Hands of the Sea (The Magic of Thedes, Book 2) *preview*

When I Found the Sea - Part 2

"I was four the first time I wasn't allowed in the ocean." I resisted the impulse to kick myself and continued. "My older sister swam out farther than the rest of them and I meant to follow, but Dad took my arm and made me stay ashore and watch. I wasn't allowed in the sea, Dad said, I'd surely drown. He'd seen it before, kids like me whose lungs weren't strong like others'. So I played with the sand and got very good at playing with sand. I could build a bridge out of sand and fill the underneath with water and paddle my fingers through it and that was all the swimming I knew until I was nine. I went to the lake with friends and since my parents weren't there to say no, decided I would learn how. It's harder to swim in lakes than it is to swim in the sea, but at the time I didn't know that, and before long I was swimming. I felt strong for the first time and I was nine."

He looked thoughtful. "I've seen you here with your family, but wasn't sure why you sit out here all night watching. I guess that makes sense that you won't dance with me. That is why you won't dance with me, right?" He continued without waiting for a reply, "No running or swimming; that's rough. What do you do then; read a lot of books, huh?"

I sucked the corner of my lip in irritation. I was almost sure that every person I ever spoke to had posed that same rhetoric at some point or another. It was starting to sound like an insult.

I didn't nod. I was thinking back to the dance thing. I wasn't sure what I was doing. If I wasn't here to dance with the first good-looking older boy who asked me to, even if only to irritate my father, then I should certainly wonder why I was here.

"How old are you?" he asked. He was just full of questions.

I hesitated in preparation to lie. I knew he was almost my sister's age, at least two years older than me, and if he knew that, he would think me too young to talk with. I talk older than I actually am, my mother says. She thinks it's because I'm just like her, but I think it's because I'm smarter than the other children; plus, they get to go outside and run around while I have to stay inside where I can breathe, so I read and learn more than they do.

"Won't tell me?" he asked. "You're Emeree's little sister, right?"

I nodded, staring at my toes, blank-faced, trying hard not to reveal my disappointment in that fact.

"Eferee," he said, almost certainly. A smile cut itself into the side of my face but I continued to stare at my shoes. He sat beside me facing the bright windows of the hall where music played and spinning partners danced. "So you were nine when you learned to swim," he said, gently elbowing me to continue my story.

I stifled a yell of triumph, which was easy because I was still nervous for some reason. I felt like I'd won a contest I hadn't meant to participate in. It was a victory over my sister who was older than me, and pretty, and had real red hair that was vibrant and alluring, not like my dry-clayish kind of dead bird sort of red. On top of all that she also looked much more like a girl than I ever would. Boys would sit with her so long, even when she didn't speak. Her being liked was so effortless.

"I was fourteen the first time a boy wanted to talk to me," I said, almost aloud. I actually think I mumbled it, because he frowned and leaned a little closer towards me.

"I said," louder this time, "I was nine the first time I wasn't allowed to dance."

"Because of your lungs?" he asked, and I nodded.

"If I get winded, my lungs close. It's like when you're out of breath, but then you can't draw another one as hard as you try. Similar to dying, but you only go about half-way."

"But you can swim?" the boy said, appearing thoughtful.

"Well, I can float."

"Do you go out on boats?"

"No."

"You want to?"

"I don't really know how to sail. It would be fun, but we don't have a boat so I might not ever get to."

He looked invigorated, animated, and excited quite suddenly. The change happened only on his face and he seemed to forget himself for a moment as he stared off towards the sea. "I can take you," he said, "Lets go out right now."

"Now? It's night."

"Boats can float at night."

I hesitated, regarding the dark, distant water with a fearful curiosity, and regarded the boy's changing energy with the same uncertain interest.

He saw this when his attention returned. "Would you believe me if I told you there's something out there better than your books?"

"How much do you know about books?" I asked.

He smiled at me for a moment before saying, "You know, our fishermen here never sail at night, but I do, and I found something. Something no one knows about, 'cept me, and I'll bet you've never seen it in your books. I'll show you if you like." His smile turned roguish and his excitement captured my imagination.

My parents were holding hands while laughing and spinning together and they didn't notice me leave. I followed the boy out of the light and away down the long, shallow stairs towards the sand and pier where all the fishing boats were lashed. He stopped us on the way to gather a bunch of large stones he said we needed to bring, though for what purpose I was apparently not allowed to know. As I filled my pockets, I asked what they were for. He remained mute and smiling and answered with only an infuriating wink.

"You want to surprise me," I thought, sounding sarcastic and cynical in my head, but if I was being honest with myself I was tense with excitement.