The Blue Divide

Chapter 15

Eko paced inside the living room. The day was wearing on and his body ached to be in motion. Dr. Sully told him to stay inside, but how would that help him? It was warming up, and the air inside was the same as the air outside, wasn't it? How could one make him sick and not the other?

He opened the door and looked around. Perhaps, with Alec and Lainey away, he should go to the shore and try to call Nerine again. He started to walk behind the house and stopped. The daylight would hurt her eyes and she would be too exposed. Many other cottages dotted the shoreline and someone could easily look out a window and see her. Then he thought of her spell. It was worth a try.

He fetched a bowl from the cottage and brought it to the shore and filled it with seawater. Then he closed his eyes and probed for krillons and seelies. Krillons were sand burrowers with large crab-like claws good for digging deep. Seelies were long and slender with fins and scales most similar to a merrow's. The seelies were swift and graceful swimmers and responded quickly to his call. The krillons were much slower, their tails blunt and not meant for long-range travel.

At last both were flitting around the shore. He waded in and grabbed one of each with a practiced hand. He twisted and pulled on the krillon's head. With a crack it came off, dripping watery blood. He quickly held it over the saltwater bowl and squeezed, blood mixing with the clear water. Then he broke the seelie's spine and racked his fingernails up and down its hide until the scales started to flake. He scraped them into the bowl and then swirled the mixture around until it seemed well blended. Now he had to drink it.

He put the rim of the bowl to his mouth and tipped. He immediately pulled it back, sputtering. He'd spent his whole life drinking salt water. He'd tasted plenty of fish blood and eaten entire seelies, scales and all, on feast days. Why then did the mixture taste so repulsive? Had he grown so used to the water of the humans that he could no longer bear the taste of the ocean? He swallowed more, eyes watering until the bowl was empty. The salt that he had barely noticed before, tasted overpowering. His gag reflex kicked in and he ran into the ocean before the potion came up again. He breathed deeply and looked at his legs. They didn't feel any different. He stayed put for a while longer, just in case something happened. There was no change. Like the story of Maryne and Killian, the magic cure was only a myth. No more than he expected.

He sloshed out of the water and walked back to the road. If he followed it to the left he would end up at Twin Harbor. To the right was the city called Porthaven where Lainey headed on her bicycle every morning. The city was both frightening and intriguing. The urge to go there was tempting.

He walked toward it, the road rough on his bare feet. He clutched his arms, and kept his eyes straight ahead. Without water pressing down on him, he kept feeling like he was going to be sucked into the air and whisked away. He breathed deeply and focused on the road as the world swayed under his feet.

A car sped by, honking loudly. He leapt into the green foliage on the side of the road, heart racing from the unexpected noise. Two other cars followed, both the brightest colors of red and blue he had ever seen. He crouched in the ditch, not daring to move until the vehicles were far out of sight.

He had ridden in a car when Alec and Lainey brought him home from the hospital. The enclosed space was small and impossible to escape from while the automobile was in motion. Alec had strapped him in the back, and before Eko could figure out a way to escape, they were bumping along the narrow streets of the city, just missing other cars coming at them from the other direction. Eko had clutched the seat in front of him so hard his fingers turned purple. He never wanted to repeat that experience again.