Call of the Water (COMPLETE)

41. UNEXPECTED VISITOR

I wouldn't say that I was a light sleeper. Usually I'd fall asleep as soon as my head touched the pillow and wouldn't wake up until morning. But the night that came was an exception.

Silver moonlight cast a soft light into our room through the blinds we hadn't closed. I could make out the silhouettes of my roommates as I lay on my back. They both had restless dreams that seemed to get intensified with the occasional howling sounds that traveled to us through the closed door.

The next morning, we all slept in. We woke up past breakfast time, so we simply lounged about in our pajamas until it was time to go to lunch. Our eyes kept scanning the dining room in search of Mathias.

"He probably won't be here," Ardea said to us. Still, her eyes continued roaming around, just like ours.

He hadn't shown up at dinner either and when Sunday morning breakfast passed without his presence, we decided to ask around.

"Speak to her," Opal suggested as she spotted Professor Ravens getting up from the table. "She's your kind, she'll talk to you."

I didn't want to burst her bubble by pointing out Ms. Cyan's reluctancy to speak to another Aquantien. Ardea looked in the direction of our Biology teacher and I could tell she was thinking about Opal's words. She wasn't obligated to ask about Mathias. After all, I was the one who considered him a friend, not her. But the other night she was there for him, so I really hoped she would decide to speak to Professor Ravens.

She stood up when Professor Ravens was on her way towards the French door that separated the dining room from the rest of the school, and followed her out. Opal and I escorted them with our eyes. We both held our fingers crossed that our roommate would get some answers.

She came back just before lunch time. I suggested we skipped it and talk about what she found out but Opal's stomach protested. In addition to that, Ardea said she could use some time to reflect on the conversation. I was afraid that it meant she had to decide which parts of it she would leave out.

Opal and I ate fast. Vegetable lasagna they served that day disappeared from our plates in no time. In Ardea's opinion, there was no need to rush, so we ended up spending about twenty minutes waiting for her to thoroughly chew her food.

As we were about to get up from the table, Mathias walked in. His hair was combed, but few locks refused to be tamed. He glanced at us as he quickly moved in the direction of the counter. Our school cook prepared a different menu for him. The plate he carried to his usual corner table did not contain lasagna.

"He'll be fine," Ardea said and smiled. Seeing him eat like he starved for for days, which was probably true, made me believe Ardea's statement. He was the same old Mathias. The crisis had passed and he could go back to being himself. Until the next full Moon. I had already marked the date on my calendar.

Both Opal and I practically bombarded Ardea with questions as soon as we found ourselves back in our room. Our voices competed against each other, making it impossible to differ my questions from Opal's.

Ardea ignored us completely. She walked up to her dressing table, leaned closer to the mirror and carefully removed her contact lenses. For a while she just stood there, hunched over, with her hands on the wooden surface of the table, staring at her reflection.

Opal and I stopped the questioning. We looked at one another, then we both looked at Ardea.

"Did something fall into her eye?" Opal whispered.

"No," Ardea answered. "I was just thinking about something Professor Ravens said." Then she became silent again.

Opal looked at me, I looked at Opal. My shoulders shrugged since I had no explanation for Ardea's weird behavior. Not knowing what to do, we sat on Opal's bed. Opal reached for one of the rocks from her collection displayed on the shelf above the headboard.