Oceanborn

by Amalie Howard

  “He did, did he?” A flush winds its way up Speio’s neck, but I’ll save my wrath for later. No point embarrassing him in front of his almost-girlfriend, no matter how tempting that is. “We do, but what happened yesterday was an accident.”

  Rian grins. “That’s good, then. She’s not someone I’d want to intentionally tick off. Seems like she has the whole school in the palm of her hand.”

  “She kind of does.” I twist back in my seat, opting for a different kind of payback to make Speio squirm. “So, Speio tells me you’re applying to Stanford to study anthropology.”

  “That’s the plan,” Rian says with an unpretentious smile that makes her green eyes twinkle. “I’m trying to get him to apply locally, too. But he’s resistant.”

  I smile back. “Yeah, Speio’s never been interested in school. He’s always been more interested in scraping by, doing the bare minimum.”

  “I’m right here, you know,” Speio interjects. “And Nerissa knows that college is...on hold for right now. We don’t know if my dad’s going to be transferred out of the country any time soon.”

  “It can’t hurt to apply, though, right?” Rian interjects.

  “Maybe,” he concedes. “No promises, though.”

  “Great! I happen to have some applications in my bag.”

  Grinning, I can see why Speio thinks Rian’s a force of nature. Though she’s small in stature, I would be wary of testing her mettle. She seems to have a will of steel, which is pretty much exactly what Speio needs in his life, even if it’s for a short time. He needs a boost of confidence, of ambition, with someone pushing him to do something with his fake human life. Maybe it’ll translate into his other life.

  We pull into the school parking lot and join the masses heading up the stairs. In spite of myself, my eyes are drawn to the spot where Lo usually waits, but of course he isn’t there. Neither is Cara for that matter. I frown, but my suspicions are allayed as a pink BMW convertible blaring music roars into the lot and screeches into an empty space. A shimmer of blond catches my eye in the front seat, and for the first time ever, I find myself wishing that it was Lo sitting there. My heart skips a beat as a tall, lanky boy exits the car, but it’s only another senior.

  Oh, get over it, I tell myself. It’s not like he’s going to disappear from the scene of a gruesome crime out at sea and show up at school the next day.

  Making my way to my locker in a daze, I nearly crash into the person waiting for me there. “Oh, hey, Sawyer, didn’t see you. What’s wrong?” I ask, noticing he’s a little pale under his tan. His gleaming smile is conspicuously absent.

  “Have you heard from Jenna?”

  The floor tilts beneath my feet and Sawyer’s face swims out of focus for a breathless second. “What do you mean, Sawyer? You haven’t heard from her? Since when? Speio said he dropped her home after the game.”

  “Yeah, she called me. We talked for half an hour before dinner, and then my phone died. I forgot to charge it. Then when I woke up this morning and I turned my phone on, I had a bunch of texts from her saying that she was at the marina, and she saw something weird that she was going to check out. Then she said something about seeing Lo and to call you if I didn’t hear from her. This was last night, but I only just saw them. Did she text you?”

  “No. I mean I don’t know. I lost my phone. Wait, why was she at the marina? With Lo?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “And you haven’t heard from her since?” I ask.

  Sawyer shakes his head. “I tried to text her, call her, but nothing. Goes straight to voice mail. I called her house, too, and her mom told me that she said she was studying at your place.”

  My stomach starts doing a weird flip-flop thing. Sawyer’s face is distraught, his voice laced with guilt. I smile reassuringly despite my thudding pulse. “It’s not your fault, Sawyer. Jenna’s always doing harebrained things, and you know neither of us can do anything to stop her. I’m sure she’s fine. Do you mind if I take a look at the texts?”

  “No.” He hands me his phone.

  I try not to let my emotions show as I thumb through the hurried texts from Jenna, saying what Sawyer had recapped. The last one is time-stamped at seven-thirty.

  Cano. Imperial Beach.

  One hour after we’d returned Scylla to its mooring in the marina. More than enough time for Jenna to get herself into a boatload of trouble. What was Cano doing at Imperial Beach? And worse, what was Jenna doing there? It’s the closest city to the Mexican border. Is Cano in Mexico?

  For the five hundredth time, I curse my lost cell phone. Jenna would have texted me for sure, I know. And she would have been way more specific than she’d been with Sawyer.

  “What’s going on?” a panting Nova says as he shoves his way past Sawyer. Of course, he would have been watching me. I really have to work on shielding my expressions from prying guards.

  “Hey! Back off, bro,” Sawyer growls, grabbing a hold of Nova’s collar. “This is none of your business.”

  “No, it’s okay, Sawyer,” I say, distracted. “He’s a friend.”

  Sawyer’s eyes widen into brown orbs, but he releases the handful of Nova’s uniform. “Since when are you friends with those guys?” With a confused look, I stare at Nova’s pierced ears, black eyeliner and pissed-off look. Granted, I can see how this would be weird for Sawyer, considering that he’s known me for four years and has never seen me talk to anyone like Nova.

  “We have a class together,” I say. “Just give me a minute.”

  “What’s wrong?” Nova snaps as I pull him a couple steps away. My eyes narrow at his borderline disrespectful tone.

  “Nothing,” I say. “Jenna’s sick and we have a group test today for English.”

  To his credit, Sawyer doesn’t say anything at my lie even though I know he can hear what I’m saying. I don’t even know why I didn’t tell Nova the truth. Something about the way he and his sister have assumed Lo is one of the bad guys just rubs me the wrong way. I don’t need their help. Or their judgment.

  “You got that worked up over a test?” Nova mutters under his breath. “I felt it all the way across the quad.”

  “I’m an A student. I want to keep it that way. Now run along.”

  Nova’s lip curls, but he does as I command, his dark eyes unreadable. He’s still suspicious but nods abruptly and heads back the way he came. Near the end of the hallway, I see him whisper something to Nell, who turns to stare at me. I paste a bright smile on my face and wave.

  “So, what was that about?” Sawyer whispers. “You really hang out with those guys?”

  “Not really. Now come on. We need to find someone.”

  “Who?”

  “The only person who can help us figure out what happened to Jenna,” I say grimly, still clutching Sawyer’s phone.

  “Who’s that?”

  “Cara.”

  16

  Hell Froze Over

  “I can’t let you do that.” Speio eyes me, his arms crossed over his chest. He looks so much like his father that I want to laugh. We’re standing in the deserted boys’ bathroom near the rear soccer fields. It’s always empty this time of the morning, but that doesn’t make it any less disgusting.

  “I’ve never been in here,” I say, looking around and pinching my nose. “It’s gross. And what is that god-awful smell?”

  The sound of a toilet flushing at the far end breaks the silence, and a kid I don’t recognize waddles out to wash his hands. He flushes a deep red, one that goes atomic when he sees me—a girl—standing between Speio and Sawyer.

  “Sorry,” he mutters, rushing past us and staring at the ground. “Someone had a cupcake and I’m lactose intolerant. No one ever comes in here, so...”

  “That’s okay, Marco,” Sawyer says with a grin. “This is my sec
ret spot, too.”

  I wrinkle my nose as Marco makes a hasty exit. “Do boys always have to be so disgusting?”

  “Hey, better out than in,” Sawyer says. “Then again, this is a boys’ bathroom, so if you want to come into the nest, you gotta be prepared.” He eyes me curiously. “What do you guys do when you have to go?”

  I glare at him. “We hold it.”

  “You know that’s not good for you, right?”

  Speio clears his throat, knowing as well as I do how much Sawyer tends to go off on a tangent once he gets fired up about something. In this case, bowel movements. I move closer to the entry door and stand against it just in case. “Sawyer, can you give us a sec?”

  “Sure,” he says, slipping outside. “I’ll make sure no one comes in.”

  Nodding my thanks to Sawyer, I turn back to Speio. “Just cover for me today while I check it out.” I resume the conversation I started with him in the bathroom before Marco made his untimely appearance. “That’s all I’m asking. I’ll be with Sawyer. You know the twins will go nuts if they see I’m not here.”

  “They’ll know you’re not here, Riss,” Speio says. “They can sense it. You’re forgetting what they are. They’re not high-school kids—they’re trained Aquarathi guards.”

  “I’ll glimmer myself.”

  “All the way from Imperial Beach?” Speio shoots back.

  I shrug. “I’ll figure something out. Do you have my back or not?”

  “Riss...I can’t,” he says, raking a hand through his hair in frustration. “You’re asking the impossible. You’re asking me to betray Echlios’s trust. I can’t risk putting your life in danger.”

  “Spey,” I begin, unwilling to play my trump card but knowing I’ll have to. “You kind of owe me one.” Speio’s eyebrows crash together, his fists clenching at his sides. I hate having to coerce him with guilt, but if it will get him to help me, then I’ll do it. “You know I’ve never called in a favor, or blamed you for what happened, but I need your help, Speio. And you owe me for last year.” I take a breath and lower my voice, mindful of Sawyer on the other side of the door. “For serving me up on a platter to Ehmora.”

  “Fine. I get it. No need to rehash old demons.” Speio grabs the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. “Just give me a second.”

  “Look, I’m not asking you to lie to Echlios or Soren. Just give me today, just this morning to drive down there and see what Sawyer and I can find. Couple hours, tops. I’ll get Sawyer to text you updates every thirty minutes. If you don’t hear from me after an hour, you can call Echlios and alert the wonder twins.”

  “Why don’t you want to tell Nova and Nell, anyway?”

  I sigh. “I don’t trust them. Not with Lo.”

  “Fine,” Speio says. “Only until the end of the school day, Riss. I mean it. The minute that bell rings and you’re not back here, I call Echlios.”

  “Deal.” I throw my arms around his neck. “Thank you, Speio.”

  He clutches my shoulder as we exit the bathroom to where Sawyer is waiting. “Promise me one thing? That you’ll be careful and you won’t do anything rash? It’s my ass on the line, too. If you find Jenna and she’s in any danger, you have to call Echlios right away. I need your word, Riss.”

  “You got it.”

  “I’ll make sure she doesn’t do anything stupid, bro,” Sawyer says, chiming in to the tail end of the conversation.

  Speio’s mouth curls into a resigned half smile. “It’s not her I’m worried about,” he says with a meaningful glance at me. He’s worried about what we’re going to find if we do manage to walk into some kind of hybrid nest with Sawyer of all people there. Sawyer’s not going to be a given like Jenna, whom I protected with my life when my people discovered she knew our secret. They won’t be so forgiving a second time. “Anyway, how are you guys even going to get out of school?”

  “Got it covered,” I say. I’d already called Bertha, Lo’s guardian-slash-housekeeper, and she agreed to call the school to get us excused for a Marine Center extra-credit project. She’d gotten Lo and me out of enough scrapes from missing school the previous year, and I trusted her. Luckily, Lo has only been missing a day, and since he tends to go walkabout, Bertha wasn’t too surprised by my cover request.

  One down. One to go.

  Cara. This one I’ll have to do on my own, and it’s going to be a hit or miss. I asked for her help once, and it blew up in my face. But this time, I really need it. Combing the streets of Imperial Beach will take hours, and I don’t have that kind of time, not with Speio on the clock.

  “Sawyer, I’ll meet you out front in ten,” I tell him. “Need to make a pit stop in study hall. You know what you have to do, right?”

  He nods. “Yes.”

  Sneaking in through the back door of study hall, I take the only empty seat at Cara’s table despite the barrage of hostile glances settling onto me like nettles. Honestly, it’s like walking into a hornet’s nest with all of them ready to defend their queen.

  Cara’s pale blue eyes meet mine. Surprise flickers in them for a minute before it’s gone, and they’re back to their icy, unfriendly state. “Are you lost, Marin?”

  “Can I talk to you for a sec?” I whisper. “It’s important.”

  “Here?”

  “Outside,” I say. “Five minutes, that’s all I need.” Her eyebrows rise toward her hairline at the urgency in my voice. She hesitates for a moment, as if deciding whether this is some kind of elaborate payback trick on my part for what happened at the game.

  “Quiet over there,” Professor Walker says with a glare in our direction.

  We both stare at Cara’s open textbook, awkward silence between us. Of course she’s going to make me beg. Gulping down my rush of anger, I’ll grovel if I have to. “Please, Cara. You know I wouldn’t ask if this wasn’t life and death.”

  Her eyes widen, but her voice is still disdainful. “Can’t this wait? You know the rule. Walker only lets one of us go at a time.”

  “I took care of it.”

  Right on cue, there’s a knock on the door and Sawyer pokes his blond head in. “Er, Professor Walker, I’ve got a note for Cara Andrews and Nerissa Marin to report to the office? Something about extra credit at the Marine Center?”

  “Give it here,” Walker says. He glances at the note and then stares at us over his wire-rimmed spectacles. “You heard him. Office. Now.”

  In the hallway, Sawyer has disappeared, presumably to the parking lot where he’s waiting for us. Cara and I don’t speak until we’re near the row of lockers. Turning toward the entrance doors away from the direction of the office, she grabs my shoulder hard and drags me to the empty inner courtyard. “We’re not going to the office, are we? I’m not taking another step until you tell me what’s going on. What do you want, Nerissa? You want me to apologize for hitting you in the face? Is this what this is about? Your fragile ego? You want me to say I’m sorry? Because I’m not. You deserved what you got.”

  A surge of anger overtakes me at the unprovoked attack, but I know where Cara is coming from. We’ve had nothing but tumultuous history—it makes sense that she’d strike first and question later. I take a deep, calming breath. “No, it’s not about that. You’re right, I was wrong. I shouldn’t have said what I did.”

  She frowns, taken aback. “So, what do you want? Is the Marine Center thing for real? Or is that another lie?”

  “Yes, it’s for real.” I twinge at the white lie, but if it will get her to come, I’ll risk it. I glance at my watch. Sawyer will already be waiting. But if I rush and say the wrong thing, Cara is just as likely to turn around and walk away. “It involves Lo,” I blurt out. “He needs your help. Ten minutes, Cara, to hear me out. That’s how long it takes to get to the center. If you want to come back, we’ll bring you back, and I won’t bother
you again. I promise. Ten minutes, that’s all I ask.” I don’t have to add that she owes me, too, especially as I lied for her on the field the day before, but the suggestion is there between the lines.

  “Fine.” She sounds bored, but I knew, if anything, she’d take the bait about Lo.

  Sawyer’s waiting in his truck as planned, and he guns the engine as soon as we get in. “Head to the Marine Center,” I tell him. It’s on the way to Imperial Beach anyway, and if she agrees to help, which I’m hoping against hope she will, we won’t have lost any time. If not, well, there’s always plan B, which has significantly more holes than plan A.

  “So, what’s going on with Lo?” Cara says, frowning. I twist around in my seat to face her. She’s sitting in the rear row directly being Sawyer, and already looking like she’s regretting her decision to trust me. I counter her question with one of my own.

  “Have you heard from your uncle?”

  Her frown deepens, suspicion glinting across her face. “Not since he took off without a word before the summer. Are you, like, obsessed with him or something?”

  My mind is racing between truths and half-truths, trying to figure out what will work best to get Cara to cooperate. If worse comes to worst, I can glimmer her, but even that is an unpredictable last resort. Over the past few years, Cara has demonstrated on more than one occasion that she’s got a strong enough will not to be open to the power of suggestion. That’s what a glimmer does...it suggests. Contrary to what Jenna may sometimes assume, I can’t control the minds of humans, only other Aquarathi. And I also have to be mindful of the fact that Sawyer is in the car, and that he, too, is in the dark about a lot of things. Namely who and what I really am.

  “Not in the way you think.” I opt for a minor truth. “You know that he was a molecular scientist, right? Worked with DNA and that sort of stuff?”

  “Yeah, so he was a freak. So?”

  “He actually was pretty brilliant at what he did.” I don’t know where the words come from, or why I want to make Cara feel better as to why her uncle disappeared into the blue without so much as a goodbye.