Awaken (18 page)

“Okay,” Baylie said to Maddox, as though
continuing a topic from earlier. “But Dad’s always telling me
horror stories about how terrible the crime is around there. Like,
how there are all these gangs and everything. I mean, I think he
just wants me to go to Kansas State, but what about that? Is it
actually
that bad, or…?”

Noah hung back, looking away as the others
moved on.

I paused, watching him.

“Whatever you say to Baylie,” he said in a
low voice, “let me tell my family about you. My grandfather’s
stories… He talked about magic, about all sorts of things. But he
said your kind are strong, Chloe.
Very
strong. You’d have to
be to get through the water like you do. And most of them… He
claimed you barely sleep. You hardly even need to eat. You can go
for days without both, if you have to. So these guys after you,
they’re going to be like that, and I just…” Noah shook his head. “I
don’t want to leave my family in the dark.”

A pained expression crossed my face.

“Chloe…”

“But,” I tried, feeling a bit desperate,
“even if you tell them, it’s not like the cops would believe them.
It won’t change anything.”

He grimaced. “Wouldn’t you rather know, if it
was you?”

I looked away, hating that he was right.

“Hey, you guys coming?” Maddox called.

Noah raised a hand in wordless request for
another moment.

“They won’t treat you like a freak,” he said.
“I promise.”

I closed my eyes. I didn’t want this. Any of
it.

“Please, Chloe.”

“Okay.”

He let out a breath. “Thank you.”

I nodded.

He started down the trail. I followed,
fighting hard not to imagine what could happen when the Delaneys
discovered I was part fish.

~~~~~

We got back to the cabin later that
afternoon, and Noah didn’t waste any time. Drawing Diane and Maddox
aside, he headed into the house to talk to them – and I knew that
when Peter returned from dealing with the window repair in Santa
Lucina, Noah would do the same with his father. Eyeing us all
curiously, Baylie took the cooler bag back to the kitchen without a
word. I sank down onto one of the log benches in the front yard and
plucked at the nearby grass blades, trying to believe that Noah
knew his family as well as he thought.

And that I wouldn’t end up being stared at
like a circus attraction for the rest of my time in this place.

Their talk didn’t take long.

I looked up as the front door swung open and
Diane came outside. She walked over to the bench, and gave me a
smile as she sat down.

Watching her from the corner of my eye, I
waited.

“So,” she began.

I twisted a grass blade between my
fingers.

“You know, when you showed up here on a bus
like that, I wondered if you didn’t have a good reason.”

I didn’t respond. She sighed.

“It’s okay, honey,” she said, putting a hand
on mine and stilling my fingers on the grass. “There’s nothing
wrong with being different.”

I hesitated. “I had to come back,” I told her
quietly. “Just out of nowhere, it was like I didn’t have a choice.
And when Mom and Dad tried to stop me, I just…”

Diane nodded. “I can imagine.”

My brow furrowed in confusion.

“From the stories I’ve heard, I mean,” she
explained.

I looked down.

“About your parents, though,” she continued.
“When they came to get you, they told us you couldn’t swim.”

“I can’t.”

Her eyebrow climbed.

“I mean, I haven’t. I’ve never been in the
water before. Not even a pool. But I thought maybe the others could
teach me.”

“That was really dangerous, Chloe.”

I grimaced. “I know. I just… I wanted to get
out there so badly. And they never let me learn. They’re so scared
of everything to do with water.”

“Do they know what you are?”

“I don’t know.”

She let out a breath, nodding. “Maybe we can
talk to them.”

I looked over at her, surprised.

Diane smiled. “If there’s one thing I’ve
learned in life, it’s that there are all kinds of mysteries and
wonders in this world. Some of us get to be them. Some of us get to
be a part of them. But either way,” her hand patted my knee,
“they’re not something we should fear.”

On the porch, the screen door swung open and
Noah came outside. Diane rose to her feet.

“You just let me know if you need to head
back toward the coast, okay?” she said to me.

Feeling a bit dumbstruck, I nodded. She gave
Noah another smile and then walked back to the house.

He came over and sat down. I could see the
grin hovering around the edges of his mouth. I gave him a
half-hearted glare.

“You want to say ‘I told you so’?” I
asked.

“Well… I did.”

I shook my head. “How is it they’re so okay
with this?”

“Like I said–”

“Your grandfather’s stories, I know. But
those must have been
some
stories for you all to just… I
mean…”

He shrugged, dropping his gaze to the grass.
“Some stories are real.”

“But most people aren’t so ready to believe
them.”

“Most people aren’t us.”

I watched him, but he didn’t look away from
the ground.

The screen door opened and Baylie walked out
onto the porch. “Hey, Diane wants to know if you guys want to do
another cookout for dinner?”

Noah glanced up. “Sounds good,” he
called.

“Okay, she…”

Baylie trailed off, her attention locked on
something beyond us. I turned as the sound of tires on gravel
carried up the hillside.

My parents’ car was pulling into the
driveway.

A sinking feeling hit me, bringing with it a
sense of panic I was starting to know well.

I’d wanted them to take me back. I’d wanted
to get out of here, and on some level, a tiny part of me still did.
But now, with the Delaneys knowing what I was and being so
miraculously okay with it…

The sedan came to a stop. My mom thrust open
the driver’s side door instantly.

I blinked. She looked terrible. Her brown
hair was a tangle and her face seemed haggard, like she hadn’t
slept in a week. On the edge of the car door, her fingers clutched
the metal as though it was all that kept her upright. In the
passenger seat, my father didn’t even move, and despite the shadows
in the sedan, I could still see the dark circles under his
eyes.

“Get in the car,” Mom ordered.

I heard the cabin’s screen door open and I
glanced back to see Diane come outside.

“Chloe,” my mom snapped. “I won’t ask again.
Get–”

“Hey Linda,” Diane called, her welcoming tone
at odds with the tension in the yard. “I’m so glad you all could
make it. You have any trouble finding the place?”

Mom blinked and turned an expression on the
woman that was almost hunted. “Fine.” She looked back to me.
“Chloe, car.”

Watching her warily, I rose to my feet,
moving no closer. Beside me, Noah did the same.

“You don’t have to run out so fast,” Diane
said.

Mom’s gaze snapped to her. “It’s fine. We
just–”

“What’s going on, mom?” I interrupted.

“We’re leaving.”

I hesitated. Up on the porch, I could see
Baylie watching us all.

“No,” I said.

Mom’s face flushed angrily.

“Not until you explain,” I finished.

Her gaze swept the others. “I’m not
having–”

“Baylie,” Diane interrupted. “Would you go
check that we have enough hotdogs for dinner?”

Brow furrowing, Baylie eyed us for a moment,
and then retreated into the cabin.

“It’s okay, Linda,” Diane said, coming down
the porch stairs. She glanced back as the door closed. “We
know.”

Mom’s eyes widened, and she looked between me
and Diane.

“Tell me what’s going on, Mom. Please.”

She stared at me, and then cast a look back
into the car. In the passenger seat, my dad hung his head.

“Chloe,” she tried. “We just need to–”

Dad said something to her, so low I couldn’t
hear, but at the words, she paused, a desperate expression flashing
across her face. She shook her head at him.

He pushed open the door.

I swallowed hard. He looked even worse than
her.

“Is there somewhere we can talk with our
daughter?” he asked Diane, his voice hoarse.

She nodded. “Inside,” she said, sounding
taken back.

He stepped away from the car. My mom rushed
around to the passenger side, coming to support him. With a tired
gesture, he waved her off.

Staring at them both, I followed them to the
cabin.

“You can use our room,” Diane said to my dad
as we came in.

He nodded and headed for the master bedroom,
my mom reluctantly following.

Diane took my hand as I passed her. “We’ll be
outside if you need us,” she assured me.

I nodded, giving her a small smile, and then
trailed them through the doorway.

Mom had crossed the room to the window, and
stood with one hand holding the curtain aside as she stared at the
trees and the mountains. On the edge of the bed, Dad sank down with
a sigh, and propped his elbows on his knees.

“Are you all okay?” I asked warily as I shut
the door.

Mom turned back to me. “We’re fine. We just
need to–”

“Linda,” Dad interrupted.

A pained look flickered over her face and she
returned her gaze to the window.

“She said they knew,” Dad continued to me.
“What do they know, Chloe?”

I hesitated. “About me.”

Mom closed her eyes. “You
told
me you
didn’t go in the water,” she said, her voice choked.

“I-I didn’t. I just…”

A grimace twisted my face. I didn’t know
where to begin about Jesse, the intruders at the Delaneys’ house,
or that night on the beach with Zeke – and I wasn’t sure I wanted
to. It wasn’t the point. None of this was the point, because
clearly they knew the truth.

And they’d never said anything.

They’d made up stories about dangers in the
ocean. They’d punished me for looking at pictures of the sea, for
wanting to go swimming, or for even touching the neighbor’s garden
hose. They’d done all they could to keep me from every drop of
water in the world.

And they’d never once told me the truth about
why.

Anger built up in my chest, making it hard to
breathe.

“We told you it wasn’t safe,” Mom said.

I trembled.

“You should have obeyed us,” she continued.
“Then we wouldn’t be in this position.”

A breath escaped me.

“Chloe–”

“You lied!” I shouted.

She blinked. “We–”

“You
lied
to me! All those years, and
you just – who
are
you? Are you guys dehaian? Are you
something else? What the
hell
is going on that made you just
lie and lie and never once tell me anything about–”

“Chloe!” Dad yelled.

I cut off, breathing hard.

“You’re right,” he said more quietly.

I stared at him. By the window, Mom turned
away.

“You’re right,” he repeated. “We did lie. And
we should have told you the truth a long time ago.”

He looked down at his hands. “How did you
find out? Your mother said something about a boy?”

My brow furrowed as I tried to regroup.
“Yeah. Zeke. He saved me. When I fell overboard.”

He nodded, not taking his gaze from his
folded hands. “Did you change at all?”

I shifted my weight, suddenly uncomfortable
at talking about that part of things with my father. “H-he said I
started to. I don’t remember.”

Dad drew a breath. “And he told you about
this then?”

“Later. After the… after the hospital. I went
onto the beach and he was there. He showed me the, um, other stuff.
Some of it. But I didn’t go in the water,” I added to Mom. “Just to
the edge of it.”

On the curtain, her hand tightened.

“But I don’t understand,” I continued. “You
guys aren’t… I mean, you’re sick. You hate it here.” I paused.
“You’re not like me at all.”

Dad looked away.

“You…” he started. “Your mom and I…”

“We adopted you,” Mom said, her voice
choked.

I stared at her, hearing the words though
they made no sense.

“When you were born,” Dad filled in. “We
adopted you then.”

My mouth opened, but whatever had wanted to
emerge just evaporated before becoming sound.

“Your birthmother was my sister,” he
continued. “She was… she got involved with someone she shouldn’t
have. And when it came time for you to be born… she died.”

Everything felt numb. My arms and legs were
thick and weird, and every motion or action I could think to take
just seemed artificial, like I was an actor in some absurd play we
were all suddenly carrying out.

“We knew we’d have to tell you someday,” he
said. “We just… we wanted to wait for the right time.”

A gasping laugh escaped me.

“Chloe,” Mom tried.

The laugh took on the edge of a shriek, and I
cut it off, digging my nails into my palms.

“We always wanted children,” Dad said. “But
we never could have any of our own. And when Susan – your
birthmother – died, we couldn’t leave you to some child welfare
system. Not with what we knew you’d have to deal with.”

I looked over at him, my brow furrowing.

“Your father was a dehaian named Kreyus,” Dad
explained. “And Susan, Linda, me… we’re something else. Like you
said, we don’t do well near the ocean.” He grimaced. “We’re called
landwalkers. And basically, we’re the dehaians’ opposites. We used
to be the same, used to live in the ocean like they do, but there
was… a situation. Our ancestors and theirs messed with powers they
shouldn’t have, and as a result, our people split into two groups.
Dehaians who have to stay by the ocean, and landwalkers who can’t
come near it. Our abilities and everything that made us like them
went away, and for us even the shortest time in proximity to the
sea can be damaging now. We have medicines that can get us close to
the ocean for brief periods, but they…” He glanced to Mom. “They
come with serious side effects, and only serve to delay the
pain.