by Susan Fodor
I pulled my nail file out of my pocket and flicked the lock from red to green. I took a deep breath before flinging the door open. Daniel was so startled he fell forward, his hand finding the puddle in the toilet he'd just deposited. He glared at me with open anger as I stood in the door.
"What? You couldn't wait a few minutes so I'd come out," Daniel accused, angrier than a fat lady on a diet.
I wanted to recoil and hide back in the theatre with Charlie and Dr. Conneely, who was constantly confused by the movie plot and needed continuous commentary to keep up. I steeled myself with the thought that I was on a mission to save his life and the least he could do was be civil.
"If I waited, you would shoot back into the bedroom and ignore me," I argued. "Maybe if you'd been civil today, you wouldn't have piss all over your hand!"
Daniel chuckled as he scrubbed his hand in the white basin. His reflection was pale in the mirror, and I loved the way his eyes crinkled in the corners when he was amused. My heart felt re-shredded seeing him. "When you put it that way...”
"I'm just saying," I giggled, the awkwardness breaking between us.
"I'm sorry," he said genuinely, as he wiped his hands. “Should we shake on it?”
He extended the hand that had just been in the toilet bowl to me. I knew he was being funny. It ripped my heart out. All I wanted was for things to go back to the way they were before he was merfolk and I was a selkie. I leaned heavily against the doorjamb. It would be too easy to just talk and act all nice and not get the closure I needed. The whole purpose of breaking in on Daniel was to talk honestly.
"I get it." I sighed, dejected, forcing myself to get to the point. "You're a fish and I'm a seal. We're not supposed to be together, but I still care about you…”
My voice felt tight, but I had to say what was on my heart. “I still want to be with you, but I understand that you don't want to be with me. You hate me, that’s cool. I just want to be civil to each other. At least for the duration of this trip."
My heart thumped in my chest, betraying my words as lies, but I ignored it. Daniel hating me was horrible but I would perjure myself a thousand times over before I’d force someone to be with me or even pretend to like me. Really loving Daniel meant giving him the freedom to not love me in return. Mum insisted that love and freedom were what God had founded our world on, and both had to exist for a healthy relationship.
“No, you don’t get it.” He sighed, leaning against the shower and running his fingers through his blond shock of unstyled hair. “When I fished you out of the sea, I thought you were dead and I couldn’t breathe. When I realized you’d risked yourself to save me and those snotty selkie pups...”
“What?” I asked, holding my breath, too afraid to hope that he still loved me.
“I realized that if I lose you, I would die.” He sighed, looking into my eyes with such intensity that my tummy flip-flopped. “I don’t care what you are; I love you. I can’t lose you.”
“Then why are you avoiding me?” I accused, confused.
“I figured we were over,” he replied. “You were all chummy with that dog, and you didn’t say anything in the car last night... When I came to talk to you late last night, I saw you sitting with that selkie and your family, and you were all so happy. You looked like you belonged together. When you didn’t approach me again this morning and it was obvious that guy had stayed at your house. I just assumed…”
“No, Charlie and I are just friends.” I shook my head with gusto.
Daniel crossed the room in one bound, and taking my face in his hands he kissed me. My head swam with his fresh sea scent and the cool touch of his hands. I felt happy enough to burst, and splatter glitter hearts all over the room.
“I missed you so much,” he sighed, holding me close.
“Me too,” I agreed, feeling tears welling in my eyes. I felt so stupid having worked myself up all night and assuming that we were over, when a text message could have saved me experiencing the worst night ever. It didn’t matter because we were back together.
Charlie cleared his throat in the doorway; Daniel begrudgingly acknowledged him.
"Thanks for saving Mya last night," Charlie said lightly. He was making an effort for my sake.
I mouthed, ‘Thank you,’ to him, not wanting to awaken any further jealousy in Daniel.
"Couldn't have done it without you," Daniel said, sounding forced. "You know I'd do anything for Mya." I gave him a squeeze for trying. It couldn’t be easy having to get along with someone that you thought was your enemy forever. I appreciated them trying to get along for my sake.
"Me too," Charlie replied with equal intensity.
“Sounds like you have a lot in common.” I smiled encouragingly, trying to diffuse the tension. “Which is gonna be handy since we have an impossible mission to complete.”
Daniel nodded slightly at Charlie, who returned the gesture. Like football players joined in the brotherhood of seeking victory, they made a decision to get along for my sake and the sake of the mission. I hoped they’d have chemistry like Dad and George Esso but the fact that they didn’t look like they were going to punch each other was a good sign.
“I love happily ever after,” Charlie mocked from the bathroom door, “though the bathroom is a weird setting. I tend to think it’s a place for doing your business or doing your business.” Charlie made it apparent that the second doing your business was the kind boys did for self-gratification.
“You walk the dog in the bathroom?” Daniel asked, using his own euphemism.
“It’s the tidiest place and the least likely place to be busted by your mum.” Charlie shrugged.
“I’m glad you’re bonding over one of your favorite pastimes,” I teased.
“The three of us could bond....” Charlie said suggestively.
Daniel laughed at the inappropriateness of the comment. “Good call,” he said offering a high-five.
They slapped hands like old friends; then recoiled from each other remembering that despite everything, there was a lot of history that had to be overcome before they could be friends.
“You’ve got a way better sense of humor then I thought.” Charlie smiled awkwardly. “Have you seen Starsky and Hutch?”
“The bit where Owen Ryan says to those two hot girls, ‘Now you two kiss,’” Daniel reminisced trying to sound normal.
“Classic,” they said unanimously.
“You like zombie flicks?” Charlie asked Daniel, his interest trumping their enemy status.
“Yeah, but Mya’s not much for them, so...”
“She’ll like this one, Shaun of the Dead,” Charlie announced.
“Sounds great,” Daniel responded, with more enthusiasm than I’d seen from him in twenty-four hours.
“I can see this is the beginning of a beautiful bro-mance,” I teased, trying to gloss over the underlying tension. Charlie was my friend, and I loved Daniel, them liking each other would make my life and the mission easier. I was going to do everything in my power to bring them together.
“It’s not gay,” Charlie quoted with a goofy smile.
“It’s just guy love between two guys,” Daniel finished the Scrubs quote.
Approval washed across Charlie’s face at the realization that they had more in common than he’d ever expected. “We should totally watch Scrubs!” Charlie enthused.
“I’ll support that,” I replied, hoping to extricate myself from any more zombie movies.
“After Shaun of the Dead,” Charlie winked, playfully. “Now can I go drop some kids in the pool?”
Daniel laughed, his demeanor only slightly strained.
It took me a moment to catch Charlie’s meaning. “Ewwwww Charlie, too much info!”
“Come on,” Daniel said, pulling me out of the bathroom. “Every man needs to be king in his own throne room.”
Charlie’s extended bathroom break gave Daniel and me some time alone. We lay on the king sized bed, our foreheads touching and our legs inter
twined as we caught up on what had happened at school in his absence, and how hard it had been for him to try and talk to Cordulla about waving the death sentence for the selkie pups.
“It’s the law,” Daniel said in frustration. “It’s so stoic; but when you return the Heart of the Sea, all that will change. The Heart of the Sea predates current law, so returning it will be like deleting the current laws and reverting to amicable selkie slash merfolk relations. Everything will be improved. Then the finfolk can invent some way for you to live with me in Atlantis and everything will be perfect.”
“Except that our people hate each other,” I reminded him.
“Yes, but we will be king and queen. It will lead to a natural alliance between our people,” Daniel said, optimistically.
Daniel meant his words to reassure me, but they only left more doubt in my mind.
“I don’t think that has ever worked in history. Anyway, I don’t want to leave everything behind,” I told him, unable to meet his eyes. “I still want to live on land as long as I can. I’m still human after all.”
Daniel shook his head, “You are so much more than those fragile little creatures.”
The disdain in his voice for the people that I loved stung.
“I love my friends,” I defended.
“I know you do,” Daniel replied condescendingly, “but can’t you see that we are so much more evolved than them. We are higher on the food chain.”
“What you eat humans now?” I asked in horror.
Daniel threw his head back and laughed. “No, I’m just saying that our culture is more advanced.”
“Seems to me the humans have light,” I retorted.
Daniel’s face hardened. “After we retrieve the Heart of the Sea, we will have light too, and...”
Daniel didn’t get to finish his thought, as Charlie barged in. “OK, I gave you guys time, but I really want to show you Shaun of the Dead.”
“Fine,” I smiled, glad for the interruption. The conversation was moving in a direction that would end in a fight. After all we'd been through and had yet to survive, fighting seemed like a waste of energy.
It was funny watching Daniel and Charlie discover how much they had in common. They loved the same movies and had the same offbeat, often offensive sense of humor. When they were watching the scrubs episode with guy love, they bumped fists companionably before remembering they were sworn enemies only getting along for my sake. The underlying tension of our different species remained a backdrop to our time together.
As we watched a vampire movie, Charlie joked, "You must relate to those blood suckers."
Daniel bristled, offended. “It’s better than being a thieving dog,” he shot back.
“Wait a minute,” Charlie said firmly, holding up his hands in surrender. “I was joking, and even if I wasn’t; it’s a fact that merfolk drown humans. It’s been attested to throughout history. So there’s no need to get your back up about it.”
“How would you know?” Daniel challenged, his muscles rippling with desire to put Charlie in his place. I held onto his arm, knowing that if he decided to punch Charlie, there was little I could do.
“Homer’s Odyssey,” Charlie joked again, trying to diffused the situation.
Daniel was incensed by the insult and was unwilling to let it go. “So you’re citing some dead Greek guy?”
Charlie looked at me for help. I said the first thing that popped into my head, “What about the girl who drowned on the beach this summer?”
Daniel looked at me hurt. "Yes, she drowned because of a finman, but he didn’t drown her. There’s an archaic belief among a small faction of finfolk, that the only way to achieve having a soul is by marrying a human…”
"You don't have a soul, you are a living soul," Mum yelled from the next room.
"Thanks Mum," I yelled back sarcastically, "good to know you’re eaves dropping."
"You're welcome honey," she called, sweetly.
Daniel continued as though he hadn’t been interrupted, “The finman had met the girl on land and they'd fallen in love. He returned to Atlantis to get enough money for them to be together. But when he tried to get back on shore the selkies had closed off the hole. She must have seen his head beyond the waves. As he tried to find a way to shore, she swam out to him and got caught in a rip. When he found out she had died, he took his own life.”
“That's terrible,” I whispered, squeezing Daniel’s hand.
“That's how most merfolk unions end,” Charlie said thoughtlessly.
Seeing my crestfallen face, he added, "Lucky Daniel’s a switcher."
I smiled weakly, uncomforted.
“The point is, we are not mindless killers,” Daniel concluded, giving Charlie a warning look.
“For the record,” Charlie added, significantly. “Selkies are not thieves, of artifacts or women. Celeste went willingly, and none of us would steal anything.”
Charlie was telling Daniel that he was not a threat to our relationship; I appreciated the gesture, even if I didn’t think it was necessary.
“Next movie is my pick,” I interrupted, with a wicked grin. “I just can’t choose, 10 Things I hate about you or Clueless”
The boys both groaned.
“I don’t think I’ve heard of either of those,” Daniel said pained.
“You’re lucky,” Charlie said in mock agony, “at least you don’t know what you’re in for.”
I did my best maniacal laugh, distracting the boys from the near-miss argument. I was relieved that no one had deliberately killed that girl.
The movie marathon got us to China. I had hoped to get out in Hong Kong and explore the airport, but the stop was so brief there was no time. Refueling, a pilot change and a visit from customs took an hour before we were back on our way. The sun was setting as we all began to feel the effects of a ten-hour flight.
Mum and Sophia took the bed, while Dr. Conneely and Charlie took a couch each in the dinning room and living room. Daniel let me take the couch in the theatre while he swiveled his chair around to lie beside me. We held hands over the small gap. I fell asleep with visions of Daniel's enigmatic smile and blue eyes dancing through my mind. Having him close gave me the best sleep I'd had since he'd left, which was fortunate with the day ahead of us. We had to find the Heart of the Sea or Daniel would never hold my hand again.
cornwall
We landed in Newquay, the main airport in Cornwall; it looked more like a fancy bus station than an airport. With its glass-domed roof and open areas Newquay airport felt light and airy compared to the compact rabbit’s warren airports I was used to.
The two hire cars were awaiting our arrival at the curb, like two shiny matchbox cars straight out of the packet. I watched other tiny cars whiz by, enjoying the crisp morning air.
Daniel and Charlie repacked the cars twice to accommodate our meager luggage, a sign that compact car in the United Kingdom was synonymous with only big enough for your makeup compact. Sophia drove one car and Mum drove the other as we wound our way through the Cornish countryside. I was struck by the feeling that Cornwall was an upsized seaside village.
Compared to Australia, it was a small landmass, but finding an unknown artifact, gem or thing in Cornwall was an overwhelming thought. Daniel’s life depended on me deciphering what and where the Heart of the Sea was. I had no idea where to start; fortunately, Dr. Conneely had a plan. I assuaged my fears with that small hope, as I watched the stunning countryside flash by.
Daniel held my hand lightly, his long muscled frame scrunched up in the back seat beside me. Charlie sat in the front seat next to Sophia, listening to her plan our time in Porthcurno like a family holiday.
My eyes were tantalized by more shades of green and turquoise than I could ever imagine existed. Ancient buildings sang of histories untold, and castles demanding knights and dragons dotted the landscape, reminding me I was far from home.
I texted Jaimie to let her know I was sick and too contagious for visitors for a
few days. I hated lying to her, but trying to explain an impromptu trip to Cornwall would have been harder.
It took just over an hour to drive to Porthcurno Beach near Saint Levan. It was the kind of place I imagined while reading Sense and Sensibility, quaint and uncomplicated with endless gumption and magic hiding in every shadow.
Just before the noon sun peeked through the clouds, we let ourselves into the Wolf Rock Porthcurno Holiday Apartment, with its magical garden and glowing fire. Despite it being spring, the chill in the air cut through my thickest winter clothes, making the fire a welcome delight.
“Let’s just stay here,” Sophia said, warming her hands over the fire.
“That would be great, but we have some things to find first,” Mum replied meaningfully.
“Can we start by finding food,” Charlie complained, his stomach demanding satisfaction through a loud gurgle.
“There’s a pub down the road,” Sophia agreed, pulling herself from the fireside, “the Cable Station Inn.”
I was surprised by how organized the Essos were when they traveled. On the few road trips I’d taken with my family we stopped at fast-food outlets and hoped to procure spontaneous accommodation. Sophia’s approach gelled with me, knowing all the best places to eat and sleep, was something I was most grateful for.
We abandoned the cars and walked down the windy street. Except for the ancient buildings it was much like home, cold and beautiful in equal measure. I wondered if they sweltered in summer like we did---I didn’t think so.
The whitewashed pub came into view with its tidy tile roof and colorful signs with strange word combinations. Despite its traditional facade, inside it was well-lit and filled with light wooden furniture and leprechaun-green trim covered the bar. The scent of beer, hot food, and misspent youth permeated the room.
