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“Stop apologising.” I cupped her cheek again, tracing the strike I’d given. A strike I’d delivered with my casted hand that was wrapped in hard plaster and struck like a rock. “I’m the one who should be apologising. I’m unbelievably sorry, Nerida. I didn’t know it was you. I...” I swallowed again, still in the fear-space of the night when everything changed. “I was dreaming and...”
“It wasn’t a dream.” She shifted away from me, nursing her cheek before jiggling her jaw and dropping her hands. “It was a nightmare.”
I sniffed and looked away.
Even now, even with her sun-streaked hair and heart-stopping blue eyes, I still saw Melike. Saw her glossy dark hair and terror that broke me because she was far too young to know such emotion.
“You’re right,” I murmured. “It wasn’t a good dream. But that’s no excuse to hurt you. I just...” I sighed and plucked at my cast. “Don’t touch me if I’m asleep, alright? Poke me with a stick or something.”
She half-smiled. “How about with a harpoon?”
“That will work.” I forced myself to grin. “With the pointy end.”
“Definitely with the pointy end.” Her half smile bloomed into a soft laugh. “Anyway, the pain is going. You only really grazed me. I have pretty good reflexes.”
“I’m glad. But you should probably put some ice on it.”
“Nah, no time.” She smoothed down her dress, this one with jellyfish all over it. “You’re awake now. Dad said you have twenty minutes to get ready. He’s left a spare toothbrush in the guest bathroom and a plastic bag for your cast. Do you need help unstrapping your moon boot?”
Shifting, I slowly stood and offered her my good hand.
Looking at it once, she pursed her lips and slipped her fingers silently through mine.
The faintest tingle between us made our silence seem painfully sharp as I wordlessly pulled her to her feet and severed our connection. “Moon boot?”
“That.” She pointed at the plastic contraption protecting my ankle. “We call it a moon boot.”
“I’m fine. I don’t need help.”
“Even undressing?”
“Definitely not undressing.”
Her cheeks pinked. “Just offering.”
“And I appreciate you looking after me, but at no point will I ever accept such an offer.”
Her eyes flared. “Never?”
My stomach twisted. The way she asked that question hinted things weren’t as simple as I wanted to believe between us. Balling my hands, I cooled my tone. “Never.”
Her lips turned down for a heartbeat but then curled back into a smile. “You might change your mind. One day.”
Padding barefoot to the open door, she grabbed the handle and spun back to face me. “Twenty minutes. Don’t be late.”
She left without another word.
* * * * *
“How’re you doing, Aslan?”
I swallowed around the grief and terror lodged painfully in my throat and forced a single word. A word I was learning to live with. “Okay.”
“It will get calmer when we get to the reef. Just a little farther. Just focus on the horizon.”
I clutched the co-captain’s chair where Jack had told me to sit when we’d arrived at the port and boarded The Fluke.
I’d been hauled onboard last time, dripping wet and barely breathing, yet I remembered it so clearly. I remembered the tidy deck, gleaming rigging, and the small kitchenette with its table and benches below.
It wasn’t an overly large vessel, but it cut through the water with a powerful purr.
Once again, it made me rage at the feeble boat my father believed would be our salvation. We should’ve taken the chance of flying here. We could’ve used our passports one last time before he burned them. But then again, after what he told me in the boat about why he’d made us nameless and homeless...I now knew why leaving clues behind would’ve led to our death.
They’re dead anyway...
“Have you heard anything from the fishermen?” I asked, cursing the hope in my voice. “Any other people hauled from the sea?”
Jack gave me a sympathetic look. “Not yet. We put out a call last night and again this morning.” He pointed at the impressive radio and dials surrounding the helm. “We’re in constant contact with seafolk, so we’ll know the minute anything or anyone is found.”
I nodded and looked back outside.
The view had changed from the seaside township of Port Douglas to the open waters of the Coral Sea. Anna had given me a lesson on suburb names as we’d driven the short distance to where The Fluke was moored, but now she stood at the front with Neri, their hands wrapped around the stainless steel barriers, riding the waves as their hair snapped and danced behind them.
Neri’s jellyfish dress tore around her legs as she pointed at something to the right.
Anna turned to look at Jack through the glass frontage of the captain’s quarters. Shrugging, she pointed at Neri and then laughed.
Jack groaned under his breath, following what his wife was silently saying all while I floundered. With a flick of his wrist, he turned the boat in the direction where Neri waved.
