Beneath The Waves

(11) Rain and Waves

Chapter 11

                “Frankie?” Ryan asked.

                Frankie was staring up at the bright blue sky, and the puffs of cotton candy clouds that drifted across it, apparently lost in thought. “Mmm?”

                “Want to hear something crazy?”

                Frankie looked at him with a look of wry amusement. “You mean you still have to ask?”

                Ryan grinned back. “Yeah, true.” He watched the water dance and sparkle in the sunlight. “I want to get my brother back.”

          Frankie didn’t appear at all surprised. “I thought you might.”

          “How the hell would I do it, though?”

Frankie nibbled her lips, staring down at her ratty black converses. “I’m not sure,” she admitted eventually. “You’d somehow have to get a Siren to take you to one of those islands or caves where they keep them, get Noah out of there without anyone noticing, and get him back before the Sirens try to murder you.”

“Sounds like fun,” Ryan said sarcastically, but his heart sank like it had been filled with rocks. “You’re a bookworm. Can you think of anything else?”

Frankie looked up, her eyes bright with hope. “Books!”

Ryan raised an eyebrow. “What, attack them with books...? Yeah, I really see that going down well.”

Frankie rolled her eyes. “I mean we look in books. Books told me Sirens were real. They’ll be able to tell me how to get Noah back.” She seemed pleased and confident.

Ryan was more doubtful. “You really think you can find that out in a book.”

“Why not?” Her smile was radiant. “They’ve never let me down before.”

Ryan shrugged. He hadn’t believed her once, and he’d seen how wrong he’d been. “Okay, then. You gonna go to the library?” When Frankie nodded, he spoke again. “I’ll go with you.”

Frankie smiled, clearly grateful. “Can you make it tomorrow?”

Though Ryan had never really been fond of libraries or reading, he was eager to go as soon as possible. But he remembered that Friday evenings were reserved for his trips into town with his friends. Though the others could get away with missing a trip or two, Ryan’s presence (and Melanie’s) was apparently mandatory. And the others would never accept going to the library as an excuse.

“Saturday?” he suggested hopefully, and Frankie nodded.

“You have a much busier social life than me,” she said with a grin, leaning back and closing her eyes again. She didn’t sound too bothered about it.

Ryan studied her. The light of the sun made her light brown curls come alive; they shone with luminous, shiny threads of gold and red.

“I’ve known them nearly all my life,” he explained, feeling almost like he should apologize for being popular. “You’ve only been here a few months. And, well, it’s kind of understandable that you... didn’t feel up to making friends.”

“Mmm.” Frankie still didn’t seem bothered. “But I bet everyone loves you as soon as they meet you, don’t they?”

“Are you basing that on personal experience?” he teased, not wanting to admit she was right.

She kicked him lightly with her converse, smiling a little at the sky. “Shut up, dweeb.”

Ryan grinned, and couldn’t quite wipe the smile away until he heard the hull of the boat scrape against the shingle. Tennyson, still standing behind him, gave a soft yap.