Page 63 of Sapphire Seas

I’m not tired yet. Kes replied. We’re too busy laughing. The humor is different from SpongeBob but still fun.

Good, I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself. Try not to let Odem eat the refrigerator.

I doubt it would taste good, unless he flamed it first.

Kes’ humor, much like Odem’s, often caught me off guard. Laughter made the hunt feel less tedious and I was soon rewarded with another missing chunk of artifact. While I doubted even my ability to recover them all, each piece I uncovered would make it easier for Emerson to unravel the message. When the field I searched quit yielding fragments, I moved over and worked my way back toward the island. Time, currents, storms like the ones that raged overhead, all effected the sea floor. By the time I’d finished searching one side of the island, I was certain I’d collected the pieces of three different artifacts. Two had the Seadragons insignia on it, the other would need to be put back together before anyone could determine if it had one too.

At first, the slow search of the other side of the island turned up nothing, but as I neared the northern edge, I began uncovering pieces again. Was it coincidence that the north side of this island was where the bulk of the fragments were found, or another indication that the answers we sought lay in the same frozen ice flow where we found Torin? Another mystery to ponder while I hunted. The last thing I wanted was to be sent back here to do another search, so I made a second trip around the island, taking just as much time and care as the first pass.

Only one additional artifact chunk turned up that time, which I added to the satchel with the rest. With nothing else to explore, I swam back to a much calmer surface, grateful to greet the stars. Flashes of lighting in the distance clued me in to the path the storm had traveled, so I chose another direction for my flight home, landing a few seconds after Caro.

“You just saved me a trip to your house,” I said, removing the satchel I carried, but only after retrieving the large shell I intended to take home with me. “Please give this to Emerson but handle it with the utmost care. The pieces inside are old and have been at the bottom of the sea for some time.”

“Will do. Thank you. I’m sure he’ll be excited to see them. It’s a good thing my shift if over, I’ll be able to occupy Cade while Em works.”

“Enjoy yourself. I’m glad it was a quiet shift.”

“As am I. Goodnight brother.”

“Goodnight.”

What was left of it truly would be now that I was home with my mates.

Chapter Twenty

Kes

“Thank you for letting us drop in to visit you today,” I told Hurley as he showed Caspian and I into the lighthouse and the visiting area he’d set up on the ground floor.

“No thanks needed,” he replied as he gestured to the chairs right in front of one of the windows. “I welcome the chance to do a bit of entertaining now that I have somewhere to host folks again. Living beneath the sea after spending decades on land was difficult to get used to, especially when any interaction with an outsider became cause for suspicion. I’ve got some refreshments ready, just let me grab them and I’ll be right with you.”

I gingerly lowered myself into the chair, mindful of the double egg I carried. In the last week bending had become an activity I no longer engaged in. If I needed something from a low shelf or cabinet, I sat my ass down to get it. Getting back up again wasn’t a challenge yet, as long as there was something nearby to offer the leverage I needed. Otherwise, that egg started rearranging my insides with its pokey top, giggles accompanying every jab, like the twins were trying to remind me that they were there.

Like I could forget.

Every day I talked to them more, sang to them and read to them too. Caspian and I took turns picking books when Mattias wasn’t home. Papa always read them their bedtime stories though, even if we fell asleep before the stories were over. I’d woken to find him reading to our bellies in the dead of night, after he’d returned from a patrol. He’d pressed his fingers to his lips to keep me from saying anything that might wake Caspian, then went right back to reading.

Having the opportunity to see the inside of his lighthouse home now that he’d decorated it, was positively incredible. He’d already turned it into a home. Shaped like a hexagon, with an open floor plan and winding staircase leading to each deck, the lighthouse truly was remarkable. On the upper floors, there was a waist high wall that served as a barricade to prevent any accidents. From this vantage point, I could see floor to ceiling bookshelves on the second one already housing some of the books he’d found since beginning to explore Dragon City.

“Here we go,” Hurley said as he placed a platter of tea, crispy shrimp, and seaweed wrapped vegetable rolls on the table. “Now, what was it that you wanted to speak with me about?”

Caspian’s hand shot out so fast I thought I’d missed it, but no, there was definitely a seaweed roll missing from the edge of a pile.

“Sooo good,” Caspian moaned around the first bite.

“You’ll have to excuse him, he’s eating for four,” I explained, while Hurley chuckled.

“Nothing to excuse,” Hurley said, waving at the air between us. “That’s all praise right there.”

“Mmm-hmm,” Caspian moaned.

“I was hoping you could tell us more about why you were living on land,” I explained.

“Before you came to live under the sea with us, we’d only see you twice a year,” Caspian explained. “When I asked why, the elders explained that you were one of The Watchers. When Kes asked me to tell him more about what The Watchers did, I’m afraid that I didn’t have much information to give him.”

“Because we’ve always lived apart from the rest of the herd and each other,” Hurley explained. “That was because of our love for those we left behind, not because of any conflicts among us.”

“I don’t understand,” Caspian said.