Awaken by Skye Malone Page A

walked down the
hall. The air was heavy and still, and carried the slightly
unsettling sense of people sleeping all around me – people who
might wake up if I was too loud. Wincing at the stairs, I crept to
the first floor, doing my best to avoid making the steps creak.
    The kitchen tile was cold beneath my bare
feet, and through the windows of the dining room, the moon bathed
the whole space in silver light. By the doorway, I paused, suddenly
captivated by the sight of the bluffs and the water beyond.
    And I headed for the back door.
    The brass lock gave soundlessly as I flipped
it over. I pulled open the door, cool air blowing past me into the
kitchen, and then tugged it closed as I stepped out onto the
chilled concrete of the patio. The sound of the waves grew louder
as I crossed the grass to the stairway and then descended the steps
to the beach.
    At the base of the stairs, I paused, caught
by the urge to just walk into the waves, as though the ocean in my
dreams and delusions would be the same as the black water in front
of me. My hand gripped the railing as I struggled against the
feeling, knowing that down where no one could see me and while the
whole family was asleep, there was no way that a midnight swim
could possibly be a good plan.
    A moment passed. The compulsion faded.
Swallowing hard, I sank onto the wooden steps. Drawing a shaky
breath of the salty air, I wrapped my arms around my knees and
watched the waves.
    The hairs on my skin rose.
    My brow furrowed at the sudden sense I wasn’t
alone. Heart pounding, I took the rail and pulled myself to my
feet, getting ready to jog back up the stairs.
    “Hello,” came a familiar voice.
    My gaze snapped to the right. From a shadowed
pile of rocks at the base of the bluffs, a form stepped out into
the moonlight.
    The boy from the ocean.
    I retreated a step, cursing my stupidity at
coming out here in my pajama shorts and t-shirt, and leaving
Baylie’s pepper spray in the house.
    He paused. The moonlight shone on his black
hair, the strands glistening wetly like he’d just come from the
water, and below his smooth chest, he only wore a pair of dark swim
trunks. His brow drew down at the sight of my caution, and he held
up his hands peaceably.
    “I’m not going to hurt you,” he said as if
confused why I thought that would be the case.
    I didn’t move.
    “I just wanted to talk,” he continued in the
same tone.
    “Why?” I hesitated. “Who are you?”
    “I was going to ask you that.”
    My foot moved back a step.
    “Okay, sorry. I just…” He shook his head.
“You can call me Zeke. And you are?”
    “Why’re you watching me?”
    He paused. “You’re different.”
    My brow furrowed.
    “From me,” he elaborated. “The rest of
us.”
    My expression didn’t change.
    Frustration twisted his face for a heartbeat.
“Look, I’ve already broken like… a dozen laws by helping you back
at the hospital, and being here isn’t doing me much good either.
But I see you living here like a human, I felt what you did to the
water the other night, and I saw what happened the next day too.
I’d love to know what’s going on, so…”
    I stared.
    “You want to give me some help here?” he
finished. “I’m just trying to figure this out.”
    My heart was pounding so hard, it felt like
it was crushing my chest. Shaking, I backed up another step.
    “Look,” he said, starting forward.
    I gasped, my hand coming up defensively, and
he froze.
    “Stay away from me,” I warned.
    “I know what you are, okay? I just want to
know what you did.”
    “Come any closer, and I scream enough to wake
the town, you get me?”
    “I told you. I’m not going to hurt you.”
    A scoff escaped me.
    He paused. “I mean it. I only want to know
how you did it. How…” He gestured carefully to the top of the
bluffs. “Well, any of this, really.”
    I didn’t have a clue what to say. He was
insane, that much was obvious. Insane… and able to speak to me
underwater. While