Sea To Land

Chapter Ten

Pearl paused for a second while in thought before pointed in the direction of our village.

"That way. We have to pass through the village and then beyond."

"Alrighty then. That way it is!" I said.

Together we swam back towards the village, passing the reefs and caves we had explored before, schools of fish of all different colors, before we finally reached to village.

We agreed to swim around the village as to avoid possibly running into our parents. It would take a little longer but saved everything from crashing in on it's self.

When we were finally on the other side of the village Pearl paused looking around at the surrounding area. She turned around and told us she'll need a minute to remember where the closest pit is.

I turned to Max and we started talking. The more we talked, the more my anxiety disappeared. As we talked the more I realized how funny Max was, with almost every sentence I was laughing. Soon enough Pearl was back at our sides, leading us a little to the right of where we were.

We swam for went felt like an eternity when it finally became dark. We were just coming up to a pit that seemed to never end when we all agreed we were tired. I scanned the area for some place to rest when I saw a cave that we could at least lay in.

"Guys I see a cave we could set up for the night in." I told them, turning back to them.

"A cave!" Pearl exclaimed. "I don't want to sleep in a cave!"

"Want to risk out here then?" Max said.

Pearl looked around at the water around us. How far we were from the village and the surface, all the open ocean around us, the waving seaweed, before saying, "True. Cave it is!"

She lead the way to the cave, swimming as fast as she could, while I giggled behind her.

When we got into the cave she pulled some moss that Maire had grabbed us from a woven bag, and placed it on the cave floor as well as some seagrass. Max and I did the same for our own spaces.

The cave wasn't deep enough where we could be a more comfortable distance from each other but we did have enough space to not be right at the entrance of the cave. The cave was tall enough where we could all extend our bodies fully and still have a little space.

We all sat down on our makeshift beds and had some food. It was mostly kelp with a small amount of fish. We think of fish as family in a distance way but we needed to eat a little fish every once and a while to stay healthy.

As we started finishing our food I asked Pearl, "So do you know which way we'll be heading in the morning?"

"If I remember right from when I looked around we need to head a tail length and a half in the same direction we were heading then turn left and swim. The next pit should be somewhere around there. I can't tell you if it'll have a cave or not but it's a pit."

"Well, alright then. In the morning we follow those directions and check pit number two!" I cheerfully said.

"Great well I'm tired. I've never swam for so long before so goodnight you two."

"Night Max." Pearl and I synchronized.

"I'm tired to. Wanna call it a night Lilith?"

"Sure. Night Pearl."

"Night Lilith."

And with that we rolled over and slowly drifted off to sleep as Max snored softly.

~

I woke up for reasons I didn't know and rolled over to find Max's bed empty. I sat up and saw that Pearl was still asleep next to me.
As I looked around I saw Max sitting at the end of the cave.

I pushed myself off the bed and swam towards him. He looked over at me as I sat down next to him.

"Hey Lilith."

"Hi Max."

I looked at him, trying to read his face but I couldn't tell what he was feeling.

"Are you OK? You look a little off."

Max looked over at me before turning back to stare at the water around us before letting out a small sigh. I watched as bubbles flew from his mouth and headed for the surface.

"Not, really." He admitted.

"Want to, talk about it?" I gave him a small smile.

His face relaxed and softened. Then he told me, "I'm just worried that we won't find her before we run out of time, let alone if the curse can be reversed."

"Hey. If it can't we could always try one of my handy dandy spells." I jokingly said, placing my hands on my hips.

That made him chuckle. "You know, you really can lighten the mood when it's needed."

"Thanks. You're pretty funny yourself."

"Well then, we're both good at making the mood better."

"Guess so."

And together we just sat there. There was no awkward silence, this time it was a comfortable silence. As I watched the seaweed and water around us I felt myself drifting back into sleep. I fought it before I finally let myself fall lovingly into it.

When I woke again it was morning. I sat up like I did earlier and saw Pearl and Max having some kelp at the entrance. As I looked down at the area around me I saw that they had cleaned up their beds.

I got up and grabbed my own kelp and joined them. We shared a good morning before finishing our food, packing up my bed and grabbing our bags. We were out before the sun was entirely above the horizon.

~Thanks for reading!
Some of these next chapters will be shorter but will still move the plot along as they will be focused on a cave or two and what clues they hold. The next chapter will also be a Max POV.
Enjoy the story :)~