fingers skimming up my thigh, easing under the hem of my dress. My hair, longer now, floated over his chest, teasing his skin.
I heard it before he did. A keening sound echoing through the Deep. I looked up, searching for the source, seeing nothing. Noah’s hand stilled and we floated in a second of confusion as the keening grew louder. Something was out there. I saw its shadow looming in the distance, growing closer. Whatever it was, it was moving fast, a hulking figure coming straight for us. Noah flipped back over, his hand going for his knife.
Too late. The shape hit me, wrenching me from Noah’s grasp. He tunneled away from me even as I reached for him. My vision dimmed as whatever held me crushed me tighter and tighter until all went black.
Twenty-Four
I blinked the dark spots away. Water gushed around me as I fought to remain conscious. This thing held me tight. I couldn’t even say what it was. The sound pierced my ears so loud it vibrated in my chest. Arms squeezed my sides, but I
would have sworn whatever this was wasn’t human, breather or otherwise. I could breathe water, but in that moment I couldn’t breathe at all. My ribs ached, on the verge of cracking.
Something hit us from behind hard enough I was jarred loose. My hand scurried for the knife, but I hesitated, sloshed around by the churning water as Noah wrestled with whatever that thing was, bodies thrashing and tumbling like clothes in a drier.
By some miracle Noah broke free. We both bolted toward shore, instinctively knowing we were no match for whatever this thing was. Escape was our only option. Noah, always faster than me, grabbed my hand and dragged me behind him like I was tethered to a runaway horse. Not looking back, Noah didn’t stop until we hit land. He hauled me out of the surf and my legs pedaled to keep pace. When we were well away from the water, he let go and we both bent over, gasping. My heart thundered as the echoes from that thing still rang between my ears.
Noah was the first to recover and his hands roved my body, searching for injury. “Are you all right?”
I nodded. I thought I was. My side ached. My ribs felt bruised. “Are you?”
Blood oozed from his nose, and his upper lip was starting to swell. Red scratches lined his torso. One leg of his shorts was ripped up the side. His eyes were hazy with confusion and unfocused as if he were somewhere else. I reached for his hand and froze.
It had followed us. I watched it emerge from the surf over Noah’s shoulder, ice settling in my spine. I had no idea what I was looking at. Maybe at one time it had been human, but not anymore. It had the shape of a man. Arms, legs, a face, but that’s where the similarities ended. Its eyes were that of a feral animal.
As though he sensed its presence, Noah turned, tucking me behind him in the process, his knife clutched in his hand. A tremor ran up his arm. I grabbed hold of it, unable to resist leaning around him to look.
Waterdreamer (The Emerald Series Book 2) Page 28