Chapter 12: : Chapter 11

THE NEXT thing Eric knew, the early morning sun was burning a line across his face. A low ache ground his jaw to a stop as he groaned, and Eric stretched. There was no time to rest. Tonight he’d be leaving for the Isle of Serein again.

He got dressed and went to the courtyard, sure that he would get there before Pearl, but she was standing off to the side near a tree. The baby gulls had found her again, and she was tossing small pieces of whitebait to them, making each wait their turn with a sharp gesture when they hopped and squawked. One waddled toward her, and she held up an empty hand. It fluffed up.

Pearl shook her head and shooed it back.

“Good morning,” Eric said, and stepped beside her. “How do you get them to do that?”

Pearl tilted her head up at him. She was in blue today, half her hair pulled up with a large bow. When she turned back to the birds and raised the hand with the last three whitebait pieces up, her dress swirled around her like rain. The gulls bobbed up and down before her.

They screeched, and she tossed them each their fish.

“They’re better behaved than Max,” he said. If only screaming until someone threw what he wanted at him would work for Eric.

Pearl smiled up at him, nose scrunched up, and Eric turned away.

Eric liked these moments best—the breath before the smile when her eyes crinkled and her teeth peeked out from her lips. She held back sometimes, as if remembering her predicament, and didn’t fully smile, but the barely there dent of her dimples made him smile for her. Here she was, lost in a new land and unable to communicate well, and she didn’t seem afraid at all. She was brave, and it made him feel brave.

And all those complicated little feelings smoldered in his chest like a coal. She wasn’t his true love, so why was he feeling like this?

“Are you ready to go?” Eric asked.

She nodded. Eric led her to the center of the courtyard near the gate where a cart and buggy waited for them. Pearl inhaled at the sight of the horse, and her hands came up to her chest, fingers twisting. She only approached it after Eric demonstrated how to pet the horse, warning her not to go around near its rear, and it nibbled at her shoulder with its lips.

“We’ll start outside the bay and work our way in,” said Eric. “That way you’ll get to see everything.”

Finally, they got in the buggy and trotted through the gate. The farms tucked up on the hills away from the shore were pale gold and green, goats wandering idly through the grass and crows resting on slowly turning windmills. There wasn’t much to see out in the sprawling edges of Cloud Break Bay, but Pearl stopped them every now and then to stare at deer and smaller foraging creatures. She laughed delightedly at a rabbit, using Eric’s shoulder to balance against so she could watch it hop back into the bushes.

“Here,” said Eric, helping her sit down again. She pressed closely against him, and he found he didn’t mind at all. “You’ll like this. Look.”

This was the view of Cloud Break those who didn’t journey by ship saw first—the pale stone buildings with red-tiled roofs, wooden pavilions shading the streets with ceilings of leafy grapevines, and glittering canals crisscrossing the town like the silvery-blue web of some great spider. She rose in the buggy again to get a better look, her wide-eyed grin contagious, and Eric slowed the horse. Her fingers curled around his shoulder, her thumb brushing his skin absentmindedly.

“Do you like it?” he asked.

She tapped his throat once and then four times, settling her palm flat against his chest.

“I like it at dusk,” he said, “when the sea and sky are the same scarlet smear and the world seems to go on forever.”

She sunk onto the bench next to him, nestling against his side. Eric, suddenly warm, was aware of every inch of his body that touched hers, and he leaned away slightly. It was only the morning heat. It had to be.

He looped his arm around her, though.

They made their way toward the main street. The center square was bustling with people, stalls lining the edges of the path. People lingered around the fountain, collecting water and gossip, and Eric helped her down from the buggy. Pearl paused before a puppet show and gasped when she caught sight of a group of people dancing. She grabbed Eric and pulled him into the circle of dancers.

It wasn’t the leaping dance of last night, but she caught on quickly and with enough enthusiasm to charm even the grouchiest of observers. He led her through a slow dance and carefully untangled the bow holding her hair from the windswept strands. She beamed up at him.

“Maybe slower next time,” he said with a laugh, and retied Pearl’s bow. “Emily?”

Pearl laughed and held up two fingers. After another three rounds of dancing, Eric was tired of all the eyes on them. It was late morning, nearing noon, and soon they would have an even larger audience. He was a common sight around Cloud Break, but Gabriella or Vanni were usually his companions. This girl from the sea was wholly and obviously new.

“Most of the folks who live here work at the docks,” said Eric, leading her past a gaggle of older folks gossiping over the fishing net they were repairing. He paused as she stared at the net. “Does your family fish?”

She dragged her eyes from the net and shook her head.

They walked through Cloud Break’s intersections filled with small booths full of various Vellonian delicacies. Eric grabbed spinach and cheese tortellini in herb-flecked broth for lunch, which they ate sitting on the edge of a canal near the outside of the city where the water was cleaner. Pearl tore little fluffs of bread from a fresh loaf and fed them to the fish and birds gathering around them, and Eric asked her why she had wanted to leave home.

she finally managed to pantomime after he failed to understand.

“And your family didn’t want you to leave?” he asked, remembering their conversation on the beach.

She shook her head. From the sound of it, her family was stricter than Grimsby.

“Then let’s adventure.” He offered her his hand. “Ever seen a lagoon before? It’s where a bit of the sea got trapped inland, so now there’s a little land bridge separating the water from the sea. All sort of things live there.”

She loved animals, clearly, and the lagoon creatures rarely made their way into the bay.

Pearl nodded. They returned the horse and buggy to the castle before heading out on foot. Their walk to the lagoon was shaded and private, letting them talk more than they had in town. He told her as much as he knew about the stout bushes and plants lining their path, and she got far too close to the cliff’s edge for Eric’s comfort. He kept one hand on her side and led her down to the small dock in the lagoon. This swampy stretch of the area was part of the castle’s hunting and fishing grounds. She trailed her fingers through the water as he rowed.

“I’ll be leaving tonight, but you’re more than welcome to come and go from Cloud Break as much as you please,” he said. “But, if you leave, make sure someone knows.”

Pearl held up two fingers and drew them across her neck.

“I really hope that means you’re not leaving and not that you’re about to drown me.” He pulled the oars into the boat and let them drift.

She rolled her eyes—at least that gesture meant the same in both of their worlds—and leaned her elbows on her knees. She jerked her hand to point at herself.

He got what she meant almost instantly.

“I’m not taking you with me,” said Eric. “It is not a safe trip. You would see nothing but open sea. It’s less an adventure and more a wild-goose chase.”

She tilted her head to the side, and Eric laughed.

“A wild-goose chase is a long, often useless hunt for something,” he explained quickly. “Have you ever been on a ship other than the one that wrecked?”

She hesitated. Slowly, she rapped once on the rowboat.

“Not including this boat.”

Frowning, she tapped twice.

“Do you know how to sail? How to survive on open water? There may be pirates, fights. We might be gone for days or for weeks, and storms come out of nowhere this side of Vellona. It’s too dangerous.”

Pearl reached into the water and splashed him. Her other hand gestured to all of her.

“All right, fair point. You survived a shipwreck, but do you know how to fight?”

Reluctantly, she knocked twice on the boat. A few fish circling it leapt and washed water over his side.

“I’m sorry,” he said, and sighed. He hadn’t thought she would be able to, but it was only fair to ask. As much as he wanted to trust that she could hold her own, he had only known her for a day. “I really do not want to be responsible for you getting hurt.”

He already had far too many responsibilities.

Her mouth thinned into a pink, angry line, and she narrowed her eyes at him.

“I just met you,” Eric said. “How could I justify you joining us?”

Pearl curled up, chin on her knees, and wrapped her arms around her legs. She huffed.

“I’m sorry.” Eric picked up the oars again and dipped them into the water.

A gull swooped into one of the trees above them and screeched. Eric winced. Not the best serenading the bay had to offer, but Pearl didn’t seem to mind too much. Still, she shot the bird an ugly look as they drifted beneath it.

An awkward silence descended over them when the gull quieted, and Eric cleared his throat. He continued rowing, something pinching his finger on the downswing. Eric shook out his hand. Pearl glanced in the water. The gull cried again.

“Wow,” Eric muttered, “somebody should find that poor animal and put it out of its misery.”

Pearl snorted. Her smile made his chest ache, and Eric rowed them away from the gull’s tree. A rippling breeze rattled the grass. A branch brushed Eric’s ear. The quiet was suddenly filled with the croaks and chirps of the creatures around them as if they were in a chorus hall and not a lagoon.

“Do you hear that?” Eric asked.

She shook her head, a strand of hair coming free of her bow, and Eric leaned in close. His fingers skimmed her cheek and pushed the strand behind her ear. She pressed against his hand. Her lips parted.

Eric pulled back, rowing harder. Focus. Focus. Focus. Talking was good. People did that.

“You know, I feel really bad not knowing your name,” he said. “Maybe I could guess again.”

She nodded, leaning on her knees.

“Is it Mildred?”

She stuck out her tongue and shook her head.

“Okay, no. How about Diana?” he asked. “Rachel?”

She slouched. Her eyes rolled up, and she didn’t even bother shaking her head.

Were there any other names left? They had gone through a hundred at least in the last day, cycling through all sorts of common names and meanings. The music of the lagoon swelled around them, birds chirping and water dripping. It was an aria without a voice.

Aria…

“Ariel?” he asked, voice wavering. Perhaps they should start back at the A’s.

She lunged forward and took his hand.

“Ariel?” He grabbed her, taken aback by her reaction. “Your name is Ariel?”

She nodded, nose scrunched up with a chuckling laugh.

“That’s kind of pretty,” he said. “Okay, Ariel.”

He said it slowly, testing out the taste of her name, and smiled. Simple and pretty. Concise.

“Ariel,” he whispered and held out his hand to her. “It’s wonderful to meet you again.”

Ariel closed the distance between them and took his hands in hers. They glided through a veil of willow branches, the leaves freckling her hair, and Eric gave in, the burning ache in his chest too great to ignore. His fingers plucked each leaf free and lingered at the nape of her neck. Fireflies floated through the air.

She was wild and beautiful, hair damp with the sea. As they stared at each other, her tongue wet her lips, and Eric couldn’t help wondering what they would feel like against his own. They both leaned closer, her eyes fluttering shut. Eric reached for her, and—

The boat tipped. Eric went flying, tumbling face-first into the water. Cold shocked him, stabbing into his nose and throat, and he sunk to the bottom of the lagoon. He felt something slither by him, and he kicked at the ground. His feet struck silt.

He broke the surface and called out, “Ariel?” Brackish water splashed over his face, and he blinked it out of his burning eyes. Reaching out, he swept his arms across the water. “Ariel!”

She had already surfaced. Strands of red hair stuck to her face in clumps, floating in the water like tentacles around her. Her eyes were only just above the water, and she stared at him over the rippling waves.

“Are you all right?” he asked, swimming to her.

She nodded and bobbed in the water, but she didn’t rise.

“Is your skirt weighing you down?” He moved to pick her up and froze.

He had almost kissed her.

Eric reared back. Ariel drifted toward him, and he couldn’t hold back a flinch when she drew near. She stopped, treading water and unable to make any sort of sign, and he shook his head. Nausea bubbled in the back of his throat.

He had almost died, and yet he still wanted to reach out, cross the distance between them, and hold her. What was wrong with him?

“Let me,” he said, and instead of pulling her into his arms, he offered her one hand. “Whoa, hang on. I’ve got you.”

Still, his other curled around her waist, and he walked her to the edge of the water. She shook out her clothes and hair, delicate throat bare. She wasn’t his true love. He couldn’t do this.

“I’m so sorry,” he said, pulling away from her the moment she was firmly standing. “Let’s get back to the castle. That’s probably enough touring for today.”