Signs of a Storm

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter 14: Stories, But Not For Bedtime

“Why in the world did you take me down to the beach? I don’t like swimming if that’s what you’re wondering about.” Leo complained as I dragged him to the shoreline. I rolled my eyes at him as if it were bluntly obvious why we were here.

“Uh, duh. I just wanted to take you here to stare at the waves, so obvious,” I said sarcastically. “Actually, I wanted to try something out, it’s really cool.” I waved at him to come forwards. He reluctantly took a few steps closer to the water line. I held out my hand for him to take. At first Leo didn’t, but eventually knew I’d never give in, so he did.

“Now,” I began and started walking into the tide. “the fun part.”

“Tara, I hate to burst your bubble, but I’m not in a bathing suit.” He scrambled back, but I held my grip tightly on his hand.

“Do you trust me, Valdez? Or not? I need to know now.” I stopped, and put a hand on my hip while still holding his other hand.

“Of  course, but… I- I just don’t know what you’re doing and it’s getting me worried.” He answered, with a slight bit of hesitation.

“Trust me, Leo.” I pulled his arm lightly. “You’re not going to get wet, I promise. It’ll be fun.” I grinned as wide as I could and stepped forwards into the water once more. It seemed that the waves were beckoning me. Leo hesitantly followed and was surprised when we were waist deep but not a single bit wet.

“Time to go under.” I smiled widely. He gave me a weary glance, but my look reassured him. “Just hold tightly, and it’ll be fine.” He stepped closer and attached himself to me. “I’m seriously putting a whole lot of trust into you.” He grinned nervously.

I smiled back excitedly and dunked under with him. I opened my eyes, and thought; dry. A large bubble seemed to be surrounding us. Leo had his eyes squeezed shut and was holding his breath. I tapped him and he eased his shoulders. Slowly his eyes opened, and he gasped. “Tara, this is so cool.” He glanced around and smiled widely, actually happy near me for once.

I nodded, speechless. His smile was better than anything else under here. The coral and seagrass seemed like petty losers compared to how excited he was. I could sense the radiation of complete trust and satisfaction rolling from him. I have no clue how long we were under for, just casually swimming around and floating places. Really anywhere we wanted to go. The meaning of time meant nothing. Kronos and Gaea could’ve teamed up and destroyed everything on land, and we wouldn’t have known. That’s how distracted we were.

Eventually I leaded Leo up to the top of the surf. Thankfully, Gaea didn’t team up and destroy the world while we were away. The sun had barely made its way to the center of the horizon. We had probably only been gone for about an hour or so.

I made my way to the shore with Leo by my side. He was still smiling brightly. “Thank you, Tara. And I’m sorry about the arguments and stuff.” His smile faded. “I have something to tell you though, so can we sit down and talk?” He asked so politely and with so much struggle, I knew it was very important. I nodded, “Of course.”