Unknown Depths.

Chapter 38

Now a part of Delia would never admit to this, but that night she patiently waited for Gabriel to sent her that text. While her mind was still whirling with everything that had happened, another part of her was trying to figure out her next step. 

Much to her dismay, Gabriel would not send that text until the following morning. Delia however, would not come to read that text until her shift at the aquarium ended. Until then her phone was safely put away in her locker. That morning her shift consisted of both feeding some of the animals and cleaning some enclosures, meaning that she wanted to keep her phone someplace dry. 

Once she was done, however, she enjoyed a cup of coffee with the others before making her way over to her locker and changing out of her work clothes. When she grabbed her phone she noticed that she had a new text. Quickly she checked, it was from Gabriel. 

Can you meet me at the cliff at 1 p.m?

Delia all but whipped around the check the clock that hung behind her, it was 12:35 meaning that she still had time to make it. 

Yes! I'll be there.

Hurriedly she grabbed her belongings and closed the locker behind her. 

"Someone's in a rush," Damian commented jokingly. 

Delia let out an awkward chuckle, "Uh, yeah I forgot I was gonna meet someone for lunch..."

Damian chuckled, "Well have fun!" 

"Thanks! See you later!" Delia said before practically running out of the door. Quickly she made her way over to her car and before she knew it she had arrived at the cliff. Sighing she parked her car and stared out of the window for a moment. Looking down at the small clock on her dashboard she noted that she had around 6 minutes left. 

For a moment she just sat there, mentally preparing herself for what was to come. She stared out of the windshield of her car, physically there but mentally far away. 

Someone knocked on the window. Jumping in her seat she immediately looked up, and her eyes met those of Gabriel. He smiled at her as she opened the door, "I didn't mean to startle you." He said stepping back, "I just thought I'd let you know that I'm here." 

"It's alright." Delia said closing the door behind her and locking the car, "So what's the plan?"

"Well," Gabriel started, "I have something that I want to show you." 

Delia nodded, "So where do we go?"

"Follow me." 

Soon the two of them were back at the top of the cliff where they have been before, getting undressed. A part of Delia still felt quite awkward at all this, but she followed non the less. Just as she was about to turn around she heard a splash behind her, signaling that Gabriel was already in the water. 

Carefully she looked over the edge, she had been right. Quickly, yet still very carefully she put away her stuff before turning back around and inching closer to the cliff. Now Delia knew that she would be fine jumping off of it, yet she still felt fear envelop her. As she inched closer and closer to the edge she clamped her eyes shut. It wasn't until she felt the edge under her toes that she jumped, her eyes still closed. 

As she plunged into the water she felt the familiar feeling of turning into her mermaid form as she slowly sank down, her eyes still closed. Once she stopped moving downward she opened her eyes and relaxed, looking all around her. For a moment she didn't spot Gabriel, but as she looked up she noticed he was a few feet above her. 

He looked at her a little confused but swam down to her, as he got closer to her he gave her a look as if to say, 'are you alright?' 

Delia didn't quite know how to say that she was, so she nodded. He then held out his hand for her to take. She looked down at it for a moment, curious as to what was to come she grabbed his hand. As he held onto her tightly he started swimming at a rather high pace.

Delia desperately tried to keep up with him, to feel less like he was dragging her along, but she knew that he was doing most of the work. She let him guide her through the water, clearly moving to a location still unknown to her. 

They went down deeper into the water, closer to the seafloor as he lead them towards what looked to be coral. As they got closer, however, Delia noticed a rather small hole in said coral that they were headed straight for.

Startled she stopped swimming, but that didn't stop Gabriel who actually upped in speed. Delia squeezed his hand, hoping he would stop, but he still didn't. Then as they were about to hit the coral he pulled her close to him, his tail wrapping around hers, his arms around her torso as they went through it. 

The second they cleared that hole, however, he let go of her. Delia, however, still startled, didn't let go of him, still clinging to his chest, her eyes clamped shut. She then felt what she could have sworn was a chuckle resonate from him. Quickly she opened her eyes as she looked up at him and let go of him. 

They were now in some sort of cavern, however, it appeared to have been crafted by someone, or something, instead of naturally occurring. Around them hung what appeared to be light fixtures and they were in some sort of hallway. Looking back at the hole where they just came from, it looked like a rather large sliding door, instead of the coral they had just gone through.