Seacrets

Chapter 1

The sea sparkles as a giant moon rise, bringing with it the glimmer of hope Pichon city needs. Its waters are blue. Solène pulls down her mask and walks into the sea.

Three months ago, she came home to find her favorite beach closed off to the public. From what she understood through the news, an accident had occurred at sea miles away. An oil tanker and a leisure vessel collided sometime in February on a stormy night where it not only took the lives of passengers and crew members on the ship, it also created an ecological mess for the nearby coastlines. About six months later, oil from the spillage was still making its way onto the beach of Pichon city. When Solène came back for summer break in May, she joined the volunteers for the cleanup efforts without a second thought.

The beach reopens to the public tomorrow. Tonight, it is hers alone. Her parent's home backs off into a strip of land that leads directly into the public area. Back in her high school days, she used to take Fabien and Adrien swimming and diving at night. Now she lives miles away from the sea for three quarters of the year. Unfortunately, she only has a few hours tonight to enjoy the sea. She barely rested at all over the summer, having spent it helping her hometown after that catastrophe.

Solène emerges from the water with her pouch full. A pale orange Sturgeon moon had risen quite a bit while she was under. It is time to go home. The bells above the door chimes when she pushed it open, jolting her father awake. He had begun to snooze on the cash register but now he smiles. His beautiful daughter has come home from a full day of volunteering down at the beach. She has become such a mature, caring young woman.

A lot like her mother, he thinks. She doesn't get much rest yet she looked as bright and fired up as one can be. She came by to help him and Adrien close the store.

-You are the only person I know who catches a cold during the summer.

-And you are the only person I trust to cure me! He grins.

Adrien can only giggle. Never get in between family members bickering. Her father owns the only garage and marine supply store in town. Adrien is his favorite, and only, apprentice.

The three of them lock up, but they only let him leave after sharing a nice cup of medicinal tea and a bowl of soup. Solène thinks if she doesn't cure them both at once they will keep catching that runny nose off of each other until she comes back for Christmas.

-Should I pick you up in the morning?

-I'll be gone by the time you wake up!

-Why leave so early?

-Because I need the day to move and settle in before class!

-Well, then ... Travel safe! ...

Adrien leaves and the two head up the stairs, Home. Her father goes to bed but Solène has one more task to accomplish before dozing off. Even though her mother passed away 4 years ago, most of her equipment is still stored in the house. She used to be a very famous artisan before her illness took ahold of her. Solène takes out what she needs and sets up on her desk with a lamp. She empties her little pouch onto a towel in front of her. Shells and stones of all kinds come pouring out. She slowly wipes and cleans each one of them as thoroughly as possible. She draws out multiple ideas in a notebook at first but settles on this one beautiful necklace. Solène then spends the night trying to apply as much of her mother's craftswomen techniques as she can remember.

The smell of breakfast and coffee wake her up in the morning. She rushes down to find her father already up and about, to her surprise.

- You look so good this morning!

- My cold is gone, my dear! My nose is so clear I can smell my moustache!

His echoing laughter fills the room as he walks away. She sits and eats her weight in scrambled eggs.

- I tried to follow your design as much as I could.

- OH! Thank you ...

Though she had fallen asleep on her desk mid progress, her wire necklace is completed.

-You picked out the most beautiful stones! She holds her curly frizzy hair up while he puts it on for her. The stone in the pendant is gorgeous at night. It glows.

-I know right! We might have to check the UV levels in this house. The Internet says it's a calcite and willemite stone or something like that! They fluoresce in a tone of green and orange under certain conditions!

Solène is already packed and she boards her bus before the sun comes up. She will arrive sometime around noon after a five-hour trip. Hopefully, she won't be too tired to finish moving in with Sonia.