Part 20 (1/2)
I splashed rock to rock, fallen log to wet sand, slipping, hands out to steady myself.
The incline increased and the stream began to blur with bubbles, the water channeling through more narrow gaps, sometimes plunging under boulders. My run became more of a hop downward, palms bracing against rough stones. A knife edge of rock tore the pocket off my shorts.
The stream fanned out over steps of sandstone. I scrambled down them, but my feet slipped on the smooth rock. I started to fall to the right, threw myself back the other way, lost my footing, and toppled face-first into the pool at the bottom. I popped up, but now my throat was stuck. My gills, confused, had opened. I staggered, telling them to close, coughing at the same time, cramp knotting tight.
Then, ahead through the trees I saw the sun streaks on the lake. Almost there. Stumbling, just had to make it. My shoulder slammed into a tree, half spinning me, spots in my eyes, nothing working.
I staggered forward and reached a ledge of rocks, the lake lapping a few feet below, and I threw myself in.
My body slapped against the surface and I sank, emptying my lungs, letting go of everything. I felt the cramp ease, felt my gills begin to flutter, water through my mouth. The coolness relaxed all my burning muscles. My stomach gently brushed against the algae-slick rocks of the bottom. I spread my arms and pulled myself out a few meters to deeper water. There, I peeled off my s.h.i.+rt, shoes and socks. I pinned them beneath a rock on the bottom, so there would be no evidence of my escape. Then, I rose to the surface and peered around to get my bearings.
I was at the far side of the camp inlet. The boathouse was to my left, the trampoline raft straight ahead, the empty dock beyond that.
”So, now you're trying to ditch me?”
I whirled to see Lilly standing on the rocks, hands on her hips, in her teal bathing suit top and red shorts, breathing hard. Marco and Aliah stood just behind her. Lilly's gaze was stony, and I couldn't tell if she was really mad or not.
I pushed my throat open. ”I-”
She rolled her eyes. ”Kidding.” She smiled, but then her face got serious again. ”What happened to your face?”
I felt the swelling by my jaw. ”Evan.”
”That-” She scowled, but didn't finish. ”And those were Nomads, weren't they?”
”Yeah.”
”We saw the aftermath up there. Are you okay?”
”Yeah, but”-I glanced past her into the woods-”I've gotta go, before they find me.”
”I thought they were all dead,” said Marco.
”Not the Nomads. Paul and the Security Forces.”
”You're going to the temple, aren't you?” Lilly asked.
I nodded. ”The Nomads were talking about it. They sent a team there, to-” I stopped, looking at Marco and Aliah.
”I told them,” said Lilly, ”About the siren that we saw, and how you had that vision.”
”Crazy stuff,” said Marco.
”I don't get it,” said Aliah. ”How come we we never saw this thing?” never saw this thing?”
Lilly looked back at me. ”There's something different about Owen,” she said.
”About us,” I added. ”The Nomads were after you, too.”
”Me?” Lilly's eyebrows bunched up like she didn't believe it. ”How do you know that?”
”They said they were after a girl, too, and you're the only other one who's seen the siren.”
Lilly nodded slowly. ”Oh.” She sounded unsure, or maybe overwhelmed.
”We have to find out what's going on,” I said, ”before more people die.” I looked at her as seriously as I could. ”Come with me.”
Lilly's eyes stayed on mine. She bit her lip. ”Yeah,” she said. She turned to Marco and Aliah. ”Can you guys cover for us? And see about that b.a.s.t.a.r.d Evan.”
”What should we say?” Aliah asked.
”I don't know,” said Lilly, ”tell them Owen and I sneaked off to hook up or something, that we can't keep our hands off each other.” She shot me a slight smile.
I tried not to melt into the water. Of all the times for a girl to say something like that in relation to me, why did it have to be now?
Aliah laughed. ”I think Owen liked that idea.”
I felt my face burn. ”We should go.”
”All right, but where to meet up?” said Marco. ”The raft?”
”Too obvious,” said Lilly. She tore at her fingers, thinking. ”How about the ledges?”
I'd heard them talk about this place, up at the top of Mount Aasgard.
”Sounds good,” said Marco. ”We'll head up there after lunch.”
”Be careful,” Lilly said to them, then she turned and dove in.
”Thanks,” I said to Marco and Aliah.
Marco nodded and Aliah raised an eyebrow, but neither said anything. They were looking at me like this was all my fault. It gave me a heavy feeling. I hadn't done anything wrong, and yet, they were right. This was about me me, weird as that was to get used to.
I ducked under, sucked in water, and thrust out to where Lilly was waiting, gently drifting beneath the surface. As I neared her, I wished this was the moment where we were leaving, off to find our own ocean somewhere, with no danger of Nomads, where the only mysteries were what strange fruits and flowers we'd eat, and where we'd sleep.
'Ready?' I said to her.
'Yeah.' She reached out and touched my swollen cheek. 'He had no right, Owen....'
'It's okay.' And then I felt a rush of nerves about what I'd just thought to say next, and somehow I actually said it. 'It was because of you.' I started to swim past her and added, in my fish clicks, 'And it was worth it.'
Her hand clamped on my ankle and pulled me back, spinning me over so that I was facing the surface. She slid over me, silhouetted by green-tinted beams of SafeSun, her face in shadow, hair like a corona, and she drifted down until our bodies were touching, cold skin, contact from the tops of our feet to our chests.
She kissed me.
Somehow I was ready. Waving my hands to keep myself steady in the weightless water, craning my neck up as her face neared and our cool lips met. The strange gill currents made extra suction in from the corners of our mouths, and I tried to feel how her soft lips were moving and do the same thing she was.