SEAMONSTER: An Aquarathi Novella (The Aquarathi) (9 page)

I open my eyes and stretch lazily. I’ve fallen asleep beside the pool again
, but it’s summer and there’s no school and there’s no one around to yell at me.

“
Speio,” Nerissa screeches, making my ears ring. “We’re going to be late for work at the Marine Center. Get a move on. Soren’s going to drive us.”

So much for that
, I think and pull myself into a seated position. I rake my hands through my hair and blink the sleep from my eyes. That was quite possibly the best sleep I’ve had in days. Jogging to my room, I shower and brush my teeth before getting dressed. As I’m finger-combing my hair, I notice a slip of folded paper on the dresser. It’s a drawing of a boy sitting in the sand and staring out to sea. My name is written beneath it in strong but feminine handwriting. Someone has captured me perfectly. I flip the paper over, but there’s no other note or signature, just the faint smell of flowers. Tucking the drawing into my pocket, I head down to the kitchen.

My mother has made breakfast, and slides a tray of fresh sushi toward me. “Sleep well?”

“Yeah, like the dead,” I say through a mouthful. I pull the drawing from my pocket and show it to my mother. “Do you know who did this? I found it in my room.”

She shakes her head and studies the drawing.
“It’s good,” she remarks. “Whoever it was did a great job. You almost look like you’re smiling.”

“
Hey!” I protest. “I smile. Occasionally.” I shovel a few more bites into my mouth when something catches my eye in the headlines of the newspaper lying on the countertop.

JURY PUTS CRIME BOSS AWAY FOR CONSEC
UTIVE LIFE SENTENCES—HEIRESS VINDICATED FOR FATHER’S MURDER.

But it’s not the headline that captures my
interest, it’s the inset photo of an attractive brunette, dressed in a white suit. A braided sea glass necklace that looks identical to mine is tied around the girl’s neck. I look closer. What are the odds that she’d be wearing the exact same necklace as the one I have? My fingers reach upward for mine, but there’s nothing there around my neck. Strange. I must have left it in my room.

Arrested, I study the picture of the girl.
Even in the gritty, low-resolution newspaper color spread, her eyes are magnetic. They’re so blue that I can drown in them. A hint of something comes to me, and a deeply familiar scent flowers on my tongue like a starburst—the taste of honey and salt. An unfamiliar feeling tugs at my insides as if I’m somehow tethered to the girl in the photo, and I can’t move. Or breathe. Or function. Time stands still. I am mesmerized, and utterly shattered. I wonder why it feels like everything inside of me is splintering into a million pieces. Or why the taste of salted honey is still on my lips.

I blink and everything goes back to normal.
Time resumes its natural speed and life zooms by around me. I shake my head, taken aback by the odd sensation, almost as if I were falling backward off a dizzying height. I close my eyes for a second and see the girl’s face reflected in my thoughts, only she isn’t wearing a white suit. She’s wearing one of my shirts and her smile is dazzling.

Anya.

Her name comes out of nowhere and feels like a caress in my thoughts. The thought of her makes the lights along my arms come to life. I frown at my body’s strange response. It’s the weirdest thing, almost as if I should know her, but of course I don’t. I’ve never seen this girl before in my life.

Shaking my head to clear it,
I close the newspaper and pop a few more bits of food in my mouth before grabbing my bag. My mother pulls me into an unexpected hug in the foyer. I don’t know why, but she hugs me tightly as if I might need it. “What was that for?” I ask her.

“Because someone once told me I have a very special son.”

“When he isn’t being a brat,” Nerissa teases as she races past me out to the car.

“
Says Princess Brat herself,” I fling back with a grin. But before I follow Nerissa, I turn back to my mom. “Who said that, by the way? About me?”

“
A very brave girl.”

Some
thing about the way she says it makes me pause. My mother doesn’t give praise lightly, not for Aquarathi and not for humans. This girl had to have made an extraordinary impact on her. I wonder who she is.

“Who is she? Does she live in La Jolla?”

“No, but she’s not that far away. Maybe you’ll cross paths someday. After all, you never know what’s in store for you in the future, and whose journey is going to intersect with yours, no matter how briefly. Perhaps it’s written in the stars for you two to meet.”

I shoot her a skeptical look.
“Sounds like you believe in fate.”

My mother
smiles, one that makes her eyes sparkle like gems. “Of course I do. Fate doesn’t discriminate between humans or Aquarathi. If we’re meant to meet someone, we do. It’s about connection, after all.”

Something sparks in my memory—a shimmer of a
kiss and a perfect connection. Of their own volition, my fingers search for the drawing folded carefully in my pocket. I don’t know how the two are interconnected, but deep inside, I feel that they are. In fact, I’m
certain
they are.

Maybe my mother’s right. Maybe there is such a thing as fate.

THE END

Want more surf, sand, and sea-monsters?

Read more about Speio, Nerissa, and the Aquarathi in

WATERFELL
(now available) and
OCEANBORN
(out August 2014)

from
Harlequin TEEN
!

Dark Paradise
, Dubstep Mix Collection

Invisible (RED) Edit Version
, U2: Invisible (RED)

Holding On for Life
, Broken Bells: After the Disco

Oblivion
(feat. Susanne Sundfør), M83: Oblivion

Dark Horse
(feat. Juicy J), Katy Perry: PRISM (Deluxe)

Together In The Empty
, Dexter Britain: Creative Commons Volume. 5

Sand
(feat. Karen Whipple), Nathan Lanier: Sand (feat. Karen Whipple)

The Man I Left Behind
, Ki:Theory: Kitty Hawk

Hide
(Tropkillaz Remix), N.A.S.A.: Hide [feat. Aynzli Jones]

Three Strikes
(feat. Jack McManus), Afrojack: Three Strikes

Running All My Life
, Walking Def: Running All My Life

Stand By Me
, Ki:Theory: Kitty Hawk

Love Someone
, Jason Mraz: Yes!

Double Rainbow
, Katy Perry: PRISM (Deluxe)

Lights
, Ellie Goulding: Lights

Other Books by
Amalie Howard

BLOODSPELL
from Langdon Street Press

WATERFELL
(Book 1 in The
Aquarathi series) from Harlequin TEEN

THE ALMOST GIRL
from Strange Chemistry

ALPHA GODDESS
from Sky Pony Press

SEAMONSTER
: An
Aquarathi Novella (
The Aquarathi
,
0.5
)

OCEANBORN
(Book 2 in
 
The Aquarathi 
series) from Harlequin TEEN

THE FALLEN PRINCE
(Book 2 in
 
The Almost Girl
series
, 
available November 2014) from Strange Chemistry

About
The Author

AMALIE HOWARD
grew up on a small Caribbean island where she spent most of her childhood with her nose buried in a book or being a tomboy running around barefoot, shimmying up mango trees and dreaming of adventure. Twenty-two countries, surfing with sharks, and several tattoos later, she has traded in bungee jumping in China for writing the adventures she imagines, instead. She isn’t entirely convinced which takes more guts.

She is the author of several young adult novels critically acclaimed by
Kirkus
,
Publishers Weekly
, and
Booklist
, including
Waterfell
,
The Almost Girl
, and
Alpha Goddess
, a Spring 2014 Kid’s INDIE NEXT title. Her debut novel,
Bloodspell
, was an Amazon bestseller and a
Seventeen Magazine
Summer Read. As an author of color and a proud supporter of diversity in fiction, her articles on multicultural fiction have appeared in
The Portland Book Review
and on the popular
Diversity in YA
blog. She currently resides in New York with her husband and three children.

Visit her at
www.amaliehoward.com
.

Copyright © 2014 Amalie Howard

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions

By payment of required fees, you have been granted the
non
-exclusive,
non
-transferable right to access and read the text of this book. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented without the express written permission of copyright owner.

Please Note

The reverse engineering, uploading, and/or distributing of this book via the internet or via any other means without the permission of the copyright owner is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author's rights is appreciated

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher, except where permitted by law.

Cover Design and Interior format by The Killion Group

http://thekilliongroupinc.com

Thank you.