Stolen Scales

Chapter 47

They hear chirping in the distance and turn toward it, picking up speed in excitement. When the pod comes into view, Kyma almost gasps at how large it is. The only pods she has ever seen were no larger than twelve, but this pod had almost a hundred dolphins. They swim toward it, Kyma being much slower now, preoccupied by her own awe at the pods size. Several members of the pod twist towards them as they approach, their clicks and whistles curious and playful. Kyma smiles at them and sends an image to them of a race. The dolphins chirp excitedly and dart forward, skimming through the water. Kyma grins to herself and darts off after them, sending her friends a quick signal.

"Time to race!"

She feels the water behind her move in a curious way and twists onto her back to look behind her. Alai is using her powers to propel herself forward and catch up to Kyma. Kyma scowls at Alai's actions.

"No fair! That's cheating!"

Alai smiles mischievously. "You didn't put anything in the rules about it, so I can do it."

Kyma scowls again but concedes the point, using her own powers to propel herself through the water. Kyma soon catches up to the dolphins and lowers the propulsion until she is the same speed as they are, jumping and leaping out of the water with ease. The dolphins twist and spin in the air occasionally as they leap out of the water, and Kyma follows suit, enjoying her inclusion in the pod. She begins to tire and slows before stopping.

A couple of the dolphins stop as well to stay with her as the rest frolic in the waves. Kyma can see her friends with them in the distance but like expected, Lyss stays behind with her. They float beneath the surface of the water, occasionally flicking their tails to keep their positioning. The dolphins circle Kyma, chirping softly to each other in concern, and Kyma smiles at them. One of the dolphins whistles at her curiously before diving down towards the seabed below. When it returns, it is surrounded by a black cloud, causing Kyma to furrow her brow in concern.

The dolphin stops before her and releases something from its mouth. The object floats before her, and she carefully stretches out her hand. The thing moves and reveals itself to be a tiny octopus, evidently angry due to its dark red skin. It stretches one arm out to Kyma's hand, and firmly attaches its suckers to her skin. It pulls itself toward her and wraps around her entire hand, pulling firmly on her skin. The octopus moves its arms up her own, littering her skin with sucker marks. Kyma winces slightly when the suckers pull painfully. Lyss moves forward in the water towards her in concern, but Kyma signs for her to stop.

"It's alright, the octopus doesn't mean to hurt me. It's just pulling a little hard."

Lyss nods and signs back. "Tell me if you want me to pull the octopus away."

Kyma lets the octopus roam over her skin for several minutes before she swims down to the sea floor. The octopus hesitates before releasing It's hold on her skin and darting off toward a coral stand. It squeezes itself between the coral until it's out of sight. Before she leaves, Kyma looks closer at the spot where it disappeared and finds the telltale stack of shells that mark the den of an octopus. She grins and spirals back up to Lyss and the dolphins, who click excitedly as she returns. Lyss looks at her, confused.

"What did you do?"

"I took the octopus home."

Lyss smiles softly at that. "Back to its den? That was nice."

The dolphin that brought Kyma the octopus whistles at her, drawing her attention away from Lyss. There is a mischievous glint in the dolphin's eye and it darts forward to take a lock of her hair in its beak, pulling gently before releasing it. Her hand reaches up to push the hair back into place. She starts to lower her hand but stops when the dolphin noses her palm, right where the pearly spot is. She tenses in alarm, but the dolphin just noses the spot again before diving down. It takes several moments for the dolphin to return, giving the two girls enough time to go to the surface for a quick breath.

The dolphin returns with something held in its beak once again, but there is no black cloud around it. It drops the object in front of her, and her hand extends to catch it before it sinks too far. The object is a large abalone snail, and she swims downward to return it to the sea floor, only for the dolphin to dart angrily in front of her and stopping her descend. It noses her hand again, and Kyma pales slightly. The dolphin must know about the pearly spot on her palm, but what does an abalone have to do with it? She doesn't do anything, so the dolphin peels away the snail from its shell and swallows it.

A massive pearl lies in the little hollow within the large shell, it must have started as a grain of sand when the abalone snail was very young. Kyma carefully places the abalone shell and the pearl inside her bag beside the pouch before turning back to the dolphin. It seems satisfied and whistles to its friend before swimming off to rejoin its pod. Lyss frowns and swims to the surface of the water to look for the others. Kyma joins her to look as well, but fails to see any sign of the others. Lyss pops her head beneath the water and lets out a high pitched whistle, similar to the whistle of the dolphins. She turns sharply three times to repeat the sound before stopping her movements to listen carefully.
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Hey guys! I know I said that I would no longer be posting chapters on the weekends so that I could edit Stars of Memory(in preparation for hopeful publishing), but I am stuck at home with no schoolwork for three weeks. So I think I have plenty of time to spare for writing. So until this mandatory no school period is over, you guys get weekend chapters. Now back to this story.

Why do you think the dolphin was so determined to give Kyma the shell? What do you think Lyss just did? Tell me your thoughts!

Happy reading, and I'll see you next chapter!

~Goddess of Fate, signing out.