Page 14 of Holiday Wishes and Tentacle Dreams
Waves of disbelief emanated from Doren’s parents, reverberating in their mind. Their mother’s tentacles were moving, curling and flexing, sending rivulets of water in a hundred different directions. Her fidgeting was a far cry from her usual calm.
“That can’t be all,” she said, a dash of anger and hysteria creeping into her voice. “You would go against us, risk exposure and violence from the humans, for the sake of a beach?”
“There’s more to it than that,” their father added. Doren had never seen their parents so uncomfortable. It would be so easy to acquiesce, not to cause waves. But Doren knew better. No waves meant no wind, and no wind meant your ship was stranded, unmoving, unable to progress.
“I don’t know. I can’t leave Linwood Falls alone. Not yet. I have unfinished business there.”
Blank stares greeted their words, but Doren didn’t add more. They didn’t say their unfinished business was more than friendly baristas and peppermint lattes, more than surfing and Christmas decorations.
They didn’t say there was a man, a handsome man, even if they’d only exchanged maybe twenty words with him. They didn’t add that they couldn’t get the image of the man out of their brain. He was forever playing on repeat in their mind, running after his kitten, his delicious body shifting underneath his red flannel as he dashed along. His relief that the kitten had been saved. His adorable discomfort at Doren’s flirting.
Doren couldn’t say any of that.
Eventually, Doren’s father tilted his head in acknowledgement. “Youarean adult. It would be wrong to stand in your way. But…be careful.”
Doren’s mother’s tentacles clenched for a moment, and then a tremor moved through them. She recovered quickly, stilling her limbs, but Doren couldn’t tamp down the pang of guilt that welled up.
“Please don’t put yourself in unnecessary danger,” she said. “If I had my way, none of us would leave the depths until this current crop of humans were gone. But if you insist on going…”
She trailed off. There was nothing else to say. She was scared. But no matter what, Doren wouldn’t agree to this exile. They were already planning their next trip to the surface.
In one swift motion, Doren’s two parents headed off. Doren did their best to brush aside the remorse that filled them, but at the sight of their parents’ silent exit, they couldn’t shake off the guilt.
Even so, they wouldn’t relent.
Turning, they came face to face with Bard, whose eyes shone cold in the expanse of their midnight blue skin.
“Who are they?”
Doren stared at their sibling. What was Bard getting at?
“You’ve always been adventurous, reckless even, but you don’t disobey Mom and Dad. You don’t ignore warnings of danger, even if you toe the line occasionally. Something’s happened. Someone.”
A pulse went through Doren’s tentacles as they pushed themself a few feet away from their sibling.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Doren almost stopped at that, but after considering it, admitted something to Bard they hadn’t yet admitted to themself. “I’m lonely.”
Bard said nothing for a long moment. Doren assumed their sibling was judging them, and they didn’t blame Bard. Doren had loving parents. A big family. It made no sense to seek their loneliness cure among different species. Doren’s people were down here in the depths.
But they’d said it out loud, they’d named their loneliness, and there was no going back. Now that Doren had acknowledged it, it sat like a stone in the pit of their stomach. Their family was wonderful, but they were an adult now. They needed more.
After holding Doren’s gaze for a while, Bard spoke again. This time their voice was soft, compassionate and perhaps a little hurt. “I hope you find what you’re looking for. I hope it’s worth it. If something happens to you, Mom and Dad will never recover.”
Would it be worth it? Doren didn’t know. That was the problem. They were causing all of this trouble for…a place? A man they’d met for all of two minutes?
“I hope so too.”
Chapter Five
JAKE
Jake was underwater; that much was clear. Rays of sun shone down around him, but it was a faint, distant light, filtered through a mile of open water, landing on patches of coral and stone to paint shimmering landscapes.
The ocean was alive. Fish swam past, silent but gleeful, and colorful creatures crawled on the sea floor many feet beneath him. Seaweed waved like grass in an eerie slow-motion wind.
His chest clenched with anxiety as he thought of breathing. He opened his mouth to take in air, the panic building, but water invaded his lungs as he did.
Somehow, there was no desperate drowning sensation, no fading sight as his brain was deprived of oxygen. He wasbreathing water. It was surprisingly easy. In and out, the cool liquid filled his lungs, and he was fine.