Beyond the Sea (32 page)

“My wrist hurts again,” Melia said with a frown. “Because the kappas grabbed me,” she added to clarify, speaking in an ‘outside voice’ again. Peter snapped his head around at the sound of the word. Melia smiled innocently and shrugged, as if to say ‘no one will know what I’m talking about’.

It was the warmest day of spring by far. Almost everyone opted to eat lunch outside. Jeff asked Jamie to sit with him, though she thought it was only due to the obviousness of Melia’s preoccupation with Peter at the moment. Melia sat with Peter and his friends, with Peter on her right and Amanda on her left. Everyone was chattering away, talking about prom, the weather and the beach. Jamie almost didn’t sense it. She looked up just in time. Even as the warning escaped her lips, it was already too late.

Janet dumped a bucket of slimy water and dead fish right over Melia’s head. The nasty mixture splashed, soaking Amanda and Peter. A half rotten koi plopped on Melia’s lunch tray. Amanda screamed, Peter jumped up, fists clenched and Melia sat frozen.

Janet smirked. Kaitlin doubled over in laughter. “Remind you of home, Fish Girl?” Janet sneered. She dropped the bucket and strutted away. Chaos broke out next. Mathew frantically tried to mop the water off of Amanda, Connor held back Peter, who was ready for a fight, and Melia ran away. Teachers rushed around, trying to figure out what happened so they could punish those who needed it. Janet snuck away with Brandon Hartmann, the good looking but utterly dumb quarterback, and Kaitlin tried to control her laughter. It didn’t matter, Jamie knew, since everyone saw what happened and no one would cover for Janet Williams. After the shock wore off, she sprung up and darted off to find Melia.

Soaked, with brown and yellow-green stains dripping down her white dress, Melia had hidden in the library. She hugged her knees, biting back tears.

“Melia?” Jamie called, though she could undoubtedly follow the slimy water stench. With a shiver, she recalled the gwyrrd. She found Melia in the last row. Jamie rushed over, dropped to her knees and hugged her best friend. Melia jerked away.

“You’ll get it all over you,” she mumbled. “It stinks.”

“Oh, Melia, I’m so sorry!” Jamie picked fish parts out of Melia’s hair. They were squishy and Jamie thought she was going to be sick. They both looked up at the sound of fast footfalls. Peter ran to Melia.

“Are you ok?” he asked. Jamie thought it was a dumb question but appreciated his concern.

“Yea. I smell, but I’m fine. And so do you. I’m sorry.”

“Do not apologize,” Peter almost shouted. Melia knew he was angry, but not angry at her. He hugged Melia.

“Peter, I changed my mind. I’d choose the ocean.”

“Me too,” Peter whispered. He held her for another minute and stood. “Do you have clothes to change into?” Melia shook her head. Peter looked at Jamie, who said she didn’t have any either. “I’m sure I can find you something.” He extended a hand to Melia and Jamie. Melia took it, letting Peter pull her up; Jamie pretended not to notice. Peter scraped at something brown on his pants. It was starting to dry and get crusty. “Let’s go shower.”

“Here? Together?” Melia asked, raising an eyebrow.

Peter laughed. “I don’t think the school would like that. We can go home I’m sure.”

He held her hand and walked with as much dignity as someone who was covered in mucky water could. Amanda was already pulling her bag from her locker. Melia apologized to Amanda, who said the same thing as Peter. (“Do not take the blame for that, Melia. That bitch did it, and I will get her!”) Melia smiled and nodded, thinking Amanda sounded pretty insane at the moment.

Melia flicked a piece of dead fish from her wrist. Had Janet caught fished and killed them just to torture her? She wondered what Lana would do if someone did something cruel to her. No doubt get revenge.

Melia didn’t want revenge. Not over something as stupid as Janet’s pranks. Didn’t she have bigger things to worry about? Like the kappas. What she told Charles haunted her. The more she thought about it, the more it seemed a real possibility. But why would a kappa want Peter? She needed to talk to him about it.

She mulled it over during the drive home. The gate was closed, wasn’t it? Had Wolfy somehow knocked it open? Or did something open it to draw him out? The kappa she faced just held her. It didn’t try to bite or eat her. She had assumed it was waiting for her to drown, but what if it was waiting for something else?

“You’re quiet,” Peter said, glancing away from the passing road to look at Melia.

“Just thinking,” she quietly responded.

“Don’t let it upset you.” He put his hand on her leg. “Connor told me that he heard Janet got suspended. And they might ban her from going to prom.”

“They can do that?”

“Yea. But I don’t know if they actually will. I hope so. That bitch doesn’t deserve to go.” He gave her leg a squeeze before removing it to shift gears. He parked in front of The Ridge and looked up. “It smells like it’s gonna rain, doesn’t it?” he asked Melia, thinking she might be able to sense it better than himself.

“Yea. It does. Those clouds are moving in fast.” She looked at the sky. “Too fast…” She shook her head and waited for Peter to put the top up on the Mustang. Charles was in the kitchen making dinner. He looked quizzically at Melia when she walked in.

“Trying out a new fashion?” he asked with an eyebrow raised. He wrinkled his nose at the smell of the scummy water.

“No.” She set her bag on the counter.

“Long story,” Peter answered, sighing. He followed Melia up the stairs; she went into her room to shower and Peter went into the guest room across the hall. He scrubbed himself clean in the shower, changed into some of Edward’s clothes. He went into Melia’s room and waited for her to emerge from the shower.

She did—completely naked. Peter’s eyes bulged a little and he had to force himself to look away until Melia got dressed. They went back downstairs to wait for dinner and talk to Charles.

“Everything ok?” Charles asked.

“Yes,” Melia sighed. “Just stupid human drama.”

“Oh,” Charles said as he chopped up garlic.

Melia looked around. “Where’s Wolfy?”

“I took him to the dog park. He seemed bored.” Charles added the garlic to a bowl. Whatever he was making smelled delicious. “And Gwen got a clear bill of health from the vet. She’s underweight, but the vet doesn’t think it will take long for her to gain it. I put a litter box in the bathroom of the guestroom across the hall from yours, since Wolfy stays with you most nights I figured it would work out better.”

“Thank you, Charles.”

“You know, you are the only person who still calls me Charles. Even my own mom calls me Chuck.”

Melia smiled. “Then she should have named you Chuck. You were named Charles so that is what I will call you.” She got two glasses from the cupboard. “And I like Charles. It’s a good, strong name.”

“It’s too formal, if you ask me.” Charles looked at Peter. “What about you? Ever go by Pete?”

“Most of my friends call me that,” Peter said, taking the glass from Melia. “It doesn’t bother me, either way.”

Charles laughed. “I made the mistake of calling her ‘Mel’ once. I learned my lesson.”

“I just don’t get nicknames,” Melia said with a chuckle.

*

“Peter,” Melia spoke softly. Her voice was barely audible over the crash of the waves.

“Yea?”

“Can I ask you a question about Friday night?”

“Of course.”

They were snuggled close together on a lounge chair on the balcony. Clouds covered the stars and a strong wind brought in the waves. “When the kappa pulled me under water, I assumed he was trying to drown me.”

“I bet he was surprised.”

“But he wasn’t.” She shifted so she could look into Peter’s eyes. “It was like he was holding me back. The only thing to hold me back from was you.”

“Why would they want to keep us apart?”

“I don’t know. That’s what I need to ask. What happened? I mean, I know you got attacked.”

Peter traced the curve along Melia’s hip. “Well, something hit me in the back. It knocked me over and grabbed my foot. I think it tried to drag me—”

“Into the water?”

“No. Out of the cave.”

A chill ran down Melia’s spine and it wasn’t from the wind. She shivered. “That’s what I was afraid of.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m not sure. It-it just doesn’t make sense. A kappa hasn’t killed a human in over fifty years. What would they want with you?”

“Didn’t you say they eat people?”

“They do.”

“Maybe it was taking me to the ocean.”

Melia shook her head. “Kappas like their caves. It would be too much effort to drag you across all the rocks and into water deep enough to drown you.”

“Can you go, go…ask someone?”

“I tried. Yesterday. I didn’t find any merrows.” Realization crashed down on Melia. “I haven’t been able to in almost three months.”

“And I take it that’s not normal?”

Melia shook her head, sitting up. Nervously, she looked over the water. “Inside,” she whispered. After the doors were closed she told Peter, “Merrows move a lot. We live deep in the ocean. Actassi lives in the middle of the Pacific. I can swim there, but it would take days. I’ve only been going out half a day’s worth.” She bit her lip, thinking. “I wish Lana was here. She could make some sort of connection.”

“Connection?”

“Yea, the kappas and the gwyrrd.”

“Gwyrrd?” Peter repeated the word awkwardly, sounding very American in his accent.

“Oh.” Melia sank on her bed. Gwenllian jumped up next to her. “I guess I need to explain a few things.” She picked up the gray cat and told Peter the whole story. He started at her admirably for a few seconds before he spoke.

“You amaze me.”

Melia shrugged. “It had to be done.”

Peter touched the patch of shiny skin on Melia’s forehead. “I knew that story about getting a horse was bullshit.”

“Are you mad?”

“No. Will you tell me more?”

They resituated on the bed. Peter rested his head on Melia’s chest and she raked his hair with her fingers. “What do you want to know?” she asked.

“What’s an Oceanid?”

“You need to brush up on your Greek mythology,” she joked. “Have you heard of water nymphs?”

“Yea.”

“There are three kinds of water nymphs: Naiads, Nereids and Oceanids. Naiads reside in freshwater, like rivers and streams. Nereirds live in the Mediterranean Sea and Oceanids live in the ocean.”

Peter felt horribly inadequate. He was a normal human. There was nothing special about him. He had a normal family and didn’t have any special powers. And Melia was half water nymph.

“Do you know why your mom doesn’t like the ocean?”

“Not completely. I imagine her arranged marriage had something to do with it. I would hate that.”

“Is that common for you? Arranged marriages?”

“No. Well, not for merrows. It’s not unheard of to expand territory, though.”

“Oh. So does that mean your grandfather on your mom’s side was like royalty or something?”

“No.”

“Then why did they pick your mom?”

“Because she’s beautiful.” Peter couldn’t argue that. Melia picked up on his confusion and continued. “You can understand why the arrangement was so appealing: an Oceanid from the Atlantic, marrying a merrow from the Pacific. It joined territory as well as kinds. And if you picked the Oceanid, who would you choose? The most beautiful one of course.” Gwen curled up in a ball in between Peter’s legs. “My father’s death was an accident. The treaty continued on, since Actassi-who rules the Pacific, in case I didn’t tell you yet, and Uisce, the ruler of the Atlantic, decided it was better to be allies anyway. And he was old. When he died, Actassi took over both oceans.”

“Hmm,” Peter moaned, sounding sleepy. “That’s a lot to remember.”

“I guess so, but it’s easier to follow than human politics.”

Peter laughed. “You got that right.”

*

Peter had fallen asleep. He woke up at ten forty-five knowing he was in deep trouble. He kissed Melia goodbye and made her promise to lock the doors and set the alarm system. It had rained, dropping the temperature and leaving the earth smelling fresh. His house was dark; he hoped his parents had gone to bed and not noticed his absence.

“And where do you think you’re going?” Sue’s voice spilled from the darkness.

Peter froze, his wet shoes squeaking on the kitchen tile. “Bed,” he mumbled.

“Oh really. If you’re so tired then maybe you shouldn’t stay out ‘til midnight.”

“It’s only eleven.”

“Only eleven! Hah! You have a nine-thirty curfew.”

Peter rolled his eyes, thankful for the lack of light. Since Melia told his parents off, they hadn’t bugged him or bothered to keep up with his curfew, which wasn’t nine-thirty anyway.

“I’m a little late, so shoot me.”

“Where were you?”

“At Melia’s, where else?” Peter heard the distinct sound of liquid pouring into a glass and then a delicate ‘chink’ as the wine bottle was set on the counter. Great, his mom was drinking. It was beyond hypocritical that she harped on him when she had a wine glass glued to her hand twenty four seven. Once Peter pointed it out and Sue countered with ‘Jesus turned water into wine!’ It wasn’t worth it to Peter to bring it up again.