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I snickered. “Good to know.”
Taking her phone, she checked my details. “Nerida Taylor. That’s a cool name.”
“What’s yours?” I asked.
“Honey Ross.” She winked. “It’s not a term of endearment. I’m literally called Honey. My parents live in a free-thinking commune in Perth. They’re all about sustainable living and becoming one with nature.”
“Sounds awesome.”
“My brother, Teddy—short for Theodore—fully embraced their mission and has almost finished his university degree to be an architect. His dream is to create a community that’s safe from every disaster imaginable. Drought, fire, floods, plagues...he has lofty aspirations.”
Something slipped into place in my brain.
Something unfurled so swift, so right, it felt as if the seed had always been there, just waiting for a droplet of inspiration to make it bloom. “He won’t find anywhere like that on earth,” I said quietly. “His best bet is to build something beneath the sea.”
Honey laughed. “Okay, I’ll be sure to tell him. In fact, I’ll pass on your number to him. That way, you can have two new best friends.”
“I’d like that. More than I should probably say.” I smiled.
“Excellent.” Grabbing her boyfriend’s meaty arm, she smiled up at him. This pint-sized blonde sweetheart seemed at such odds with the man-mountain with his chequered shirt and baggy jeans. “Billy, can we invite my new friend to dinner, pretty please? Her heart is broken into teeny tiny pieces, and she needs a drink to cheer her up.”
Billy looked me up and down with mock seriousness. “Three questions first.”
“Oh, here we go.” Honey rolled her eyes. “Don’t take it personally. He does this to everyone.”
I smiled despite myself. “Okay...”
“Do you own any crazy pets?” Billy asked deadpan.
I scowled and shook my head. “Does a dolphin count?”
“Oh my God, shut up!” Honey swatted my arm. “You do not have a pet dolphin.”
“Not really, no, but my parents are marine biologists. I spend most of my spare time in the sea and have basically grown up with the same pod of dolphins. Sapphire is mine, but she’s wild too.”
“Okay, you’re officially my most favourite person ever.”
“Hey.” Billy scowled. “What about me?”
“Okay, fine. Second most favourite.”
“Better.” Billy pinned me with his stare. “Question number two: if you could hook up with any person—alive or dead, famous or unknown—who would it be?”
I shivered as truth danced on my tongue.
What would be the harm?
“Aslan Avci.”
“Oh...hot name.” Honey grinned. “I have a thing for names.”
“I’m the same.” I shared a smile with her. “He’s Turkish, and when he speaks his native tongue, good God in heaven.”
“And moving right along.” Billy chuckled. “If you could be famous for just one thing...what would it be?”
“Famous?” I shrugged. “I don’t know. Not sure I want to be famous.”
“But if you had to pick something. Would it be a film star? A writer? An evil scientist who blows up the world?”
The seed that’d bloomed in my head spread wider petals, merging a childhood fantasy with the very real concept of something tangible.
Would it be possible?
Could it be possible?
A chill ran down my spine that perhaps, just like finding Aslan was fate, meeting Honey was also destiny directing me on the path I was meant to follow. All those nudges that I used to follow so religiously when I was a child. All those inner knowings that’d faded as I’d grown older flared brightly, hotly, whispering that this was one of those moments that I would look back on and think...
That.
Right there.
That was the moment I became who I was meant to be.
Rubbing away my goosebumps, I whispered, “If I could be known for anything...I’d want to go down in history as the creator of underwater living. A town nestled in a reef. A sphere with whales for neighbours. A place where humans existed side by side with fins and gills instead of legs and lungs.”
“Jesus, you really need to meet Teddy.” Honey looped her arm through mine. “I think you two could do big things.”
I shivered.
In a single chance encounter, I’d forgotten about the horror of breaking up with Joel and even the despair of losing Zara.
I buzzed with potential.
I hummed with possibility.
And all I wanted to do was run to Aslan and tell him everything.
Chapter Thirty
*
Aslan
*
(Moon in Afrikaans: Maan)
“WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU, LITTLE FISH?” Jack growled.
I looked up from the laptop where I’d been inputting the final figures on the latest bathymetric map that Anna and Jack had been conducting. The topography of the seafloor was regularly rescanned as the rehab of the reef steadily expanded with more and more planted coral.
Jack paced in the kitchen, his hand buried in his silver-shot dark hair. “It’s ten thirty on a Thursday, Nerida. You know your curfew is ten on a weeknight.”
My hands stilled on the keyboard.
Where is she?
I’d just assumed she was at Joel and Zara’s.
I assumed a lot these days because I didn’t have the strength to ask.
