Bluehour (A Watermagic Novel) (10 page)

For another minute I coughed. He was patting
my back. I tried to replay in my mind what had just happened.

My breathing started to regulate. Oddly, I
felt just fine. I was dazed and everything seemed sort of surreal,
but I felt good. Really good.

He opened my balled up hand and grabbed
something from it before I had a chance to see what he took from
me.

“What was that?” I asked, still trying to
piece together everything that had occurred.

He put whatever he had taken from my fist
into his short’s pocket. Then he smiled at me, but his eyes looked
troubled.

“You saved me,” I said, my eyes widening as I
started to remember what had happened. “It wasn’t possible.”

His expression was unreadable. “I found you
here and it looked like you needed help, so I kissed you.” He
smiled teasingly now, chuckling under his breath.

I ignored his play. “I was in the ocean,” I
stammered as I looked out to the water. The speed boat was gone.
“There was a boat that was dragging a ski rope and it caught onto
my ankle tether. I was being pulled out to sea. You swam up to me
at superhuman speed and cut the rope with your teeth.” I looked at
him in astonishment. “How the hell did you do that?”

He shook his head. I sensed the anger rising
up within him, but he controlled himself. “That didn’t happen,
Grace.”

Butterflies fluttered in my stomach when he
said my name. Now was not the time. “Yes, it did happen,” I
insisted. “I was going to die.” I looked at him piercingly. “I
should have died. But, you grabbed onto me.” I thought about it for
a moment. “How did you do that?”

His expression looked playful as he chuckled,
but I saw fear in his eyes. Was he trying to cover for himself? He
seemed to be evading the situation. “That’s insane,” he insisted.
“Everything you are saying never happened. It isn’t possible.”

“I know.” I looked at him darkly. “It isn’t
possible.” I rubbed sand between my fingers nervously. “It’s
not.”

Behind his exasperated smile, I sensed
danger. I questioned whether I should implore further. I was afraid
I shouldn’t have seen what I saw. “I know what happened. Your
teeth…” I paused for a moment. “You cut the rope with your
teeth…”

He interjected, “Stop, Grace.” There was a
pleading quality to his voice. He exhibited the same usual tension
in his body: the flared nostrils, the clenched jaw, and the
narrowed eyes.

“Why are you denying it?”

“Don’t go there.” His silky voice was
soft.

I looked over and noticed my surfboard just
feet away from us. At once, I stood up. He joined me, putting his
hand on my shoulder. I think he was concerned that I might lose my
balance. I walked over and the tether was frayed and torn from the
board from the initial break just as the boat started to drag me.
And then I saw something sparkle on the board’s center. It was my
sapphire ring resting on top of it.

“Did you put this here?” I demanded as I
picked up my ring.

“You keep losing that thing,” he joked, but
then his mood shifted suddenly. He looked over my shoulder. “Your
friends are here.”

I turned and saw Agatha, Danny, and Ashton
waving at me from quite a distance as they carried their surfboards
through the sand toward us.

“Take care of yourself, Grace.” In the
opposite direction of my friends, he turned and walked away in a
sort of strut toward the peer. I watched him as he moved away, but
then he threw his head back, looking at me over his shoulder. “Your
lips are soft,” he almost sang the words.

Goosebumps lifted on my arms. “You owe me an
explanation,” I called out as I ran toward him trying to catch
up.

“I don’t owe you anything.” His tone was
firm. There was a smirk on his face. It looked like he was
struggling between two opposing emotions. I wondered what he could
be feeling. “You’re perception of what happened is outlandish.”

“Can’t I just talk to you?”

“What do you want to talk about, Grace?”
There was rhythm in his voice, but his eyes looked sad.

“I want to know how you got me out of the
ocean alive. I should be dead. You saved me even though…” my eyes
started to tear, “…in all logic, nobody could have done what you
did.” I tried to look at his teeth, but his mouth was closed.
Desperately, I wanted to figure out how he could have cut a solid
rope in no time with them. He looked normal enough, but now I was
starting to question if he was even human. Maybe he was an alien or
some sort of superhero. Both were crazy ideas. “Please tell
me.”

He didn’t answer. Now he just gazed out at
the ocean.

I got the feeling that he might give in. “I
want to know how you levitated that pencil in English class…”

He interrupted. “What? I did no such thing.”
It seemed like he was surprised that I had seen the levitation
trick. “Go.” He motioned me away with his head. “Go to your
friends. You should stay away from me. I mean it. I’m not good for
you.”

I didn’t want to leave him. A burning desire
to know the truth about his mysterious ways blazed through me. I
knew there had to be explanations. I wanted to be near him. I
didn’t want to leave.

His head tilted to the side. I detected a
streak of cruelty in his eyes. His expression became cold and
indifferent. “Don’t bother me anymore, silly girl.” His voice was
mocking, but he didn’t turn away. Instead, he stared at me
unwaveringly for a long moment.

Chills ran through my body. I had never seen
him act like that.

He stood perfectly still with a blank
expression on his face, but his eyes were on fire. “Go to your
playmates.” His tone seemed condescending. And with that, he
strutted away.

Hatred rose up in me. What arrogance. I
wanted to kill him. I didn’t know what was happening to me. I had
never been so frustrated in my entire life.

I just stood there, furious, until Agatha ran
over to me. “What’s going on?” she asked in her high pitched
curious voice.

I couldn’t talk; I didn’t want to talk. More
than anything I wanted to chase after Laurent and demand answers. I
knew he wouldn’t be forth coming with me though. “Give it time,” I
commanded myself futilely.

Even if I died trying, I would find the
truth. But a part of me feared that uncovering the answers could be
my death. I remembered how I heard Pascal say, “Grace will surely
die.” And even Laurent cautioned me to stay away from him tonight.
Was there some sort of danger connected to him?

“Are you all right?” Agatha asked me as she
waved her hand before my face. Her hair was feathered and she was
wearing a Sesame Street t-shirt.

I looked away from Laurent’s distant figure
moving away toward the boardwalk. “Surprisingly, I’m fine.” I
turned to Agatha now.

“What do you mean by ‘surprisingly’? Did
something happen between you and Laurent Moreau?”

Ashton with his surfboard and Danny with
Agatha’s board caught up to us now.

“You’ve already been surfing!” Ashton touched
my wet hair as he laughed, but his expression looked more reserved
than usual. I got the feeling that he was disappointed to see me
talking to Laurent. “You really are a fish.”

Danny looked tired as he laid Agatha’s board
down in the sand. “She’s a piranha.” He commented in a slightly
irritated tone.

“What do you mean?” I objected with feigned
annoyance trying to sound as normal as I could even though my mind
was flooded with thoughts of Laurent.

“What I mean is that it looked like you were
getting a little feisty with Moreau. What’s the deal with that?”
Danny asked me as he scratched his nose.

“I was wondering the same thing,” Agatha said
in a concerned voice.

My body stiffened. “Actually, I think I
almost drowned and I think Laurent might have saved me.”

“What!” Agatha shrieked. “What happened?”

With that comment, the three of them were all
staring at me intensely now.

I looked at them and shrugged. “The story
doesn’t make sense, but from what I remember, I think the surfboard
tether that was attached to my ankle got wrapped around the ski
rope of a moving boat.”

Their eyes widened and Agatha gasped.

“I couldn’t get untangled and the boat was
dragging me through the water out to sea.”

“Are you kidding?” Danny asked anxiously. His
voice was tight.

“Keep going.” Agatha was rolling her hand in
the air for me to continue. It was obvious that she was anxious to
hear what happened.

“I don’t remember anything after that.” I
shook my head. “The next thing I knew, I woke up on the shore and
Laurent was giving me CPR.”

“Oh, my gosh!” Agatha looked faint like the
information was too much for her to fathom.

“You need to go to a hospital, Grace,” Ashton
insisted. “I can’t believe that Moreau didn’t take you himself.” He
looked a little angry.

I laughed out of exasperation. “He said I was
just fine now and didn’t need to go to a hospital.”

“What do you expect?” Danny rolled his eyes
and cleared his throat. “All the French exchange students are
unusual. They don’t seem to be operating on the same plane of
existence as the rest of us.”

“I think he’s right,” I insisted. “I feel
even better than normal.”

“Yes,” Ashton spoke with assurance. “You feel
good, but you could have internal injuries. You need to go get
checked out. Laurent’s not a doctor.” He shook his head side to
side in exasperation.

“I think Ashton’s right,” Agatha agreed.

Danny’s voice became condescending. “Let’s
hope he’s not right.”

“Really—I’m fine.” I looked at each of them.
“I can’t go to the hospital anyway because my father will kill me
if he finds out I was surfing in the ocean. The doctor will
probably have to tell him.”

“Oh—you’re right,” Agatha spoke in a
supportive tone. She turned to Danny and Ashton. “It would be worse
for her father to find out—believe me.”

“I don’t feel right about that.” Ashton
sounded concerned. “You said Laurent gave you CPR. That means you
weren’t breathing. Don’t you want to have a doctor examine you?
Maybe you need a certain treatment after something like that.”

Agatha seemed flustered. “Why don’t we tell
the doctor you tripped and fell in my swimming pool and that I
tried to give you CPR? Then your dad won’t know you were in the
ocean.”

“That’s a great idea,” Danny chimed in.
“Ashton’s right. You ought to see a medical professional.”

“No, no, no!” I interjected adamantly.
“Really! I AM FINE. I’m not going to the doctor because I feel
better that ever. It would be pointless—really.”

Ashton put his hand on his chin and ran his
fingers over the light stubble growth. “Well, you can’t go surfing
after all that. I’m not letting you go in the ocean to drown from
some kind of aftershock seizure.”

After he said that I looked over at the water
and saw what looked like swimmers out there at a distance. “Well,
Dad,” I said teasingly to Ashton, “I don’t want to surf now
anyway.” I kept thinking about how I thought I saw the très beaux
swimming in the water before my accident. As much as I didn’t want
to let my curiosity run wild, it already was. I wondered if that
was them in the ocean. Had they helped me out along with Laurent? I
figured now that the people I saw must have been them, like I
thought, because Laurent had to have been in the ocean to save
me.

“Well, I’m glad you don’t want to surf,”
Ashton said in relief.

I started laughing. “I don’t want to surf,
but I want to go swimming!” I saw all three of their faces drop,
but before they could say anything I was running right for the
ocean. Only maybe fifteen minutes had passed since the accident.
The swimmers I thought I saw could be the très beaux. I wanted to
find them! I would make them tell me what really happened.

1. Paper, Scissors, Rock
   

I ran into the ocean. It felt peculiar to be
back in the wake of the cool black ocean. I wasn’t thinking
straight. After what I had been through, how could I even think of
going back into the water? I just felt off balance. I felt reckless
like I was losing control. I needed to get a grip on reality. My
obsessions were driving me mad. I knew what I saw, but it just
wasn’t possible.

For a short time I swam around looking for
the très beaux. But again, I couldn’t find them. I wondered if it
had only been wishful thinking that I would discover them out
there. I knew I was sane, but nothing was making sense.

As I thought about it, I realized I was lucky
I didn’t find the French exchange students swimming about. It would
have been stupid to question them about Laurent. They already acted
so bizarre around me; it was absurd for me to think they would be
forthcoming. It would be more likely that they would try to drown
me.

With my thoughts, I just waded in the dark
rhythmic waters. I could see Agatha, Danny, and Ashton discussing
amongst themselves on the shore, but I intentionally tuned them out
of my consciousness. I lifted my head back and gazed at the
millions of stars twinkling brilliantly in the night sky.

Shortly thereafter, I swam back to shore.

All three of them hovered around me
again.

I inhaled deeply. “This is not my night.
Maybe I should go home.”

Ashton put his hand on my back. “How about we
go out for pizza and see how you feel.”

“I’m in,” Agatha said adamantly. “You said
your parents and Lucy were going out to the movies. I don’t want
you to be alone.”

Danny rubbed his stomach in a goofy manner.
And in a low grumbled voice resembling the Cookie Monster from
Sesame Street, he said, “Yum, yum—I want pizza.” With that, he
chortled in a horsy guffaw which made everyone laugh.

They went with me to return my surfboard to
the shop. The blond guy who asked me out for coffee the day before
was there. When he saw me with good looking Ashton he acted a
little bent out of shape which really surprised me. He had a cocky
attitude with Ashton and acted particularly nice to me in
contrast.