Hart of the Sea

Chapter 13

I found myself at the dock again the next night. Before I even surfaced, I innately knew Talia would be there waiting for me. Sure enough, I was right. I saw her standing there, and when she caught sight of me, the small glimmer of relief in her eyes told me that she'd been waiting for me. Although, behind the relief was a hint of something else; something I couldn't quite place.

"Hart, I have some good news," she said, her tone hopeful but tentative.

I reached out for the end of the dock and pulled myself the rest of the way towards it. "Yeah? What is it?"

She sat down, folding her legs beneath herself. "My dad, he's going on this last-minute vacation with Tracy and her kids, starting tomorrow. He asked me if I wanted to go with them, but I told him it'd be really nice to have the house to myself," she said with a sneer as she picked at the frayed wood in front of her. "Anyway, the good news is, this is the perfect window to rescue your friends. He'll have his lab locked up, of course, but that's never stopped me before." 

"Wow, that's...that's great! What do we do now?"

She grimaced. "I was hoping you had a plan...I don't know how to get them out of the lab all by myself...I'm sorry..."

I reached for her hand and grasped it, staring into her eyes. "No, don't be sorry. I have a friend that's working on something to help us. I don't want you to feel like it's your responsibility to get Calliope and Oriel out of that lab. You've really been so helpful already."

She smiled lopsidedly, the nameless emotion in the depths of her eyes drifting to their surface. "I'm glad you think so. I just wish I could do more. But I can't, not without telling someone else about you...about merfolk. I don't feel comfortable doing that. There's no one I can trust in my life right now." Her eyes moved away from my face and landed on the horizon.

I watched her; watched as the silver moonlight illuminated her hair, her skin, her eyes; painting her with an ethereal aura. It was as if Aqeus himself was shining a spotlight down on her, giving his approval for me to be with her. "Um, Talia?" I whispered, still holding her hand. She tore her gaze away from the onyx waves of the night time sea to look at me.

"Yeah?"

"I..." Am I really going to say what I think I'm going to say? "I really...appreciate your help with all this. It means the world." Wow, could I be more of a shrimp?

She smiled softly, but it still lit up the night. "Of course, Hart. I..." I could feel my heart pounding in my chest. Is she going to say what I think she's going to say? "I'm happy to help." She quickly looked away and out at the water again, but squeezed my hand affectionately.

I guess we both shrimped out on that one.

On my swim home, all I could think about was how I almost told Talia that I...I can't even bring myself to think it. I don't know what got into me, it's much too early to be feeling so strongly about her.

As I laid down in my bed when I got home, I couldn't stop replaying that moment, wondering if she was going to confess the same thing that I was going to.

"Oh Hart!" A voice sing-songed, jolting me awake. It was daytime already.

Wow, I must've been exhausted. I don't even remember falling asleep.

"Oh my gosh, Mom," I gasped. "You scared me."

"Sorry," she said with a grin, implying she wasn't the least bit sorry. "But look what I have!" She swam from my doorway to the side of my bed, waving an envelope around in the water like a trophy. "It's another letter from the castle. A guard dropped it off real early this morning while you were still asleep." She held it out towards me. "Well? Don't you want to open it?"