“If you start rapping, I promise you I’ll throw myself off this platform.”
“Well we can’t have that. I’d have to jump in after you and these aren’t my swim trunks.
Lucky for us, I don’t rap on days that end in Y.” Finn laughed, and then asked, “So, do you know where we are?”
I looked from side to side, “In the middle of the ocean?”
“Almost.” In a tour guide voice, he announced, “You are sitting on the official Frying Pan Shoals Light Station.”
“Frying Pan?” I looked up at him skeptically.
“Hey, I wasn’t the one that came up with it. Don’t ask me why they named it after something you cook eggs in. All I know is that it’s a type of lighthouse to warn ships about the Frying Pan Shoals sticking out from the Cape.” I looked out at the water, trying to see any sign of light in the distance.
“So, this is off the coast of Bald Head?” I continued squinting but didn’t see anything.
“That’s right. The shoals are really just mounds of sand built up by the currents of the Atlantic running into the current of the Cape Fear River as it empties into it. They extend at least twenty miles out into the ocean. Hundreds of ships have run aground and sunk. So the Coast Guard built the station and they let us use it as long as we maintain the tower and the inside.”
“The inside?”
“We’re actually on top of the light station. The light tower is over there of course,” he pointed to the tower on the opposite corner, “but the actual station is more like a really big square house. We’re just sitting on the roof. To get back down into the station you go through the tower.”
“Really? I just thought this was a landing pad or a platform.”
“The Sons stay here a lot. Right below us are several living rooms, kitchens, and rooms to sleep in. This is also where the Ball will be held this weekend.”
“Wow.” I gazed up at the stars above, “I love it. It’s so peaceful out here.”
“That’s why I come here so much. Being surrounded by only water, I feel more like myself than anywhere else. But I could always tell something was still missing for me.” He looked at me with a steadiness that increased my heart beat. “Now I know that something,” he leaned closer to me, “was you.”
My entire body warmed at his words. “I change my mind.
“Do you hear that?” I asked him.
He tilted his head, listening too, but shook his head. “Nope, I don’t hear anything.”
“It’s a song…” I looked up at him, but instantly became disoriented as the platform below me changed to sheets and a wall stood where Finn was sitting two seconds before. My bedroom.
“No!” I put my head in my hands, “You have got to be kidding me. Ugh!” I fell back, hitting my pillow in a cloud of disappointment. I’d be perfectly happy staying with Finn at the light station until dawn, but obviously my body had other plans. I had to figure out how to control these reveries. I closed my eyes and opened them just as quickly when I realized I was still hearing the melody, only much louder. I felt an odd pull to go to the beach. Fine time for the sea to be calling to me. 2:00am wasn’t really conducive to playing in the waves. But something about this pull was different. I listened carefully to the melody again and concentrated on what the pull felt like. It hit me like a ton of bricks. I launched out of bed, throwing on some yoga pants and a long sleeve t-shirt.
I made it to the beach in record time, somehow not waking anyone up along the way. The breeze off the ocean was still slightly chilly, but my additional clothing did wonders. The sand above the nest was as smooth and flat as earlier, so I got down on my hands and knees and found the nest quickly when I felt the spark of electricity. Right before I began digging, I saw movement. A tiny section of sand shifted ever so slightly, and then moved back the other way. A tiny head the size of my thumb peeked up out of the sand at me. The second it saw me it disappeared. I held my breath, awaiting its reappearance. Then the sand began to move as multiple tiny heads popped out. One made a sound resembling a peep, and their little flippers came to life, as they pulled themselves on top of the sand. They were no bigger than my hand, with beautifully intricate shells. In the shadow of the night, they blended in well, only a couple of shades darker than the sand.
None of them sprinted to the ocean like I was expecting them to. They just shuffled around me, running into each other as well as my legs. Each time one touched me, I felt the same small spark of electricity, only slightly stronger. It almost tickled. Several tried to pull themselves up onto my calves, with no luck. I held out my hand to one in particular and it pushed its way onto my palm. I gently rubbed its shell. It was rough to the touch, but still slightly malleable.
A small spark continued to pulse in my hand, raising the hair on my arms. A strong belonging overwhelmed me as I watched them scurrying in the sand. It was like seeing a beloved relative for the first time in years. I felt surrounded by acceptance and tears sprang to my eyes as I watched the hatchlings began to circle me almost as their elders did in the ocean last week. Wishing to be closer to them, I set down the one in my hand and slowly lowered down on my stomach, giving them time to move out of the way so I didn’t crush any. I rested my chin on my hands and watched as they climbed over each other and tried to climb on me. I picked up another hatchling and put it in my palm. It looked at me briefly and clumsily made its way up my arm to my shoulder. I giggled as it padded up the back of my neck, attempting to hide in my hair. I carefully reached back and placed it back down in the sand. It immediately started crawling over one of its siblings for no apparent reason. Their energy was contagious and I lay like that for a long time just enjoying their company.
Eventually growing tired and remembering classes started back tomorrow, I lifted myself back up onto my knees. As If realizing my departure, the hatchlings began digging back in to their nest. One by one they disappeared, throwing sand over themselves with their flippers.
“Sweet dreams.” I whispered. Somehow in the back of my mind, I knew that when night fell again, they would be strong enough and feel safe enough to make their first monumental journey. And I was going to be there to watch over them as they did.
Chapter 23
Puffy eyed and groggy, I threw on some khaki shorts and a light pink tank top the next morning. During the walk to our first class, Carmen and Willow chatted about the twenty drunken texts Carmen had received from Logan last night. Apparently, the first ten were consisted of begging and apologies, while the last ten were about how she was missing out on the best thing that could have happened to her. As you might expect, Carmen told him to go screw himself.
After bordering on comatose in my first two classes, I drank a Mountain Dew, hoping it would do the trick. After poking myself with a pencil for forty-five minutes to stay awake in third period, we met for the last fifteen minutes to discuss our history paper and I heard a couple more reasons to dislike Logan.
“Either you’re in deep thought or you’re about to pass out,” Maya peered at me from across the table as she sipped her coffee. I looked up from my blank paper.
“I’m just really tired.” I yawned and rubbed my eyes.
“Were you at that party at Rostrum?” Lyric asked, “I heard it was pretty crazy.”
“I was,” Lexi twirled a lock of her strawberry hair and eyed me suspiciously, “and I didn’t see you there. Of course I was too busy fighting Logan off. He was trying to hook up, but he was so drunk he couldn’t even walk.” She blew a bubble with the gum in her mouth and shrugged.
“I thought he was seeing somebody?” Lyric asked.
Lexi leaned forward dramatically, “I heard he broke it off with that girl Carmen because she’s slept with half of the Tritons on campus.”
“That’s not true,” I rubbed my forehead. My head hurt. And Lexi’s gossip wasn’t helping.
