When my parents are out dealing with Council stuff, I look in their cave, but I find nothing. It’s empty, as are all of our caves. We don’t have personal items or beds the way they do up on land. We have nothing but the water around us.
I check the cave each day they’re out, thinking I’m missing something. I check other places around the colony too, but there are so many places it could be. So many rocks it could be under, or even just buried in the sand. He could have gone miles just to keep it away from me. It’s not like he has a mattress to hide it under or a box to lock it in.
I’ve searched so many times for this damn amulet, but I’m feeling discouraged now. He doesn’t want me to have it, and because of that, I don’t think I’ll get it.
My parents’ cave is just like all the others. Large enough to fit two kraken. I’ve checked every crevice, every jagged rock that looked like it didn’t belong.
Nothing.
So, I do what I always do—I give up.
I’m rounding the corner of rock when I nearly bump into someone and nearly jump out of my skin.
Mother.
I can see the confusion in the way she shifts to look at where I was coming from, and it’s clear she can sense my guilt by the way I reacted.
I don’t know what she’s doing here. We don’t have clocks, but I know it hasn’t been long enough for her to put in a full day, like she always does.
I move to go around her, but she puts an arm out, stopping me. Dread hits me. This is it. This is my last chance. She’s going to tell my father, and he’s going to tell everyone and they’re going to vote to kill me.
But her touch is gentle. When she urges me away, it isn’t with a rough grip. Hope blooms inside me as we move in the opposite direction of where my father should be. We go past her cave and a few others before she stops, her arm sliding down to mine and holding it. She holds it in a way that makes me feel warm inside. In a way you’d think a mother should hold her child. In a way I saw them do on land.
She moves to the large wall and sticks an arm into a hole that seems to go on forever. When she pulls it out, the amulet is in her grasp.
I don’t understand…
She offers it to me, but I hesitate to take it. She urges it forward, putting another arm on me in a gentle way.
I don’t know what this means. I don’t know what is going to happen. But I have to take it.
I have to. I can’t stay here. I need to be with Leif.
So, I do what no kraken has ever done. I wrap her in all of my arms, as best I can. A hug. Something that has her flinching because she doesn’t understand, but maybe she will, some day. I hold on for a long time.
When I pull away, I take the amulet and shoot up toward the surface.
I’ve never swam so fast in my life, and when the water starts to lighten, the surface right there, I pause and stare at the amulet. I can’t be sure it’ll work. I could go out there like this, but that would be… just more than I’m willing to deal with right now. Who knows how the humans would react? I can’t cause panic or chaos. I need this amulet to work.
I take a metaphorical deep breath, let it out, then press the amulet to my chest.
My skin tingles, and then I feel it.
The shift.
Happiness fills every ounce of my being, even in this giant body. I swim to the top before the shift is even complete, breaking the surface and sucking in the fresh air. Warmth. Salt. Humans. Okay, maybe not humans from this far off, but in my head, I can definitely smell them.
The coast is a couple of miles, but it won’t take me long to get there. So I go, and before I know it, my feet are sinking into the sand. I’m up to my waist before I realize I have a big problem.
I’m naked, and I have nothing to wear.
“Hey, you’re Aliko Anson!”
I glance to my right and see someone lying on a surfboard. Human. Early twenties.
“That’s me,” I say with a grin.
“Holy shit, man. I didn’t think I’d see you like this.” He laughs. “Wow, no one is ever going to believe this happened.”
