When the Ocean Calls

Chapter Eleven | New Friends

Faint chirps sang around me, drawing me out of sleep. My eyes cracked open. Pale yellow light streamed from the sky directly in my line of sight. I rolled over, the ground shifting underneath me. My face planted in a soft but coarse mound. Huh?

I opened my eyes to see sand. Sand! It had been so long since I'd been on dry land. I scanned my smooth arms, no longer wrinkled from water. Satisfaction swelled inside me. Finally, I was close to home. Warm air engulfed me like a cocoon. My head thudded down on the fluffy ground, my mind growing still.

"Why isn't she awake yet?" a voice whined.

"I don't know. Maybe because she's still sleeping?" another replied sarcastically.

"Kiara has experienced much trauma. She needs time to recover," a third said.

"For more than twelve hours?" the second said.

A shadow cast over me, blocking the sun's heated touch. My eyes focused on a blonde-haired girl hovering over me. I exhaled a heavy sigh. I had forgotten about the strangers I met, Nereids, I believe they called themselves. Everything was still a bit hazy due to a throb in my head, but I forced myself to think, to remember. They were going on about something regarding the mer-people, something about death. My death.

"She's awake!" Etyma squealed, jolting me from my reverie. "Kallais, she's awake! Ptolema, she's—"

"I get it," Ptolema grumbled.

"Come on!" Etyma said, unphased by Ptolema's irritation. She raced across the beach to where Ptolema and Melaina sat.

I hesitated. Could I really trust them? They took me from the mer-people, who had cared for me like I was their own. Surely they weren't that bad. But then again, the Nereids saved my life, too. They could have abandoned me to the sea monster. After all, I was the only one it grabbed hold of. Yet they risked their lives right in front of me.

I sighed. It was either them or the mer-people, and right now, the Nereids were my best chance of getting home. I stumbled after Etyma, half expecting her to turn around and seize my wrist since I was so slow. In a strange way, she reminded me of a younger version of Catilli.

Is there any way this is a dream? Perhaps my mind had transposed Catilli into an alternate reality while I slept. If that was the case, however, the dream was extremely long, the longest I'd ever had, as well as the most painful.

Pain stabbed my left leg with each step, making it wobble under my body's weight. That, combined with my headache, convinced me that this wasn't my imagination.

"Did you sleep well?" Kallais sang. She was a few paces away from the others, balanced on one leg with the other tucked behind her neck. Her face angled toward the sky, glowing with tranquility. If I were in that position, I'd be crying, not relaxed.

"I think so," I said.

A frown twitched on her forehead. "You think? Why don't you know?"

"I...don't know." I didn't know anything anymore.

"Do you at least feel better?" she asked.

"My head hurts, as does my leg. Otherwise, I think I'm okay." I sank into the sand beside Melaina. She gave me a tiny smile.

"We were so worried about you," Melaina said, her voice sweet and soprano.

"Especially when your air bubble broke," Ptolema added gruffly. She sat across from me, striking a dagger against a stone.

"It was pretty scary," I said. My mind played a flashback of water filling my lungs. I pushed it aside with a shudder. "Thank you for saving me."

Ptolema shrugged. "No problem."