Chapter 2-3
656 Words
Later that morning, Raka found Bey on his way to the spring in the middle of the island. He carried two empty clay jugs suspended from a pole braced across his shoulders.
Falling into step beside him, Raka told him what she had heard her parents say the night before. Bey frowned with increasing intensity as he listened to her story.
When she got to the part where Ikaz said he loved her as if she were his own flesh and blood, Bey stopped walking. The jugs swung crazily on the pole as he whirled to face her.
"Now what's that supposed to mean?" he said, scowling in disbelief.
Raka winced. "That I'm not his flesh and blood, I guess. That I'm not really his daughter."
"But you're the princess," said Bey. "You have to be his daughter."
"Do I?" said Raka. "I don't know. I never thought about it before."
Bey stared at her. "I guess it would explain your red hair. No one on the island ever had red hair before."
"And the gills I don't have," said Raka. "It would explain them, too."
"And your fear of the water," said Bey.
Raka's expression darkened. "And it would explain why my own father doesn't care if I die on my Rebirth Day."
Bey shook his head. "Even if he isn't your real father, that doesn't mean he'd want you to die. Didn't he tell your mother he loves you?"
"He also said I wouldn't be any good as a queen if I can't lead the people underwater," Raka said bitterly. "He basically said if I can't breathe water, I'll be better off dead."
"I'll bet he didn't mean it," said Bey. "You know how overdramatic he gets."
Raka started walking forward again, and Bey had to hurry to keep up. "He meant it," she said coldly. "I'm not his real daughter, so he hates me and wants me dead."
Bey sighed. "I think you should talk to him."
"Why?" said Raka. "So he can lie to me again? Like he's been lying to me my whole life?" As if a bubble had burst inside her, Raka's anger suddenly gave way to sadness, and tears trickled down her face. "You don't know how it feels, Bey. My own father--the man I thought was my father--has been lying to me every day of my life."
Raka stopped walking and covered her face with her hands. Bey stopped, too. He lifted the pole and jugs from his shoulders and over his head, then put them down in the middle of the trail. He folded his arms around Raka and stroked her long, red hair as she wept.
"I don't know who I am anymore," she said in a small, broken voice. "I don't know anything anymore."
"You know me," Bey said softly. "That will never change."
"Please help me," said Raka. "Take me away like you said you would."
Bey stopped stroking her hair. He pushed Raka back from him and stared into her eyes. "Are you serious?" he said.
Raka sniffled and rubbed the tears from her face with the heels of her hands. "I want to run away," she said, nodding. "I want to go as far from here as I can."
Bey's eyes wandered as if he were already working out the details in his mind. "You know it will be dangerous," he said grimly. "When we talked about it before, you said the sharks and warriors would come after us. It's true, they will."
"What difference does it make?" said Raka. "If I stay here until my Rebirth Day, I'll die anyway."
Bey watched her for a moment, then looked toward the sea. "I'll talk to Oom," he said. Oom was his
shark-brother, a hammerhead whom Bey had befriended and ridden home on his own Rebirth Day a year ago. "Maybe he'll help us."
"Thank you," said Raka as the tears started again. Stumbling forward, she fell into his arms.
"Your Rebirth Day is two days from now," said Bey. "We'll leave tomorrow."
"I wish we could leave right now," said Raka, trembling against his chest.
- Writer
