2 Deja Blue (6 page)

We chatted a bit and then swam back towards shore. This time, I made an extra effort to
swim more slowly. It felt
like I was hardly moving, but it was kind of nice to be able to keep up with Nick and talk, and laugh, and not worry about the effort of
trying to move through the water.
I
t was as if I
just kind of floated along
.
(I suppose I was swimmi
ng;
I just wasn’t really aware of it
,
and I certainly wasn’t ae
robically challenged in any way) E
very so often,
I pretended
to
catch my breath and splash around a little bit, to
make it
look like I was doing more than I
really
was. It seemed like a small flick of my feet, a wiggle-swish of my hips and I would jet forward with no problems at all!

Nick and I played in the surf and gradually made our way back to our towels, collapsing on our lounge chairs from exhaustion. Well, he was exhausted. I was kind of faking it. Honestly, I wasn’t really tired
after
all that
time in the water.
(Although,
I should have been.)
After a little soft kissing (I was way too embarrassed for much more than that)
,
we settled back o
nto our own chairs and just
lai
d
in the su
n. R
elaxing deeply
,
I listened
to the waves lapping the shore, watched
seagulls soaring over us
, and felt
the cool
breeze
tickle
my skin. 

I must have dozed off for a few minutes, because
,
before I knew it, I heard Anya and Brennan approaching. Well, I couldn’t really hear Anya…she’s as dainty and graceful as a butterfly floating down the beach. But I did hear Brennan shouting and scuffling along. “
Yo
! Nick! Brought the
foot
ball! You
wanna
go?” he yelled. I sat forward, held my hand up to
shade
my eyes and squinted in the sun to see them approaching. 
Anya was in her yellow
tankini
and had
a humongous beach bag draped over her shoulder
.
Brennan
followed
in blue and white Hawaiian-print board shorts
,
his towel
was draped around his neck and he was
tossing a football up in the air.

“Sure thing!”
Nick hollered back. He leaned over to give me a quick peck on the lips and jumped up from his chair to join Brennan in a game of toss on the beach. Anya peeled off the huge beach bag and eased down into the lounge chair next to me.

“Hey Ruby!
You’re looking ever-so-sweet and in love this morning!” she
replied with a bright smile
.

I blushed, returning the smile and sighed.
“Yeah, ever-so-sweet and apparently, a super-fast swimmer now too.”
Anya raised her eyebrows, “Oh
,
really? Do you
mean,
a
super
super
-fast swimmer? Like a certain ah —
someone we used to know?”

I nodded.
“
Mmmm
.”

“I see,” she replied with pursed lips as she stared out into the water. Then, she let out a quick sigh of resolve and nodded her head firmly. “Well. It’s a good thing. At least you got the power of swimming instead of the power of flight. That might have been…
ahh
…awkward, if you suddenly leapt off a step and floated into the air in front of somebody.”

“Wait. That could actually happen?!?” I shrieked.

“Well, of course!” Anya answered, as if I w
as
supposed to know this already. “But, it didn’t. So there’s no need to worry about it.”

“Well
,
what if it
does
happen!?
You said yourself that you didn’t know what gifts or powers or magic or
whateverthehell
else
you call it
could
happen to me…what if that happens too? And please, please,
please
tell me I’m not going to sprout wings.”

Anya was shaking her head, “Oh. Of course not! And as for flying…It’s very unlikely. When dragons pass their magic on to another being through death, especially through such a small bite – such as the one you got – they usually only pass on
one
special gift.”

“Yeah, but I already got the gift of
Fairy
hearing…remember? So, doesn’t my super-fast swimming ability make that
two
already?”

“Not really,” Anya answered
calmly
. “That’s not so special. Everyone in Fey can communicate like that. It’s just part of our nature. But super-fast swimming, that’s something exclusive to the Water Court.”

“Wait. So you mean you and Brennan
can’t swim fast
? Like, you guys haven’t just been ‘faking’ being slower around me all this time?”

Anya laughed.
“Nope.
We aren’t. And, we haven’t. W
e are part of the Earthen Court – not the Water Court.
Our special gifts have more to do with strength, pulling energy from the Earth, manipulating the Earth
,
and things like that. You want me to start a
landslide or an avalanche
for you somewhere? I’m your girl. But, if you want me to swim the English Channel, well, you’d beat me, hands down.”
Okay. The
“
starting an avalanche
”
comment had me
a bit uneasy, but I was also a little excited at the thought that I might actually be better than Anya and Brennan at something. I’m
usually
just so…so…regular!

“No way!”
I laughed, “
so…
like…you suck in the water?”

“I didn’t say that!” Anya retorted, getting a bit irritated. “We’re faster than
most
humans in the water, but nowhere near as fast as the Water Sprites,
Mermaid
s and Dragons of the Water Court. Those are the true champion swimmers of Fey. And now it seems, so are you!” she smiled again, her irritation fading.

My mouth fell open in slight disbelief as I shook my head, “I don’t think I hea
rd you right. Did you just say…
Mermaid
s?!?”

Now it was Anya’s turn to laugh.
“Of course I did, silly! Who else would be in the Water Court? You didn’t really think all those myths were
just myths
, did you?” she shook her head playfully at me.

“Uh.
Yeah. I
kinda
did,” I answered as I
sunk back into my lounge chair.

Chapter 7

Anya
laid
back on her beach chair
too
and flipped her sunglasses down over her eyes, shaking her head and smiling. “
Ohhhh
, Ruby…”

I stubbornly retorted,
“Don’t ‘Oh Ruby’ me! How am I supposed to know about all this stuff? So what
other
mythical creatures are in the Water Court?”

She thought and
started listing the
not-so-mythical creatures out loud, “Well, I’ve already told you about Mermaids and Mermen – they are also known as
Selkies
– and then there are the Water S
prites, they’re also known as Nixies; D
ragons…and let’s see…there are S
ea
S
erpents and
K
elpie.” She ticked them off on her fingers.

“Kelpie?
What the hell
are
Kelpie?”
I couldn’t help it. I couldn’t keep the
snark
out of my tone.

“Water H
orses.”
Anya answered as if she w
as
talking about ordinary house flies.

The look of cluelessness must have been obvious on my questioning face.

“
Ohhhh
.
You know…like the Loch Ness Monster?” she prodded. I closed my eyes and shook my head in disbelief as I slowly spoke, “And all of these…these…creatures are part of the Water Court in Fey?” Anya nodded. I stared blankly out at the boys,
who were still running up and down the beach and the surf, tossing the football back and forth. I guess I should have known that other creatures existed, given the fac
t that I have been able to see F
airies since I was five years old. I just never gave it much thought. I never gave anything about their world much thought. It’s funny how the world we live in
,
and what we think about on a daily basis
,
is usually about as big as the town we live in. Or, at least it is for every kid I know. There’s so much more going on around all of us that we just don’t know anything about. If I’m going to be getting more magical
Fairy
powers any time soon, I suppose I need to start learning more about the world of Fey. It was all just a bit overwhelming for me. I’m just a kid! What seventeen-year-old has to deal with mythical creatures, other worlds, magic powers and whatever else is around the corner?  Between slaying dragons, getting
Fairy
telepathy and dragon-like swimming abilities…
what else was going to happen to me? I shuddered at the thoughts.

“Cheer up!” Anya said, noticing my uneasiness. “Look at it this way,
Ruby,
you are now
the
fastest swimmer in Lake City. Just enjoy it!” She gave me a little nudge and tried to get me to smile. I have to admit, it was a pretty cool super-power to have.  I cracked a smile, pondering all of my newfound information when the boys finally came over to where Anya and I were sitting.

Nick jumped in front of my chair and planted a kiss on my forehead (which of course made me smile even more)
,
and I
overheard the silent exchange of Anya telling Brennan about my new ability. Brennan just nodded in approval and winked at me.

“So, you ready for another swim yet, Ruby? I
demand
a
re
match!” Nick asked.

“I don’t think so, not yet. I’m still worn out from that last swim,” I s
lowly
shook my head at him, trying
to
look worn out. Boy, I was laying it on thick. “Why don’t you try to beat Anya instead?”
M
y ability to lie so easily was even impressive to me!
Anya looked at me knowingly and winked. I knew she would let him win.
I went on,
“I’ll just rest here for a few more minutes, ‘
kay
?”

“Cool,” Nick shrugged, not the least bit bothered at my lack of interest. “I’ll see
ya
in a few.
”
He
flashed his trademark smile at me and leaned over for another kiss. This time, it was a good one. Brennan rolled his eyes at us and shoved his finger in his mou
th, pretending to gag himself.  I threw my wadded-
up tank top at him, “Grow up, Brennan!” He laughed and caught my tank top in mid-air.

“Later, cutie!”
Nick said as he pointed at me and waved Anya over to the shoreline. “C’mon Anya, let’s race…
To the buoy…
Go!” And he took off running. Anya was already out of her chair and running into the surf along with him.

Brennan plopped down on the chair next to me and watched as I sat, digging my feet and toes through the sand. I caught a small
glimpse of a shiny, green pebble and picked it up to inspect it more closely. “Huh. Probably just a piece of sea glass,” I said.

Brennan took the small pebble
out of my hand to look at
it more closely
. “Boy, you’ve got luck with you today, Kansas. Actually, I’m pretty sure this is a piece of an Isle Royal
e
gemstone. It’s a green stone that’s found only in Michigan….specifically right around
Isle Royale, near the
Keweenaw Peninsula
. They’re pretty rare here. B
ut
,
they drift
,
and if you pick them up from the southern shore, you can keep it
. Sometimes you can find tiny little pieces like this around these shores too.
These are extremely valuable in Fey. We don’t have them there, so they’re in the same class as diamonds and rubies…
ya
know?” He placed the tiny broken pebble back into my palm.