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The only thing they seem to agree on is that the attack wasn’t a random, isolated incident, and that Bhodi’s attacker was likely working for or with someone else, so even with his death, the danger was likely to still be present.
By the time we’ve finished discussing all the what ifs, buts and maybes, my dinner is cold and my stomach is painfully twisted as guilt eats me alive at all the trouble I’ve caused. Continue to cause. Am causing.
I should leave.
“Don’t even think about it,” Reef warns, clearly reading my thoughts. “We’re here to protect you, Malia. This is our job. You are not a burden in any way.”
“He’s right, you know, Mai-Tai. We’d all take getting stabbed a thousand times over anything bad happening to you.”
I appreciate their sentiment, but it only serves to deepen my guilt. I’m putting their lives in danger, and for what? I still don’t understand why they’re so hellbent on protecting me.
“I’m sorry,” I murmur, my voice barely above a whisper. “I never asked for any of this.”
Reef reaches across the table and takes my hand. His touch is warm and reassuring, and for a moment, I feel less alone.
“This isn’t your fault, Malia,” he says firmly. “We’re here to help you, no matter what. And we’ll keep doing so until this is all over.”
I nod, feeling a little better. These guys are the only friends I’ve got now, and I need to trust that they’ll keep me safe.
We finish our meal in silence, lost in our own thoughts, though I don’t really eat much. When we’re done, I offer to clear up because Reef cooked, but the pair of them shoo me away, telling me to go and relax.
I creep back up the stairs to check on Bhodi, and find him fast asleep. It’s tempting to crawl into bed with him just to hold him close and reassure myself that he’s okay, but I don’t because I don’t want to cause him pain or risk injuring him. Instead, I close his door and creep along the hallway to my room, not hating the idea of an early night, finally back in my own – or Cove’s – bed.
I trust my brothers, I do. But if Malia says the water makes her feel strange, then I’m willing to believe her too. It could be as simple as it tasting different because she’s not one of us, but I don’t think that’s the case. There’s something going on, and so I’m going to experiment and see for myself.
Starting with cutting out the bottled water and switching to tap.
It’s only been a few days and I can’t say that I’ve noticed any difference, but I guess these things take time.
I’ve been having the strangest dreams though. Really vivid ones. Dreams of a woman in the water, her hair tangled and her eyes wild. In the dreams, she beckons me closer, and I can feel the pull of the current around me.
It’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced before. I’m not one for superstitions or old wives’ tales, but something about this feels off. I tried to talk to Reef about it, but he just shrugged and told me to stop worrying.
But I can’t shake the feeling that something is wrong. That maybe Malia is right somehow.
Deciding that I need to shake off this strange air of melancholy that’s settled itself over me the last few days, I grab my surfboard from my room and make my way downstairs. A couple of hours out on the waves should clear my head.
“Are you going for a surf?” Malia asks, her head popping up from the sofa and a bright smile on her face. It looks a little forced around the edges though.
“Yeah. Wanna join me?” She nods eagerly, making me chuckle.
“Is that okay?”
“Of course.”
“Great! Let me go grab my things.”
She jumps to her feet and races off upstairs. While she’s gone, I grab a few snacks for us and line them up on the dining table, hoping she’ll stash them in her beach bag for us. I open the fridge and hesitate when I see the bottles of water all lined up perfectly, their labels all facing the right way. Instead, I grab a couple of cans of coke and then fill an empty drinks bottle with tap water and leave them with the snacks.
Bhodi appears from the prof’s study and I raise my brows at him.
“What were you doing in there?”
“Just reading.”
“You can read?” I tease.
“Haha. You going for a surf?”
