My body feels like it freezes over.
"Where'd you go?" I whisper aloud, taking off down the hallway, but finding no trace of her. Before I hit the spot where it would transition from island to water, I turn around and exit back out in the hallway. I turn into the next hall, throwing open the slightly ajar door to find Cressa-la sitting on the ground, eyes shut like she's napping.
I exhale heavily, making her jump. When she sees it's me, she looks relieved. "Finally," she whispers, standing up.
"Let's go," I tell her, grabbing her wrist and leading her out of the long winding hallway and back into the crowded area. When it gets a bit louder, she pulls close to me to ask me a question. I almost miss what she says because I can feel her breath on the back of my neck and it sends a chill through my body. I nearly trip over my own feet.
"What did she tell you?"
I exhale.
"Wait until we're out of here," I instruct.
"Hey," someone says, grabbing Cressa-la's arm and yanking her back, her arm tugged from my hand. "You don't have scales."
Eyes begin to travel to her and I step between her and the burly man glaring down at her. Cressa-la sets her jaw, but I see the fear in her eyes as she reaches for the dagger at her hip. I push him away from her, his hand letting go as he switches his anger over to me.
"Hey," I say, louder than he had, standing tall to make myself look bigger. I was still going through my growth-spurts at this age, so I don't reach the six-foot-whatever I grew used to being at after sixteen. Now, I barely stand taller than Cressa-la, and it's honestly weird. "Back off."
I feel the rage, then, a green shimmer filling my irises.
I guess old habits die hard.
The man backs away, following my will, and so do I, grabbing Cressa-la's hand this time and lacing my fingers through hers. She doesn't fight it as I lead her the rest of the way out of the crowd, eyes following me. I need to get out of here before word gets out that someone was down here without scales. Morgiana might suspect it's me because of how I was acting.
We duck into the tunnel that leads to the entrance and past the bush, and I continue to drag her to the border between Initi and Revli. It's then that we let go of each other, her blue eyes darting back to where we'd come.
"What... just happened in there?" She asks.
I take a deep breath in then let it out. "That's the Unwea Clan."
"Slash-tribe, yes, I got that," she says, repeating what I'd said earlier. "Why do they all have scales?"
"Because they're half merperson."
"Mer...?"
"Person," I say, completing her word. "They're part merperson, a person who is half fish. And so are we," I say bending down and rolling up my pant leg, watching as she takes in the blue scales, scales that will match hers almost exactly. "Not everyone gets the traits we end up getting: scales and gills," I continue to explain, turning to show her the almost invisible gills on the back of my neck, gently lifting the flaps. "But you and I do. You just have to touch the water again."
"Again?" She echoes.
"Again," I confirm. "You've touched it once and I know because I was there. There's a ton of things your Tribe Leaders are hiding from you and they wipe your memory of things they don't want you to remember."
"They do... they take my memories? What—how?"
"Because they're part merperson too," I explain. They have powers like the ones I showed you earlier, and the reason why that guy backed off when he looked ready to hit me was because I made him do it with my own powers."
She's quiet, taking everything in.
"The woman I met with, her name is Morgiana and she has been banished from the sea because—"
"The sea?" Cressa-la echoes. "As in the large ocean that we ccan't touch no matter what?"
"Yes," I respond. "The merpeople live down there."
She takes a step back, pressing her hands against her temples as if she has a headache. "I think I'm dreaming," she says. "This isn't real."
"It sounds crazy but it's true," I reassure her. "She's training me to take revenge on everyone who doesn't have these powers because they've oppressed us for generations."
"Generations," Cressa-la nods, giving in to the absurdity, even if it's just to see where all this is going. She looks like she believes she's insane for even being able to understand the words coming out of my mouth. "Okay, and then what?"
"I'm supposed to kill or enslave them all."
She scoffs, taking another step back. "Oh, yeah, okay, so you're evil. Got it. I was right to suspect you for being suspicious," she says, nodding. "That being said, I'm going home."
"No, stop," I say, grabbing her arm gently and making her turn back toward me. "I'm trying to plot against her so I don't have to do the terrible things I'll end up doing in the future."
"Okay, great, well I think I should go home now,"she says, jerking her thumb toward her side of the island.
"No, wait," I say, still holding onto her arm. "I can uncover your memory," I say, wishing the words never leaped from my tongue.
She's silent for a good moment, as if she's weighing what I said, trying to determine if I'm lying or not.
"You can?" She asks carefully. Caution gleams in her eyes. "And what would I see?"
"A lot of what I told you," I say honestly. "And more stuff that's more gruesome than what I told you."
She squints, still trying to decide.
"And why should I believe you?"
I bite my lip and shrug slowly. "Because I'm telling the truth?" I offer. "But don't tell anyone about what you saw today," I say quickly.
She nods. "I understand. But..." she squints again, studying me. I watch her with wide eyes as she stares at me for like an eternity. "I..." she curls her lips inward then releases them. "There's something about..."
She stops short, blinking her eyes as if she's come out of a trance. Was she thinking something too personal in that head of hers? Did she startle herself wth her thoughts? Was it something... good... about me?
She pulls her arm away.
"I'm going home,"she says, not saying anything else. I watch as she goes, feeling torn inside. Feeling vulnerable. Cressa-la didn't see what I went through in my original timeline. She didn't see why the scars were there. This one, she's seeing bits and pieces, and she's pulling away. I know that to her we've only just met, but it hurts.
And now I have to return to the tribe I've hated for so long and face the two people I've hurt for years...
Acting as if nothing had happened at all.