by Kristen Day
Chapter 30
Since we had been going full speed for almost twelve hours, we decided to anchor the boat for the night so all of us could get some sleep. The high-tech weather system on the yacht told us there were no storms brewing or even a chance of rain, so I wasn’t too worried. Willow had spent two hours in the kitchen making us a dinner of roasted chicken with potatoes and artichokes on a bed of kale. I was amazed at what she could do with the modest ingredients we had available to us on the yacht.
After dinner, everyone piled on to the leather couches on the second level to watch a of couple movies. After an overwhelming veto of Phoebe’s first choice, The Perfect Storm, we decided to watch Sweet Home Alabama first.
It started tugging at me about halfway through the movie. That familiar pull. Slightly different than the sea turtles and no singing involved – just a slight urge to go to the back of the boat.
A little apprehensive, I tried to determine if it felt friendly or threatening. It was hard to trust anything right now. I excused myself, saying I had to go to the bathroom. I made sure none of the girls followed, then quietly snuck out to the back deck.
The night was warm and clear, with only a slight breeze swirling through my blonde hair.
The only sounds I heard were the waves lapping at the sides of the yacht. Thousands of stars sparkled above, but the moon was nowhere in sight. The ocean resembled black tar, rolling and extending into the darkness. I couldn’t figure out where the pull was coming from. The only thing on the deck was me. As I continued towards the back of the boat, it grew stronger. I gazed down at the dark water. I saw nothing but my own perplexed expression staring back at me.
“I’m here” I whispered, instantly feeling ridiculous. Why was I talking to the water? Did I expect it to talk back? I laughed softly at myself and perched on the back of the boat, allowing my legs to dangle toward the water. Every fiber of my being wanted to slide into the comfort of its arms below. It was tantalizingly close; like a part of my soul speaking to me from the deep, longing to be reunited. It took every ounce of restraint I had not to oblige. We were in the middle of the ocean. But at the same time, the boat was anchored. It wasn’t going anywhere. After a couple more minutes of deliberating, I looked over my shoulder to make sure the coast was clear. Quickly stripping off my clothes so I wouldn’t get them wet, I was left standing in my bra and underwear. I looked over my shoulder one more time and stepped up on to the railing of the yacht. I climbed over and leaned against the top bar, balancing myself with the backs of my legs. Once again I was reminded of Rose in Titanic right before Jack talked her out of plummeting to her death. Fortunately, there was no Jack on this voyage to rescue me from myself. I reeled with sweet anticipation and dove in head first.
Trying not to over think it, I forced myself to take a deep breath of water. I got a huge rush of adrenaline as the water expanded in my lungs and my eyes became acclimated to the darkness.
Instead of being in the ocean, I felt like I was actually a part of it. The fine line between my body and the water surrounding it quivered and blurred. I relinquished all control as the salt water caressed my skin. Then instinctively dove deeper.
The pull was still as strong as ever and it wanted me to go down farther. I did. I stopped and looked down. I couldn’t see the ocean floor and an odd fear of heights hit me. I’d never been afraid of heights before, but the black abyss below my feet was pretty scary. Although my vision was much sharper in the water, there was still nothingness all around me. I didn’t see any fish, animals, or anything else for that matter. It was very disorienting, but I squelched the anxiety building in my chest. Just when I was about to give up and swim back to the surface I saw something floating up all around me. Silent and steady they continued up, surrounding me. I felt like I was caught in an upside down snow storm. They were all I could see in every direction. Upon further inspection, I identified my new friends; hundreds of sea horses. With so many around me, I was hit with a strong sense of purity. Their spirit was innocent and playful as it wrapped around me, making me smile. They responded to my happiness instantly. Looking at the whole, it appeared they had begun vibrating, but looking at just one, I could tell they were simply propelling themselves faster with their coiled tails. I reached my hand out to touch one. It stopped hopping around and drifted in my direction. It watched me for a second and slowly floated downward, touching down on my palm softly.
A tiny electrical shock went through my hand when it landed. It was the same sensation I had felt with the sea turtles, but that didn’t make sense. I had an affinity for sea turtles, not sea horses. Or dolphins. I thought back to my earlier experience with the dolphins. How many affinities could one person have? A suffocating fear abruptly hit me from every direction. How could I be afraid of sea horses? Then I realized what was happening. I was actually feeling the sea horses’ emotions! And they were downright terrified. They darted off in every direction and I spun around, looking for the source of their fear. All I could see was infinite blackness. Then I felt a shadow pass above me. I looked up and my eyes fell on something much more terrifying than a simple shadow. A massive great white shark emerged from the darkness, paralyzing me with the same fear I felt in the sea horses. But this time it was my own terror slicing through my heart. I was locked in its cold, dark eyes and it was bearing down on me at warp speed.
I stayed as still as humanly possible as it began circling me. I tried to make myself relax. I didn’t know if they could smell fear like dogs, but I didn’t want to find out. After several deep breaths and three minor heart attacks, my heart slowed and a new feeling took hold of me. The shark. I could feel her. It was definitely a her. And she was happy, almost excited. She radiated a staggering amount of wisdom and confidence and the feeling I got from her was actually calming. She wasn’t here to tear me to pieces or take a chunk out of my leg. She just wanted to meet me! In a momentary lapse of sanity, I did something no normal person should ever do. I moved closer and touched her side.
Her skin was rubbery beneath my fingers and I actually felt her shiver beneath my touch.
Everything I felt from her before was amplified and my heart sang with renewed strength. With the flip of her tail, she disappeared from sight. Something off to the right caught my attention but when I looked, nothing was there. A prickle of fear ran down my spine and I actually wanted the shark to come back.
Out of nowhere a strong arm wrapped around my throat, cutting off my breathing. An enchanting sound filled my ears and wrapped around me. It was so beautiful, I instantly relaxed and listened. It filled my senses and I felt like I was floating. Then reality came crashing back to me.
One word played over and over in my mind. Siren. She was singing. Just like at the candlelight vigil, I concentrated as much as I could with my airway blocked and tried to push the sound out of my mind. It was easier than I expected, and once I could think again, I bit down on her arm until I tasted blood. Her grip lessened slightly, allowing me to twist around. I came face to face with a beautiful woman I didn’t recognize. She had dark brown hair and blue eyes that were broadcasting her shock.
Apparently she wasn’t expecting me to overcome her song. I narrowed my eyes at her and with all of my strength, kicked her in the stomach. She winced in pain and flew backwards, just as a dark ominous shape appeared nearby.
I felt her anger, sensed her urge to kill and froze as I watched the shark barreling towards me.
Before I could move or uselessly defend myself, her enormous body shot past me in a fit of rage that overwhelmed my nervous system. My skin sizzled with her anger as she barely missed me and attacked the Siren. Never having a chance against the massive killing machine, the Siren was caught in her massive jaws full of razor sharp teeth. I turned away as they disappeared in to the deep.
Someone grabbed my arms from behind.
“Get off me!” I screamed and struggled to get out of their grip. But they just held on tighter, locking my arms behind me. “Let. Me. Go.
”
Maybe it was the rage leftover from the shark or adrenaline, but suddenly I was able to release myself from the grip easily. I swung my arm around and made contact with Olivia’s cheek.
Unfortunately it didn’t seem to hurt her. She glared at me, pointed up and I followed her to the surface.
“What the hell were you doing?” I yelled at her as we swam toward the yacht. Surprisingly it was only a couple feet away.
“What was I doing?!” Olivia lifted herself up the ladder, ignoring the towel Willow held out for her and turned to face me as I climbed up. “What were you doing?! Are you trying to get yourself killed?”
“No. I was trying to go for a swim. The sea was calling to me.”
“The sea was calling to you,” she said dryly and rolled her eyes, “Drop the Lifetime movie bullshit, Stasia. You can’t just go for a swim in the middle of the ocean at night by yourself because you feel like it!! You almost got killed! If it weren’t for me, you’d be dead right now!” She stepped closer to me as I tried to dry off. I handed the towel to Phoebe and stood up straight, meeting her dark eyes, flashing with anger.
“You didn’t do a damn thing, Olivia! The shark saved me! Whoever that was is definitely dead! I felt what the shark was feeling and she knew exactly what she was doing!” I saw Phoebe and Carmen’s jaws drop.
“I’m done looking out for your ass,” she mumbled as she stomped off. I followed her in to the yacht, up the stairs and in to the living room with my roommates trailing us.
“Looking out for me?! Seriously?! Nobody asked you to look out for me. I don’t need a babysitter! Especially not you!”
“Obviously you do,” she said in a deadpan voice and turned to face me again.
“Why do you even care?”
“Open your eyes Anastasia, ” she put emphasis on my name and smirked at me, “I’m beginning to think Mom was wrong about you.”
“Mom?”
“My mom.” She raised her chin with indignation, “My full name is Olivia Noel Campbell.”
My jaw dropped. Olivia was Dr. Campbell’s daughter? That couldn’t possibly be true! Dr.
Campbell was so caring and understanding. Olivia was so…not. Speechless, I sat down in one of the oversized leather chairs facing the couch. Phoebe, Carmen, and Willow all sat down too, completely engrossed in our conversation. Olivia remained standing and glared down at me. I looked up at her in shock.
“Dr. Campbell’s your mom?” I saw Phoebe ask Carmen who Dr. Campbell was but she just shrugged her shoulders and they kept listening intently.
“She told me to look out for you, and believe me I’ve tried. But if you are so hell bent on getting yourself killed, then who am I to stop you?” She counted on her fingers, “Almost drowning, saving some dumb sea turtle eggs in the middle of a hurricane, swimming alone with Finn Morrison in the middle of the night which is the last person you should be hanging out with, and now swimming alone with sharks at midnight?!” She threw her arms up in frustration and I stood up suddenly irate.
“You’ve been spying on me!?” I was so angry my hands were shaking, and I could feel tears burning my eyes. All those times I felt like I was being watched… “Why won’t you just leave me alone!?”
Instead of yelling back, she pointed at me and said, “I’d love to. Unfortunately everyone thinks you’re part of that stupid Legend. And if that’s true, which I’m beginning to seriously doubt, every Siren on the planet will want you dead before your eighteenth birthday. So don’t come crying to me when the shit hits the fan.” She waved her hand at me like I was a piece of gum she had pulled off of her shoe and headed for the stairs, “I’m done.”
I was too stunned to produce a comeback for her rant. Legend? That woman in the water was definitely a Siren. I sat back down on the leather chair and stared blankly at my roommates.
“Will someone please tell me what she was rambling about?” I asked them wearily. They exchanged looks and their eyes hit the floor in shame. Willow spoke first.
“We didn’t want to tell you yet. We didn’t want to scare you.”
“I didn’t want you to freak out and leave,” Phoebe whispered.
“Plus we have no way of knowing if it’s true yet,” Carmen shrugged her shoulders and looked back down at her feet. I rubbed my temples, trying to figure out what was going on. I didn’t understand why everything had to be such a secret. Finn wouldn’t answer any of my questions, no one had told me what to expect here at this school, and now my roommates have been keeping things from me. Who was I supposed to trust? I let out a loud sigh and tried to reign in my anger.
“Just tell me,” I pinched the bridge of my nose, but my head was already pounding.
“There’s a Legend. A very old Legend, ” Willow began hesitantly, “Back in the day, the leader of the Nerieds, Thetis, was destined to bear only one son. That son would be stronger and more gifted then the father. Neither Zeus nor Poseidon wanted a son that would eventually overpower them, so they forced Thetis to marry a mortal. They had a baby boy, Achilles, and in an effort to make him immortal, she dipped him in the River Styx by his heel. Then he was killed in the Trojan War when an arrow pierced his heel, the only unprotected part of his body. Thetis was so distraught; she vowed never to have another child. This is where the legend comes in. Thetis had the ability of foresight just like her father Nereus. It is said that when she foresaw her own death, she knew she would give birth to a baby girl who would take her place as the leader of the Nerieds. The girl would grow to be stronger than her father like Achilles, but also stronger than her mother, Thetis. Her name was destined to be Anastasia.”
Chapter 31
At least that explains the weird looks when I introduced myself at school. A smile crept across my face and I chuckled with relief. “Well I can clear everything up real quick. I chose Anastasia when I came to Lorelei because of a dream I had and I thought it was a pretty name. The state of Georgia gave me my previous name, Hannah. I never knew my true name given to me by my parents. So the chances of me being The Anastasia are pretty slim. Problem solved.” I left out the part about the woman I saw crying in my dreams who called out to an Anastasia. I pushed that from my mind.
“There’s more,” Willow gave me a harsh look and continued. “When you told us you could breathe underwater, I started to do more research, so we could be sure that you were the one. I found other things associated with the Legend that I’d never heard before. Like, Thetis’s daughter would have the same abilities as her mother and more – foresight, an affinity for all sea creatures – which goes along with breathing underwater - and manipulating not just the ocean, but also the shore and wind.”
Phoebe looked at me, hopeful, “So… from what we know so far you definitely have foresight, an affinity for sea turtles and it sounds like sharks? Have you ‘felt’ any other animals?”
“Maybe sea horses…and the dolphins,” I said and shrugged, running my hand over my trace.
“Sea horses?” Carmen said in disbelief, “Okay, so that means the ones we can check off are foresight, an affinity for all sea animals-“
“Not necessarily – I mean four isn’t really a good judge of the hundreds of animals and fish out there.” I tried to convince her, but it didn’t work.
“Anyway,” She raised an eyebrow at me, “you’ve got foresight, an affinity for all animals, we know you can breathe underwater and manipulate the ocean. Have you ever tried to manipulate sand or wind?”
“Of course not. Look, you guys are on crack. This Legend or whatever could just be some story somebody made up. It doesn’t mean anything.” Deep down I didn’t really believe what I was saying, but I wanted to think about this on my own. I didn’t want anyone else dissecting me and telling me who I was. I got up and went to find Olivia while they kept picking me apart. I found her outside on the back deck.
“What do you want?” She didn’t look up from the magazine she was reading.
“I want to apologize,” I said and sat down
beside her, “I shouldn’t have yelled at you.”
“I’m touched, really, but I’m not taking back the things I said. I meant every word.” She kept reading. She was the most stubborn person I’d ever met.
“I’m not taking back what I said either, I’m just saying I shouldn’t have yelled them at you.”
“Maybe next time you could try hand signals.” I saw a ghost of a smile on her face. “I’m really good at those.” She flipped me off and kept reading.
“I’m better at smoke signals, but I know a few hand signals too. Apparently I need to work on the whole punching one.” This got me a full grin. She didn’t have a bruise or scratch on her. I was a miserable fighter. She set her magazine down and looked at me.
“Fine. You’re forgiven. Happy now?”
“Almost.”
“What else do you want?” She sighed and turned towards me.
“Willow explained the Legend you were talking about, but it can’t mean I’m that Anastasia. I chose my name when I came to Lorelei-“ I stopped abruptly as a memory surfaced and something in my mind clicked. I scratched my head, “I met your mom when I was still going by Hannah. Why would she have thought I was part of the Legend before I chose the name Anastasia?”
“She didn’t care about your name. Even though she thought it was pretty ironic you chose Anastasia when you got to school. But what proved it to her was your trace.” She pointed down at my wrist and raised her eyebrows at me.
“But no one knows what my trace means.”
“My mom does.”
“How would your mom know?”
“She was part of Thetis’s personal council,” she said proudly, then looked me up and down and smirked, “She said you’re the spitting image of her. I find that hard to believe too.”