Seaweed (6 page)

Tor paused. “It’s a choice we have at a certain age. I made the choice to come to shore.”

“You mean to get legs?”

“Yeah.”

I still didn’t fully understand, but I decided to question him more on that later. Right now I was wondering why he was here in Eastcove with his uncle.

“What really happened to your parents?”

“They’re still alive. It’s just that they live under water.”

“They’re not like you?”

“No. If you don’t choose to come ashore when you’re an adolescent, and not many do, the ability passes.”

“Why did you choose it then? Don’t you miss your parents?”

He shrugged. “I guess you could call it wanderlust. And yes, I do miss them, but we communicate.”

The musical clicking? Kind of like aquatic email?

“Do you have brothers and sisters?”

“An older brother. His name is Kon.”

“Does Kon come to shore sometimes?”

“No. He chose not to.”

I thought about his family and how I’d never meet them or ever be invited to dinner. I wondered if Tor would bother telling them about me.

“I know you work hard at keeping your existence secret. What if that scuba diver tells everyone he saw you that way?”

He squinted at me. “What scuba diver?”

“The guy who grabbed my foot and pulled me under. The reason you had to dive in to rescue me.”

A dark shadow passed over Tor’s face.

“That is why you jumped in, isn’t it? To rescue me?”

“Yes.”

“Well, thank you for that.”

“Please, don’t mention it.”

“So, what about that guy?”

Tor looked off into the distance. “My kind has a way of blending in with our watery surroundings and disappearing from sight. Which is why we’re never caught.”

“But you’re seen sometimes, otherwise we wouldn’t know about you at all.”

“That’s true.”

“And what about the red-headed mermaid that Crazy Jim saw?” I felt bad now for mocking him. “Why didn’t she blend in?”

“Ah, Shava. She’s kind of immature. A little too naive you could say.”

“Shava?”

“She’s my cousin.”

Tor stopped suddenly, boring his bright eyes into mine. “Dori, you can’t tell anyone. Ever.” He leaned in closer. I felt his breath on my cheek. “Please, promise me.”

I didn’t hesitate. “I’ll never tell.”

He didn’t pull back. I thought he might kiss me. My first kiss here on the beach with a merboy! My heart skipped like a stone across water and I swallowed hard. His hand lightly brushed my cheek. I trembled.

He leaned in, but our lips didn’t meet. Instead he rested his forehead on mine and took my hand, weaving his fingers through mine. This wasn’t like how he held my hand the first time we met. This was intimate. I felt like I was having an out-of-body experience. A very pleasant one.

“What are we going to do now, Dori?” he whispered.

I couldn’t speak because my heart was lodged solidly in my throat. It was a good question. What
were
we going to do now?

CHAPTER NINE

Samara, Becca and I huddled together under an overhang by the front entrance at school the next morning. Though it was raining, it was warm and we didn’t want to spend any more time inside than we had to.

“Only two days left!” Becca said. “It feels like an eternity.”

“I know.” Samara fiddled with her bracelets. “The last days of school always drag by.”

I reached out past the overhang and let the drizzle fall on my hand. Was it wet enough out to keep Tor away? My chest tightened at the thought of not seeing him.

“Hello, Earth to Dori.” Samara snapped her fingers.

“Oh, sorry.”

“What’s with you today?” she continued. “You seem kind of spaced out.”

I tried not to glance over her shoulder too much. “No I’m good. Really. How was your guys’ weekend?”

Becca went off on how busy it got this time of year on her farm, and that she barely had time to sneak away to go to the library, but I couldn’t focus. Tor had just come into view and I felt the pull of a smile on my lips. He was dressed head to toe in rubber—boots, rain jacket with his hood pulled over his head covering his face, and oversized gloves on his hands.

Becca and Samara turned to see what I was staring at.

“He may be good looking,” Samara said, shaking her head, “but man, that boy is strange.”

“No kidding,” Becca said. “Doesn’t he know how dorky he looks?”

Tor stopped when he reached us in the dry zone. He peeled off his gloves and pushed his hood back—his smoldering looks overwhelming me. He greeted Samara and Becca with a polite hello and then stared hard and meaningfully at me. “Hey.”

I nibbled my bottom lip, suddenly shy. “Hey.”

“See you in Earth science, Dori.”

“See you.” He walked away and I was wrecked. Totally smitten.

“What was
that
?” Samara spat out.

“Yeah,” said Becca. “That was kind of steamy. Hey, did you guys hook up or something?”

“No, well, not like that. We met up at the beach yesterday.”

“But you didn’t hook up?” Samara said, her eyebrow raised high.

“Not yet. He’s the kind of guy that likes to take things slow.”

“But he likes you?”

“Yes.”

“And you like him?”

“Absolutely.”

“Wow, Dori,” Becca said dreamily. “You did it.”

Yes, I did. A big sappy smile overtook my face.

“Did I miss something here?” Samara said, beads clicking together when she spun around. “You need to spill, girl.”

Thankfully, the bell rang. There were too many secrets I couldn’t tell them.

Finally, the day ended. I’d found it hard to concentrate in all of my classes and virtually impossible in Earth science, knowing Tor was behind me staring at my head. Tiffany obviously still thought she had a chance with Tor because her flirting skills were on full display. I’d caught Tor’s eye and he winked at me, sending little sparkly shivers down my spine.

I was at my locker when Tor met up with me.

“Hey, there.” He leaned against the locker beside mine and I choked with giddiness that he was there waiting as I grabbed my things.

“Are you busy now?” he asked.

“Not really. Swim club is tomorrow, so I’m free.” School might’ve been ending but swim club at this level went year round.

“Can you come over?”

“To your place?” It was weird but I still didn’t know exactly where Tor lived, and suddenly I desperately wanted to go there. “Yes, I can.”

He smiled and I loved how easy it was to make him happy. I closed my locker door and we fell into stride beside each other.

I almost had a heart attack when he reached for my hand.

This was it. Public declaration!

More than a few heads turned when they saw us, and I got the feeling that this must be what it was like to walk the red carpet. I passed Samara and Becca, who, after reining in their shocked looks, gave me a stealthy thumbs up.

Tiffany didn’t regain control of her stunned expression. Dori Seward had never been any real kind of competition for her before now.

Colby’s face flashed with surprise and then anger. Like they said, if looks could kill, Tor would be broiled steak.

I did feel kind of bad about Colby, but it just wasn’t meant to be. I’d have to forget about him. Tor and I were together now.

The rainy system had blown over and bright sunshine filtered through the patchy gray skies. I was relieved. Walking around hand in hand with Tor in his rubber suit wouldn’t have been nearly as victorious.

We headed to the beach and then north. I held my sandals in my hand, enjoying the grind of the sand between my toes. Tor did the same.

“I thought I knew every inch of this beach,” I said, trying to picture a cabin on the shore. “I’m surprised I haven’t seen your uncle’s place before.”

“It’s pretty well hidden.”

He wasn’t kidding. He led me farther up the beach, over craggy rocks, and animal trails through the forest pressing into the tide line. We came to a steep crevice that filled to overflowing at high tide. The Bay of Fundy had the highest tides in the world. It was like a gigantic washtub that emptied and filled every day; the tide could get as high as two stacked houses.

You needed the surefootedness of a mountain goat to get down. Tor took my bag and gripped my hand, helping me to descend in one piece.

“I can see now, why no one knows where you live.”

“We do it on purpose, as you can understand.”

Finally, we entered a narrow opening in the cliff. We climbed some more until it opened up into a cavernous space.

“You live in a cave?”

Tor smiled slyly. “It works for us.”

The passage was lit by oil lamps. Nothing exotic, just the ordinary Coleman camping types. Soon we came to a room that made me hum. It was a cave style RV. All the camping furnishings were there: foldable table and chairs, camp stove with propane, a portable sink with dishes drying in a rack. Two foldable cots, neatly made. Daylight streamed in from a hole in the ceiling, and the whole effect was very homey.

“Cool,” I said. “This is every kid’s dream.”

“I like it.”

“What do you do when it rains?” I motioned to the skylights.

“We cover them up with tarps.”

Of course. In the corner, under a smaller skylight, was a desk with a laptop opened on it.

“You get internet?”

“Yeah. But you have to be set up right under that hole. It picks up wireless.”

“Amazing.” I walked over to look at the maps taped to the wall. Instead of land maps like most people had, these were maps of the oceans of the world.

“We study the oceans like your people study land geography.”

I frowned at the term “your people”. It separated us, somehow.

“I’ve often thought of becoming an oceanographer,” I said. “I love the ocean and I love to swim so it seems like a good fit.”

“I’m sure you’d be excellent at it.”

“You could probably teach me a lot.”

I heard the scuffing of footsteps. A familiar voice called out, “Tor?”

“Uncle Dex,” Tor answered. “We have company.”

Dex hadn’t lost his dominating demeanor. I didn’t know who was more surprised. Dex, that Tor had brought a friend home, or me that Tor hadn’t told his uncle that he planned to bring me home. Thankfully, his hardy face broke into a smile.

“Hello,” Dex said, reaching out his hand. “We’ve met before, haven’t we?”

“Yes.” I shook his hand. It was massive. “At the police station.”

“Ah, that’s right. Well, that was an unfortunate turn of events, but thankfully everything worked out fine. You’ll stay for dinner?”

I hadn’t expected an invitation, and it took me a moment to respond. “Yeah, I’d love to, but I’d have to let my mom know. Will my cell phone work here?”

Tor nodded. “You have to go outside to get reception.”

He led me through a rudimentary staircase carved out of the dirt that took us outside. I stood in the open air in awe. The horizon reached out into infinity, the surface of the ocean alive with movement. The remnant rays of the sun setting in the west bounced off the water like a shimmering blanket. It was breath-taking.

And private. The rocks in front of the cave kept the boats and the swimmers away. It was very secluded. A perfect secret spot.

“Did you and your uncle create this yourselves?”

Tor shook his head. “Some of our kind from the sea who can morph the way we do found it years ago. Uncle Dex and I fixed it up to suit us. We’re the only ones living here right now.”

“Wanderlust?”

“That and the fact that we need someone to track what’s going on in the world above the sea. You can imagine, but the choices humans make have a big impact on our world.”

I was curious. “Like?”

“Over fishing, deep sea drilling, oil spills, pollution. You saw the garbage patch video. The more we know about human activity the more we can counteract.”

I was embarrassed to be human when he rattled off that list. “And how do you counteract?”

Tor’s face grew somber. “To be honest, there’s not much we can do, except adapt. Move.”

“Does your uncle know that I know?”

“Yes, I had to tell him. We keep track of everyone who discovers our secret. It’s important to our survival.”

An uncomfortable thought nagged me. I wondered what the root of Tor’s interest was in me. Did he really actually like me? Or was he just keeping track of me?

I called my mother. She was a little surprised, especially since she’d never met Tor, only knew him by reputation and of course, his nighttime swimming escapade. I told her I’d bring him over soon so she and Dad could meet him, and that I’d be home before dark.