"I have returned!" I call, stumbling towards Ophelia.
"With a blanket!" Leo adds.
The stars are twinkling high in the sky, shining on a passed-out Gwen, and the boardwalk has gotten considerably less crowded as light shifted to dark. Leo and I have spent the past hour scavenging for supplies along the dock; we traded a pair of my socks for a blanket, two bronze for some rope, one bronze for a container of oatmeal, and, unfortunately, a bar of my chocolate for a key chain Leo insisted we just "had to have." Before we began back to Ophelia, I added up the money in my bag to be around ten bronze. So I could buy two slices of pizza. Great.
"Gwen!" I say. "You were supposed to watch the boat!"
Gwen's ear twitches and she sleepily raises her head.
"Cats are supposed to sleep during the day, you know," she says, no trace of daze in her voice. "You can't blame me if I'm tired from running around with you fools all day." She stretches onto all four paws, arching her back.
"What took so long, anyway?"
"You'd be surprised how many people are overly attached to their blankets," I reply, tossing the dark red bundle at her paws. She sniffs the fabric, gives the feline equivalent of a shrug with a sniff of her nose, and turns abruptly towards Ophelia.
"Come on," she mews. "We've got to learn how to control this thing sometime or other, and I'd rather we get on the sea sooner rather than later."
I'm happy as I walk after Gwen, who seems to be adjusting well to the idea of unstructured adventure. Maybe she's realized that we've already come this far – it would be like getting to the middle of a book only to find that the rest of the pages have been torn out to quit, and Orion knows how much that cat loves books.
I close the door behind Leo as we enter the boat. It rocks gently beneath us like a lullaby with the tide, and I can't tell whether I want to be sick or fall asleep.
I throw the blanket to the left of the boat and put my bag in a corner, placing the mermaid on the window and tossing some chocolate in the jar. I stare out of the glass and wonder if she'd be happy in the ocean. Then I recall what the boothtender who sold her to me said – she's a freshwater mermaid. That would have been a nasty mistake.
Up at the front of the boat I'm pleased to find a large, glossy wooden wheel. A wheel I can handle. I think. I hang up Leo's key chain, a tiny lighthouse from an Erin's Beach gift shop. Leo races outside to untie the boat with his teeth while I give the wheel a few practice spins and place the rope we got on a shelf under the wheel. I feel the boat shift from side to side. Okay. I can do this.
"All done!" Leo says, bounding back inside. "How do we start this thing?"
"Eerf an," Gwen says. I look down to see her carrying something in her mouth. I take it from her – it's a small stone.
"With this," Gwen repeats. "I found it tied to the wheel." I turn it over in my hands until it catches the moonlight. There are several symbols carved into it.
"Can you read this?" I ask, bending down. It really pays off to have friends who can see in the dark. Leo leans in, green eyes glowing.
"It says Ophelia on it," he mews. I grin.
"That must be the boat's start and stop phrase. How convenient." I look up at the roof above me and toss my arms into the air. "Ophelia!" Nothing.
"Let me try," Leo says. He hops up onto the counter supporting the wheel and stares out into the sea like it holds all the secrets in the Lands.
"Ophelia!"
There's a rumble beneath us, and I quickly grab onto the counter. We're suddenly moving forwards, slowly, but still.
"See, you didn't respect the name," Leo says. I grip the wheel in my hands as we pull away from the dock.
"Maybe it's just how you said the name."
"Yeah. I said it with respect."
"Okay, smart guy. Well say it again so we can sleep."
Leo repeats the phrase and Ophelia slows to a stop. I change out of my clothing and into some pajamas, my stomach rumbling. I wash my face and hands in the empty container that once held Birdy's soup and that now holds water from the Erin's Beach Visitor Center, and then I divvy up the container of oatmeal. We eat until full and then settle down on the blanket once I brush my teeth, spitting the toothpaste apologetically into the water. I smile as the boat rocks.
"Comfortable?" Gwen teases. I roll onto my back, hands supporting my head.
"You know," I say. "I've slept on a soft bed in a state of restlessness, and I can say I'd rather have a hard floor in a state of contentedness."
I close my eyes and manage to hear a murmured 'damn' from Leo as I drift away.
When I wake up the next morning, the first thing my eyes land on is the key chain, dangling from the wheel, rocking slowly. I wonder what Amelia is doing right now. I know we just met, but she seemed...calm. Maybe she didn't even mean to dismiss my ability, and she's just secure despite not having one. I tilt my head back, one hand petting Leo next to me, and let my eyes fall on the tiny waves outside. Stars, what am I thinking? I'm leaving soon. It's like when I had a crush on Billy Everson when I was twelve, but before I could even think about working up the courage to tell him, I found out he was moving to the City. I never told him a thing.
Isn't this the same thing? I'm leaving.
I get up and stretch, trying not to look out the window and at the lighthouse. After preparing Ophelia, I gently shake the cats awake.
"Time to go," I say.
"You're not going to say goodbye to Amelia?" Leo asks. He gives a sassy twitch of his tail.
"Come on, Leo," I say. "It's time to go." I turn my back to him, gripping the wheel tight. I don't want to feel any regret, but I don't know which path leads to the least of it. I figure the best thing I can do is... nothing. We set sail a few minutes later, and I let excitement wash over me, temporarily drowning out any doubt. We set course for the Frost Towns.
Gwen hops back into the boat after tearing the rope from the dock, leaving no strings attached. She then joins me, sitting left of the wheel, with Leo to the right. I have a friend at either side of me, and the ocean in front of me.
What else could I possibly need?