Atlantis Tide Breaker, page 2
He leaned against the porch rail avoiding my gaze. “Maris is fine.” His chin tightened.
A lie.
I wished I could’ve read his facial expressions this summer. I would’ve recognized he wasn’t interested in me. But I’d been too infatuated.
Don’t go there.
“And her half-sisters?” I tried to keep the snarl of jealousy and insecurity out of my tone. Since finding her half-sisters, Maris had been less available and less open about her life.
“Fine, too. They three of them have grown close.”
The jealousy-on-ice melted, warmed by resentment of Maris’s new sisters. In the past Maris had told me everything. I was one of the first she’d told about her breathing underwater ability.
“When is Maris coming home?” Obviously, not in time for school to start tomorrow.
“Atlantis is her home.”
The betrayal hit me like a dodge ball thrown by a football player. Maris had never said she’d be gone for good. Her parents were here. I was here. She had to be coming back. Once the danger was past, once the war was under control, she’d be home.
Hating being kept in the dark, I spewed. “I’ve seen the storms over the ocean. The rogue waves. What’s going on in that underwater world of yours?”
“Nothing.”
“I know about the war.” Did Gill not understand that I knew what he was?
On her last visit Maris had told me about the increasing sabotage and battles. About Atlanteans switching sides. About betrayals and death.
“She shouldn’t have told you anything. The less you know the better.”
The anger boiled and churned. Sharp pains creased and cramped my gut. “Why? Because I’m not an Atlantean? Because I might spill your precious secrets?”
The lines on Gill’s face firmed. He took a step forward. He reached out his hand as if to touch me, but then let it drop. His face struggled to hold a blank expression. “Tori…I can’t tell you.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
Shaking his head, he took a step back and turned away. His retreat felt like an army of soldiers treading on my soul.
“You might not care about me, but I know Maris does. I need to know that’s she’s going to be okay.” I hated the pleading tone in my voice.
The strong muscles on his back tensed. “Cuda will take care of her.”
“I know he will.” I let my head flop against the back of the chair. Demands and threats weren’t working. “Please tell me what’s happening with the war?”
“Things are going…well.” Turning, Gill faced me again. His green eyes appeared sharp, confident, but there was a glimmer of…something.
I had to get information while he was here. Use him like he used me. “Have the three princesses of Atlantis made any progress at a cease-fire?”
“Yes.” His chin tightened again.
“You’re lying.”
He yanked on my arm pulling me to a standing position. Our bodies matched in all the right places. Thigh to thigh. Chest to chest. Mouth to mouth.
Heat and his ocean-fresh scent emanated off his skin. I inhaled deeply remembering times before when we’d been this close. When we’d been closer.
Tingles exploded across my body like electrical circuits misfiring. Neuron after neuron heated. My heart stopped and then re-started in a frenzied beat. My mind swirled forgetting our past and our non-future. Forgetting even our current conversation. Only thinking about the now.
His hand gripped my chin. His lips moved closer. Closer.
I inhaled a much-needed breath. I felt like I was drowning. My lungs burned. My body floated.
His lips barely touched mine. “Yes. I am lying. About everything.”
Chapter Two
First Day Frenzy
Lied.
Again.
About everything?
Gill’s admission infiltrated my brain. What did he mean about everything?
About his version of the events under the ocean or between us? About his kisses this past summer or about this kiss now?
His mouth tempted. I wanted to kiss him. I’d missed him so much. Missed his smile and his touch. Missed his kisses.
But I couldn’t let him take advantage of me.
Whoa. I placed my hand on his chest and pushed. Anger that he’d tried to trick me gave force to my shove. “What did you lie about exactly?”
His eyelids flew open. The soft expression on his face froze like dry ice. His eyes circled like one of the tropical fish he use to tell me about.
“What?” Was he dazed from our almost-kiss or trying to figure out another lie?
“You can’t just tell me you lied and then kiss me.” My temper exploded in words. I refused to let his touch sway me again. “I’m not a child. A kiss doesn’t make everything better.”
He backed away. “I’ve already said too much.”
“You haven’t said nearly enough.” I took a step toward him.
He blanched, his skin turning white underneath the light line of freckles crossing his nose. He turned, jumped over the railing, and fled.
Too fast to follow.
I’d waited hours for him to head back to Maris’s house. He’d never shown. The thought of searching for the object crossed my mind several times, but I didn’t know what Gill looked for. And Maris hadn’t asked me to help.
That fact soured in my stomach. Friends helped friends. Did this mean she didn’t consider me a friend anymore?
***
Gripping the marker tightly in my hand, I organized my planner and folders in my room that night. I wrote subject headings like Calculus and Physics while my thoughts drifted back to the scene with Gill, and to Maris.
I glanced across the backyards to Maris’s bedroom window. I still couldn’t believe we wouldn’t walk into Ocean View High School together. That we wouldn’t sit at lunch together or go to swim practice together.
My eyes burned, but I wouldn’t cry. I wouldn’t give in to my sadness. I had to be strong. Besides I didn’t want red, puffy eyes for the first day of school.
I’d changed a lot since middle school. I went from being a weak nerd to a popular fashionista. Learned how to blend in, to dress like the other kids, talk like them, even flirt like them. I protected the real me with this glammed-out girl.
I had a lot of surface friends, but only Maris knew the real me. And the glimpse I’d shown Gill right before he’d left this summer.
Pain from his rejection stung again like a returning rash. A rejection of the real me. I picked up the extra set of house keys off the floor and tossed them across the room. The keys hit the wall making marks in the blue paint and then clattered to the floor.
I slapped my forehead. “I left the back door unlocked.”
The cop had watched me lock the front door, but he didn’t know I’d gone in the back. For being a genius, I could be forgetful.
“Ugh.” I scooped up the keys and headed outside in the dark of night.
Marching over to Maris’s house, I thought about how Gill avoided telling me what item he searched for. I thought about his lies.
The ache of anger and the burn of curiosity caused a daring chemical reaction inside me. Instead of locking the backdoor, I went inside the house. Repeating my motions from earlier in the day, I tiptoed up the stairs and into the attic.
I paused at the doorway. In the center of the cluttered room, sitting in front of a trunk on the floor, was Gill. He sat cross-legged, his shoulders hunched forward, his muscles rippling. My heart fluttered remembering our last encounter. Our almost-kiss.
Then, I stiffened my back and pulled up my chin, ignoring my heart. I couldn’t be swayed by him again. I forced my insides to harden and my skin to toughen.
I jutted out my hip in a strong-girl stance. “Find what you’re looking for?”
“You shouldn’t be here.” Gill didn’t turn around or act surprised at my visit. He continued to study the large nautilus in his lap like a scientist puzzling out a question.
Shaking the keys, I moved further into the room. “I’ve got keys. You don’t.”
“I’ve got permission.”
“Says who?”
“Princess Maris.”
“She’s my bestie.” I tossed the words out with confidence, but inside I trembled. She hadn’t told me about Gill’s mission. BFF’s tell each other everything. What if Maris wasn’t my BFF anymore? With the uncertainty came pain. Pain that I’d lost the special relationship I’d always had with Maris. “You admitted you lied. I can’t believe anything you say.”
He raised his bare muscular shoulders and dropped them in a heavy shrug. “Don’t care.”
Meaning he didn’t care about me. Never had. Never will.
Fisting my hands, I tried to control the slash of hurt and anger inside. My nails dug into my palms. I’m surprised I didn’t draw blood.
I studied each of his slight movements for a sign. “You should care.” About me. “I could call the cops again. Have you arrested for trespassing.”
“You protected me this afternoon.” He turned the shell around in his hands, studying the surface like it held secrets. Crinkle lines appeared around his eyes making him even cuter.
“Doesn’t mean I’ll protect you again.” I sat down beside him. I didn’t want to get him in trouble. I wanted to help him. No, I wanted to help Maris. Maybe then she’d return to Mermaid Beach. “Is the nautilus what Maris wanted you to retrieve?”
He paused in his examination of the shell. Turning his head, his deep gaze penetrated mine. The connection I thought we’d had last summer seemed to still be there. But now I knew the connection was one-sided. A pang vibrated in my heart and echoed in my chest. I shut those thoughts and emotions off.
This wasn’t about last summer. It was about now.
He stared for several long seconds as if trying to decide if I was trustworthy.
Sharp prickles slithered up my back. He had no reason not to trust me. While I had a gazillion reasons not to trust him. Or like him.
Although he’d been a loyal Atlantean to Maris. That had to count for something. She’d sent him here on this mission.
I stared back, not breaking contact, willing him to trust.
“Yes. The nautilus is what Maris asked me to retrieve.”
“Why?” I knew the chambered nautilus told the legend of the three lost princesses of Atlantis. Maris’s legend.
“She said it held a key.” He raised the nautilus and shook it with the wide-open end facing down. “But there’s no key inside.”
“A key to what?”
“I don’t know.” He ran his fingers through his thick hair making it stand up even more. “Maris just said the key was important to the war efforts.”
I wanted to smooth my fingers through his messy strands, calming the hair and Gill. Fisting my hands, I fought the urge and forced my animosity to return. With Gill my emotional scale was unbalanced and off calibration. “Can I see?”
He held the shell in his hand. His mouth pinched in concentration as if deciding his options. Holding his hand out, he gave me the shell.
The nautilus weighed a couple of pounds. I ran my palm across the outside of the smooth shell. The chambered ridges arranged themselves in a precise Golden Mean spiral represented by the Greek letter phi—one of those mysterious natural numbers.
Maris had told me that the shell had physically talked to her like a recording. Is that what she meant by a key? The nautilus didn’t say a word to me.
I lifted the shell higher and peered inside. Scratchy lines marred the smooth mother-of-pearl inner surface. The lines had not been made by any sea creature. They’d been etched in. Like a secret code or a…
“Cipher.” The single word slipped out and I bit my tongue.
“What?”
Too late for the faux feeble mind act now. I’d shown Gill a glimpse of the real me the night before he’d left, as opposed to the moron-me I acted most of the summer. If being smart would help Maris, I’d take the chance.
“It’s a cipher. A system of writing in which units of plain text or symbols are substituted according to a written key.”
In slow motion his mouth dropped open. His eyes glazed over as if he was shocked.
Inside, I cringed. He didn’t need the scientific details. Didn’t need to know that my mind retained facts like a sponge. That in fact, I had a photographic memory.
The slight lines around his eyes creased deeper. His head tilted in confusion. “You sound like a dictionary.”
The taunt dug deep into my psyche making me feel like a twelve-year-old again. Inside I shrank to the size and appearance of my pre-teen self. The funny glasses. The ugly haircut. The braces and pimples.
No one had called me dictionary since middle school. Not since I changed my image, became a fashionista and acted like my I.Q. was the same as my shoe size.
Back then, the taunts made me run and hide. Now, my blood boosted like Atomic mass heating and bubbling and overflowing. The heat ignited setting off a flash fire inside of me.
My eyes narrowed. My nostrils flared. I wanted to paw the ground like a bull seeing red.
“If you don’t shut up,” I spit out the words between tight lips.
The angle of his head straightened. He pulled his chin in. Astonished, and maybe a little afraid.
I refused to stand by and take the insults. “I’ll slam you closed like I would the Oxford English.”
***
I screeched the brakes on my red convertible and threw the car into park. Between the first day jitters and Gill’s return in my life, I hadn’t been able to sleep.
The full parking lot attested that others were nervous and excited, too. I closed the top on my convertible in case the threatening clouds burst. Then, I checked my hair in the rear view mirror, grabbed my backpack and purse, and got out of the car.
“Tori, you look so lonely without your shadow.” Ashtyn Parker stopped at my car, pushing her long brown locks out of her face. “Who’s going to ride with you now that Maris is gone?”
“What’re you talking about?” I clicked the key fob. If Ashtyn and her group of hangers-on possessed even an ounce of intelligence they’d not try to mess with my mind.
“You haven’t heard?” Ashtyn put a fake-surprised expression on her face. “Maris withdrew from school.”
“That’s totally ridic.” I sounded all bravado but double-sized doubts wormed their way into my stomach.
I knew she wasn’t here today, and probably not tomorrow either. Maybe not even next week. But she had to finish high school.
Of course, now that she was a princess maybe getting her degree and going to college didn’t matter anymore. She didn’t have to have a career like us mere mortals.
“That’s what the principal said.”
Panic jolted my core. Everything I’d once known and understood had changed. Maybe Ashtyn did know something I didn’t.
“Whatevs.” I blew her off. Showing Ashtyn my shock was like drawing a target on my back. She’d never stop aiming digs at me.
And Maris wouldn’t be here to deflect her poison arrows.
Maris knew which digs would wound me deeply and which ones I could laugh off. Once my metamorphosis from geek to glammed-out girl had been completed, I’d shown no other friends the real me. Kept my true self locked away from all the Pops who called me friend. I’d learned quickly freshman year that image is everything and people liked my image, not the real me inside.
Ashtyn and her peeps were in a different category. They weren’t surface friends, they only acted like buds. I knew they disliked me. Knew they’d love to see me off the swim team.
Between Maris’s absence and Ashtyn’s shots, I already felt bullet-ridden. Empty holes popped inside of me like a test tube rack waiting to be filled. Would Maris drop out of school and not tell me?
She’d probably told her two sisters. The chemical equation of insecurity plus resentment set my fuse. When she’d visited she’d talked about how ‘Pearl did this’ and ‘Coral did that.’ How together they’d worked out a plan to rule Atlantis. How the three of them, plus their boyfriends, had formed a secret society.
Maris didn’t need me for a best friend. She didn’t think to tell me she’d dropped out of school. Had she completely abandoned me?
My fuse burned. The heat flamed and flared. I tried to act cool. To not react. I couldn’t show Ashtyn weakness. Not now. Not ever.
I turned to walk toward school. Alone. A single drop of rain hit my cheek. The flame fizzled. Smothered by hurt.
By not being here Maris had ruined the first day of school. Possibly ruined the rest of high school.
“Tori’s bestie is gone.” Ashtyn giggled as she strolled behind me. “Who will she sit with at lunch? Who will she convince to try new things? Who will now take the first place position on the swim team?”
That spelled out the root of Ashtyn’s problem with me. She’d expected to be the fastest swimmer on the school’s team. Until Maris and I tried out freshman year.
Maris had blown us all out of the water, literally because her grandfather is Poseidon—not that she’d known that at the time. I’d come in a distant second place, and Ashtyn had come in third. The results had been almost identical for the rest of our races.
If Ashtyn thought Maris was gone, she’d be extra nasty to upset my self-esteem, to ruin my concentration, to throw me off my pace.
But it wasn’t an unimportant swimming competition that had my head reeling and my tummy churning. It was the fact that I might’ve lost my best friend.
I trudged into school. I had to remember that Maris was dealing with bigger problems than the ones I had in high school. She had a lot of things going on. So, what if we weren’t as close. We were still besties, right?
After the fourth time of fiddling with my new locker combination, I pounded on the metal door. Frustration ticked like a clock during finals. A simple task and I couldn’t accomplish it. Nothing was going right today.
“Need help?”
I raised my head to stare at the girl who’d asked the question. She wore leather boots that went to her knees. Daisy Dukes with the inside pockets hung below the frayed edges leading to long, deeply-tanned legs. She wore a stylish white tank top with a long black vest.
