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Prickles broke out over my nape as I swallowed hard.
Looping her arms over Neri’s shoulders and clasping her hands over the dolphins on her daughter’s flat chest from behind, the woman said, “My name’s Anna. Anna Taylor. And you’ve already met my daughter, Nerida. My husband, Jack, is above deck. We found you amongst some wreckage—”
“It wasn’t us who found him, Mum.” Neri twisted to look up at her mother. “It was Sapphire. I told you the pod was acting strange. They came to get us and then swam so fast the boat barely kept up.”
“They were merely wanting to surf the bow wake. Like they always do.”
“No. They knew. They knew he was about to die and took us to find him.” Neri turned back to face me, her jaw set with determination and eyes glittering with belief. “We found you for a reason. I’m so sorry we couldn’t find the rest of your family, but don’t be sad. They’re with the whales now. They’re swimming and happy and free.”
A dagger pierced my chest.
Visions of my little sister trading her legs for fins brought fresh tears but also...incredibly...a little comfort.
I nodded once, even as my teeth gnashed together so hard they threatened to crack.
“What’s your name?” Neri asked, sweeping me up in her questions, once again saving me from the undercurrent of my sadness. “Where are you from? Where were you going?”
“Neri. Hush, love.” Anna shook her gently. “Give the poor guy time to breathe.” Pausing, Anna narrowed her eyes and asked a question of her own. “Do you remember what happened?”
Storm-swells and thunder.
The sting of salt.
The horror of my mother’s goodbyes.
I gritted my teeth all over again and swallowed—swallowed and swallowed so my tears couldn’t drown me. I needed to look somewhere else, anywhere else, other than at the intense little girl who never took her gaze off me.
I glanced at the circular window where sun speared.
I flinched.
The perfect blue of unending sky had been replaced with the spiers of boat masts and seagulls. The faint noise of laughter and footsteps pounding on a pier drifted in.
How long did I lose myself to grief?
I stilled and noticed the quiet and stillness for the first time.
No more sea rock.
No more drone of waves and engines fighting against one another.
The woman sucked in a breath as something banged above and a man’s voice intertwined with another in conversation.
“We’re docked at port,” she said. “We’ve already called ahead, and the hospital staff are aware you’re coming. We’ll take you and get you fixed up, alright? Once you’re tended to, then we can talk.”
I froze.
All the lessons from my father rushed back.
We were illegal.
We were supposed to slink ashore, unseen and undetected. To slip into society with silence and secrecy, doing our utmost to avoid any forms of authority or law enforcement.
We...
My heart broke.
Not anymore.
