Call of the Water (COMPLETE)

23. THE BOOK

The night hadn't brought me much rest. My dreams were dominated by the unsettling feeling of running, but getting nowhere.

"Have you been mining?" Opal asked as soon as she noticed I was awake.

"Huh?" I didn't realize what she meant by that, but after putting in extra effort to tangle myself out of the covers, it dawned on me. "No," I replied. "I just had bad dreams."

"Then you definitely were not in a mine. That would be a good dream."

Only dwarves would think that being underground, in a confined space, away from sunlight, was a good thing. Ardea laughed. She was still in her bed, reading a book.

I wasn't in the mood for discussion, so I said nothing. The conversation with Mathias still echoed in my thoughts.

"Something's bothering you," Ardea stated. It was not a question; she could always tell when something was on my mind. This time it was a promise I gave Mathias.

I promise. As soon as those words left my mouth, I was aware they were a lie. He hadn't said the actual words. He never confirmed that Ms. Cyan really was the same race as I was, but the thought of another Aquantien here, under the same roof, made it impossible for me to forget about the whole thing. However, a promise was made, and if I was to dig deeper, I needed a different approach.

I already scanned through the library. Nothing in there could help me. There wasn't a single book on the subject of Aquantiens.

"I know so little about my race," I said honestly. "When my parents, my real parents, were alive, I was too young to learn, and after they died, nobody cared about my education. But now I want to learn more. My knowledge of my race cannot be based on one story I heard years ago." That was the truth.

Ardea and Opal exchanged sympathetic looks.

"There must be a way for me to learn more," I continued. "It's just discouraging that our library doesn't contain a single book about my race."

"Try the computer then," Opal suggested.

"She won't find anything there," Ardea gave Opal a patronizing stare and I honestly hoped it wouldn't cause another bickering between my best friends.

"You don't know that!" Opal said overlooking Ardea's eyes on her.

"Computers were invented by humans and, although we are using them, hidden races would never risk revealing their existence by sharing delicate information about them," Ardea explained and Opal nodded. She knew this, we learnt it in class.

"Even if hidden races did use computers for that purpose, my race lives under water. There's no electricity, therefore there are no computers. We never used any electrical devices," I explained further.

"Good thinking," Opal said with thumbs up signal directed towards me. "If you did, you'd all be fried! Fried like fish! The only thing missing would be chips."

"Opal," Ardea said in a calm voice, "since your mother isn't here, it's up to me to point it out: that was rude!"

"I know. Sorry, Azora," she agreed and bowed her head.

I looked at my two friends, laughing at their statements. Soon they joined in and the laughter filled our room.

"Thanks," I said. "I needed that."

Opal was the one who could lift up my spirit without even intending to do so. Her inappropriate statements were the reason why her parents had to scold her from time to time. This time they weren't here, so our responsible Ardea took the task upon herself.