Blood Runs Thicker than Water (The Shape of Water Fanfic)

Discovered

 I dig my fingers into the grass to keep from slapping him. I don't know why I don't just hit him, but for some reason I felt inclined to hear him out.

"You have some explaining to do," I growled at him through gritted teeth.

He nodded. "I can completely understand how I would feel if I was in your shoes, to hear the news that others know," he said in apparently was supposed to be a reassuring tone. Those never tend to work on me. They just rile me up.

"No, unless you too have scales popping up somewhere on your body, I'm afraid you don't quite understand," I corrected.

Torren smirked. "Alright, you have a fair point there," he relented. "But the surprise isn't unexpected. I'm sure you'd like to know who else knows, besides Josie and I of course."

Even more resentment pricked at my heart, but I swallowed it down. I cracked a smile, even forced what I hoped seemed like a faintly amused laugh. "Here it comes," I said, barely keeping the bitterness out of my voice. "The bargaining, the blackmail. I'm sure that if I want to know exactly who has knowledge of this secret, I have to do something for you, is that it? Or maybe beg and grovel at your feet? Is that what you'd like? Because I can darn well figure it out myself, thanks."

He smiled a half smile at me that I wanted to rip off. "Oh, I know you can. Think, Storm, who else knows?"

I wracked my mind. My mother knew. I told her everything when I was little. I doubt she thinks about it much right now in her life, with the divorce and all. My father never found out, and I didn't have any siblings to tell. My mom wouldn't tell anyone if her life depended on it; she was already far too worried about my safety for her own good. Josie wouldn't tell anyone . . .

My heart leapt to my throat.

Rick. Rick knew.

I wanted to hyperventilate, but I swallowed hard and kept my breathing under control. I calmly tucked my knees to my chest and wrapped my hands around my legs. I scoffed, cocked my head at Torren. I was calm Storm, collected Storm. To Torren, this realization was nothing more than a nuisance to this girl, an irritation.

He would not know that Rick was the only person who could scare me.

"Oh, it's Rick, huh?" I said, laughing in obvious irritation. "Man, I've made a lot of mistakes in my life, not much of them that I truly regret. That guy's an exception to my streak. Or at least telling him that is."

I untuck my knees from the protective position against my chest and cross them comfortably on the grass, an open, calm position. "So, old Rick sends some friend to remind me that he knows about my scales. That's kind of ancient news. You're a few five years late, buddy."

"I knew you'd figure it out," Torren said. "Storm, I want to help you."

"Help me concerning what?"

"Rick wants to come after you."

My pounding heart lunged in pace a few extra beats.

Amused sigh. Lazy stretch out on the grass. Torren sees a relaxed girl. A calm girl.

Not a girl with a thousand scars inflicted on her heart by this boy.

"Wow, now he wants to come after me? He never seemed that interested in my teenage years. Well, tell him I'm not interested. He shouldn't have called his lover a demon and acted like a total idiot."

"Storm, this isn't a joke," Torren said sternly, grabbing my shoulder and beckoning me up from my stretch on the grass. I sat up, not because I let him pull me up but because I wanted to make eye contact. "Rick means to hurt you. I don't know what he wants to do with you, but I don't think it's good."

"What's in this for you?" I retort. "Why are you telling me this?"

His eyes of grey and blue clouds softened. "Josie's told me good things about you. Sure, you bite quick and are more than a little prickly, but in this life I've found out that some of the most defensive people are some of the best."

"Who says I'm defensive?" I snap. "What if I just don't like you?"

"You're taking me off track," he chided. "Here's what I mean: Rick is coming for you. Today he was planning on coming to your apartment later this evening and confronting you. He's gone nuts, Storm. He thinks he can prove something by revealing to the world who you are. You know how his family life was. He's still that insecure boy, desperately trying to prove to the world that he means something."

I did remember his family. Rick was thrown to the streets at seventeen, was told he meant nothing to anyone. I tried to prove that wrong, but once I revealed to him my scales he freaked out, thinking that I had deceived him all along (even though I was telling the supposedly suppressed truth by doing that, so I found that reasoning slightly off). That's when the controlling came in place. Apparently by me having kept such a secret for so long, meant I was untrustworthy and had to be controlled. I received many scars from him, but most of them were on my heart. I loved him the whole time, and it grieved me so to see someone I loved dearly descending into madness. Madness his parents had set upon him.

"Alright, you've said enough." I didn't want to hear anymore. Even after five years, the wound could be opened. Hearing that my first love that I feared so much now was hunting me down was not something I wanted to dwell on.

I stood up. "Please leave," I told him, trying to keep my voice from shaking. "This is my issue now. Go back to sneaking around and knowing things you shouldn't. Thanks for telling me, but your work here is done."

He opened his mouth to protest, but then seemed to think better of it. Good. It finally seemed as if he was beginning to understand how I roll.

When his dusty red truck rolled away, I took a deep breath, and ran my hands through my hair. I had been through every situation in my life. This could be dealt with like any of the rest. All I had to do was assess this one and decide how to best handle it.

This was like Rick, too. He was always desperate to prove he mattered in whatever way he could. He had to leave a mark. Whether that was good or bad, didn't really seem to matter to him.

Capturing me was perfectly logical. He would expose me as...whatever, I didn't know what, and then get all of the credit. It was the perfect storm.

I glanced at the pool. The worst part was, I wasn't the only piece in this game. I had Alpheus to protect. And I knew that meant to release him back into the bay.

My heart sinking, I walked over to the pool, where he was still completely submerged and swimming about, just like I told him to.

I waved my hand, indicating that he could surface. He stood before me, the sunlight glistening beautifully off his face.

"Hey," I said softly, cupping his smooth cheek with my hand. "I got in some trouble. Someone's hunting me, and that's not safe for you. I'm gonna release you where I found you. I don't know if we'll see each other again."

My throat caught on that last word, tears welling in my eyes. I knew this was for the best, but if I've learned anything so far in life, it was that "the best" usually meant it was going to suck really bad.

Alpheus looked at me with those endless pools for eyes, and I saw sadness there too. He stroked my delicate cheek softly with the talon on his thumb, trailing down my shoulder and arm.

I heard gravel crunching behind me in the telltale sound of a car pulling in. I whipped around as Alpheus simultaneously dove. It was that red truck again, hastily pulling into Josie's driveway. Torren practically leapt out.

"We need to go!" He called frantically. "Rick knows where you are! He's coming!"