Call of the Water (COMPLETE)

38. SONG AMONGST THE FLOWERS

The sweet scent of jasmine traveled to me when the wind suddenly changed direction. Mathias took a deep breath. The smell of the flowers must have been far more pleasant than the smell of Aquantiens. Opal sniffed the air a couple of times but failed to find delight in the floral fragrance that surrounded us.

"I have a question," she said. For a moment I thought she'd be interested at werewolf's sense of smell, but I was wrong. "Does Professor Cyan know that you figured out which race she was?"

"She knows," I replied and glanced at Mathias. His face was serious again and the fact that he was cracking the knuckles of his fingers did not put my mind at ease.

"There you go, the mystery is solved!" she stated and sent us a wide smile. "She's acting strange because now you know that she's an," once more she lowered her voice, "Aquantien."

"That's not it," Mathias said in a gruff voice.

"Oh, really? Does your nose make you an expert?" she said condescendingly.

"Watch it, little one," he glared at her. "If you got one laugh out of me, it doesn't mean we're friends. I still don't like you. And speaking of noses, you don't have to stick yours into everything."

"Don't call me little! No one calls me little! Well, maybe Nia sometimes, but I always make sure I'm not in debt with her." He managed to annoy her again. She walked over to me and stood right beside me. "I might be right, you know."

"You're wrong," he said. His voice was as cold as a winter morning.

Opal looked at me. She hadn't said a word, but I knew she was waiting to hear what I had to say about the matter.

"He's right," I answered her silent question. "That's not the reason."

"How can you be so sure?" she asked as she stared deep into my eyes.

"I know the reason," I replied and went silent.

I was looking at Opal but still I was able to feel Mathias' piercing eyes on me. He deserved to know. After what he had said earlier, he deserved the truth. And Opal? Well, I knew she wouldn't back down now.

I looked into her eyes for a while longer in a silent plea that she would keep it all to herself. As if my thoughts reached her, she said, "I won't tell anyone. I swear."

I nodded. My eyes searched Mathias' before I gave them the reason they were looking for. "As you know, during the spring break I went with my parents to our beach house. She came to the same town. It was pure coincidence." I paused allowing myself to take a deep breath. "We took her diving."

Opal's forehead furrowed at that statement. "You took her diving? What's the big deal about that? If she is what she is, diving is nothing special to her."

"She hadn't been in the water for decades," I replied in a hushed tone.

Opal released a long breath accompanied by the word wow. I wasn't able to guess what Mathias was thinking. His face was expressionless. A minute had passed in silence after which he shifted his piercing eyes to Opal and warned her, "You are not allowed to talk about this. Look at me!" he commanded when she failed to give him the attention he was hoping for. "I'm serious. This conversation stays between us. I don't know you well enough to even remotely trust you, but judging by today, I'd say you have a big mouth."

She kept her gaze on him and bit her inner cheek. "Okay, maybe I've been warned about talking too much once or twice before, but let me tell you one thing, dwarves are the champions at keeping secrets."

"I hope that's the truth. For your sake," he told her before turning to me. "What do we do now?"

"Nothing," I said calmly, remembering the conversation I had with her on that stormy night. "I think the best thing we can do is give her some time. Let her process it all. She'll be fine. I know she will."