Authors: Katie O'Sullivan
The sky was a brilliant shade of blue. The coastal storm had moved further out to sea during the night, taking the oppressive clouds with it. The Summer Solstice was going to be a long, sunny day.
Twelve soda cans, eight Bud Light cans, four water bottles partly full of water, three Styrofoam coffee cups, six more pieces of Styrofoam cups, an orange snorkel filled with sand, a cracked red shovel, and ten cardboard bits of various sizes that looked like pieces from exploded fireworks.
Shea recited the day’s list of trash in his head, trying to distract himself from his recently mutated status. He kept hoping the gills would disappear. So far, they hadn’t.
It had been more than a week since the accident in the river. A long time to keep such a monumental secret. His grandmother kept giving him funny looks, but so far he hadn’t told her a thing, despite Kae’s urging. Really, what could he say?
Hey Gramma, I’ve got gills.
Yea, right.
He hadn’t seen Kae since the other day on the beach, at Nauset, when she’d touched his neck. Maybe she knew something was wrong with him. Could she have felt them when she touched him?
Who wants to be friends with a freak?
Which was why he knew he couldn’t tell Hailey, either. He didn’t want to lose another friend because of something he couldn’t control.
He glanced at her sideways, as she walked beside him along the sand. Hailey wouldn’t understand. He didn’t understand it himself. Humans don’t sprout gills. They just don’t.
Beside him, she bent over to pick up one more soda can. “I’m glad the weather cleared up,” Hailey said, breaking the long silence. “Did you know tonight is the shortest night of the year?”
He glanced at her and smiled. “The Summer Solstice,” he said, nodding his head. “Gramma says my parents were married on the Solstice, up in Hyannis. Afterward, they all drove down to Provincetown to watch the fireworks and pretend the celebration was for their wedding.”
“Sounds nice,” Hailey said, and clamped her mouth shut again. Shea had noticed that she wasn’t talking nearly as much since their run-in with Kae at Nauset. In fact, she hadn’t mentioned the beach encounter at all. They walked on in silence for a while before she spoke again. “I wonder why there’s so much trash along the beach after a storm? Is it because you haven’t been out here in a few days to pick it up?”
“I think the storm helps bring it to shore,” he said, stopping to look out over the gentle waves washing toward the shoreline. “I read somewhere recently about these huge gyres of trash that form in the Atlantic and Pacific.”
Hailey glanced at him, a puzzled look on her face. “Where do you learn these things? I’ve never even heard the word gyre.”
Shea stared out over the ocean toward the horizon, his fingers twisted in the long hair covering his ear, hiding the offending gills. His eyes unfocused as his mind dredged the definition out of his photographic memory. “A gyre is a pile of water pushed together into a large vortex by winds and currents. The North Atlantic has two large gyres in which garbage collects, but close to the Cape another, smaller gyre stretches from New Jersey in an elliptical pattern up to Nova Scotia. Separated from the Gulf Stream current, New England's gyre keeps debris that enters the ocean here from being dragged out into the middle of the Atlantic.” His eyes flicked over to Hailey, who was staring with her jaw hanging down.
“What are you,” she asked, “a walking encyclopedia or something?”
He froze, not sure what to say, sorry he hadn’t kept his mouth shut. His dad had told him to keep his photographic memory a secret. At the moment the unusual mental ability seemed to pale in comparison to his newly acquired physical attribute. Shrugging, he said simply, “Once I read something, it’s stuck in my brain.”
“It sounded like you swallowed a textbook and threw it back up,” she said, shaking her head. After another minute she asked, “Can you do that in school, too?”
He nodded and kicked at the sand. “Yeah, it’s not something I can turn on and off. But it’s also not something I brag about. No one likes the smartest kid in the class.”
“So you, what, get answers wrong on purpose?” Her eyebrows scrunched together as she frowned.
“Sometimes. To fit in. Not that it worked very well.” Shea changed the subject. “Speaking of fitting in, how’s your brother adjusting?”
“Oh, you know,” she said with a snort and another frown. “He barely ever leaves the windmill. Stays in bed until noon. Hangs out in those ratty flannel pants all day watching cartoons and playing Xbox. My parents haven’t even noticed. Dad’s so busy setting up his office, and Mom’s still coordinating the decorator stuff. She says it’s hard to find good vendors here, whatever that means.”
Shea made some noises of sympathy as she ranted. “I’ve barely seen Mom or Dad since we moved,” Hailey complained. “Not much different than New York, really. Except Chip doesn’t have friends on Cape Cod. At least I have you to hang with.”
“He could come bike riding with us sometimes,” Shea offered, half-heartedly. He’d met her older brother when they’d all gone to Nauset Beach, and wasn’t at all sure he liked the guy. He definitely hadn’t liked the way Chip had questioned him about Kae on the car ride back to Windmill Point.
Who was that hot chick on the beach? The legs on her! Can you introduce me? Does she have any friends for me?
No, Shea had definitely not liked the way Chip talked about Kae.
Lucky’s sudden barking startled them. They looked up to see a figure standing on the boardwalk, hands on hips, watching them.
“Is that Officer Tandy?” Hailey squinted against the glare of the sun. “That policeman you told me about?”
“This part of the beach is private,” answered Shea, putting up a hand to shade his eyes. “Residents only. Officer Tandy only has jurisdiction over on the public portion, near the parking lot.”
“Whoever it is, he looks official,” she whispered. Lucky now stood in front of the man, barking loudly.
“I think it’s Mr. Guenther,” Shea said, surprised.
What’s the old man doing at the beach?
“What is he doing here so early in the morning?” Hailey’s question echoed his own thoughts as they approached the old man. “Good morning, Mr. Guenther,” she said politely. “What brings you to the beach today?”
“Keeping an eye on you two, of course,” he chuckled, his tone light as his eyes scanned down the beach. The dog continued to bark at him. “Did you have another friend with you?”
They turned to see Kae at the far end of the beach, making her way toward them. “Where’d she come from?” Hailey sounded mystified.
Shea waved to Kae. “She lives in the neighborhood, too, remember?” Lucky bounded down the beach toward the approaching girl.
Hailey refused to let go of her argument. “But she’s dripping wet, like she’s been swimming. Why didn’t we see her in the water?” She shook her head, looking to Mr. Guenther for support. “There’s something strange about that girl, and Shea refuses to admit it.”
“What do you mean by strange?” The old man seemed interested.
“Hailey’s being mean,” Shea said. “Ignore her.”
“He makes excuses for Kae, saying she’s had a sheltered life, but it’s like she grew up on another planet. I mean, what fifteen year old hasn’t tried to ride a bike?”
“I’m sure she’s from this planet,” Mr. Guenther said, narrowing his eyes.
Shea ignored Hailey’s complaints, waving again to Kae. “Hey! Where’ve you been? I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve been looking for you, too. We need to talk,” Kae said. Her green eyes flit toward the man standing behind her friend, as if noticing him or the first time. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt.” Her eyes suddenly opened wider, as if she’d seen a ghost.
“This is Mr. Guenther,” Shea introduced. “He lives in Windmill Point, on the corner by my house.”
“It’s a pleasure, Miss Kae,” Gregor said, and Kae shivered.
Shea noticed the shiver. “The breeze is kind of chilly this morning,” he said. “Do you want my extra shirt?”
Kae tore her eyes from Gregor, slowly turning to face Shea. “We need to talk,” she repeated. “It’s important. Is there somewhere we can go? Alone?”
“Hey, what about me?” Hailey started, putting her hands on her hips. “You’re going to walk away and leave me out?”
“I’ll call you later,” Shea said as he took Kae’s hand and led her off the beach. Lucky barked and galloped after the pair.
“Not if I call you first!” Hailey yelled after him, but they were gone.
***
Shea pushed open the kitchen door, prepared to introduce Kae to his grandmother, but instead there was a note sitting on the kitchen counter. “Gramma is out for the morning with Mrs. McFadden,” Shea said, reading quickly.
“Who?” Kae glanced around the kitchen with open curiosity. She ran a finger along the pattern of the Formica tabletop.
His mouth quirked into a smile as he watched her. “Nevermind. Let’s go upstairs and find you something warmer to wear.” He led the way down the hallway and up the stairs to the bedrooms. “Where’ve you been, Kae? I haven’t seen you in days.” He pushed hangers around in the closet until he found the hooded sweatshirt he was looking for. He turned to hand it to her, and saw her pushing both hands down on the mattress, watching it spring back into shape. “What are you doing?”
Her head jerked toward him, her cheeks flaming. “It… It looks so solid, and yet it’s so pliant.”
“Kae, what’s going on? You’re acting so…strange,” he said, using Hailey’s word for lack of a better one. “Have you been avoiding me?”
Her eyes returned to Shea’s face, as she fumbled for words. “I’m sorry I wasn’t around this week. I looked for you yesterday, though.”
“It was raining,” Shea said, frowning.
“I’ve been… I had to… The family my parents work for returned and…my dad told me things about… Wait a minute. Let me start over.” She took a deep breath. “I know who your mother is,” she said. “And I know where she is.”
Stunned, Shea sat down hard on the edge of the bed, dropping the sweatshirt to the floor. “What are you talking about?”
Kae paused. “I know what you are, Shea.”
Shea’s fingers crept to his right ear, gently touching the slits hidden there beneath his shaggy hair.
Kae took a deep breath and exhaled forcefully, her eyes darting around the room as if searching for the right place to begin. Finally, she asked, “Remember when you fell in the river the other day?”
He nodded. “How could I forget?”
“What do you remember about it?”
He stared at her, his fingers still covering the slits in his neck.
“It’s normal, you know. It’s merely your body reacting to being reunited with the salt water.”
“Reunited?” He stared at her, not understanding where she was going with this.
“For example, did you ever wonder why you’re able to see so well with very little light? Why you can remember everything you’ve ever read, or heard, or been told?”
Shea startled. He hadn’t ever told these things about himself to Kae. He had only just told Hailey about the memory thing up on the beach.
“You can see so well because there isn’t always a lot of light underwater,” Kae continued to explain. “And a precise memory comes in handy when you can’t write things down. Mermaids don’t make lists.”
“Mermaids?” Shea shook his head, starting to laugh. He tried to act nonchalant, but his spine started to tingle at her words. “Who said anything about mermaids?”
“Your mother is a mermaid,” Kae said, sitting down on the bed next to him. Her shoulder gently bumped into his, her body heat invading his space. “You’re only half human. Part of you belongs to the ocean.”