A Thousand Salt Kisses (Book 1 of Salt Kiss series)

><>Chapter Ten<><

After Llyr had asked me to come with him, I had returned to my house and raced upstairs. I had thrown on some clothes and grabbed a pen and paper. What on earth could I tell Mum and Dad?

'GONE TO CONEY.' 

I had then hesitated. I was going to have to be a bit more specific or they would freak out. I had picked up the pen again.

'WITH A FRIEND FROM SCHOOL. GOT MY PHONE xx'

I had scribbled a big heart. A guilt heart.

I hoped they wouldn't be worried. I looked at my phone as we headed further out. It had no reception bars.

We had eventually passed all the fishing boats and there was nothing around us except for the everlasting seascape. Llyr turned off the engine.

I looked at him and laughed. He smiled back.

"What the hell are we doing out here?" I exclaimed, giggling. I felt drunk or something from all the endorphins.

"I just like this part of the sea," he replied.

I giggled again. "But it looks exactly the same, as the sea back where we came from!"

He frowned and I wondered momentarily if I had offended him somehow.

"I guess it does," he said slowly, as though he'd never considered this before, "but underneath the surface it all looks different."

"Well, I wouldn't know..." I said.

"Have you ever used the, you know..." he appeared at a loss for words, and made circles with his fingers over his eyes.

"Goggles?" I asked.

"Mmm. Yeah, goggles," he said. He sounded strange when he repeated the word 'goggles.' It almost reminded me of how a non-native person pronounces an English word for the first time.

But he didn't sound particularly foreign. 

"Erm, well yeah a bit, just in really shallow water though," I said.

"The sea nourishes everything Crystal. Flowers and plants don't wilt underneath her. You know, sea gardens are so so beautiful," said Llyr.

He sat on the floor of the boat, looking over the rim at the waters.

"Is there a sea-garden here?" I asked, wondering where this was all going.

He looked at me and grinned.

"Yes, there's a wonderful garden below us. I just wish I could show you," he replied. "You would look... beautiful down there."

"Well, I'll bring my scuba kit next time," I said slowly. What was with this guy and the sea?

"It has a tree that grows five types of sea fruit, and they're all different shades of pink. Every branch bares a different colour," he continued.

"Oh come on, you don't get sea-trees!" I cried. He was joking. Either that or delusional.

He reached out and took my arm and pulled me from my seat to him so that he held me in his arms.

I looked up at him from below. I was a little startled but I liked the confident way he grabbed me like that.

"So you think I would lie to you?" he said, looking down at me.

"I don't know," I said, pulling my hat over my eyes to shield them from the sun, "I kind of trust you, strangely enough. I wouldn't be here if I didn't, right?"

"Well, that's good," he said with a tone of deep sincerity. "I would really hate it if you didn't."

He pulled back my sun hat, and leaned forward so that he blocked the sun for me. I saw he had a pendant round his neck.

I reached up and touched it. It was made from a hard white substance and was in the shape of some kind of symbol. It was almost like an 'S' shape, but back to front.

I suddenly realized something.

"I'm boiling," I said, sitting up and looking at the sky. The sun had risen and was beating down on the water around us.

Llyr stood up quickly. He put one foot on the edge of the boat.

"So we'll go swimming!" he declared brightly.

Before I could protest he had dived backwards off the boat and into the water.

"No!" I screamed. Was he insane? We were WAY out. I looked back to land, and to my horror, realized that I could not even see it.

I peered nervously over the edge. The waters rippled where he had disappeared, and the boat rocked.

I waited for him to reappear, but there was nothing.

I became frightened.

"Llyr?" I wailed over the boat.

He resurfaced.

"You didn't come in!" he said, completely casually and with no symptoms of breathlessness.

"I'm not coming in!" I shrieked. "We're in the middle of the ocean."

"Yeah, but that's okay," he said flippantly "you know I can save you from currents."

"Hello! Sharks!" I cried.

"I can sense them miles off," he said.

I looked at him incredulously.

"There are no sharks Crystal, seriously. Not here, not now."

I wasn't entirely sure I believed him but even so, there was one more problem.

"I don't have my swimming costume."

He raised his eyebrows, inquisitively.

"Like, bikini," I said, drawing what I may look like the outline of a bikini top on my chest with my fingers. Okay, we're playing charades now.

"Do you need one?"

He wanted me to go in without a swimming costume. Seriously?

I rasied my eyebrows. 

"You're shy," he said gently.

"Okay, look I barely know you!" I cried.

He looked at me for a moment as though he was trying to figure something out and then suddenly he disappeared under the water again.

"Oh for fuck's sake. Now where are you going?" I cried. God, most men took girls to dinner or something on their first date.

"Llyr! Come back!" I shouted.

An agonizing minute or so later he emerged and swam towards the boat. I could see he had something in his hand.

"Here," he said, holding out his hand.

I gasped when I saw what rested in his palm.

It was a perfect spherical shape and a deep ruby pink. I took the fruit and examined it closer. It was soft, an almost leathery texture and pink leaves bloomed from it's core. They were like rose petals. I was in awe of it.

"I just wanted to show you that you can trust what I'm saying," he said from the water.

I nodded. I knew I would want answers at some point but for this very moment, I didn't care. I just wanted to live this magical moment and not ruin it with scrutiny.

My arms reached automatically for my shirt and I started unbuttoning from the top. I must have unbuttoned two or three when suddenly I saw a look of alarm in his face. At first I thought it was me and I stopped, worried.

He reached for the edge of the boat and hauled himself aboard. Water splashed all over me.

"There's going to be a storm," he said starting up the engine. I looked behind me and sure enough, I could see a huge black cloud coming from the direction of Coney.