CHAPTER NINE
According to Nya, the hike to the beach would take several hours. Even though it felt like we were backtracking the same way we had come the previous night, we eventually turned to head further south.
The landscape was much the same as what we had traversed before, but seeing everything during the day was a whole new experience.
Thick forest surrounded us in every shade of green.
We shouldered through fields of giant foxtail, pushed through clusters of palm fronds, and passed through clearings where the surrounding trees were so tall, they blocked out the sunlight.
The hum of cicadas sounded all around us.
Cecil and Kieran led the pack, with me, Nya, and Xiomara trailing close behind. There didn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to the order the rest of the group walked in.
Besides taking in the beauty of the plant life, I kept my eyes peeled for any other creatures that dared make an appearance.
So far on our journey, I had seen a swarm of gnats, a warty toad, a single ladybug, and about a million mosquitoes.
But as we reached the peak of a hill dense with scrub, I spotted something in a clearing to our right that made me gasp.
Cecil and Kieran whipped around, on high alert.
“A hamina!”
Cecil roared with laughter, and Kieran’s eyes softened.
“You all go on ahead,” Kieran said, falling out of step with Cecil and motioning for me to follow him. “We’ll catch up.”
Nya waved as I passed by her. When I crossed in front of Xiomara, I caught her sneering.
I trailed Kieran through the foliage, mimicking his movements. When he crouched low to the ground, I crouched also. We moved slowly through the tall grass and weeds, trying to make our footsteps noiseless.
When we were within a few feet of the hamina, Kieran held up a hand.
I sat back on my heels.
Ahead of us waddled a pale yellow ball of fluff, roughly a foot tall and a foot wide. With each step, its tufts of fur shifted from side to side.
I was just lamenting that I couldn’t see its face when it turned.
Its small, round ears perked at some noise that was too faint for us to hear.
Its large eyes were heart-meltingly cute, and its nose was a pink speck that barely stood out against all its fur.
With a twitch of the fluff that must have been its snout, it returned to snuffling through the grass.
I watched its retreat, my heart swelling.
This was what I came here for. To see. To learn. To just…experience. The hamina were harmless, which meant that the Library was full of information about them, dating back to the earliest days of The Awakening. It was one of the few magical creatures that we even possessed photographs of.
But what was a photograph compared to the real thing?
After some time, I became aware of how close Kieran was beside me.
The sleeve of his shirt was barely brushing my arm, his cheek just inches from mine.
With his eyes trained on the hamina, I could take in his profile.
Notice how the view highlighted his sharp features.
The fullness of his lips. The definition of the muscles of his neck.
His eyes cut to mine, startling me. “What do you think?”
It took me a moment to realize he was talking about the hamina.
A moment too long, because a slow smile spread across his face. “Now,” he said, his voice low. “What would your Enforcer friend think of you looking at me like that?”
“I think he’d say it’s time to catch up with the others,” I replied. My face was on fire, and I couldn’t decide if I was more annoyed with him or with myself.
I stood. And when I did, I surprised myself by shoving him. Hard enough to tip him over, I hoped, as he was resting on the balls of his feet.
Instead, he whipped out his hand and grabbed my upper arm, using my own momentum to pull me down with him. We were facing one another when we flopped on the grass, the crunch of our fall sending the hamina scampering away with a squeal.
“It’s like we’ve been here before,” he said, his silver eyes twinkling. “Except last time, you almost puked on me.” I tried to jerk my arm away, but he tightened his grip. “Did you seriously just try to push me over? You’re like half my size.”
“I am not!” I cried indignantly.
He raised his brows and frowned, full of sympathy. “You’re not much bigger than that hamina.”
I grunted in frustration. I was trying to come up with something clever to say back, but I was drawing a blank. Why did this always happen with him?
I sighed, deciding to speak honestly instead. “Thank you for stopping with me. I know you all probably see creatures like this all the time, so it’s nothing to you. But it’s a big deal for me.”
“Anytime.” After a moment, he added, “Did you know the hamina are good for the forest?”
“I did,” I replied. “The aura they give off is like a fertilizer for plants, helping them to grow. And for plants that are already full height, it still encourages them to become healthier and flourish.”
“Of course,” he laughed. “I forgot the whole reason we met is because you’re the expert on all things magical. On the whole world, probably.” He idly picked at a few blades of grass.
I scoffed. “I highly doubt that.”
“Come on, don’t be modest. Name one thing that I know more about than you do.”
More than a few things came to mind. But I wasn’t about to mention any of those. I propped my head on my hand and took a deep breath. “Well…for starters, I can’t swim.”
He flung a piece of grass at me. We both watched it flutter uselessly through the air and land between us, nowhere near hitting me. “That’s nothing. I can teach you to swim.”
“Really?” The thought of knowing how to swim was exciting. The thought of what all him teaching me would entail was nerve-wracking.
“Sure,” he said. “Some other time, when we’re not about to potentially be swallowed whole by a sea monster.”
“Right.” His words filled me with a cold, creeping dread. But I tried not to let it show on my face.
Eventually, we tramped back through the underbrush in the direction the group had been headed in.
There wasn’t a moment of silence as we walked.
We drew comparisons between daily life in Cyllene and daily life in Ersa Estates.
We lamented that neither of us had much in the way of “free” or “leisure” time, but shared the things we enjoyed on the rare occasion that we did get a moment to ourselves.
He educated me on the adrenaline rush of sparring and surprised me by looking genuinely interested when I talked about my world of books.
We were walking slowly. Taking our time. We both knew it. And we both feigned obliviousness.
When we finally caught up with everyone and Kieran resumed his position beside Cecil, I felt a strange mixture of heaviness and restlessness. Like there was somewhere else I needed to be, but I had no way to get there.
Then I understood.
It was longing. For the first time, I was experiencing what it felt to long for someone.
I knew we were getting close when the forest gave way to a field, which then faded into dirt that was ever so slightly grittier.
The sand dunes were dotted with clusters of sea oats, which dipped rhythmically in the salty ocean breeze. Beyond the dunes, I could hear the steady rhythm of waves lapping at the shore. The sound sent a thrill through me.
By the time my feet were sinking in powdery sand, I was grinning from ear to ear. Back in Cyllene, I never would have thought that I’d actually see the beach. It felt like at any moment, I was going to wake up and find that this was just another vivid dream.
Then it was there.
The ocean.
A turquoise blanket extending all the way to the horizon.
Kieran teasing that I was small was one thing, but this made me feel small in the best possible way. And arcing over that vast expanse of water was the backdrop of an equally clear blue sky.
“Let’s set up here,” Cecil announced, stopping where the dunes leveled off and transitioned to flat beach.
He and the others had brought large hiking backpacks, the kind that made my shoulders ache just to look at.
Without a word, everyone began unloading and organizing the supplies in their respective packs.
I tried to help Nya where I could, but it was hard not to feel like I was just getting in the way.
After twenty minutes of setting up, they had a ten-by-ten canopy erected with bags of food and water arranged neatly underneath.
Also under the canopy was a pile of spears of various sizes and designs. Nya confirmed that the spears were part of what was looted from the cave devils. Not one of the blades were dull. All were sharpened to a perfect, menacing point.
“Okay, listen up!” Cecil said. His voice was so loud naturally that he barely had to raise it to get everyone’s attention.
“I know we’ve already been over the plan for today.
Let’s take some time to eat, rest, and rehydrate.
And if a beautiful woman with a fish tail sings you a song, and you swim out to try and fuck her, you get what you deserve. Sound good to everyone?”
Nineteen voices at once gave their assent, and the group began to disperse.
I turned to where Nya and Kieran were standing nearby. And froze.
Nya had stripped off her tank top and shorts in an attempt to cool down, and she was stunning, to say the least. The bright orange of her bikini top was set off by her dark skin. And the solid muscles of her abdomen, shoulders, and thighs were on full display.
Then there was Kieran.
My mouth went dry as I took in the sculpted form of his body, his muscles rivaling Nya’s in their definition. My eyes followed his carved abdominal muscles downward, lingering on the V-shape that disappeared beneath the waistline of his black swim shorts.
I was immensely grateful when my eyes darted up to his face and found him looking away, listening to something Cecil had said. I didn’t need him to catch me checking him out twice in one day.