Awaken (5 page)

“I bet they headed for Santa Lucina the
moment they realized you were gone,” Baylie said as if reading my
mind, and the expression on her face made her opinion of the idea
clear.

“You’re not serious,” Noah replied.

“Oh yeah, I am,” Baylie told him.

His brow furrowed as he processed the
information. On the white couch, I shifted uncomfortably, feeling
like a freak by association.

“Listen, can we get out of here?” I asked.
“Maybe go for a walk or something?”

Noah gave Baylie a concerned look.

“I’m fine,” I insisted to them both. “I was
probably just dehydrated from the saltwater or something. But I’d
really like to see more of this place before they get here.”

A moment passed.

“Please?”

“The park is pretty nice,” Baylie offered, a
touch reluctantly.

Noah sighed.

“Great,” I said, rising.

My legs wobbled and I froze. Noah stood
quickly, grabbing my elbow to stabilize me.

“Maybe you shouldn’t–”

“I’m fine,” I told him. Drawing a breath, I
straightened and the shaky feeling in my legs faded. I took a step
away from the couch. “See?”

He didn’t look convinced, but he let my arm
go.

Baylie hopped down from the chair and I
followed her from the room with Noah a few steps behind. Diane and
Peter were about as reluctant as their son for me to leave the
house so soon after my lovely display in the kitchen, but finally
they agreed. Together with Daisy, the three of us headed out.

As it turned out, the park Baylie mentioned
lay at the base of a gentle slope beyond the thick wall of bushes
that surrounded the Delaneys’ house, which meant we didn’t have
very far to walk at all. I tried not to be disappointed – if I’d
had my way, we’d have been on the other side of town, or maybe in
the next county or state by the time my parents showed up. But the
breeze off the ocean was soothing, and the grassy area near the
beach gave Daisy plenty of space to run.

Sitting down on a bench close to the sandy
shoreline, I attempted not to fidget too uncomfortably as Noah
joined me. The smoothie I’d purchased from one of the carts along
the promenade sweated in my hand and slowly froze my fingers.
Several yards away, Baylie kept an eye on Daisy, and tossed her a
branch we’d picked up as we walked along.

“So,” Noah began.

I watched him from the corner of my eye.

“Pretty crazy, that stuff on the boat,” he
continued.

I looked down, embarrassed. “Thank you for…
you know.”

He shrugged. “No problem.”

Daisy ran toward a group of birds beneath a
palm tree a hundred yards away. Yelling at her, Baylie
followed.

“So you really didn’t tell anyone you were
coming here?”

I grimaced, looking away.

“Sorry,” he said. “I just… that’s pretty
crazy too.”

“It’s normal,” I replied.

My tone sounded defensive, and my response
was too fast, and I could tell he heard it.

“Going to visit the ocean,” I explained,
trying to keep my voice calm. “It’s normal to just take a vacation.
They’re the ones who’re crazy.”

He paused. “They really hate
water
?
Like, that’s why they didn’t want you to come?”

I nodded.

He thought for a moment. “They’re the ones
who don’t feel the same way you do about the ocean,” he said, as
though filling in a blank. “That’s who you were thinking of last
night.”

I hesitated and then nodded again.

His brow shrugged in amazement.

I looked back at the water. Waves rolled
toward the shore from a horizon that was nothing but shades of
beautiful blue.

“They’re missing out on so much,” I
whispered, watching the tide.

I realized I’d spoken the thought aloud, and
I glanced to him hesitantly.

He had that look in his eyes again. Like he
understood.

“Yeah,” he agreed.

I drew a breath, some of the tension leaking
out of me.

“So… what happened?” he asked carefully. “To
make them like that, I mean. Did somebody in your family drown or
something?”

“No. I don’t know what their deal is.” I
paused, working to adopt a lighter tone. “I mean, I
do
have
an uncle who thinks he’s related to the seahorses at the Mall of
America aquarium. But he also thinks he’s Napoleon, so that’s
probably not it.”

Noah blinked. I watched him, hoping he’d find
it funny and not just wonder if the insanity was genetic.

“You’re joking,” he said.

I shook my head.

He paused.

“They’re just nuts,” I said more seriously.
“Protective, but on steroids. They wouldn’t let me take P.E. at
school, do sports, any of it. But water… that’s their big thing.” I
shrugged. “I don’t know why.”

He was silent for a moment. “Must’ve been
hard growing up with them.”

I tried not to grimace. I hadn’t intended to
sound like a victim. They were probably certifiable, it was true.
If it hadn’t been for Baylie and her family continually giving me a
place where I could hide from the crazy, God knew what I would’ve
ended up like. But that didn’t mean I wanted pity.

Especially
not his.

“They’re nuts,” I acknowledged. “But you have
to keep it in perspective. I mean, I’m not. Baylie’s not. I’m
fairly certain you and most of the rest of the world aren’t…”

I gave him a hopeful grin.

Noah hesitated, his lip twitching. “Last time
I checked. I’m not sure about the rest of the world, though.”

My grin broadened. “Regardless, it’s still
perspective.”

He gave a slow nod, and then turned back to
the water. A heartbeat passed.

“You’re amazing, you know,” he said
quietly.

My grin faltered, and a blush raced up my
neck. I dropped my gaze to the smoothie melting in my hand. “I-I’m
not–”

He looked back to me. “Really.”

I swallowed. My face could probably have
masqueraded as a stoplight for how red it felt. “Thanks,” I
managed, returning my gaze to the smoothie. “You, um… you too.”

He paused.

“Hey,” Baylie called, jogging up to us. “You
guys want to head toward the pier? Daisy’s done about all the
damage she can to the heart rates of the bird population here.”

“Yeah, sure,” Noah said, and to my ears, his
voice sounded a bit tight.

Though it might have just been my
imagination.

He took a breath and pushed to his feet. I
followed, glancing back to see Daisy racing off after another
seagull that had foolishly landed in a hundred-yard proximity.

The boy from the ocean stood at the edge of
the park.

I froze. In the early afternoon light, his
black hair glistened. Slender, but in the way a steel cable was
slender, he was paused with one hand resting on the trunk of a palm
tree.

And his eyes were locked right on me.

“Chloe?” Noah said.

Gasping, I glanced to him and Baylie. “Do you
see–”

The boy was gone when I looked back.

My gaze darted around the park, landing on
tourists and volleyball players and people in rollerblades and not
finding him anywhere.

But I’d seen him. I had.

Or else I’d been
really
hasty in
telling Noah I wasn’t insane.

“Chloe?” Noah tried again. “What is it?”

My heart pounding, I looked back at him.
“Sorry, I, um… nothing. Just thought I saw someone.”

I plastered a grin on my face, though I could
feel how tense it was, and I was fairly certain he could see it
too.

“Okay,” he allowed. He gave Baylie a small
glance, and then continued to me, “The pier sound alright to
you?”

“Sure.”

The grin was going to crack. I started
walking, my gaze twitching to the place where the boy had been
standing.

No one was there.

Noah’s cell phone buzzed.

I nearly jumped out of my skin.

Noah stared at me as I turned back. “Are you
okay?” he pressed.

Still clinging to my swiftly fracturing grin,
I nodded.

His phone buzzed again. He didn’t take his
eyes off me as he pulled it from his pocket.

“Yeah?” he answered. A moment passed, and
when he spoke again, disbelief filled his voice. “Already?”

My heart sank.

“Okay,” he sighed. “Be there soon.”

He returned the phone to his pocket.

“They’re here,” I said.

“Just pulled up.”

I looked away.

“I’m sorry, Chloe,” Baylie said.

I nodded.

Noah glanced to Baylie. Reluctantly, they
started back toward the house, bringing Daisy in tow. Closing my
eyes, I took a breath and then followed.

Mom and Dad’s green sedan was parked out
front when we arrived.

I paused at the edge of the driveway,
half-expecting them to be in their vehicle ready to go. But nothing
moved behind the smoked windows and after a moment, I drew a
steadying breath, making myself head inside.

The silence was worse than anything, like the
calm before the storm that tears your house down. By the door, my
backpack was already waiting. As I walked to the kitchen, I found
Mom and Dad sitting on barstools next to the island, stiff as
sculptures with glasses of ice tea untouched beside them. By the
counter, Diane and Peter looked past me to Noah and Baylie, and I
could see the displeasure with them both beneath their polite
expressions.

“Well, thank you for your hospitality,” my
dad said, his voice tight as he rose to his feet. “But we’d better
be going.”

Mom gave them a pinched smile as she followed
my dad across the room. “Come on,” she told me as she walked
past.

I looked between everyone. “They…” I started,
and then trailed off. I didn’t even know what my parents had said
to the Delaneys.

“Chloe,” Dad called.

“Whatever they told you,” I pressed on, “it’s
not Noah or Baylie’s fault.”

Glancing to Noah, I tried for a smile, and
then trailed my parents to the door. Hefting my backpack, Dad put
it in my arms and then nodded toward the car.

I went. Reaching their sedan, I swung my bag
onto the seat and then reluctantly climbed in. Dad shut the door
behind me and then joined my mom in the front. The sedan quivered
as he turned it on, and gravity pushed me back as he accelerated
away. Ignoring the speed, my mother drew a tight breath as she
tucked a lock of her wavy brown hair behind her ear.

And neither of them said a word.

I sighed, looking back toward the horizon
through the smoked windows. Sunlight glistened on the waves and
seagulls flew in lazy arcs through the sky. Boats cut myriad lines
through the blue expanse, and behind several of them,
bright-colored water-skiers skimmed along. Even through the haze of
the darkened windows, it was still a beautiful day.

And I’d be back to see more of them.

Clinging to the thought, I kept watching the
water till the car turned again and the ocean view was obscured by
bushes and trees. Following a twisting path through town, Dad
steered the car toward the state highway, his every motion tense
and angry.

And then he turned north.

My brow furrowed.

Continuing on, he traced the highway for a
few miles and then took an exit to another state road leading even
more sharply north.

I turned around, looking through the rear
window.

Surely not.

I restrained an incredulous scoff. They
weren’t going back the way Baylie and I came. And the only reason I
could think of was that the main road ran along the water and,
owing to the curve of the coastline, these roads led directly away
from it.

Wow. Just… wow.

“What were you
thinking
, Chloe?” my
mother hissed, her voice barely audible over the road noise.

I glanced to her. She twisted around in her
seat, pinning me with a furious glare.

“We heard about your little boat trip,” she
told me.

“I’m fine.”

She scoffed, the sound nearly what I’d kept
myself from making a few moments before.

But that’s family for you. Get angry the same
way.

“No thanks to your own foolishness,” she
retorted. “You’re just lucky the Coast Guard pulled you out when
they did.”

I turned to the window.

“You look at me when I’m talking to you,
young lady.”

I ignored her.

“Chloe Marie Kowalski!”

“Listen to your mother, Chloe,” Dad ordered.
“You have no idea how lucky you are. There are bacteria in
seawater. Dangerous animals too. Killer sharks. Sting rays–”

I wasn’t able to hold back the scoff this
time.

“You could have died!” Mom snapped.

I gave her an incredulous look.

Her glare deepened. “It’s dangerous out
there, Chloe. There are diseases, and rabid animals, and crazy
people. The world isn’t one big playground for you to go tromping
around in, young lady, and I just hope you learn that before it
hurts you.”

I turned away with a groan.

“You’re grounded,” she said.

“Figured.”

“Till Christmas.”

My eyebrows climbed as I looked back to her.
“
Huh
?”

“You heard me.”

“You are
not
serious.”

“Oh, yes I am. Your father and I discussed
this on the two-day drive you made us take to get out here.”

“I didn’t
make
you–”

“We told you no about this trip, and you came
anyway. What were we supposed to do?”

“Let me! It was just a short–”

“No. It was you being obstinate, and that
ends now. We know what’s best, Chloe. You need to learn to obey us
on these things.”

I glared at her, my skin crawling at the
word. Obey. They loved that one.

“Also,” Dad added. “We’re moving.”

My glare faltered as my jaw dropped. “Wait…
what
?”

“Moving,” my mom repeated. “Baylie has
obviously been a bad influence on you. Her whole family, for that
matter. We think it would be better if we didn’t live next to them
any longer.”