North Star

Chapter Six: Selene

The problem with boats was, I'd never been on one. Yeah sure I was 18 and there were lots of boats around, but my μητέρα got sea sick and Alec and I avoided spending time alone together. I'd weighed the pros and cons of taking a boat to the fringe of Italy, and honestly the only reason the pros outweighed the cons (even if there were more cons then pros) was because I'd be one giant leap towards Caralye.

I could feel the dopey smile creeping across my face before I could even think about stopping it, though honestly I never wanted to stop it because I loved thinking about her. She was what got me through my days, why I got out of bed in the morning, why I saved my euros instead of blowing it all on hair dye. Though, I thought to myself, I could seriously use some new hair dye. My sea green hair was starting to fade and it was depressing me. I wondered what Caralye would think of it, how faded and drab it was looking, so un-like me. I felt as though my mood shifted with my hair color, as though it and I controlled the clouds in the sky and it rained when I was feeling down.

I was sitting at my computer, I'd been actually sitting there for almost 6 hours straight, my eyes were tired and I could no longer feel my ass but I there was a charter ship looking for workers and going exactly where I wanted to go. They were looking for someone with experience, so I'd Googled almost everything that I could think of and had spent the last few hours marathoning a stupid fishing show. It was like the time I watched all the seasons of Grey's Anatomy and spent the next few months convinced that I would be the best brain surgeon in the entire world. Though now I was the best fisher-women in the world.

The e-mail I sent to the boating company about the available position was full of lies and I only felt a little bit bad about it. If they accepted me I'd be on my way in less than a month. I felt as though things were falling into place, like my short journey around my city was a lifetime ago. A blip in the past getting smaller as my future with the girl of my literal dreams became brighter. Humming along to the theme song of the show as the title screen played, I scrolled through a website advertising exotic and expensive holidays in snow resorts and secluded cabins in the woods where you were 110% most likely so get snowed in but it was all romantic and your money back guarantee if you die of hypothermia.

I was reaching, but my knowledge of cold places was limited to Greenland and Alaska—also, Googling funny accents just turns up some old famous alien guy doing impersonations of other old famous people. As the theme song of the fishing show continued to play, I pulled my hair into a loose bun at the top of my head.

I refreshed my e-mails. Nothing. Sighing, I played the next episode.

This went on for a while.

I'd never fallen asleep at my computer before. I groaned when I thought of the crick in my neck I'd have the next morning. Something tickled my legs as I rubbed at my eyes, and I grinned at the familiar sensation. I was in the field. Our field. Caralye would be here somewhere. I leapt forwards, my feet gliding through the grass, away from the edge of the forest where I'd appeared. My eyes searched the field, illuminated by the crescent moon above my head. My heart was pounding, my blood rushing and thumping as my heart longed to see her face.

I slowed after a while, my eyes still raking everything I could see for her. I was becoming panicked now. Shouldn't she be here? I came to a halt. My breath labored and my dress was rumpled. "Caralye?!" I yelled, voice strangely high as I called out desperately for her. The small rational part of my mind reminded me that maybe she just wasn't asleep yet, maybe it was just me here for a while, alone, waiting for her. Though the irrational panic won and I called out again. "Caralye?!" I twirled where I stood. My ears straining for any sound other than me. As I spun I noticed something in the tree line where I'd woken up. Heart soaring I ran towards it.