Dark Seraphine (The Seraphine Trilogy) (36 page)

C
hapter
Twenty

Time moved in this freaky kind of slow motion.

I was drowning again
,
or so I thought. But the water tossed me up out of the ocean. My head emerged first
,
and my body felt all weird
,
kind of like my insides turned into feathers. Daylight and cold air slapped me in the face. I stroked toward the
shores
up ahead. Feeling confused and a tad insane
,
I kept my gaze focused on the beach.
Salt water
trickled into my mouth.

Crap! Now I
’
ll be passing gas all day.

I was vaguely aware of the place I swam toward. Jumbled thoughts faded in and out of my head
,
memories of something or someplace I left behind
,
wherever that might be
.
Finally my fee
t touched solid earth. I paddle-
walked the rest of the way. The ninja suit I wore stuck to my body
,
dragging me down. I fell to my knees and leaned over on my hands like a dog. A crap load of sea water shot out of my mouth. I felt like a human faucet by the time I finished puking
.

Inhaling a long breath of air
,
I closed my eyes and enjoyed the feel of sunlight on my face.
Bad idea
,
my man.
I hunched over and puked up more water.

My coughing fit ended. I stood up and glanced around. Hatteras Lighthouse sat far off in the distance. I was on her island
,
the place where this whole deal started.

Gia. No wait…

Giancarella
,
so perfect and beautiful like her.

Her name rolled off of my tongue
,
filling me with warmth and longing at the same time. How was I alive? Most of all I wondered what cruel person sent me back without her.

I made my way over to the rocks lined up along the beach
,
sat down on the tallest one
,
and waited for about an hour. I stared at that ocean for almost
two
hours before reality smacked me hard
. Gia
was
really
gone. I lifted my body
,
heavy and broken
,
and walked toward the road. I had no car
,
no sense of time
,
and no
water angel.

I hitched
a ride back to my house. Mom lay
on the couch
,
her face peaceful as she slept. As usual my dad
,
wait
,
my stepdad was like a ghost. He was nowhere to be found. Mom stirred a tad
,
and her eyes fluttered open. They lit up when she focused on me.

“
Caleb
,
honey
,
where
’
ve you been?  God
,
we were so worried.
”
She hopped right up and embraced me. Closing my eyes
,
I let my body relax for the first time in weeks.

“
I
’
m sorry I scared you
,”
I said quietly.

She pulled back and stared into my face.
“
Your dad
and some of the other parents have been out all night. We thought you were lost like those other children they still haven
’
t found.
”

She meant Ethan
, Corey,
and Jillian
,
three
of the kids snatched up by the Angel of Chaos and his
Dark Agent
s. Deep inside
,
I knew she thought about my real dad
,
and the way he just kind of disappeared
,
a man who would become my new obsession. I was sure of it.

“
I
’
m okay
,
Mom. I just need some rest
.
”
I
held back a yawn.

“
What happened?
”
she asked.

“
I
—
I have no idea
,”
I answered truthfully. An understan
ding look passed between us. I
didn’t
even have the energy left to try and explain to her.

“
Go rest
,
hon. I
’
ll call your dad and your friends and let them know we found you.
”
She embraced me again.
“
I love you
,
Caleb.
”

“
Love you too
,
Mom.
”
I eased out of her arms.

We didn
’
t need to say a whole lot to each other. Just like my
Mom
,
I now understood that my father was different. What did that mean for the future? I had no idea. I turned
,
drifted upstairs
,
and instantly fell asleep.

* * *

I breezed through my classes
,
feeling like a zombie
,
wondering if Gia would walk in and have something smart-mouthed to say. She never did. Life just kind of buzzed along that Monday after the dance.

Not one person said a thing about what happened at the
All Souls Dance
on Saturday night.
Everybody
recalled seeing a tornado
and
not much
else.
One thing a lot of people did complain about was all of the missing cell phones. The photos our classmates took of Gia held evidence of the Seraphine’s existence. Most of the missing devices belonged to the people who stood closest to Gia on Saturday night. Whoever or whatever thing managed to steal so many phones remained a mystery.

It was too much: strange tornados
,
freak accidents
,
our missing classmates.
Shani and Kyle mostly talked around that part.
The only thing my two love struck friends discussed was how to flirt with one another behind the teacher
’
s back. No one had any memory of getting zapped by a race of mermaids and warlocks with angelic powers.

By the end of the day
,
I think I had almost ground my teeth down. The hole in my chest made me feel isolated and weak. Erica strolled over to where I sat alone on the benches in study hall. She wore her trademark pink today
,
the perfect color for a princess in training.

“
How do you feel
,
Caleb?
”
Erica asked
,
taking a seat beside me.

“
Pretty good. You?
”

“
I
’
m
alright
,
I guess. I
’
m sorry I ran out on you the other night. Thorne was right there
,
and I couldn
’
t find you. It was so much happening
,
you know?
”
she explained.

“
Yeah
,
I
do
. Seriously
,
you don
’
t have to explain. Like you said
,
the two of you have a connection. I can understand that
,”
I answered
,
shrugging.

“
What do you expect? You keep pushing me away
,”
she muttered.

“
I
’
m sorry
,
Erica
,
for everything.
”
I stood up and walked off. There was only one place I needed to be. And that was at the spot where I felt closest to her
—
the sea.

* * *

I drove out to Hatteras Island
,
parked my Challenger
,
and headed over to the rocks where I first saw Gia.
So
,
you
’
re in love with a mermaid.
Uh
,
yeah.
Somebody could make one hell of a
rock ballad
out of that one.

The old man with the sky-blue eyes
told me to be ready for a war. I wasn
’
t. I probably never would be.
Something in the dark
had
whispered his name to me. Poseidon the voice said.

Whoa, my man. You met the god of the sea.
Oh yeah, and you fell in love with his daughter too.

If only I knew more about my real father. At least that would give me something to help me be better prepared. I tossed a couple of
stones into
the ocean flowing around the
boulder I
sat on.

“
Stare any harder at that water
,
Wave Rider
,
and it just might decide to sweep you away again
,”
her voice said behind me.

No way. It can
’
t be.
I was almost afraid to turn around. But I did. Glancing at Gia standing there in the sand
,
I finally s
wallowed the knot that had been sitting in my throat for the longest time. I ran toward her.

Gia held out her arms. She was a vision. The short light blue dress she wore with that leather jacket she loved so much flapped in the wind. Her hair was shoulder length again
,
as it blew around her face.

I scooped her up and spun her around. We both fell over
,
laughing while the world stopped spinning. I wanted to kiss her.
I had to
kiss her.

“
How?
”
I whispered through my dry throat.

“
Somebody kept nagging at me until I promised to bring him back.
”
Reaching inside her jacket
,
she pulled out a red starfish.

“
Ticky? No way
,”
I gasped
,
excited to see my good luck charm.

“
Yeah
,
he
’
s pretty persistent when he wants to be
,”
she beamed. Her
expression
softened
,
and her cheeks were flushed. I lost myself inside those strange
dark eyes
of hers.
No
,
wait.
That already happened months ago.

I glanced around. If Gia came back did that mean
the
sea witch
did too?
“
What about Mel?
”

She lowered her head a moment.
“
You mean the Melusine sea witch?
”
I nodded.
“
She
’
s not dead
,
Caleb. My brother only paralyzed her for a while. Her anger over her sister
’
s death drives her now.
”

“
I
’
m sorry about your brother
and sisters
. I have no idea what that must feel like
,”
I said truthfully.

“
We weren
’
t really blood relatives
in the way that humans are connected
.
The
Seraphine
, well, we
consider ourselves brothers and sisters
, yes. But we share a connection through our souls
. Skin color
,
money
,
social status
:
none of that matters to us
. We’re all children of Poseidon
. When one of us is injured, we all feel i
t in some way. It’s terrible,
”
she muttered
,
a sad look on her face
and tears rising in her eyes
. My
soul
ached for her
. No, my heart
was breaking along with hers.