Celeste's Arc

Chapter 12 of 23

Celeste carried the fruit to the water's edge and set it on the sand. The wind bent the palms. Waves climbed higher up the shore with each pull. She knelt beside her gift and watched the lagoon for any shape rising. Nothing came. The sky flashed white far out over the water. Thunder rolled behind it. The surf reached her knees now, cold and fast, and it dragged foam past the banana leaf. If she waited, the next wave would take the offering. Her chest tightened. She had come alone. Slate had not come back. Her eyes stung, and then the tears spilled and she could not stop them. "Little one." The voice came from the shallows. Celeste rubbed her eyes and stared. A creature floated where the deep water met the sand. Blue skin. A long silver tail that caught the lightning's glow. Dark hair spread on the surface like kelp. Green eyes watched Celeste, worried, not cruel. The mermaid from the shrine wall. The one who had never come. Now she had. "Do not cry," the mermaid said. "I am Nyrimia. I saw you leave your gifts, day after day." She looked at the fruit and her purple lips softened. "No one has brought me sweet things in a long time." Celeste grabbed the banana leaf and waded closer, holding it up out of the surf. "They're for you. Guava. Dragonfruit. All of it." Nyrimia reached out a webbed hand. Then she looked past Celeste at the black sky. "The storm will drown you here. Come. I know a dry place inside the cliff." She pointed to the wide leaf. "Set your gift on that. It will float. Pull it beside you." Celeste hesitated. The cave was dark. The water was deep. She could not swim well. Lightning cracked, closer now, and the thunder came fast behind it. She thought of Slate returning to an empty shore, finding her gone with no word. She splashed back and dug the charcoal tip from her pocket. On a strip of sailcloth she pressed hard, spelling one bold word for the cat who could read the sea better than she could: SAFE. She tied the cloth around the tent pole so the wind could not steal it. If Slate came, he would know she had not been swept away. Then she turned back. She eased the fruit onto the floating leaf and gave it a small push. It rode the swell and stayed. With one hand she pulled the leaf tray. With the other she gripped Nyrimia's cool arm. The mermaid drew her forward, away from the crashing surf, toward the mouth of the cliff cave where the water lay still and pale blue. Behind them, the wave she had feared rushed the empty shore. It found only the flapping banner tied to the pole. Celeste held on, and the mermaid pulled her into the dark.