Awaken (19 page)

“Susan liked to push the limits, though,” he
continued. “She always was something of a wild child. And on one of
her adventures, she met a dehaian who claimed to be doing the same.
They were only together for a little while, before the effect of
the ocean drew Kreyus back and drove her away. But when she
returned home, she was pregnant with you.”

The ground felt unsteady, and all my breaths
seemed to be coming in short gasps. Swallowing hard, I forced my
voice to work, though the sound that emerged was nothing like what
I was used to hearing. “And she… she died?”

“I’m so sorry.”

“W-what about him? Did he ever…?”

Dad looked down briefly. “Susan never told us
anything beyond his name.”

I trembled, wanting to sit down, run away, or
do something that made more sense than this conversation.

Than some other dad-thing being out there
somewhere.

“But why… why’d you never…”

He drew a breath. “We thought it would be
better if you didn’t know. We were just trying to keep you
safe.”

I stared at him, uncomprehending.

Dad grimaced. “Children of dehaians and
landwalkers together… sweetheart, they almost never survive. Most
of them are stillborn or die as babies. The two sides of their
ancestry just can’t coexist inside one person. And even if the
children
do
manage to live long enough to grow up at all,
there’s still the fact that sooner or later the two halves will
become unbalanced.” He sighed. “We used to be dehaian. That side is
stronger. Eventually, it begins to emerge and draws them to the
ocean… but the change is too much for them. It sends their systems
into shock.” His brow furrowed. “And they die.”

Air pressed from my chest.

“We thought,” Dad continued, “that if we kept
you away from the water, maybe you’d stay safe. And for the longest
time, it seemed like it was working. You were just so… so
fine
. Not hurt by the distance from the sea, not sick or
anything. And we wanted that for you. Just… for you to be okay. We
love you, Chloe. I know it hasn’t always looked like it, but we do.
But we worried that if we let you anywhere near water, even brought
up anything about the ocean at all, it would wake that side in you.
Start making you more like one of them. And maybe kill you.”

I shuddered and my hand grasped the edge of
the dresser by the bedroom door. I’d passed out at Noah’s house
after the boat capsized. I’d felt so weird, so shaky and so
warm.

And I could have died. I really,
actually
could have died.

My stomach rolled and I swallowed hard. “You
should have told me. I could have… I might have…”

“We just wanted to wait for the right
time.”

“
When
?” I cried, looking back at him.
“When I was thirty?
Fifty
? I…” Tears stung my eyes and
furiously, I swiped them away. “A dehaian tried to
kill
me,
Dad! And if… if I’d
known
…”

I turned away, shaking. This was too much.
Too stupid and too much. I couldn’t handle this.

“We didn’t know there were dehaians who would
try that, Chloe,” he said. “I promise. And if we had, we… we would
have said something. We’ve only ever tried to protect you.
Honest.”

I didn’t turn back around. They would have
warned me about robbers, or rapists, or something else of that
kind. But not fish-people with glowing eyes. I knew that much.

Even if I didn’t know anything else
anymore.

My hand tightened on the edge of the
dresser.

I’d daydreamed about them not being my
parents, but it’d just been a stupid fantasy. Every kid did that at
some point. And yeah, I’d wanted to be near the ocean, but besides
them and their ‘landwalker’ people or whatever, who didn’t?

Though come to think of it, that guy who’d
broken into the Delaneys’ house had called me that. He’d said
something about landwalker whores, and he’d–

“Chloe,” Mom tried.

The sound of her voice was like a barb
straight into my side, and I gasped.

“You need to understand,” she said. “You’re
our
daughter. You belong with
us
. We’ve only ever
done what was best for you, and if we’d told you about Susan, and
about that man she was with, that dehaian side of you might
have–”

I couldn’t take it. My hand went for the
handle and I yanked open the door before she’d finished
speaking.

“Chloe!” Dad called after me.

I raced across the living room, ignoring him.
On the log bench, Noah and Diane looked up in shock as I burst past
the front door. Grabbing at the rail, I took the steps at a run and
bolted for the forest the moment I hit the ground.

At my back, I could hear people calling my
name. But I didn’t want to talk to them. To anyone. I just wanted
away from here. Away from this. Away from landwalkers and dehaians
and everything that had been the past weeks, months, and years of
my life.

Trees blurred as I dashed up the hiking
trail. My shoes pounded over the uneven dirt as I climbed the hills
and skidded down the slopes as fast as my feet could carry me.
Tears burned in my eyes, further disfiguring the trees and the blue
sky, and gasping, I raked them away and pushed myself to keep
going.

Time passed. My sides started to cramp and my
lungs burned. Choking on air, I slowed and finally let myself look
around.

The river was just beyond the next curve of
the trail.

Breathing hard, I stared at the path, and
then glanced back. It’d taken us three hours to get here before.
And yes, we’d been hiking slowly, and yes, I didn’t know how long
I’d been running, but still…

Strong, Noah had said. Dehaians were
strong.

And if I let myself become like them, I’d
die.

Holding back a sob, I wrapped my arms around
my middle as I walked toward the river.

Sunlight glinted off the tumbling water, but
near to where we’d had lunch, a cluster of trees shaded a pile of
rocks. Trembling, I headed for them. The boulders were rough
beneath my hands as I climbed to the uppermost rock, but they still
felt blessedly stable and real. I sat down and drew my legs up,
hugging my knees to my chest as I watched the water rush by.

I couldn’t go home and I couldn’t go near the
ocean. My parents weren’t my parents and I had no idea what to call
them anymore. A few days ago, a madman had tried to kill me, and I
didn’t even know why.

Closing my eyes, I pressed my forehead to my
knees.

The sound of footsteps came from the trail.
Flinching, I looked up.

Noah jogged around the turn, only to stop at
the sight of me. Tugging out his phone, he hit a number and then
raised the cell to his ear.

“I found her,” he said. “She’s fine.”

He waited a moment and then hung up.
Returning his phone to his pocket, he walked closer, not taking his
eyes from me.

“Chloe?”

I didn’t respond. For all I knew, that wasn’t
even my real name.

The thought hurt. My arms tightened around my
legs, trying to squeeze it away.

Cautiously, he sank onto one of the rocks,
and from the corner of my eye, I could see him watching me.
Thoughts chased themselves across his face for a moment, and then
his brow furrowed and he turned to the water.

And said nothing.

My gaze slid to him as the seconds crept by.
There wasn’t any expectation in the way he was sitting there. No
impatience either. He just looked like one of the rocks, content to
wait forever till I wanted to speak.

If I decided to at all.

My eyes closed as a choked feeling grew in my
throat. Water rushed past the rocks, babbling nonsensically.

“They adopted me,” I whispered.

I looked down to see his head turn toward me,
though he didn’t try to meet my eyes.

“M-my mother… she was Dad’s – I mean,
my…”

The words wouldn’t come. I didn’t know what
they would even be.

“His sister,” I finished. “She was his
sister. And when I was born, she died.”

A rough breath entered my lungs. “She was a
landwalker. Someone who can’t come near the ocean. And my… my dad
was a dehaian. But kids from parents like that, they die. They
always die. Even if they survive long enough to grow up a bit, the
water pulls them back. And then when they try to change… the shock
kills them.”

Noah didn’t seem to be breathing. Motionless
on the boulder, he sat, his eyebrows twitching down
spasmodically.

“I’m not going to be able to stay away,
though. I-I know I’m not. I want to, but it just… it hurts to even
think about leaving. But if I don’t–”

“You don’t have to,” he said, his voice
tight.

I looked down at him.

“You’ve survived this so far. The spikes, the
boat capsizing – you even survived that bastard in the bookstore.
You ran from the cabin faster than I’ve ever seen anyone move, and
you’ve held out against the pull of the water ever since you came
back to town.”

He turned, looking up at me. “They don’t know
that. They just see other people and stories that make them afraid.
But you’re stronger than they realize, Chloe. And you’ve already
survived becoming more dehaian than they know.”

“But at your house… I just collapsed. I–”

“For a moment, sure. And maybe that was the
shock they were talking about. But you woke up almost immediately
and you haven’t collapsed since. Not when the spikes came out, not
when your eyes glowed. You’re already changing, and maybe it’s just
the tip of the iceberg, but it’s still something and you’re still
alive.”

He reached up, taking my hand. “You can
survive this. I know you can.”

My gaze lingered on his fingers around mine.
He sounded so certain, so confident where no one else had.

I trembled. I was afraid he wasn’t right –
I’d only ever changed a bit, and even that had been overwhelming –
but I couldn’t say that. After one week, he had more faith in me
than my parents, or whatever they were, had possessed in their
entire lives.

And right now, that felt more precious than
gold.

My eyes tracked up, meeting his deep green
gaze, and I gave him a small nod. Echoing the motion, he looked
back at the river.

Seconds slid past with the water.

“You want to head back?” he asked
quietly.

“Not really.”

He glanced up at me, his mouth twitching into
a smile, and after a moment, I managed a tiny one as well.

His hand still wrapped around mine, we sat in
silence and watched the river roll by.

Chapter Sixteen

The beach was still several miles away when I
caught sight of the guards. A dozen of them sped through the water,
and as I raced to catch up, my brow rose at the other person
accompanying them.

“Niall!” I yelled.

He looked toward me as I swam closer.

“What’re you doing here?” I asked. “Ren just
said he was sending the guards.”

Niall grinned as I pulled up alongside him.
“What, and let my little brother have all the fun? Damsel in
distress, psychotic cult… Seriously, you expect me to pass that
up?”

I chuckled.

“So, you really saw Sylphaen?” he continued.
“I mean, you’re
sure
?”

“Oh yeah. Claimed they were the fourth
sanctum of them or whatever. Which is just great, because it means
there’re more out there.”

“Yeah, fantastic. But why are they after this
girl?”

“Not sure. They think she’s some kind of
monster or something. Kept calling her a ‘creature’, saying she
wasn’t dehaian even though I saw her change – or start to, anyway.
But they’re trying to kill her. Drug her up and then sacrifice her,
to be specific.”

Niall’s expression became flabbergasted.
“That’s sick.”

“No kidding. There
is
something
strange about her, though. When she touches the ocean… you can feel
it, Niall. It’s like electricity in the water.”

His eyebrows climbed.

The foremost guard signaled that Santa Lucina
was in view, and we slowed.

“Where to?” Niall asked me.

“The house is just north of that park Ina
likes.”

“House?”

I nodded.

Niall’s brow shrugged. “Okay, you heard him,”
he called to the guards.

They took off. We followed.

“So,” I started, “Ren was okay with you
heading out here?”

He hesitated. “Well… you know how he is.”

“So that’s a no.”

“I didn’t tell him.”

“Ah.”

Niall grinned. “He’ll get over it.”

The water became shallower. One of the guards
rose to the surface quickly, and checked around before diving
again. He motioned for the others to fan out to either side, and
then led the way to the beach.

We broke through the waves and left the
ocean. A curve of the bluffs obscured much of the park and I
couldn’t see anyone on the rocky stretch of beach below the house.
The lead guard motioned for several of his people to keep watch on
the sands while the rest of us headed for the steps.

“You think she’ll be here?” Niall
whispered.

I shrugged. “This is where she was
staying.”

“And the Sylphaen?”

I met his gaze briefly. “Said something about
Plan B.”

We climbed the stairs to the yard, and then
paused as the guard reached the top. He scanned the lawn and the
mansion windows, and then hurried for the wall of bushes that
ringed the house. Niall followed, while the remaining guards
circled to the opposite side of the yard.

I looked to the windows, but I couldn’t see
anything moving behind them. It was possible she wasn’t home. That
they’d gone into town or something.

Nothing said the Sylphaen had found her
already.

Hanging onto the thought, I continued after
Niall. Scales hardened the soles of my feet as we slipped into the
brush surrounding the mansion. The bramble was wide enough to
mostly shield us from view on either side of the hedge and, moving
as silently as possible, we followed it onward. From the front of
the house, I could hear voices rising over the sound of hammering,
their words indistinguishable. As the driveway came into view, I
spotted a truck with advertisements for window repair on its side.
A few workers stood near it, while another was talking with the man
I’d seen in the waiting room when Chloe was hurt.