Slipping - Book 1.5 in the Swans Landing series

Chapter 13

Mara avoided me for two days.

It wasn’t hard to figure out that she didn’t want to talk to me. She looked away every time we passed each other in the hall. That first day, after the incident at my house, I had waited at Pirate’s Cove all afternoon after school. I sat on the sand until the sun sank over the island behind me, but she never came.

Things at home were strained. Mom muttered under her breath a lot more than normal. I tried to ignore it, but I’d catch little bits of words such as “freaks” or “murderers.” I didn’t dare go into the water again, even though my body ached with the need to swim. I couldn’t risk upsetting Mom even more.

And honestly, without Mara there with me, swimming didn’t seem so appealing anymore.

At lunch, I sat at the end of my usual table, while Elizabeth and her friends all talked around me. I swirled a spoon around in my mashed potatoes. I wasn’t that hungry.

“What’s wrong with you?”

I looked up, meeting Elizabeth’s annoyed gaze.

“Nothing,” I said.

“You look like your dog died or something,” she told me, wrinkling her nose. “Seriously, what is up with you lately?”

I stood and picked up my tray. “I said nothing,” I told her. “See you later.”

I dumped my tray in the trash cans and then walked across the cafeteria toward the door. I keep my hands deep in my pockets, my gaze focused on the floor in front of me as I walked.

But just before I reached the door, I couldn’t help looking up. Mara sat at her usual table with Sailor and Dylan. I had forced myself not to look her way as I pretended to eat lunch. I didn’t blame her if she didn’t want anything to do with me. My mom had thrown a glass at her head. She had every right to keep her distance.

But she was watching me. Our eyes met as I continued on toward the door. I couldn’t look away until I had walked through the doors and into the hall.

I felt like I was suffocating inside the school. I needed to get out of there. I needed to stretch my tail and breathe in salt water. I needed to swim far away from everything.

I didn’t stop to second guess my decision. I walked down the hall, through the front doors of Swans Landing School, and across the dried grassy lawn. I sucked the salt air deep into my lungs as I walked down the empty streets away from the school, toward the southern end of the island. I felt more invigorated already and tension melted from my shoulders.

At the narrow strip of beach, I pulled off clothes as I made my way toward the ocean, tossing them to the sand behind me. I dove into the frigid water, swimming as hard as I could against the current. I welcomed the change as it overtook me, snapping joints and rearranging bones.

I surfaced just in time to see a dark head slip under the water only a few feet away. I dove down, propelling myself toward her. My arms wrapped around her solid form, shuddering in the middle of the change.

I hummed the finfolk song in Mara’s ear. It could help ease the transition between forms, Sailor had told me once. She had taught it to me during our secret meetings here at Pirate’s Cove, but I had never sung it for anyone else.

Mara relaxed in my arms. My lips found hers. I held her tight as we floated under the water, her body completing the last of the change as she kissed me deeply. I still wanted her, still needed her.

After a while, we surfaced, our heads bobbing along the water with the waves.

“I’m sorry about my mom,” I said.