The Sirens Gift

Chapter 10.

The next morning was warmer than the last. An ever pressing reminder that spring was quickly approaching.

I sat at the end of the dock. I’d come almost an hour early, just in case he couldn’t tell time. I nervously looked at the clock over and over again, one earbud in my ear as I kicked my toes into the water.

I looked down at my phone to see a message from my sister as it dinged on the screen.

Addy, I’m sorry I yelled… can we talk when you get home?

Sure…

I sighed at it before I felt a wet stone pelt me on the shoulder. It made a small *plink* as it bounced back into the water towards its wielder.

It was a few minutes shy of when I had left the beach yesterday to escape from Otis and his creepy behavior.

“Caspian…” I smiled. Only his face was visible.

He smiled but then put his finger to his mouth to shush me, then pointed off into the bay. A small trawler listed far off in the waves that crashed at the very outside of the bay. He waved his hand for me to follow him and I watched as he submerged himself and I watched the iridescent blue shoot toward the lighthouse alcoves. I grabbed my bag and scrambled to get off of the dock and follow him. Rounding the corner of the alcoves where the water had worn out the little caves and crevices filled with shallow pools of water.

I paused and waited, scanning the area for him before I saw his head peek up from behind where the rocks blocked off view from the rest of the bay. He would have had to go out and around the small cape to get to the shallow area he had found himself in.

I set my bag in the dry sand before I kicked my shoes off. He watched me intently then blushed as I hooked my fingers into the band of my sweatpants and unzipped my hoodie. I placed them on top of my bag, and he still watched nervously. I stepped onto the shoal that separated the two pieces of water and he put a hand up to stop me. Then he put his hands into fists with his thumbs out and shook his fists back and forth.

“Uh…” I paused, trying to remember the sign. I'd seen it in the restaurant at some point. I remember someone using that sign when referring to coffee… “Oh!” I laughed “cold?”

He nodded.

I shook my head. “I swim in way colder weather than this. I’m used to it!”

He shook his head again and then made two signs I wasn’t familiar with.

“Sorry… I don’t know those ones…” I said softly, c*****g my head to the side. He rolled his eyes. “Hey, in my defense, my knowledge in sign language is mostly food related!” I argued jokingly, “I know Cold Coffee.” I added as I signed it back to him.

The light chortling noise came from him as he laughed and nodded. Then he held up his hand and slowly signed letters to me.

“D-A-N-G-E-R-B-O-A-T”

“Danger boat?” I asked back to him. He nodded and pointed toward the open ocean again. “Oh! The fishing trawler?”

He nodded.

“That one’s too big to come to the dock here at least. But I understand. I’ll just sit here.” I said as I kicked my feet into the sandy shoal and fell into the water.

As I got closer to him, I could see he was resting with his belly in the deeper part of the sand shoal. His tail swished back and forth a few inches beneath the surface of the water, making gentle ripples that reflected the blue and green of his tail fin.

“So… why can’t you speak?” I asked him as I pressed my feet into the sand, letting the wet, gritty feeling squish between my toes. He pulled himself a little bit closer, letting his elbows dig into the sand near my feet and propping himself up on muscled arms. Then he tapped his finger to his throat, then to the water, and shrugged.

“Well, that’s what I figured.” I laughed, he smiled, “But I wasn’t sure.”

He nodded and gave another small shrug.

“Is there any way you can talk?” I asked.

He set his hand down, shaking it side to side, then he pointed at my legs, then back to his tail, and then back to my legs once again.

“Your… tail?” I asked.

He nodded then pointed again to my legs. Then his hand signed the word “M-A-G-I-C.”

“Magic… magic can make you speak?”

He shook his hand back and forth again. He pointed back to his tail, then he traced an arch with his finger in the air, and then pointed to my legs again.

“Oh! If you have legs, you can speak normally?” I asked, “I mean, not… normal… for you I guess, I mean, like a human?”

His cheek dimpled with his smile as he nodded.

“That’s amazing… do you know… like how to get legs?”

His smile dropped to a gentle frown as he shook his head.

“Well, if you ever find out, let me know. I can show you around the town.” I laughed and his smile returned at the notion. “So, how did you end up in that net?”

He dropped his hands into a cupping motion and rocked his hands back and forth. The same motion he had made for “Danger boat.”

“Boat?” I said, he nodded. “You got caught in a boat?”

He nodded then his tail slowly submerged as his back arched and his fins fell over his back. He pointed back at the split gash where his fin had been sutured back together with fishing line. “They fished you?” I asked.

His face grimaced uncomfortably and he nodded. Then he held his hand to himself in a fist and drug it in random places across his body where it lined up with the gash marks that had been healing on his chest and arms. He dropped his hand into a claw-like gesture and swung it forward dramatically while making a snarling noise. He placed his hands together and pointed his fingers down, making them dive into the water ahead of him before he wiggled his hand up and down like a dolphin just beneath the water. Then as his hand came up he motioned to the stone walls and rocks around us that had been carved into the cape. Then he pointed at me, then back down to his tail where he made another cutting gesture toward his tail as he rolled just slightly onto his side.

“You tell a very interesting story for not having a voice.” I joked. He smiled and nodded.

He signed thank you to me a few times in a row as he stared dark eyes into mine. A look of relief and gratitude gripped him.

“Do you think you’d have been stuck here for a while had I not come?”

He shrugged.

“Do you get caught in nets often?”

He shook his head and brought up one finger.

“Just the one time?” I asked. He nodded. I nodded in agreement. “Then I’m glad I was here…”

He nodded and grinned, then spelled “Me Too.”

“Maybe it was fate.” I laughed as I looked down at my feet, away from him. I pressed my knees down and straightened them into the water. The tide rippled against my knee as I stared. I felt his hand reach up to me, a finger gently catching my chin and pushing it up to look at him. He smiled as our eyes met, then he nodded.

“Think so too?” I laughed, and he gave another nod as his hand fell away from me, back into the water.

We sat for another few moments, in mostly silence, given it was still hard for us to communicate properly. “I have to get ready for work soon…” I said softly. “My family is going to wonder why I'm out so late today…”

He put his index and middle fingers to his eyes in a V shape and then pressed the tips of his fingers together.

“Sorry, I don’t know that one…”

He sighed softly, and spelled. “S-E-E-W-H-E-N?”

“See when?” I asked and he nodded. “Guess I need to study up on my sign language…” I laughed. He c****d his head and the corner of his lip raised in a new smile. “I can come tomorrow again. The same time?”

He nodded, his smile brightening as I stood. He signed goodbye to me.

“Goodbye Caspian. Stay safe, okay?”

He nodded with a sweet smile before he pushed himself from the shoal. I watched just a hint of green shimmer before it disappeared completely into the water as he made his way out of the alcove. Then I stood for a long while looking after him before I dried my legs, pulled my pants and sweater back on, grabbed my bag and turned back for home.