The Ocean's Call: Part One | ✔

Part Eighteen

Part Eighteen

"Oops." Austin gives me an apologetic look over his shoulder before picking his shirt up off the floor.

"Oops he says." I mumble walking to the back door, exiting onto the deck. I am mostly definitely going to be grilled by her later. I wonder if she also noticed that he was the guy I've been drawing. I look over at the shed, she's standing in the doorway watching me.

I don't bother to see if he's following me back to the beach, I can hear his feet moving over the ground behind me. I ignore the burning eyes I can still feel on me from the shed.

"Do you have to go back to work?" I ask when the grass changes to sand.

"Probably should. The boss is a chill guy, and he would totally understand this but...he's only so forgiving."

I pause near the large rock, looking out at the waters I not long just turned into a mermaid in. I look down at my legs, wiggling my toes in the sand, the feeling is still a little surreal. And it hurt. The cracking of my ankle is shocking reminder I didn't want right now. I crinkle my face, reliving the feeling.

"...Isla?" Austin appears in my face.

I raise a brow. "Did you say something?"

He laughs lightly. "Yeah...I said we should go back to your car but then I thought maybe you lost your keys...you know, in there." He flicks his head in the direction of the water.

My brows furrow. Lost my keys? No, I would never. I put them in my...pocket, shit. I stare at the water as it dawns on me that my car keys were in my shorts that are now torn and floating through the water.

"Shit."

"Do you have a spare set?"

Spare set? Yes, I do! I gasp, turning and running back to the house. Thankfully nana is inside the shed and no longer staring me down as I bolt across the yard and into the house. I dig around in the bottom draw in the kitchen full of random crap. I pull items out of the drawer putting them on the ground as I look for the small box full of spare keys.

Of course, I find the box at the bottom of the deep drawer. I pull it open, picking up different keys and read the tags until I come across the spare one for the car I took. I drop the box back into the drawer and push it shut, ignoring the pile of junk on the floor.

I stand, turning to leave when I run smack into a hard body. I stumble back, blinking at Austin. "I found it, let's go."

We head back outside and down the beach in the direction of the car I so freely abandoned. I still can't believe I didn't think earlier, I really just walked into the ocean fully dressed shoes and all.

"What time do you finish?" I ask Austin as we walk. I still have a million questions about everything. Yes, I got the answer to the biggest question of the moment but now I have follow up questions.

"Around five, and don't worry I plan on getting around to all those questions up there. I imagine there are a lot."

I nod. "You imagine correctly."

"We're basically starting from scratch; I should've realised you come from a dormant bloodline. The people I asked knew who you were but didn't know you were a mermaid."

I raise a brow, glancing at him. "You asked around about me?"

He nods. "Half-bloods that live in Horseshoe Bay."

I gasp, the realisation dawning on me that there is more of us out there. In Horseshoe Bay too. I wonder who has been hiding that huge secret, who has been walking among us with the ability to change into a mermaid.