The Lost Secret of the Silver Sea

Chapter 14: Stations and Familiar Faces

            The Call was stronger than ever, rattling deep in his bones like a song. Kaelonne rubbed his chest, wincing at the humming that threatened to drown out the world around him. He was standing in front of a large building, the words ‘Police Department’ caught his eyes but it didn’t trigger any feelings of understanding. People milled about, some dressed in uniforms, others in a form of casual wear. No one looked at him twice.

            It didn’t make sense to him, why would the Call end here? What could possibly be so important that the Call would drag him so far inland? He groaned and stooped down to his haunches, rubbing his hands over his face in exhaustion. He regretted dumping the borrowed crutches a while back, the support would’ve been greatly appreciated. Well, he was here now, there was only one thing left to do. Go in.

            Unlike the last few days of traversing the streets in nothing more than unwashed clothes and knotted hair, it was almost disconcerting when no one even acknowledged his presence. People continued their business, chatting, scratching of words on paper, typing. Kaelonne’s shoulders were tense with weariness, eyes darting back and forth at the constant moving all around him.

            The Call, as he’d dubbed it, was tugging at him gently now, like a thread tied to his chest and pulling him in a particular direction. The young royal pulled back the hood of his borrowed jacket, smoothening out the broken strands of his hair and dusting off any dirt he could find on his pants. Adjusting the strap of the bag on his back, he takes a deep breath and follows the Call once again.

            It leads him to a small contraption, an elevator, people parting as though they were aware of his presence, but not enough to actually look at him. It was cold, but thankfully empty and silent. The doors closed, leaving him absolutely claustrophobic for a few seconds The young royal was ready to launch himself at the closed doors to get out, but then it move, stopped and the doors opened again.

            Kaelonne cursed his shaky legs as he walked out, scrunching his nose in distaste, two weeks and he still didn’t quite like the idea of legs. Finally taking in his surroundings, nervousness that he’d gotten accustomed to over the last month rose up again. The large area was filled with people in uniform, police officers.

It was a little livelier here. Desks were in an organized mess everywhere, papers, pens and devices littered across it. With his anxiousness, came heightened senses, close to the one he had as a Mermatian but not quite as strong. The smell of coffee and gun-smoke seemed to be embedded into the very walls of the large room. People chatted in loud tones, some were laughing, others had traces of anger or relief.

The walls were lined with large windows, letting the natural light spread over the tiled ground and reflect softly on computer screens. Kaelonne’s ears twitched as he listened to the clacking of fingers on keyboards, and phones rang. He flinched when a man with hands cuffed behind him was passed just inches away from him, the officer holding him had a grim look plastered on her tired face.

It was a chaotic calm that reminded the young royal of the days when he was asked to follow Idris on her patrols, greeting guards and lending a hand in organization when things became hectic around days of celebration.

Officers were a familiar part of his life on the streets, patrolling in their loud vehicles or on foot. Many a time, he’d have an encounter, ranging from soft conversations to irritated voices. Some would be kind enough to provide him with a meal bought at a store, asking questions about his life and the bandages still tightly wrapped over his healed injuries, in those times, Kaelonne would thank them for the meal and leave them with hardly put together words about his life and pull the jacket sleeves down lower. Others would pass early in the morning, when people were still sleeping on benches and around statues, raising their voices loudly and making them leave.

A certain smell caught his attention, the faint smell of the sea, and then it was gone again. Kaelonne keeps his hands in his pockets, craning his neck as much as he could in an attempt to catch it again. It felt so familiar, but like nothing he’d smelled before, the faint scent combining with the innate smell of the human attached to it.

He finds it again, weaved carefully through the crowd like the path of a string when stitching. It confuses him for a few seconds, leaving him jittery and worried that the person attached to it had simply visited the large area and had not stuck around, but then the smell came at him again. It was hardly there, and Kaelonne was certain that at normal human senses would’ve never picked it up, especially in the way it seemed to be buried under several other newer scents.

The Call in his chest, thought a little muted now, tugged helpfully in a specific direction. It led him to an older fellow, with dark skin and a shaved head, dressed in a casual suit. Kaelonne uses the chance of him talking to the other person to observe, the human reminded him very closely of someone, but he couldn’t quite pinpoint who, from the facial features to his mannerisms.

“I’m sorry son, can I help you?” Lost in his mental search, Kaelonne startles at the sudden question, focusing on the fact that the creature he was studying intently was now staring at him with slowly raising eyebrows. So, he panicked and said what came closest to mind.

“Uh, n-no… I mean yes.” The pause floated into awkward silence, Kaelonne bit his tongue and floundered to the one thing that came to his mind more than once over the last month, the chance for a familiar, safe face. “I’m, uh, I’m actually looking for someone.”

“Have a name for this person?” the sentence was said softly, the man looking like he was ready to talk the young prince into calming down if he panicked any more.

“Uh, Hartley.” It suddenly occurred to him that the young human he saved never gave him a last name. It wasn’t uncommon back home, and while names did have a way of identifying Mermatians to their family, it was more of a chosen construct than anything. They were trying to build up their people’s dwindling population for the last few centuries, things like that got lost along the way.

“Hartley, just Hartley?”

“He’s a… forensics scientist.” The words were thick and uncomfortable in his mouth, still too stiff compared to his native language, but the officer seemed to understand what he was saying.

“I think I know who you might be looking for.” Kaelonne’s heart thundered in his chest in surprise, of all the things, finding Hartley was the last thing he thought possible. The Call, that’s who it might’ve been leading him to, someone he could trust. “Take the stairs, third door down the corridor, that’s the lab.”

“Thank you, very much.” A phrase he picked up on the streets, having the same meaning of graciousness as a low, soft whistle from a Mermatian. Warmth and excitement bloomed in his chest, not only was Hartley recognised, he might even be in this very building, the exhaustion on his shoulders eased a little.

“Before you go kid, can I get a name, or identification. It’s not so easy to just get in here without reason-“ Kaelonne takes a step back as a shout is directed at them, the man raises his head in response, his title and name then. Detective Ford, it suited the strong, stern man. The young royal, taking advantage of the momentary distraction of both the detective and the person at the desk, melds back into the thin crowd.

The stairs was fairly easy to find, leading up to an open corridor that overlooked the room on one open wall and the city through the ceiling-to-floor windows making up the other wall.  It was oddly nice, the soft warmth of the late evening, the chattering and sounds of a million little things, and the gentle smell of sweet drinks. It would’ve never been like this back home, the darkness was a natural thing, their eyes build to see the natural bioluminescence emitted from living creatures, and temperature and pressure was something they were naturally built against considering the depths of the sea they could dive to.

Kaelonne shook the thoughts in his head, the human world was indeed a fascinating thing, but it wasn’t his home, his needed his help and he wasn’t quite ready to give up on it yet. The young royal changed the gait he’d adopted for the last few day, puffing out his chest and pulling his shoulders back slightly. One generally doesn’t question someone who looks confident in where they’re going, a habit he learned back home when taking to people who wanted to see the façade of a prince and not a young researcher.

Finding the lab was surprisingly easy, the wide open doors gave him a view of unpainted walls covered with large sheets of papers filled with printed words and images. With a discrete glance of the corridor, he walks in, noting the absence of a human being in the large space. The young royal marvels at the room’s resemblance to his own at him, it threw him through a loop for a few seconds until he really paid attention to the things around him.

The stands, tables were in similar positions, to catch the natural light that lacked just enough to make it more for comfort than of practical use. The equipment was vastly different, glass and papers were a consistent, different from the dye and cloth Kaelonne used to take his notes. The young royal ran his fingers over the desk, watching curiously at the blinking screen on it.

A glimmer in the soft light from the setting sun catches his attention, the Call singing in his bones again. He fought against the tightness in his chest, tugging at the shining item buried under a pile of marked papers.

It was wrapped in plastic, a clear bag, and it was unmistakable, one of the few things he’d missed from his side for the last month. He pulls a little harsher, ignoring the pile of papers that tumble to the ground. Prize in hand, the young royal pulls it out of the bag and marvel at his borrowed dagger, Cassian’s name etched on the handle. A knot in his chest loosens a little.

A shuffling behind him startles him. The presence of a weapon in his hand has him falling into a defensive stance instead of the cowering one he adopted for the last few days, mimicking the ones he used when training with Falkon. A click, coming from another direction has him bracing for two attackers, one that he could see visibly now.

The detective, his hand was clutching the weapon at his side, but he made no move to bring it up. He had the same stern look in his eye, a hand out as if placating the young royal. “Look kid, I don’t know who you are, but I’m going to have to ask you to drop that.”

“What did I tell you people about messing with my stuff?” An irritated, familiar voice comes from beside Kaelonne, leaving the young royal ignoring the threat before him in favour of searching for it.

“Hartley, stand back!” The detective takes a firm step forward, but Kaelonne could barely hear him over the ringing in his ears.

“What are y- Kellon?”