Page 63 of Ocean of Silver

It felt better than what I remembered from a bath. It felt like I was washing away everything negative and bad that ever existed, cleansing and healing me with each water droplet that hit my flesh. In a bath, whatever filth that came off me lingered in the water, surrounding and clinging to my skin even after I scrubbed it off. But here—in the shower—the dirt and grime disappeared, entering small holes in the bottom of the floor, leaving no trace behind.

I washed my body five times and my hair twice by the time I got out. Lavender wafted throughout the entire room. I inhaled a sense of calming. It had been way too long since I was properly cleaned. I felt whole again, like a new person, like I was leaving the old Scotlind behind.

I wiped away the film of water that lingered on the mirror to look at myself. I hadn’t seen myself naked since Patricia helped me with my first cloth bath, and besides the Ball when Kallon helped me dress, I avoided looking at my reflection altogether. My freckles were becoming more prominent against my now tanned skin, and my blue eyes seemed brighter, less dull than before. It was like life was coming back into me. The dark circles under my eyes were gone as if the shower washed the coloring away.

“Haevely,” I said out loud to myself in the mirror. “My parents named me Haevely.” I wished I had known that girl. I wanted nothing more than to change the past I had been dealt. But some part of me felt like I was piecing myself back together just by knowing my real name. I could ask to be called that. I could go by Haevely, forget Scotlind altogether, but I couldn’t. I was Scotlind whether I wanted to be or not, and the thought of Haevely seemed too pure to mix with the mess that was my life. I wanted to keep that part of me hidden. I wanted to protect the name. I wanted to savor it and lock it away for the happy little girl who played in the waves with her parents.

I called to my ability, moving the water down and off my body and into the hole in the bottom of the shower. Concentrating, I kept moving the water, droplet after droplet, until I was completely dry. I didn’t really want to put back on the creepy mortal shirt again. My body felt too clean to wear dirty clothes, but I had no other ones, so I grabbed them, tugging them on before walking back out onto the balcony to wait. The only thing that kept me from coming out here naked was the fact that I had no idea when Tezya was going to come back.

It was thrilling thinking about how no one could see me from up here. I could do anything I wanted, and no one would know. I had complete privacy, no one watching my every move. No one I had to hide parts of myself from. I was surprised by how peaceful it made me feel.

The sun was slowly sinking into the sky, but there seemed to be a lot of day left in the night. I narrowed my eyes and tried to focus on the life happening below without getting too close to the edge. I wanted to see what a human looked like. I wanted to see how they acted, but they only looked like tiny bugs from up here.

I leaned over the railing a bit further, the height still bothering me, but my curiosity with the humans was getting the better of me. “Be careful,” Tezya’s smooth voice startled me, “I can’t conjure wings like my siblings, so I can’t catch you if you fall.” I spun to face him, his nostrils flared, and his eyes widened as he took me in. “You showered.”

It wasn’t a question, but I answered anyway, “Yes.” He was quiet as he studied me, probably gauging my emotions, so I added, “It was really nice. Thank you.”

“I’m glad,” he said as he schooled his expression back to normal. “I can bring you here anytime to shower if you want.”

I bit my lip, unsure what to say back. I had never felt awkward around him before, but I honestly didn’t know what to do. We weren’t here to train. I didn’t really know why he agreed to bring me. I assumed the Lux King wouldn’t have approved of me coming here. He probably didn’t even know that Tezya had brought me with him.

“And if I wanted to come here everyday?” I asked, surprising myself. I liked it here, even if all I saw so far was his one bedroom condo. It felt freeing to be out of Lux, to be so far from the King.

He smiled, taking a step forward onto the balcony. “I would love nothing more than to give you a permanent place here.”

The air in my lungs left me, and all I could think about was the fact that no one could see us with Dovelyn’s shield. I kept staring at his lips, imagining what it would be like to have him kiss me, to feel and taste him…

He was looking at me like he was waiting for my response, and I realized I didn’t hear what he had said. “What?”

“I asked if you wanted to see the city.”

“Oh, yes,” I nodded as I followed him back inside, happy to stop thinking about him kissing me. Tezya locked the door once we were in a hall. It resembled the hall to Rainer’s place as we walked by multiple identical doors until we stopped in front of a large metal one. My eyes widened as it opened up on its own.

He turned around to me. “Rumor, it’s an elevator. It takes you up and down. You are going to have to pretend like everything doesn’t fascinate you so we can at least blend in a little bit.”

“Right,” I said as my cheeks brightened. I remembered Tezya telling me something about a moving box when we went to Rainer’s place, but we left in complete, awkward silence that I didn’t say anything to him when he took the long flight of stairs back down. Soft dinging sounds rang in my ears as the silver box lit up and flashed across every single number. I started to watch the lights change over the numbers as it lowered us, flashing over forty, thirty-nine, thirty-eight, and down and down and down.

Tezya chuckled as we finally got out of the thing, and my legs were shaking. He held out his hand for me. I stared at it wide-eyed, my vision narrowing in on the five that was exposed on his inner wrist. “It’s crowded here. I don’t want to get separated.”

A jolt ran through me as I put my zero hand into his five. I felt him run a finger along the scar in my palm from where I was cut to perform the blood bond, and my thoughts immediately went to Sie. I’d been thinking about him less and less, and I wanted to keep it that way.

Tezya’s grip tightened around me as he showed me the mortal city. I was surprised by how much it resembled Lux’s golden one. Tez told me that Lux’s architecture was inspired from here, but the similarities still shocked me. And the mortals themselves—

They looked exactly like us. The only difference was a few of them were overweight, and most showed signs of aging, but Tezya and I blended right in with the youths of the humans.

A male human smiled at me as he noted my shirt. “May the force be with you,” he said. I stared wide-eyed at Tezya as I had absolutely no idea how to respond or talk to a human. I had no idea what theforcemeant but figured it was a way of greeting.

“Nice to meet you, too,” I said back to him. Tezya chuckled as he led me away from the confusing mortal.

The food, perhaps, was my favorite part about being here. “You have to try the tacos from this food truck,” Tezya said as we walked past a parked box-shaped vehicle that had wafts of cooked meats inside. “I think Kallon would have my balls if I didn’t get you a taco. It’s one of the main reasons she visits so often.”

It was messy and hard to eat, but I knew immediately that I would miss it as soon as we were back in Lux. Hot meat and cheese mixed with—I honestly had no idea what was in the weird taco thing—but it was amazing and melted as soon as it met with my tongue. I had never tasted so many flavors before in one bite. I moaned loudly before I stopped myself. Tezya laughed, then turned his head to shove the weird cylinder burrito thing into his mouth—eating his less sloppily than I was, and in two bites.

We walked around the mortal city as we finished our tacos, the heat remaining long after the sun sank into the sea. Tezya and I didn’t talk much, but it never felt awkward. He kept holding my hand, claiming he didn’t want to lose me in the crowd, and I could see his reason. There were so many humans, and they all seemed to be rushing somewhere. I was happy to hold Tez’s hand and pretend to be one of them. I loved watching them, seeing how they interacted with each other. How simple and happy they seemed. And there were so many children mixed in with the adults and elderly. It was actually beautiful to see such a blend of ages.

“Without our markings and the numbers on our wrists, I don’t think I’d be able to tell an Advenian from a mortal. They look a lot like us, or we look like them,” I said to Tezya. We were walking further from the ocean now, more inland toward the crowds.

He was about to answer when I screamed. A creature was lurking in a small body of water in the middle of the city. Four meaty legs that ended in sharp nails held up its thick, low-lying body. A long tail flicked once to the side as it swatted at the water. Its neon green eyes seemed to glow as the thing remained in its spot, lurking. A long jaw extended from its green, bumpy head, with two rows of sharp teeth.

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