Dark Seraphine (The Seraphine Trilogy) (25 page)

One of the dudes with Ethan
’
s crew brought a whistle
, attachable lights for the boards,
and a couple of extra
wet
suits. Right. So
,
Kyle set me up.
Obviously he knew these guys would
be here. I can
handle
that. I mean
,
how many times did I use him to help out with m
y ex girl? While changing into our
gear
,
Kyle and I agreed that he would be the one to swim out to the reef and wait for me.

My wild attraction to the ocean fueled an urge in me to do this even more than I thought it would. It was about her
,
my water angel. Always. Forever.

The whistle blower took his position. Kyle slapped my hand just before he plunged into the water and started surfing across the ocean lit only by the full moon
along with a tiny light attached to his board
. Yeah
,
the plan
was wild. Hell
,
I felt crazy. I wanted whatever was calling to me from inside those waters to show itself. I couldn
’
t see it; but I knew something
was there.

The hairs on my neck rose.
Oh no.

I turned to face my opponent
,
Zeke. Ethan and Kyle wanted to be the second
set of swimmers
,
of course.
The other two guys
that came
along
with them egged the situation on by talking smack
as they stood off to the side
.
That wasn
’
t what bothered me
, though
. I scanned the
walkway
behind
the girls standing at the bottom of the stairway that led
back to the houses
.

The Agents
appeared out of nowhere.

A
gang of men in black trench coats blowing in the wind stood along the
walkway
,
watching us. Cold dread winded me. It was too late to call Kyle back out of the
ocean
. It was too late to notice that the water flowing
over the shores
wasn
’
t white and foamy. Instead
what appeared to be
black ink
came in with the tide
,
coloring my feet
covered
in the icy liquid
.

That
night
at the skate park when
Paige tried to freeze my insides with her
Walker
spell
,
I
recalled
the water looking this same way
.

After the skateboard competition
,
two kids disappeared. Tonight my friend
’
s life was the wild card.

“
Kyle! Wait! Come back. Don
’
t go out there!
”

Silence. Cold chills trickled across my skin. Coils of fear roared through me. Behind me
,
Shani started screaming
and pointing at something in the
ocean
.
A huge freakin’ wave
lifted over the waters in front of us. The size
of the lift stole my breath. It
rose about
ten
feet into the air just before the largest part
slammed
down
on
the
shores
.

Okay, so, all surfers loved riding large waves. We lived for that crap. But this particular one just kind of happened. No warning, or strong tid
es, or nothing that indicated something weird
was about to
go down
.

Zeke dropped his board and ran toward the others behind us. Erica
and Shan
i
cried out
and scurried
back toward the stairway leading
up
to the houses
.
Erica kept
glancing in the direction where
the
Dark Agent
s
stood
. I didn
’
t have time to think about whether she saw them or not.

I spun back around toward the
reef
wher
e Kyle and Ethan swam out to. The light attached to his board vanished. Last time I checked, they were
about one hundred feet out in the water. Now there was nothing but a
roaring
,
shadowy ocean
that was still recovering from the monster wave
.

I yelled for the girls to
go find the Jensens
. Erica pulled a screaming Shani away toward the
houses
,
and I turned back to my task.

“
Caleb!
Help!
”
Kyle yelled in the distance. He was alive. I didn
’
t need anything else to motivate me
as I plunged
headfirst into the strange waters.

I swam as fast as I could
toward
the place where I thought I heard Kyle
’
s voice. The waves thrashed against me
,
pulling me under at times. In the distance
,
muffled cries sounded out.

“
Kyle! Where are you?
”
I called out
. P
anic and the sting in my eyes
screwed
up my focus. A surfboard headed straight toward
me
. I ducked
in just enough
time to avoid getting whacked by it. Thank the Heavens for the full moon
’
s light. If t
hat baby goes behind a cloud then
Kyle won
’
t be the only one to go missing on this night.

I turned in all directions.
Darkness
surrounded me. Cold pressure stole my breath. Still I stroked toward the place where I heard my friend
’
s voice. At once a head and thrashing arms popped up out
of
the water. Kyle fought against something.
“
Help me! It hurts! Please make it stop
,”
he begge
d through
choked breaths.

I plunged into the
water
directly under Kyle
’
s feet.
What the heck are you doing?
Everything
was black as smut
.
Even with the moon’s bright light I couldn’t see a thing
in something like that? 

But that little problem didn’t last long.
I almost choked
on salt water
whe
n I first glanced around me
.
I could see everything.

Under the
surface of the ocean
,
something
that lo
oked a lot like a little girl wearing
a
cream colored
dress
held on to Kyle
’
s ankles. The crazy part wasn
’
t all about the
kid
holding on to my friend
,
or that the ice cold temperature didn
’
t seem to affect me all that much.
Underneath
the waters
,
I was able to see everything clearly. It was kind of like
the sun was shining inside
the sea. The thing that held
on to
Kyle
’
s ankle wore a blonde dress that matched her hair color. Only this baby turned toward me and grinned with teeth that looked like knives.
Dread
roared
through me
,
and I almost lost my nerve to continue with trying to save
my friend
.

Kyle needs you, dude. Don’t be a coward.
I started swimming toward them.

The zombie kid grabbed both
of his
ankles once it realized that I intended to take my friend back with me.
At once
the water went dark
,
kind of like somebody cut off the light.

I reared back and kicked at the thing holding on to Kyle as best as I could. My foot collided with what felt like
its
face. The
strange sunlight flickered
back on
for a brief moment
,
but the creature was gone.
What the hell?

Taking advantage of the clear path to Kyle
,
I emerged from under the water and grabbed his shoulders. I stroked with one arm and held on to
my friend
with the other one.
He
was unconscious; so I didn
’
t have to worry about him panicking and taking us both down.
I glanced around the area and tried to find Ethan’s light. There
was
no trash-talking, hot head. The only thing I saw was rumbling waters still recovering from that monster wave, no doubt.

I drifted in and out of a swirl of memories as I paddled back toward the beach. An image of a
young
girl with the same blurry face I
had
dreamed about my
whole
life appeared before me.
At first, I thought maybe she was connected to the zombie kid. But the girl in my memory had dark hair, a long mass of it that swept across the back of her thighs. No, there was nothing creepy about her.
She placed Ticky
,
the red starfish with the stupid name
,
into my hands. I almost drowned that day
,
but the
girl
somehow
saved me.
S
he ran off j
ust before
Mom and Dad
found me standing beside the rocky shores.

Glancing back as my parents led me away
,
I caught a glimpse of her full features for the first time ever.
I also recognized the necklace she wore, the one with the strange aquamarine stone that changed colors depending on her mood.
She stood among the trees and waved at me. Even though she was younger I recognized her right away.

Ticky
’
s owner was Gia.

She ran off into the woods just before I heard her scream. I tried to turn back
,
but my dad
’
s iron grip was too strong. Yeah
,
sure
,
she was young
,
giggly
,
and
chubby; but it was Gia. She turned out to be the phantom girl I dreamt about all these years. Imagine that.

That day in the forest
,
I
tore away from
my
parents
,
desperation ripping at
my
chest. Whatever
magical thing she did
in the kiss that helped
me
to keep breathing under the water drew
me
to her. To leave her stopped
my
thoughts
,
my
breath
,
even
my
very heart over time.

She rescued
me
and now the others like her
didn’t seem to be too happy about it
.
Or maybe
we
were
both
being punished. That explained Gia
’
s strange behavior. Did it make me feel any better about her actions?
Uh-nope.

What did it mean that I now remembered where Ticky came from? What would happen?

Forcing my mind back to the present,
I made it to the beach and collapsed in the sand. Hands and feet surrounded me. Someone pulled Kyle out of the water and lifted me
up
. The Coast Guards had arrived. Good. I vowed to stay away from the ocean for the rest of my life.

Yeah
,
right
,
liar.