Shifting (Swans Landing) Read online

  “You should be focusing on school,” my mom always said. “You take on too much responsibility doing other things.”

  “What’s the point?” I would ask. She would only give me that look, the one that said “I’m the parent and I know best.” But even she couldn’t deny that I would never leave the island to go off to college. Finfolk didn’t do that. Some had tried, but they always came back. We couldn’t go farther inland without feeling the effects of being too far from the ocean. There wasn’t a college in Swans Landing, or anywhere else along North Carolina’s Outer Banks, so my options were pretty much limited to remaining here. The ones in coastal cities weren’t close enough to the ocean to keep my body satisfied.

  No, my future was already set in the vibrations of the water and earth here on the island. I’d most likely become a fisherman or else make trinkets for the declining tourist industry. Either way, focusing on high school didn’t seem to be important.

  Most human business owners in Swans Landing didn’t hire finfolk, so I was lucky to get this job. But then, Mr. Moody wasn’t exactly like most other humans.

  The day was cool and cloudy and the wind whipped my jacket around my body as I descended the wooden staircase outside Moody’s. The shop sat on top of wooden pilings, raised off the ground in case of floods from hurricanes, like most other homes and buildings on the island.

  I went around back and began stomping the boxes flat. I could see exactly where Mr. Moody wanted them to go, since there was already a huge pile of boxes back there, most of them water-stained and soggy. He didn’t seem to consider actually getting rid of the boxes to be much of a priority.

  I was so focused on stomping the boxes I didn’t hear the crunch of gravel and sand to warn me that I wasn’t alone. The sound of a voice made me jump.

  “Hello, Fish Boy.”

  I whipped around to find Elizabeth Connors standing only a few feet away, her arms crossed over her chest. She wore low cut sweater and my gaze immediately strayed to the deep vee of the collar, where the crossing of her arms accentuated her cleavage. She may have been a bitch, but she was still hot.

  “What do you want?” I asked, resuming my task of flattening boxes.

  “I was out for a walk and saw you coming down the stairs.” She stepped toward me, keeping her arms crossed tight and swinging her hips a little. “I heard you’re working here now.”

  “Yeah,” I said. “Mr. Moody offered me Sailor’s old job.” Not that Sailor ever really worked at Moody’s. She was technically employed there, but she rarely showed up to work. She never seemed comfortable around Mr. Moody, even though he was her grandfather. But then, Mr. Moody never seemed comfortable around her either.

  Elizabeth wrinkled her nose. I wasn’t sure if it was at the mention of Sailor, or the fact that I was working.

  I went back to crushing the boxes, but Elizabeth didn’t move. I felt her standing there, her green eyes watching me.

  “Did you need something?” I finally asked, when her staring started to get on my nerves. It made my skin prickle, the way she just watched as I stomped the boxes.

  “I had a question I wanted to ask.” She tilted her head to one side.

  “What?”

  “How do...” She grinned, a wicked gleam in her eye. “How do you people...you know?”

  I shook my head. “No, I don’t know. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “I was wondering, how much of you is fish and how much is human?” She stood with one hip jutted out, the wind whipping her brown hair across her face.

  I scowled. “None of me is fish.”

  “So then,” she started, her gaze flitting down toward the front of my jeans, “you have all the normal parts?”

  Immediately, it dawned on me what exactly she was asking. A hot flush creeped up my neck and I glared at her, clenching my teeth together. I scanned the area, looking for Jackie or Elizabeth’s other little groupies that followed her around. We were alone, but that didn’t make me relax.

  “If this is one of your dumb jokes, I’m not in the mood.” I grabbed the rest of the crushed boxes and flung them into the pile under the shop. Then I stomped toward the stairs, brushing past her.

  “Wait.” Elizabeth hurried to block my path, pressing her hand flat against my chest. Her skin felt warm, even through the cotton of my shirt. Elizabeth Connors had never touched me before. She avoided any contact with finfolk as much as possible. In second grade, we’d taken a school field trip to the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, and Elizabeth and I had been assigned class buddies. We were supposed to hold hands as we walked to keep from getting lost, but Elizabeth had refused to touch me, claiming I would be “slimy like a fish.” For as long as I’d known her, Elizabeth had followed along with her father’s insults against us.

  Elizabeth’s slender fingers rested on my chest. She didn’t move her hand. We stood only inches apart under the shadow of the back stairs leading up to Moody’s, Elizabeth’s face tilted up toward mine.

  “Why did you help me the other night?” she asked in a low voice.

  I swallowed. “Kyle was being a jerk. Anyone would have done the same thing.”

  She shook her head. “No, they wouldn’t. We had just left a whole group of people and none of them tried to stop Kyle when I told him not to touch me.”

  “Maybe you should get new friends,” I told her.

  Her eyes were hooded as she looked up at me, her mouth curled into a small smile at the corners. Her hand was still on my chest, sending a tingling sensation radiating outward. She smelled like floral perfume, so different from the smell of salt and sand that permeated Swans Landing. “You’re different from other guys. Special. Unique.”

  “I’m a regular guy.” I hoped she couldn’t feel the way my heart had suddenly started beating overtime under her hand.

  Elizabeth shook her head. “You’re not, Dylan Waverly. You never have been a regular guy.” She stepped closer to me and the smell of her perfume made me feel a little light-headed.

  I licked my lips, which had gone dry. “What do you want, Elizabeth?” I asked again.

  “To figure something out,” she whispered.

  She bridged the space between us, raising herself on tiptoe. Her face moved closer, a small fraction of an inch as each second passed until finally, her lips pressed against mine.

  She was soft and warm and the smell of her perfume seemed to wrap around us. My hands moved on their own, resting on the curve of her hips, steadying her as she leaned into me. Her hand on my chest moved upward until her fingers threaded through the ponytail at the back of my neck while her other hand slipped around my waist, pressing against my back.

  Before this moment, I had kissed two girls in my life. But Sailor and Mara were both finfolk. I had never kissed a human girl before. She tasted earthy, not like the salty tinge of a finfolk kiss. Her kiss made me think of sunshine on meadows, open fields of earth I had never seen except in pictures.

  “Hmm,” Elizabeth said as she stepped back, breaking the kiss.

  My mind reeled with the effects of her kiss. It took every bit of restraint I had not to pull her to me again. I wanted that closeness, the feel of someone next to me, the touch of her skin against mine. I wanted earth and sky and sun.

  “What?” I asked, my voice cracking.

  “You taste like the ocean, Fish Boy.” She ran her fingers through my ponytail again, tugging on the ends of my hair. “See you around.”

  I was unable to do anything except watch as she stepped out from under the stairs, walking back toward the road in front of Moody’s, her hips swaying casually as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

  The only thing I could do was stare after her and think, What the hell was that?

  Chapter Four

  “So how was school?” Mom asked, smiling at my younger brother Reed and me across the table.

  I shrugged. “Fine. Same as usual.”

  “Soccer practice,” Reed said, as if this explained his
whole day. For my twelve-year-old brother, soccer was practically his whole life. He tried much harder to fit in among the humans of Swans Landing than I did, though it didn’t always work. I had never taken an interest in land sports and Swans Landing School didn’t have a swim team. I would have been great on a swim team, though I had an unfair advantage.

  Mom looked at my dad, raising her eyebrows. “And you? How was your day? Any more exciting?”

  Dad chewed a bite of roasted potato and swallowed before answering. “Same as usual,” he said.

  Mom rolled her eyes and sighed. “Men. It doesn’t matter if they’re finfolk or human, they still aren’t proficient at verbal communication.” She wiped her mouth and then said, “Well, my day was interesting. Harry Connors was in the office.”

  I tried not to look too interested as my stomach clenched at the mention of Elizabeth’s father. Had he found out about his daughter kissing me earlier that afternoon? Even though Mara had saved Mr. Connors from drowning, he still hadn’t changed his mind about finfolk.

  My dad’s lip curled slightly. “What did he want?”

  Mom worked as a secretary for Kinsey Attorney at Law, which was the only law firm on the island. Her boss, Mona Kinsey, wasn’t finfolk, but she didn’t have any ill will toward us. She was one the few humans on the island who didn’t mind living alongside finfolk.

  “The usual,” Mom said, sighing. “He came to talk to Mrs. Kinsey about filing suit against Lake for tampering with his crab pots.”

  “Lake isn’t doing that!” I protested. “Mr. Connors is the one invading Lake’s territory. He’s destroyed some of Lake’s pots. Lake should sue him.”

  Mom raised her eyebrows. “Does Lake have any proof that it was Mr. Connors who did this?”

  I sank back in my chair, shaking my head. “No.”

  Mom gave me a sympathetic smile. “That’s the issue. Both sides can blame each other all they want, but without evidence we don’t have a case against either one.”

  “Did Mrs. Kinsey tell him that?” Dad asked.

  “Yes,” Mom said, “though I don’t know what good it will do. Harry is holding a grudge, and he won’t be happy until he does something.” Her forehead creased in little lines. “I have a feeling this won’t go away. Harry has been getting angrier lately, like he’s determined to prove something.” She sighed heavily. “I think something bad is going to happen.”

  I set my fork down on my plate and studied her. “You think Mr. Connors will do something to Lake?”

  She tried to give me a reassuring smile, but it didn’t quite meet her eyes. “I don’t know, honey. It’s probably nothing. It’s this strange weather we’re having. I think it has set everyone on edge.”

  “We’ve lived on this island together for years,” Dad added. “We should be able to keep coexisting as we always have.”

  I returned my mom’s smile, to make her think I wasn’t worried. But I knew she wasn’t telling the truth. Because the truth was, what we had been doing for the last sixteen years wasn’t coexisting the way we always had. When Josh’s father had an affair with Sailor’s mother and then drowned one night while the finfolk were in the water, it changed the way humans and finfolk interacted. Maybe if we knew what had really happened that night, we could move on.

  But it was a sixteen-year-old mystery, and it didn’t look like anyone would come forward now with the truth.

  Sailor, I thought, if you’re out there, you need to find your mother and come home quick. Coral Mooring, wherever she was, may have been the only person who might know what happened that night. If she was still alive.

  * * *

  “What exactly is this?” Mara spooned up a glob of something gray from her lunch tray and then let it plop back down into the rest of the unappetizing mass of congealed food.

  “I think it’s gravy,” said her friend Claire.

  My gaze roamed over their shoulders, to the table across the room where Elizabeth Connors sat with her friends. She faced me, but she had avoided looking my way ever since I’d entered the cafeteria. I’d walked right by her table on my way from the lunch line and still Elizabeth didn’t look up. Like I didn’t exist. Like she hadn’t kissed me behind Moody’s the day before.

  “Does this look like gravy to you?” Mara shoved the spoonful of gray quivering glob in front of my face.

  I leaned back, wrinkling my nose. “No, that’s why I didn’t get it.” I gestured to my chicken salad sandwich and bag of chips.

  “I’m tired of sandwiches,” Mara said, plopping the glob back into her tray. “That’s all I eat at Lake’s house. That’s all he knows how to cook.”

  “Miss Gale will bring you some food,” I said, shrugging.

  Mara’s jaw twitched and a line formed between her eyebrows. “Miss Gale hasn’t exactly been in a cooking mood lately.”

  Why hadn’t I thought about that before I spoke? Miss Gale was usually happy and lively, but ever since Sailor left, she’d been kind of depressed. She didn’t talk much, she didn’t even leave her house very often. She used to work a few days a week at Moody’s, but I’d noticed she was coming in less often. When was the last time I’d seen her? Maybe a week?

  I made a mental note to go by and check on her soon. Miss Gale was like a grandmother to me and I hated to think of her sitting alone in her house.

  My gaze wandered over to Elizabeth’s table again. She was sitting next to a guy in our class, Gabe. Kyle sat at the other end of the table, sending glares their way. As I watched, Elizabeth laughed and then leaned over to bump her shoulder against Gabe’s. I gritted my teeth together, my eyes narrowing.

  “Yoohoo, Dylan!” Mara waved at me, scowling a little.

  I blinked. Mara and Claire gave me the same confused look. “What?” I asked.

  “Are you okay?” Mara asked, furrowing her brow as she studied me. “You seem a little out of it today.”

  I bent over my tray and tore my sandwich in half, stuffing one piece in my mouth all at once. “I’m fine,” I said through a mouthful of sandwich.

  Mara didn’t look like she believed me, but she didn’t press further. “Claire and I are going to the lighthouse this afternoon to take some pictures,” she said. “You want to come?”

  I didn’t have anything planned for the afternoon. I wasn’t working at Moody’s that day, and Lake had said he didn’t need me that afternoon. So I was free to do whatever I wanted.

  My gaze flicked back to Elizabeth, who was now whispering in her friend Jackie’s ear. My stomach twisted. Was she telling Jackie what had happened between us? A part of me still believed it was all a joke, something Elizabeth had done so she could laugh about it with her friends later. Like, let’s see how far we can push Fish Boy before he explodes.

  But when they broke apart, neither of them glanced my way. Jackie didn’t seem extremely shocked or anything out of the ordinary. But if Elizabeth hadn’t told her what had happened, what exactly did that mean it was?

  “Dylan?” Mara asked, raising her eyebrows.

  “Um,” I said, “no, I...I have something I have to do.”

  Mara shrugged. “Okay.” She turned back to Claire and they talked about some pictures Mara wanted to take.

  I didn’t know why I hadn’t told Mara about Elizabeth’s kiss. If I talked about it, would I realize it had all been a hallucination?

  But it had felt real. And it had felt good.

  Across the room, Elizabeth stood up from her table. Jackie started to stand too, but then Elizabeth said something to her and Jackie sat back down. I watched as Elizabeth walked over to the trash cans, dumping the remains of her lunch, and then headed across the room toward the door. My heart raced into overtime. She would have to walk right by me to leave. She’d have to acknowledge my presence, at least look at me as she passed.

  But she kept her gaze focused on the door behind me as she drew closer. My hands gripped the edge of the table and I didn’t dare breathe as she continued across the room. A roaring sound had fill
ed my ears so I couldn’t hear any of the conversations around me.

  Just as I thought she’d ignore me completely as she passed, Elizabeth’s eyes flicked my way. She raised one eyebrow, the corners of her lips curling slightly, as if in a dare. A dare to do what—follow her? Kiss her in front of everyone? Or let her keep going, playing this game that there was nothing going on between us?

  As Elizabeth stepped through the doors of the cafeteria, I pushed my chair back with a sudden screech. Claire and Mara broke off in mid-conversation to look at me as I stood quickly.

  “I have to go,” I said, grabbing my backpack. “To the library. I forgot. See you later.”

  The words tumbled out as I turned, almost tripping over my chair leg. I hurried down the corridor away from the cafeteria. Elizabeth walked a few feet ahead, her hips swaying. She didn’t look back, and I wasn’t sure if it was because she knew I’d follow or because she didn’t care.

  She turned a corner, then another, leading me farther away from my friends and everyone else in our normal lives. At last, she slipped into an empty classroom, leaving the door partially open behind her.

  I paused in the doorway, peeking into the room. Elizabeth sat on a desk in the back of the room, away from the windows. I slipped inside, shutting the door behind me.

  “Well,” she said, looking at me as I stood in place, “what do you want?”

  I couldn’t answer that question. I didn’t know why I had followed her, except that I was unable to stop myself.

  “I’m not comfortable with long silences, Fish Boy,” she said, rolling her eyes.

  It was that name, Fish Boy, that made me move. I dropped my bag on the floor and closed the distance between us, maneuvering myself in between her knees. She leaned back on the palms of her hands, looking up at me as her hair fell away from her face like a dark waterfall.

  Her lips were pink and full. I tried to stop my hand from shaking as I reached around the back of her neck, cradling her head in my fingers. Then I leaned down and pressed my lips to hers, absorbing that earthy taste of faraway places once again.