Waveborn

17

"You will stay away from the musicians..."

Her voice curled about Cass like smoke. It wrapped through her head, stumbled her thoughts, deadened sensation; when she pushed against it, her mind cleared just for a moment, the way a puff of wind could clear a patch of fog.

"...and you will forget me, forget everything about me. Now. Sleep."

Fog again. Heavy, dragging at her eyelids, blurring her thoughts.

Push. Push back.

Distantly, Cass felt the girl brush past, felt the boat sway as she climbed to the deck. She seized onto it, this awareness, seized it and held it tight like a life preserver, letting it carry her high above the mist, higher and—

"No!"

Cass clapped hands to her mouth, shocked by the sound of her voice even as she shook off the last shreds of fog, suddenly free of the girl's spell. Her head felt only loosely connected to the rest of her body as she spun, looking around the cabin, but only Jen remained, still unconscious.

She scrambled up the three narrow steps to the deck and from there to the dock. The girl couldn't have gone far—there. Cass saw her at the end of the dock and ran; her footsteps slapped loud against the boards. "Stop!" she yelled. The girl didn't turn, but she'd nearly reached the end of the dock. There was nowhere else she could go.

But she'd said she was one of the sea people, Cass remembered. She hadn't really believed it, not really, but the girl lifted her hands overhead and dove long and low into the ocean. Cass reached the end of the dock and stumbled to a halt, staring out at the black water. She didn't see anything break the surface.

Her knees wobbled with sudden weakness and she sank to the boards of the dock. She hugged her knees to her chest, still not quite believing what she'd seen. "Sister," she whispered. Jason's mystery girl was real. She'd seen her with her own eyes. She'd heard her with her own ears—and that voice had messed with her head, like a drug. It smothered her and made her forget who she was.

Maybe that was why her head was pounding.

A steady wind blew off the ocean, chill, spreading a film of gooseflesh over her skin.

Cass had seen the girl dive and, unless she'd missed her in the dark and shifting waves, the girl hadn't come back up to breathe. At least, not until swimming far out of sight of the dock. What would let her stay underwater so long? Could she really be some sort of sea person? And if so, Cass wondered, what did that make her?

The girl had said they were sisters by blood. That meant she must be as human as Cass was. She'd trained, practiced staying underwater for long periods of time. People could do that.

Cass tasted metal; she'd clenched her teeth so tight on her lower lip that she'd made it bleed. She wiped blood on her fingertip, wondering—and remembered Jen, back at the boat, unwake-able, if she believed that girl. Another wave of dizziness rose over her. She pushed to her feet and staggered back the way she'd come.

Jen hadn't moved. As the boat rolled in the waves, her cabin door swung open and shut, bumping against the back of her head.

"Jen?" No response. Cass tried again, louder. "Jen. Wake up."

Nothing.

Panic pricked at Cass's throat. What did that girl do to her? She grabbed Jen's shoulders and shook. "Jen! Wake up, wake up, wake up!"

"NO!" Jen screamed. Her eyes flew open. Before Cass could react, Jen twisted, grabbed her upper arms with bruising force, and shoved her backward. Cass slammed into the table. The impact pushed the air out of her; she doubled over, gasping with pain.

Jen flailed upright, cracking her head against the door frame, as Cass clung to the narrow counter that divided the kitchen area from the rest of the cabin, afraid to move, afraid to stay still, afraid...she didn't know what she was afraid of. Everything. Jen.

Jen's lids dragged shut as she rubbed her head, apparently oblivious to Cass's presence. After a moment, she moved farther down on the bed, dropped to the mattress, and rolled over. Her breathing slowed into what sounded like sleep. Cass wondered if she would be able to wake her now, but she didn't quite dare to try.

The cabin felt suddenly close and stuffy. Cass stumbled to the steps leading up and out and into the clear night air, where she ended up on the foredeck, as far from the open hatch as she could get without actually leaving the boat. She sat there with arms wrapped around her knees, trembling.

She had a sister. A sister, who Jen had never bothered to mention. Cass wouldn't have believed it except that Jen had also failed to tell her the truth about her parents' deaths. Maybe Jen didn't know, Cass thought. It wasn't the kind of thing a mother would share with just anyone: By the way, I have another little girl, but she's living in the ocean with friends.

She didn't even know the girl's name, not that it mattered, since her new-found sister apparently hated her. "Stay away from the people on the island," the girl had said. "Especially the musicians." What the hell did that mean? Stay away from the band? From Jason?

She wondered if the other girl remembered their mother.

Automatically, Cass's fingers reached for the leather cord at her wrist, with its threaded bits of polished sea glass. It was one of the few things that might prompt Jen to talk about her mother. "Mara loved sea glass," she'd say. "Your windowsills and shelves were cluttered with the stuff."

Cass's breath caught. That's what the girl had wanted. That's why she had her knife at Jen's throat. She'd taken Jen's necklace. Retrieving something stolen, she'd said. Did she think Jen stole the necklace?

She rubbed her thumb across the green glass at her wrist and, like so many times before, her thumbnail caught on a rough spot. A few scratches marked one side of the piece, forming an oddly-shaped triangle set inside a circle. She could just see it in the dock's light.

Something about looking at it this time, on the island where her mind was so full of all things to do with orcas, made her see it as an orca's fin: tall, narrow, slightly curved at the tip. She stared at it, wondering, until a flash of movement in the water below her feet caught her eye, something sleek and black with a flash of white belly. An orca. Amak, here in water too shallow to be safe.

He shot upward with something caught across his head—no, balanced there. A fish. A salmon like before, over three feet long.

He tilted his nose, gently sliding the fish over the side of the boat. It landed with a wet slap. Cass scrambled out of the way, caught between astonishment and the fear of getting covered in scales.

The orca, on the other hand, seemed entirely pleased with himself. He nosed above the surface again, high enough to see into the boat, before slipping silently back underwater.

It was a long time before Cass could move. When she did, she left the salmon—what else was she going to do with it?—and climbed into bed still fully dressed. The clothes made her feel somehow safer, but she still couldn't sleep. She couldn't stop thinking of Jen's hands, too tight on her forearms. She couldn't stop thinking of the girl with her knife and the necklace she'd stolen, and she couldn't stop thinking about Jason and Reis and Evie and why her long-lost sister would care if she spent time with them.

If the girl had been trying to frighten her, it worked.

----

A/N

Hey, how's it going? Sorry things have been so quiet here--I just got back from my first real trip to New York City. Wow! I'm used to living places with a LOT fewer people, but I have to say, I loved it. Central Park was beautiful in an upstate-New York sort of way. Downtown was spectacular and colorful and festive--there was a some sort of Puerto Rico parade/celebration, so there were people waving flags and beating drums and everything.

HUGE flight delays on the way back meant I got no sleep my last night there, though, so I've been catching up on sleep and fighting off a post-travel cold all week. 

I'd love to hear from you--what you think of Cass, who the other girl is, and what you think Cass should do next. Do you like this character? What do you think about the orca? Exciting things coming up! Please comment and share and--if you're enjoying the read--definitely vote! More coming next week :)