Ariel's Daughter

Chapter 16

My pulse quickens. I think I know now. "Do--does she have a sister?" I ask my voice incredibly small and timid. I can't help it, I feel scared. I feel scared that I've already met her and didn't know it. I get a shiver down my spine thinking about it.

"How...how did you know that, Ember?" He asks me. I don't know how to answer that. I think about it thoroughly.

"She came to me." I say, and I don't know how to tell him this without scaring him. "She almost succeeded in drowning me yesterday. I've been having dreams of drowning. That's how I got into a coma. It was too real, because the dream was real." I say, and I can feel him suck in a quick breath. I hear him closing the distance between us and suddenly I am in his familiar comforting embrace. I snuggle into his chest and breathe in that smell I have gotten so used to, the smell of the sea.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." He says and I smile. I know he means it now. I knew that he meant it. By his touch, by his sigh of relief.

***

"Dad, i have to find her." I tell him suddenly after dinner that evening. I hear him struggle to keep a steady breath. I feel bad, making him feel unsteady, uncomfortable.

"Ember, you can't." He starts but he trails off.

"Dad, i'm so sorry. I shouldn't bring it up." I say to him. I know i shouldn't. He puts his hand on my shoulder from across the table. Its silence for a while until he answers me.

"Ember, you shouldn't have to say that. You shouldn't have to suffer like this, not knowing: but i deeply care about you and i can't let you in the crossfire of her battles." He says.

I think of what to say, and then frown deeper. "Dad, it's more of my battle. I'm not the crossfire: i'm the target." I answer as gently as i can, but the words are thick in the air between us.

He sighs, breaking part if the heavy silence. That's when i realize i don't know what to do next, or even what to say.

I'm half asleep when i feel my father pick me up from the couch and place me on my bed and tuck me in. It's silent for a few moments and his voice fills the room in a whisper. "My baby girl can't be a target. She can't be. She's my baby girl." He whispers and his lips touch my forehead and there he places a kiss gently.

I fall asleep shortly after, but it is nothing peaceful. I am drowning. Again. I feel numb, and my lungs burn. This time there is no maniacal laughter, it's just silence filling the liquid surrounding me. Somehow it's worse than laughter, because maybe i am actually drowning.

I try to take in a deep breath, because i can't be drowning. I'm sleeping, i'm nowhere near water. I'm above it in my nice warm bed. It wouldn't be possible. Instead of fresh air, i breathe in water, ice cold water from the lake. I know because i've tasted it before from my previous drowning just the other day. I kick and scream, and try to get out of the coffin like liquid. I struggle, but its no use.

I jerk awake, and find myself heaving for air, needing it too much that it can't be good. I feel hands around me, comforting arms. I know it's probably my father. "Ember, breathe. You're not drowning. It's alright." His voice rings softly through my room, and i know for a fact it is him. I still can't breathe. Water is clogging the airway, and i choke on it. He pats me on the back, trying to help. I hear the cabin door open, and i know it has to be my friends. They probably heard.

In the distance i hear an ambulance, and it's getting closer to the docks. I focus on all the water dripping from my mouth and manage to get it a out of my lungs. "Oh my god, what is going on?" Its definitely Madilyn's voice.

"I have no clue. It was only a dream." I manage to answer, but my voice is raspy and unlike me. I barely recognize i was he one to answer. There is a sigh, and then my bed creaks and i know Avery is struggling to get up onto my bed, but as soon as he does he immediately curls up next to me. I smile.

"These are not just dreams. Dreams don't realistically drown you." Jack answers.

"He's right. We need to get help." Madilyn says solemnly. I sigh. I don't even know if people know how to help.

"I don't think there will be anyone that will know what is happening, but i think i know who could." I reply. I know it's risky, i also know that my dad hates it when i mention going to find her. This is important though. I have to do this. Not matter what happens, i have to get answers from my mother.

"No. No, Ember. You can't, it's way too dangerous." Dad tells me in a tone i've never heard from him.

"I know, but i have no choice. If i keep ignoring it, i'll drown either way." I answer. There is a sigh from the little boy cuddled into me, and everyone is silent. That's the most expression from him since i'd met him, and apparently the only since he'd gone mute in the first place. Maybe i was helping him. I'd like to at least believe that. I hear another sigh that matches my father's deep rush of his voice.

"You don't even know what you're dealing with." And it's my father who speaks. Funny for him to say that. While he knows the truth, he still keeps it from me even when i have to get in harms way. I manage a low growl.

"Then maybe you should tell me." I say annoyed.

"Ember, it's not your mother that is at fault. She's trying to keep you safe." I hear my father's voice and i want to stop him from telling me what to do. I can't help that this "aunt" is after me, and it's clearly not working to pretend she's not trying to drown me everyday.

"I'm not safe anymore, dad." I shout, or at least try to but my voice is still pained from coughing up water. There is an uncomfortable silence as my response was filtered into their heads. Avery clung even impossibly tighter to me. I admire him, and find myself holding him closer too.

"Maybe Ember is right, she needs to find out as much as she can to stop this weird lady from drowning her completely." Madilyn replies and I almost laugh, but stop myself. This is serious, i tell myself. It was serious. No doubt about that.

I felt Avery cling tighter at each breathe he took. It was as if he thought i'd melt away any second. "Madilyn, I agree with you, but I can't disobey what her mother asked me." Father says sadly.

"She already knows I'm in danger. There is nothing further for me to do, unless I know." I answer, and my voice sounds hollow. I wince at the sound of it. I sound weak, and indecisive, but inside I am strong as ever. I have to be. I have to be stronger, just to survive this oddity of danger. I couldn't think of what to say, but I knew I had to find her: I knew I had to figure this out, and to find out who my mother was, was a huge part of it. I sigh, and try to figure this situation in my head. I feel my breath come in heavy pants, as I think more about her, and this lady that calls herself my aunt. The woman that stalks me and hopes to bring me up dead from the surface of the lake.

I finally catch my breath, and force it to calm, like the waves outside our cabin at the moment, not caring about the wind as they hit the docks slowly but surely. "I don't like it, but it's true." It's my dad's voice. Sad and full of guilt. I frown. He must feel horrible, but I realized yesterday, that I can't blame him for this turnout. It was my mother that kept me in the dark all this time. Dad was only the victim of her plans.

"She has to." Jack answered. I look in his direction, wondering now if he knows anything about this. I can't help but wonder if the 'she' he is talking about is me or someone else. There is a silence around the room, until a sigh from my father breaks the waves of it, making it more uncomfortable to bear. Then: more silence ensues.

"I know." He answers to his friend, and we all wait. Knowing he'd tell me, give me the answer I've been waiting for my entire life. Who she was, and who she is. My life story, brewed with hers. "Your mother, she isn't human. Well, half human really--"

"Dad, you're rambling." I interrupt. I'm too eager for the answer.

He sighs deeply. "This is going to make me sound crazy, that maybe you'll send me to a mental place, but it's true." He pauses, and all it is is ambitious silence. "Your mother, her name is Ariel."