“What, Talina? What did you see?” I was tense enough to resemble a plank of wood.
She spun her head back to face me, there were tears streaming down her cheeks.
“You understand, Abby. For the first time in my life, someone actually understands what it’s like to be me.” She sobbed out loud.
My face softened as a flood of sympathy inundated me.
“You don’t have to worry about being alone anymore. I promise that whatever happens we’re a family ... half-Walkers have to stick together.”
She smiled through her tears. And then she pulled herself together. It was amazing to see. One minute she was crying, her face full of emotions, and then it was gone, as if they’d never existed. It was unparalleled emotional control.
“Sorry about that, Abby,” she said as she turned to face forward. We started swimming again. “I don’t like to lose control; it’s a shameful act to cry.”
Lifting my tired arms, I managed to slap her shoulder. Not enough to hurt – I didn’t have the strength for that – but she still noticed.
“Don’t let me hear you say that again, Gladriel,” I taunted her. “Your ability to feel and express that type of emotion is what separates you from the fish.”
She actually laughed a little then, and I joined in.
“Plus we’re females, Talli. We’ll cry for no apparent reason. You don’t have to explain or justify it. We get to claim that one just because we can.”
“Not on Spurn,” she said ruefully. “If you cry here it better be because something just ate your arm.”
I shuddered at the mere thought.
Of course Olden hadn’t encouraged crying on Earth either, but in a compound full of females, there’d been someone in tears at least once a day.
“How far are we from the Isle?” I glanced behind, just waiting for something to pounce on me.
“You should be able to see land soon,” she said, moving again, her breath even and calm.
“How do you orientate yourself with the same ocean surrounding you on all sides?” I was major jealous. I’d have been lost at sea forever. Well, until I drowned.
“All Spurns are taught how to use the moons as guides. Each of them is slightly different, and we know the general direction to follow. The largest and most rounded is the Baroon’s moon. Earon’s is more yellow, and has a curve to the left.” She pointed up as she talked, and I could see what she was saying. “I always know which direction to travel.”
“No one back home would believe this place could exist,” I said wistfully, enjoying the soothing sensation of water flowing over me, my exhaustion slightly abated.
“I thought First Worlders are taught of the youngling planets. Spurn shouldn’t be a surprise to them,” she said, sounding confused.
“Oh, yeah, I meant Earth. It’s a force of habit to think of it as home. I guess, deep down, I’ll always be an Earthling.”
I had never been so relieved to see land as the trees that spanned parts of the Isle came into sight.
“Josian!” I screeched as we entered the shallows, unable to wait any longer.
Talina leapt out of the water, dumping me into the briny depths.
Probably should have warned her.
Strong hands fished me out, and I clung to the familiar scent of my father. I knew he’d have heard my shouts this close to land.
“Aribella, can you see gray hair?” was the first thing he said to me.
I pushed my masses of wet curls off my face and looked up over his sternly set features, all the way to his fiery blood-red hair. There wasn’t an ounce of other color, especially gray.
“No Walkers in history have had gray hairs, and yet one teenage daughter has decided to prove us wrong again.”
“Dad, it wasn’t my fault. That stalker-Walker.” Where was Lucy when I needed a high-five for rhyming. “He took me again and ... I can’t get rid of the creep.”
Josian blinked a few times, but he remained relatively calm.
“What happened to the creatures?” I couldn’t see one ripple on the still water.
“Well, those two won’t be bothering anyone again.” Josian chuckled.
“What did you do to them?” I didn’t want him to have killed them.
It wasn’t their fault stalker-Walker wanted to play god.
“Had a bit of fun. They were quite temperamental, and then I figured out where the Walker manipulation came from and reversed it. They are now harmless.” He chuckled. “Well, semi-harmless sea-dragons and octopuses.”
So they had been some kind of mutant hybrid. How did he even do that?
“Don’t get angry, baby girl,” Josian changed the subject, “but there is someone on land who wants to talk to you.”
He dragged me out of the water.
Talina kept easy pace with us.