Water (13 page)

Sabrina led me to the waterfall that spilled timelessly from the pool above, down the side of the cave, disappearing into the inky darkness below.

“These are the bathrooms,” she explained above the roll of the water as it fell down the inside of the mountain.

I gazed at the icy water, shivering as a fine spray drifted from the waterfall and settled in tiny droplets on my skin.

I was still staring at the waterfall when the chill mist became perceptively warmer, even pleasant.

I frowned, trying to work out why the mountain water had so suddenly turned from ice-cold to pleasantly warm. As I turned to ask Sabrina, she giggled.

“The warmth?” I started asking.

“Yeah, that would be me again.”

“How…” I began.

She shrugged. “I can’t explain how, it just is something I can, and always have been able to do.”

She showed me where the women bathed and the makeshift toilet which turned out to be nothing but a type of platform over the stream.

“There isn’t much privacy,” I gulped.

Sabrina shook her head. “It’s not that bad,” she said, pulling me to the entrance of the bathroom area. From that angle it was obvious that there was no way anyone entering the bathroom could see anything.

“We have a complicated signal system.” She pointed at the cave wall. “When you require some privacy…” She ran her hands over the wall, giggling at my expression as it glowed.

“OK, so it is quite private,” I replied, smiling at her. She waited while I showered in the water, warming it enough to take the sting away.

As the water beat an uneven tattoo on my tired shoulders, I closed my eyes and faced each living nightmare I’d visited in the caves. Their suffering made me feel so terribly helpless. I’d asked Marinus and the various nurses I’d seen, what could be done for them. Their answers had been uniformly unhelpful.

The only thing that seemed to heal their wounds was the cleanest water available. Their problem was that clean water was becoming more and more scarce.

I’d asked them how they planned to remedy this. They had merely gazed at me expectantly, as if I held the answer to that question.

It felt like I’d lived ten years in the last ten hours. The morning washing dishes in the stream was a distant memory. Even the trip through the subterranean river seemed distant and almost dreamlike, as if it’d happened to a different person. The water turned cold, Sabrina’s not so subtle hint that I was taking too long in the shower. Drying myself quickly and wrapping myself in a robe she’d given me, I let her lead me back to her aven.

She chattered while she dressed me, trying to impart years’ worth of Oceanid culture and etiquette to me in the half an hour we had before I had to join them all for dinner.

I listened as intently as I could, determined to try and be what these people expected me to be, and respect them as Sabrina had asked me to. It wasn’t just what she wanted to do, I wanted to help them, I really did.If my physical presence was helping the Oceanids then I would be as physically present as possible.

Sabrina pulled out a pale turquoise blue cloth from the pile which she wound tightly around my torso, leaving my shoulders bare. The fabric floated softly over my hips to the floor, trailing behind me in a puddle of transparent blue.

She wound little plaits into my hair, pulling some of it away from my face, and tucking tiny blue and purple mountain flowers into it as she went, before draping an iridescent, gossamer-fine, deep purple veil over my hair, arranging it so that it covered most of my shoulders and framed my face.

Finally pleased with her work, she presented me with a pair of navy, moccasin-style shoes. They clung to my feet, and were as comfortable as slippers.

As we walked across the clearing towards Merrick’s aven, I smiled and practised bobbing at the one or two Oceanids that came out of the avens and walked towards the central meeting place.

Merrick appeared at the doorway to his aven, his long flared trousers matched with an open hooded cloak that clung to his broad shoulders and accentuated the ripple of muscle I could see through the opening. I pulled my eyes quickly from his perfectly sculpted torso to his face. He was smiling as he took my hand and led me towards a group of Oceanids that had formed near the fever tree. Sabrina slipped away from us, darting across the cave back to her aven to dress herself for dinner.

“I’m sorry about my behaviour earlier,” I whispered as we walked, unsure of what he thought of me after such a selfish outburst.

“Sabrina was a little hard on you earlier,” he told me as he glided across the space. “You do need to grow up,” he continued, obviously unaware of the offense his statement immediately raised in me, “but it’s unfair for her, or any of them to expect that to happen on the first day.”

Having only known him for less than a day, I was surprised by how much I was relying on him. I felt completely comfortable in his presence and nervous whenever he was away from me.

It was completely natural to hold his hand and I preferred it when he did, not least because I seemed to be that much more aware of the whispers and raised eyebrows of those around me, and that awareness gave me a sense of control, as if by knowing what the others were saying about me, could help me to change their minds a little, or at least react better.

The light in the cave was much dimmer, and I realised with a shock that the sun was going down, and I was starving.

“What time is it?” I wondered aloud as I watched some of the Oceanids placing fire-filled clay pots around the base of the tree and along the sides of the cave. A soft warm light slowly filled the cave as the blue light from the pool above faded with the setting sun.

“Around seven o clock,” he said smiling as he waved to the group of creatures talking animatedly beneath the tree, changing our direction as he did so. Despite the friendly appearance, his smile didn’t quite reach his wary eyes, and every step he took seemed to be slightly measured, as if he were scanning how each movement would position us in relation to those around us.

Sarbrina skipped across the clearing to join us, resplendent in a pearlescent robe. She took my hands in hers, briefly pulling me away from Merrick’s protective stance so that I stood beside her.

“Doesn’t she look amazing?” she asked him.

I blushed instantly, looking at my toes, as Sabrina skipped off to catch another Oceanid she wanted to introduce me to.

Merrick stepped closer to me and lifted my chin with his fingers. “You do look very beautiful tonight, Alexandra,” he told me, his smile not quite cooling the fire in his eyes as they skimmed my face and then took in the rest of me. “You need to act the part I’m afraid, and that means you may not look at your toes.” He grinned again. “There are some Oceanids I think you’ll enjoy meeting,” he said, offering me his arm.

We circled the tree as he pointed out different groupings of Oceanids. The Merrow were the easiest to spot, their diminutive size and fiery conversations, often accompanied by spontaneous dancing, both amusing and very foreign.

Merrick next pointed out the Mami-Wata. Their skin was a deep rich copper brown marred, or perhaps it was decorated, by scarring on all of the exposed surfaces. Their hair was drawn aggressively away from their faces, which were dominated with high cheekbones and large very dark eyes. They followed my every movement as we circled the tree, their expressions blank and unreadable.

“Alexandra,” Talita interrupted us, “I’d like you to meet Undine.”

Undine bobbed in greeting, smiling impishly at me.

“I thought you might like to meet the Oceanid who’s been responsible for your dreams for the past three years,” Talita quipped brightly.

My jaw dropped at her casual statement.

“Excuse me… what?”

Undine smiled politely, looking uncertainly at Merrick and Talita.

Merrick squeezed my hand gently, pulling me a little closer to his side.

“When you first breathed underwater, we expected your father to tell you who you really were,” Talita explained.

“But I… I’ve never breathed underwater.”

She smiled at me. “You were underwater for five minutes, Alexandra, humans, and especially untrained fourteen-year-old humans, can’t stay underwater that long without drowning.”

“You’re talking about the day Brent…” My voice trailed off as the nightmare pushed its way rudely into my waking hours again. This time though the focus was different. Brent was there but more as a backdrop to
my
experience. Just before he floated above me spread-eagled and wide-eyed in death, I remembered breathing in and out and in again.

I blinked, staring at Undine’s delicate hand as it rested on my arm.

“That’s what I’ve been trying to get through to you all of these years,” she whispered, her oval, golden face full of compassion. “I am so sorry your dreams have been so awful for such a long time, but I couldn’t just introduce weird and wonderful dreams of you swimming with mermaids.”

“Why not?” I asked, still feeling bewildered.

“The mind doesn’t work like that,” she replied. “If I’d given you those types of dreams, you would never have remembered them. They are too surreal and your mind immediately dismisses them as pure fantasy.”

“We needed you to discover your true identity,” Talita continued, “and at that point the best way to do that was through the dreams. Undine latched onto the event where you breathed and tried,” she smiled at the little Oceanid, “to get you to remember that part of the dream.”

“Unfortunately, because it was linked to Brent’s death, that was all you remembered.”

“So you mean to tell me, you’ve been sending me nightmares for three years?” I asked, my voice rising a bit at the end as the anguish I’d had to endure soured into rage.

Merrick squeezed my hand again. I wrenched it away from him, balling my hands into fists at my sides.

“I lived every nightmare with you,” Undine whispered, reaching out slowly and grasping one of my hands with both of hers, her eyes filling with tears as she looked into mine. “I was there through all of it, trying with all my might to focus your mind on what was important. You are incredibly strong, Alexandra, and even the beautiful dream I gave you at Sabine’s pool, your mind twisted into a nightmare.”

“Why?” I asked.

“You don’t like being intruded on,” she said, smiling and dropping my hand. “Even in your dreams your mind fought for privacy, refusing to let me influence you for long. I was only able to introduce the dream to you for a few short moments, and then it was snatched from me, and there was no way I could get it back.” She shook her head and smiled at me, admiration shining in her eyes. “No one will ever be able to direct and control you, and that is a great advantage for one with such an important role to play.”

“That, I think is enough for one evening,” Talita said quietly into the incredulous silence that followed Undine’s revelation.

Sabrina stepped forward, whispering into Talita’s ear. Talita pulled away from her and looked at me, her face a picture of almost comical astonishment.

“Have you tested it on anyone else?” she asked Sabrina.

Sabrina shook her head, leaning in to explain further.

“Let’s eat first and then we will make the formal introductions and reveal this information to the group.,” Talita decided, and moved away to the centre of the circle that was forming, greeting Oceanids as she went.

Undine drifted off as well, joining a group of Oceanids with the same impish features as she had.

When we were alone again, Merrick pulled me closer to his side and murmured, “Talita will introduce you after dinner tonight. She wants to show the ability Sabrina thinks you have.”

I gulped at the idea of being the centre of attention.

He traced little circles into the palm of my hand with his thumb as he reassured me. “Don’t worry, I’ll be right there with you all of the time, you’ll do fine.”

I was distracted from the prospect of my upcoming public introduction by Luke’s familiar laugh as it drifted up from the centre of a knot of creatures Sabrina had just come from. He seemed completely at ease as one particular girl flirted and laughed with him, bantering with some of the other Oceanids around him.

Merrick led me to the edge of the moss and sat cross-legged on the lichen-covered floor. Josh appeared, talking animatedly to the female creature with auburn curls I’d seen earlier. She moved like the grass in the breeze, constantly touching Josh’s arm, shoulder or elbow. He had eyes only for her as they sat a few paces from us.

Luke separated himself from the group of Oceanids he’d been ensconced with and drifted toward Merrick and me, his fingers entwined in his girl’s grasp.

I examined her critically as they moved across the clearing. Her huge blue eyes, alight with dark mischief, were the dominant feature in her exquisitely proportioned face, which was framed by perfect silky locks that tumbled over bare shoulders.

She was dressed in a dark purple outfit that clung to every perfect curve but only very briefly, before ending abruptly mid-thigh. Her deific beauty was, however, veiled by the unease I felt emanating from her, so that she seemed to grow more unattractive with time.

A full circle of Oceanids formed around the tree. Their furtive glances and in some cases, open stares left made me uncomfortable.

“Have I done something to offend them?” I muttered to Merrick, tilting my head in the direction of the clearly gossiping creatures.

He shook his head. “No, but they are very curious about you.”

Merrick leaned back on an elbow, shielding me from those next to him with his body. Sabrina had come to sit on the other side of me, her knee brushing mine as we sat cross-legged.

I was surprised and pleased by the determined friendship she had struck up with me, making what seemed like a genuine effort to get to know me. It was the first time in my life that I’d found another girl I could really talk to.

More creatures appeared, each carrying a dish of delicately fragrant food which they set in front of each person in the circle.