Chapter 7 #2
“I’ll check the NOAA. I need a day or two to get the coordinates set anyhow. From what they told me, the sonar equipment was dropped off and stored at the lab. No one’s looked at it yet?” Harper asked hesitantly, suddenly feeling the enormity of the job ahead of her.
“Can’t speak to that. I transported most of the equipment over here, but what your team has or has not done is not my circus. Have fun, text me with what you need tomorrow morning.” With that, Murphy waved and pulled back onto the lane.
Harper started down the gravel path to the little house. The door opened before she could touch the knob.
“You’re here!” A young man with dark skin and ragged sweatpants smiled broadly. “She’s here!” Then he turned back and grinned again. “You’re here!”
“I’m here,” Harper confirmed, amused.
“Come in! Here! We’ve been waiting for what feels like forever,” the young man said as Harper entered a small but utilitarian kitchen with a wooden table and chairs at the far end.
She set her duffel on the ground and pulled off her hiking boots at the door.
In a compact and equally utilitarian living room stood the other member of her team, an Asian woman who looked to be just a bit older than Harper, her slick black hair in a tidy ponytail.
“Shuri, this is Harper Hafffdd?” The young man seemed hesitant.
Harper smiled at the group, trying to quell the awkwardness. “Harper Hafdóttir. Happy to be here. I understand you’ve all been around for a week already?”
“Lords yes.” He sighed. “I’ve seen Titanic twice. I’m Kyle Belay, BSI student, dual major—marine biology and geophysics. I’m also an aspiring cephalopod expert. I’ve seen you around the department.” He smiled shyly.
“Nice to meet you, Kyle, you too look familiar. I’m a cephalopod fan.” Harper took his hand.
“I’m Shuri Sato, I’m a transplant from Tokyokaiyo University. I’m your biologist.” The young woman waved without moving from her spot. “I’ve been following this project for years now, my mother was on the New Brunswick team.”
“Wow, your mom was Yumi Sato? Impressive. My parents also did research on Bell with University of Iceland, so we’re both connected. My mother also grew up here on Bell.” Harper smiled and looked around the space. “So we’re down a team member already?”
Kyle grimaced. “Yeah. Unfortunate, that.”
“Anything specific that we need to talk about or call Boston over?” Harper asked carefully.
Shuri shook her head. “No idea. I’d just met the girl.”
Kyle looked warily. “Lami. Her name was Lami. She left last night. I assume she’ll explain to her professor or whatever. She said she ‘saw something’ outside the flat.”
Harper looked at him curiously. “Saw something?”
“This is the same girl who knocked over a vial of imidazole as she ran like a maniac through the lab because she thought she saw a bee,” Kyle replied dryly.
“Got it. Maybe not a fieldwork type,” Harper said as she surveyed the space. “So this is our home for the next few weeks?”
“Not exactly glamorous. This is your room.” Kyle pointed to an open door off the living room.
Harper grabbed her bags and went to the doorway.
The bedroom was a mirror of the sparse white space that was the house.
A twin-size bed lined the wall, a closet stood open across the way.
A single chair sat squarely in the middle.
The small window was open. She went to close it and heard a voice from behind her.
“We left it open for Polly, but we can leave the kitchen window open from here on out. You met Polly?” Kyle said from behind.
Harper closed the window, turned, and nodded. “Giant and fluffy, yep. She was in the driveway when Murphy dropped me off.”
“Norwegian Forest Cat,” Kyle replied. “Story goes that the original Lady Bell brought her cats over with her from Scotland and the rest is history, the island is filled with them. They don’t seem to belong to anyone in particular.”
“Interesting. I was told to look out for dead things,” Harper said, surveying the space.
“She means well,” Shuri said from the doorway. “Hope you don’t mind, we’ve gotten a bit attached.”
“No worries,” Harper replied. “I’m also a fan of cats, and I’m not scared of dead things.”
Later that night after she’d eaten a simple dinner of Kyle’s broccoli chowder with her new team, Harper lay in bed.
The wind was whipping around outside, a bad omen for any water work that needed to be done.
No matter, lots of setup in the lab and getting acquainted with the landscape needed to happen before anything else.
This place felt familiar, it felt like home.
The narrow streets, the wind-beaten shops and houses all felt like something not only seen but felt, something that was in her bones already.
It was eerily like Vestmannaeyjar even down to the utilitarian furnishings.
She knew this life, she’d been born to it.
Harper rubbed her eyes and turned her head in the dark to see a pair of orange moon eyes staring at her.
“You must be Polly,” she whispered. “Nice to meet you.”
Polly blinked slowly before disappearing into the darkness, and Harper was alone with only the wind for company.