Lost Seraphine (The Seraphine Trilogy #2) (2 page)

Caleb

Sometimes drowning can be a funny thing.

Now wait before you start saying this guy is crazy. I can explain myself. I mean, I’ve almost drowned four times in my short seventeen-year-old life and during those moments, not once did I ever say, “Hey, man, this is so much fun.” I have to tell you, though, it’s because of those four experience
s—
my parents call them near death moments or something like tha
t—
I’m now considering myself a changed dude.

You see, about three months ago, I discovered a lot of crazy things about myself. Seriously. Stuff that almost made me lose my mind after I found out; my dad is really my stepdad, the girl I’m dating is a mermaid and the one who I used to somewhat date is something called a Dark Seraphine. The list doesn’t stop there. Believe me when I tell you the craziness goes on and on.

So it’s no surprise that I’m having these crazy dreams again, right? The kind where I dream about the girl in the water who saved me the first time I almost drowned. However, this time I see something completely different from the other nights when I’ve experienced this baby.

As usual, a younger version of Gia—that would be my mermaid love—swims toward me while I’m sinking in an ocean. I was eight-years-old and vacationing with my parents on the outer banks of our little town of New Bern here.

Don’t get me wrong. I adore trips to the beach. I love the salt water that stings my nose and the feel of the sand between my toes, even though it stings like crazy when it blows into my eyes. This particular beach, though, makes me get all funny feeling inside because I love seeing the haunted lighthouse that sits along the edge of the shores. There’s this keen sense of dread that hits me every time I glance at the ancient structure looming over the seas, watching the water with lifeless windows for eyes.

Well, it’s not really haunted, but you can’t tell from looking at it. To a little kid, the deserted landmark looks scary as hell as it hulks over everything around it.

Anyways, I decided that I needed to take a little break from the parents so I could explore things on my own. Beaches make you want to do things like get lost in the mystery surrounding them. There’s so much to discover, so many stories and myths surrounding them.

That’s how I wound up lost somewhere near the reefs. “So what’s this guy’s story?” I bet that’s what you’re asking, right? You won’t feel that way about me here in a bit. Right. Back to my story. Where were we? Oh yeah, at the part where I’m sinking in the water.

Cold, dark, scary crap floats all around me. I don’t swim all that well, either. My dad has only given me a few lessons and that happened over a year ago. He gets so impatient with my inability to stay above the water that he stopped teaching me for a while.

Guess what that means? I’m a doggie paddling my ass off right now and I’m trying my best to keep my head above the water. How the freak did I slip on those stupid rocks, anyway? What dude in his right mind does something like that?

My mermaid girl swims toward me. I’m seriously thinking this is either a dream or I’ve died and gone to a place that has to be a lot like Heaven.

Pressure fills my lungs and I start to feel light, carefree. I’m a fish. Yep. That’s exactly what I am—a human fish. I must’ve grown some gills because suddenly this swimming thing turns easy. I smile at my mermaid swimming toward me and wonder how the freak I’m able to see her in the dark ocean.

The scene around me fades in and out. My body gets lighter and my head loses that bloated feeling. But wait. Something big and dark floats behind my girl. I don’t think she knows it’s there. I try to open my eyes, but my eyelids have turned into rocks or something. I don’t understand.

If I’m a fish, I should have fins. I can use those to swim toward my girl and warn her about the big, black blobs closing in behind her, but damn, I can’t move an inch. Now this is where the dream gets really freaky.

There’s something or rather someone else thrashing in the water along with me, a man. His body appears beside me without warning. I know this man, but he’s kind of funny looking, a tad transparent. Somebody might say he’s a carbon copy of me with his dark hair and skin along with his gray eyes that some people tell me makes them think of steel. Then, his eyes darken and his face swells. It’s almost like the images of two separate faces are merging; one trying to outshine the other, creating a totally different person altogether.
Freaky.

My girl hasn’t seen him yet. I can tell because her gaze is still focused on me and nothing else.

Grasping my shoulders, the man spins me around to face him. I can’t believe this. I’m drowning and some dude’s holding me under the water. It’s freakin’ nuts, I know. At least he doesn’t have jigsaw teeth like the little monster kids that live under the sea.

Yet something about him continues to rattle me. At the time, I couldn’t help thinking that he’s helping the girl. I can even hear him speak.

“There’s no way she can do this on her own,” says a deep voice that bellows in my head. “You will need to help her. Use your special voice.”

“My special voice? What do you mean?” Wait! Those are my words coming out of my head. I’m talking without moving my lips the same way as the floating guy and I think he understands what I’m saying.

At once, the man grasps my shoulders and starts shaking me. Imagine what that feels like when you’re under the water. “You will do as I say. Use your voice! Or hundreds of people will die. You, your parents, even the little water angel fighting her way toward you.”

My face crumples. I want to cry and bite this guy at the same time. I have no idea what he’s talking about. Who does he think he is? I don’t care that he looks the same way as I probably will look in another eighty years or so. Well, maybe not quite that far away, but you get my point. I just want him to let me go.

I glance over at my mermaid. Man, she’s taking a long time to reach me. It’s almost as though she’s caught up in some kind of time warp that’s holding her back. I hope those gills I just grew work long enough for either the mermaid or the underwater dude to pull me out of this water. Until then, I make a promise to whoever listens to these silent vows.

Dear Silent Vow Keeper, I will never walk away from my parents ever again. Can you please just send somebody to rip me out of this mess now?

I close my eyes. My tears sting, even though I drift inside an ocean. I make up my mind not to listen to anymore mean things the older Caleb look alike has to say; I don’t want to cry anymore.

I’m not sure how long I float that way. Time simply passes until I am finally aware that something is lifting me out of the water.

I guess the Silent Vow dude must’ve listened.

Another chunk of time elapses. I think I passed out. The mermaid girl, the one who now has legs, drags me out of the water and over to an area on the beach that’s close to the edge of the forest. I’m barely awake, but I can still tell that it’s her. As soon as she turns her chubby face toward mine, we lock gazes. Letting go of my shirt collar, she gasps and covers her mouth while the back of my head thuds against the ground. Moving to a sitting position, I choke up salty water and some other funny looking crap and glance around. It’s getting dark and the reefs are shrouded in ribbons of color from the setting sun.

In the distance, I hear Mom calling out to me, her voice filled with panic. My heart speeds up and I want to cry; but I can’t take my eyes off the girl standing before me, her bare skin glistening even though there’s no sun. She’s completely naked. Her knee-length long, dark hair covers most of her body, but I can still tell she’s not wearing any clothes. My cheeks fire to life and I look away at once. One eyeful of a naked girl is enough for the day, I do believe.

The girl turns and bolts toward a huge tree in the forest about ten feet away from us, hiding behind the trunk and peeking out at me a few times. The way I see it, I’m embarrassing her. So I turn my body around and wait for her to come back to me. I can’t help smiling a little. Even as a little dude I already love girls, and this one is first class all the way.

I hear shuffling in the bushes behind me. I know she’s walking toward me. No, I can’t hear her feet, but it’s like I can feel something electric hitting me the closer she gets.

Plopping down in front of me, she crosses her arms while I puke up more water. Her strange brown eyes with dashes of blue-green sprinkled throughout the irises bore into me, intriguing me. I’m only eight-years-old, but I already feel a connection to this girl.
My Gia.

Then I remember the kiss, the one she gave me just before she pulled me out of the water. Now, I’m no expert on these things ye
t—
I’m still a kid, you kno
w—
but I do recall that particular kiss was the mother of all smooches, and something she did to save my life.

Thinking about it makes me feel all mushy and weird.
Suddenly she shoves a bright red starfish into my arms and tells me to take care of it. Wow! The body is a cool shade of red that’s so bright it almost hurts your eyes. But I still like him even though he has a kinda lame name. Ticky. So I glance at her with my nose turned up, and she sticks out her tongue at me. I don’t believe it! She giggles and so do I.

I’m not too amused when I take a look at my arms and legs, though. Black lines are etched into the skin. Some kind of scroll-patterned tattoos have formed all over the exposed parts of my body.

Almost as soon as I notice my new ink job, the designs begin to fade, turning a pale silver until they’re no more than faint lines, barely noticeable to the naked eye. If I hadn’t just seen them form, then I wouldn’t have noticed a difference in the way my skin looks either.

What the freak is going on?

Thunder booms through the sky. A loud noise screeches from inside the woods. Fear crosses Gia’s chubby cheeks that are touched by a rosy glow. Shaking her head, she bolts to her feet and runs toward the woods.

“No! Don’t go! I can protect you!” The voice I use bellows from inside me as the screeching noise increases to mind numbing levels.

I’m tossed from my dream in a way I’ve never felt before.

What the heck?

I sit up and focus on my bedroom.

My alarm. I grab my phone and control the urge to toss it across the room. Glancing at the screen, I focus on the wake-me-up ring tone I’ve chosen, a banshee’s scream. Don’t ask. It works in horror movies anyway. Without knowing it, I’ve reset the wakeup call almost three times.

I can’t believe this is Monday morning.

I force my eyes open and lift my body up, propping myself on my elbows. Drenched in sweat, I scan my room, making a mental checklist; loft bed, old school record player, a computer desk that has lacrosse and tae-kwon-do trophies sitting on top where the monitor should be, pictures of Bon Jovi, RunDMC, Aerosmith—my eighties icons—and last week’s laundry, sitting in a pile in front of the closest. Yep, my boy cave still looks normal, but I have the feeling I’m not the same at all.

I wonder why I keep having this same dream. Only this time, the man showed up. Or maybe it was two men. I’m not really sure. I don’t remember seeing him ever before. Get over it, my man. You know the real identity of the floating dude. Yep. I sure do.

The man in the water was my dad, my real one. However, his face changed. I might be nuts, but it looked a lot like the second face belonged to someone else, a man with younger features and black eyes. Weirdo images of two men in my dream.

I’m thinking, my father has sent me a warning that I can’t begin to understand. I steal a glance at my arms. The black tattoos and all traces of the lines on my arms and legs are gone. The image of them seemed so real in my dream. I shake off my delirium and sniff the air.

The scent of bacon drifts into my nostrils, stirring my hunger pangs as Mom’s breakfast calls to me. Doesn’t matter how old I get, she’ll always be the one who best knows how to cook my bacon and make my strawberry pancakes taste just right.

Soft taps sound out at the door. I run a hand through my dark hair that’s grown about two feet over the past couple months. I’m seriously about ready to rock the Bon Jovi with a touch of Generation X style look. Not really, but I guess you’ve kind of figured out I like to exaggerate things a bit.

Gia peeks into the room. Her long black hair that reminds me so much of silk flows past her shoulders, making me want to run my fingers through her shiny locks. I’m amazed by how fast it grows. She tells me that supercharged hair growth is a characteristic of her people.

Hypnotic brownish-green eyes that change colors depending on the way the aquamarine stone in her necklace looks, take in an eyeful of me—the boy with bed head and God knows what else going on that isn’t cool.

There used to be a hint of blue inside her strange irises before she came to live in my world. Not anymore. I’m not sure why, but I think it has something to do with her inability to change back into one of the Seraphine.

I get the king of smiles next. She has the kind of grin that lights up her smooth face, giving her the true appeal of a princess. Wait. I should probably say the queen of smiles since Gia’s a girl, right?
Whatever.
Either way, she’s gorgeous.