Authors: Shana Norris

Tags: #teen, #love, #paranormal, #north carolina, #romance, #finfolk, #young adult, #family, #myth, #fantasy, #memaid, #mythology

Shifting (Swans Landing) (10 page)

BOOK: Shifting (Swans Landing)

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“Get to class!” Mr. Richter roared at the other students, who all scrambled away. Then he looked between those of us that were left. Kyle already had the purple bruise of what would probably become a black eye.

“You know the rules,” Mr. Richter barked. “Suspension. All of you. You can explain it in my office while I call your parents.”

Mr. Richter and the other teachers led us down the hall toward the guidance office. Kyle and his friends protested, but I tuned them out. It didn’t matter. Nothing had ever mattered around here.

Chapter Thirteen

I knew she would be there before I’d even broken through the trees to the little strip of beach, so I wasn’t surprised to see the figure standing at the edge of the water.

“You’re supposed to be at school,” I said. It was the day of my suspension, the day after my fight with Kyle in the hall at school. My parents had given me strict instructions to stay at home all day while they were at work, but I was restless and had to get out of the house.

Elizabeth turned to me. The wind whipped her hair around her head, but I could tell she had been crying. Red lines etched across her eyes and on her nose.

“I’m sorry,” she said, her voice cracking.

I stepped past her, barely dipping my toes into the surf where it slipped onto the wet sand. The ocean stretched out far to the horizon, empty and gray. Thick clouds hung in the sky and thunder rumbled over the water, but the storm was still far out to sea. If we were lucky, it would pass by without noticing the tiny island. Just like everything else did now, except the mists. They were still here, coating us like a blanket.

“Dylan.” Elizabeth slipped her arms around my waist from behind, pressing her forehead into my shoulder blade. Her breath tickled my arm, sending a shiver through me. “Please talk to me.”

“What are you sorry about?” I asked.

“About Kyle,” she said. “And the other day. I’m sorry we fought.”

“But you’re not sorry about using me.”

She lifted her head. “I told you, my daddy wants to leave the island. I have to do something.”

There were two Elizabeths, and I could never be sure which one I was speaking to.

But there were also two Dylans. The water at my feet called to me, filling me with the strength of that other Dylan. The island was dying, we all knew that. Maybe there was some truth to the idea that it was being forgotten, as ridiculous as that might be. Maybe we would all be forgotten, those of us still stuck here.

But Elizabeth had a choice I didn’t. She didn’t have to be forgotten.

“You don’t belong here,” I said.

“This is my home.”

I shook my head, pulling her arms away from me. “This island doesn’t belong to you. The finfolk have been here a lot longer than your family has. It’s
our
island and we’ll run you off if we have to.”

Elizabeth’s mouth dropped open and she stepped back. “We live here too.”

“Do you know how your people have tormented us over the years?” I pointed at the bruises on my face. “Do you see what you’ve done? This island isn’t yours anymore. We’re done trying to live with you.”

Elizabeth glared at me. “You’re not the Dylan I know.”

I shrugged, turning my back on her. “You never really knew me, did you? It was always a game, for both of us. I had my fun. I’m done with you now.”

I knew my words had stung her, even though I kept my eyes on the horizon. I had to make her leave. I had to let her go, to let her have the chance I didn’t.

“Fine,” Elizabeth said after a moment. “If that’s the way you want it to be.”

“It is.”

A moment passed, then I heard her footsteps crunch across the sand toward the path that would lead her back through the trees.

I closed my eyes, fighting back the urges inside me. One half told me to dive into the water and swim as far and as deep as I could.

The other half told me to run down that path leading into the trees.

But I didn’t do either. I stayed where I was, trying to resist the calls of both land and water that fought inside me. I stood there, unmoving for a long time, watching the waves crash on the shore.

A crunch of sand and seashells behind me announced another presence some time later.

“So you want to tell me what’s been going on?” Mara asked.

I watched a sea gull dive toward the water, then swoop back toward the clouds. “Not really.”

“Okay.” Mara wrapped her arms around herself, lifting her face to the wind over the water.

I dug my hands into my pockets, hunching my shoulders in on myself. Foam gathered around my feet, the water licking at my ankles.

“How much longer do you think it’ll take?” I asked.

I wasn’t sure what I meant: how much longer before Josh and Sailor returned, or how much longer before we really did die out along with the island.

“I don’t know,” Mara answered.

“What should we do now?”

“We keep holding on, like we always do,” Mara said.

* * *

“I think that’s enough,” Mr. Moody said as he took the broom from me. “You’ve been here all day, working yourself to death. You’re going to be late.”

“I can help you close,” I said.

But Mr. Moody shook his head. “You don’t belong here tonight, you know that.”

I felt the pull inside me, calling me. It had grown stronger as the afternoon passed and night began to settle over the island. I knew it would be unbearable if I didn’t go, but I wasn’t sure Mr. Moody was right. I didn’t know where I belonged anymore.

“Go on,” Mr. Moody said. “Things are taken care of. I’ll finish up.”

I nodded and shoved my hands deep into my pockets. My old flip flops shuffled across the floor that was always sandy, no matter how much I swept it. Just as I reached the door, Mr. Moody cleared his throat.

“Do you…” He coughed and swept the broom back and forth over the floor at his feet. “Have you heard anything from Sailor?”

I had never heard him ask about Sailor before. She told me once that Mr. Moody had never really been a part of her life. He was her grandfather, and for reasons I didn’t understand, he and Miss Gale had never married. I didn’t know what the status of their relationship was these days, other than him being Miss Gale’s employer. They never behaved any differently toward each other besides a neutral business relationship. Not that I’d seen anyway.

“No,” I said. “I’m sorry. I haven’t heard anything.”

Mr. Moody continued sweeping the floor I had just swept and nodded, his gaze locked on the end of his broom. “Okay. Well, good night.”

The night was black when I stepped outside the store. Fog hung thick in the air, and the wind blew leaves and bits of trash across the deserted street. Farther down the road, some of the homes glowed with light that shone through the windows. But not all of the homes were occupied that night.

I climbed onto my bike and followed the road toward the southern end of the island. There was no moon to light the street and I couldn’t see more than a couple of feet in front of me, but I knew the way. Something inside pulled me along the road, closer to the beach where the rest of the people like me were gathered.

The crowd was restless when I arrived. Mom spotted me and waved, but I didn’t go to join my family. My gaze scanned over the group, trying to count those who remained. Maybe thirty or so. I could remember Song Nights as a kid when the beach was full of finfolk waiting to swim and sing.

“I was starting to think you weren’t coming,” Mara said when she found me.

“I almost didn’t.”

My words hung in the air between us as we watched some little kids chase each other around the beach, laughing and shrieking.

“Do you regret not going with Sailor?” Mara asked.

I shook my head. “I don’t want to be reminded how much different I am than everyone else. I don’t want to see the homeland.”

Mara crossed her arms, shivering in the cool wind that whipped around us. “Sometimes I wish I had gone. I wonder what it’s like.”

“Our ancestors came here to get away from it,” I said. “Maybe there’s a reason they decided to live among humans.”

Mara shook her head. “You always talk about humans as if they’re completely different from you. I’ve lived a human life, Dylan, and I can tell you, we’re not that different.”

The moment arrived. People began stripping off clothes, tossing them onto the beach behind them as they walked into the crashing surf at Pirate’s Cove. One by one they disappeared into the blackness of the mists and water.

“We’re different enough,” I told her. “And around here, that’s what matters.”

I resisted the urge that vibrated inside me. My body trembled and ached, but I wouldn’t give in. I had come to a conclusion as I stood watching the others. Maybe I couldn’t change what I was, but I could choose what form I wanted to be.

Mara paused as she unbuttoned her shorts. “You coming in?” she asked.

I studied the people like me, the ones who had never tried to fight for something different, who accepted life on the island as it was. But Elizabeth had shown me there was a different way. Maybe not now, but maybe someday, for those of us who chose to take it.

I didn’t want to be stuck. I didn’t want to be forgotten.

The ocean called to me, but I gritted my teeth together until my jaw ached. “No,” I said softly. “I’m not.”

Without waiting to see her reaction, I turned and walked back across the sand, burying the other Dylan deep inside.

About the author

Most days, Shana Norris still feels like she’s stuck at sixteen, which is probably why she enjoys writing about teens. She always wanted to be a mermaid and fell in love with the Outer Banks during a gray late winter years ago. She lives in a small town in eastern North Carolina with her husband and small zoo of pets, which currently includes two dogs, five cats, and five chickens.

Look for
Surrendering
, the final book in the Swans Landing series, coming Summer 2013.

To learn more about Swans Landing and the people living there, please visit
www.shananorris.com
. Follow Shana on Twitter
@shananorris
or on
Facebook
. Or email her at
[email protected]
.