My Weird Secret Life

Chapter 39: Eduardo and the Boy

I blew a bubble into the tunnel. "Zayana, calm down. Hey, my man, Eduardo!" Kai exclaimed. He hugged a strange man. "Howdy there, Kai. How the youngins' doin' in yer there cora' house you done foun' ten yers ago?" I closed my eyes trying to comprehend what I just heard. "I'm sorry, what?" I put my hand behind my ear. Kai whispered,"He was asking how Kylie and Rylie are. Don't you understand country?" He asked. I glared at him,"Obviously not, if I just asked what the man was talking about," I whispered. "Eduardo," Kai corrected. I observed Eduardo, he had a thin beard and mustache and a tan thread hat and a piece of . . . seaweed in his mouth. Woohoo, this visit was going to be fun. "Come over yonder for some tea in my her' home." Kai leaned over,"He means we can come in for tea." I smacked his arm playfully,"Very funny, Kai." He grinned and Eduardo gently took my hand in his,"My apologies, I'm Eduardo and you are?" I smiled, he seemed nice. "I'm Zayana." He smiled,"Nice to meet you." I nodded,"Nice to meet you too." Eduardo leaned over to Kai and said,"She's prettier than a frog's hair on a sabbath day." I didn't know if I should feel insulted, concerned, or complimented. "Aaron! Come on out, boy."
At the sound of his name, a boy swam out of the tunnel and immediately a red tint spread across my face. I bit my lip trying to stop the fire in me from spreading. He had a dark emerald green tail. His hair was the color of chestnut and he wore a sleeveless shirt. Just like Kai but green like his tail. The boy was smiling from ear to ear. Dimples accompanied his cheeks. I couldn't help it, I grinned back. He swam slowly and gently took my hand in his just like Eduardo had. "I'm Aaron. And you are, Zayana?" I nodded in a daze, not sure what my name was and flushed harder. The boy, Aaron, had a faint accent. I couldn't place my finger on it. His voice was warm and comforting. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Kai making a face at Aaron. But slowly, I think I saw his features soften. "This her' is my son, he's staying with me for a while until his mother comes to her senses." Aaron slipped his hand out of mine and I immediately missed the warmth. "So, come on in."
    Aaron stayed by my side, as did Kai. I followed Eduardo's lead and glanced at Aaron. He caught me looking and winked. I quickly turned away. All four of us swam inside the tunnel and Kai was still looking at me as if knowing something I didn't. We entered a nice normal house. "I'll go grab some tea and cups," Eduardo said and swam off to what I guessed was the kitchen. Aaron sat down on the couch, I sat down in a chair and Kai sat down on the opposite side of the couch Aaron was on. "I've never seen you around before," Kai said. "Oh, I arrived about a month ago. I swam here from Italy. So you've known my dad for a long time?" That was where his accent came from! He was Italian! Kai nodded,"Yeah, since I was seven. He's a nice man, but took me a year to understand the country ways," we all smiled, one of us sparing a chuckle. Aaron turned to me,"How long have you been here?" "Um, since I was," it took me a second to come up with a lie,"born. Yep, since I was-since I was born, know this place like the back of my hand," I chuckled nervously. "Cool, maybe you could show me around sometime?" I flushed and swallowed trying to conjure the moisture I needed to answer. "Sure." His hair was so familiar, it was captivating. After a moment of silence and staring, the memory technically smacked me in the face. The shock! The shock I had seen the other day! "You're the blur! I saw you when you first arrived." Aaron laughed,"I had seen you that day too." He scanned my tail,"Your tail is unlike any I've seen. Quite unique." I nodded,"Thank you." A question bubble popped up in my mind. "If you don't mind me asking, why don't you speak like your dad?" A shadow cast across Aaron's face and he studied his tail,"I've been living with my mom after the uh, divorce. Lived in Italy, and hadn't seen my dad since I was-" Aaron measured his hand from the floor. When he got the correct height, about three feet, he finished,"-this height. I don't have a heavy accent but I do know Italian from my time living there. Ever been?" He asked, I shook my head no. "I'm sorry for asking such personal questions." He smiled a bit,"Non c'è problema. But Italy is a beautiful place, you should visit."
    For five minutes, we all sat in awkward silence. "Should we check on Eduardo?" Kai asked already getting up and peeking through the kitchen door slit. Aaron hopped up and a moment later there was a shout. "He's gone!" I dashed to the kitchen barging through the door. As I floated there checking the scene a warm feeling spread across my tail. I looked down and saw brown liquid swarming my fin. The tea and bubbles all around. My breathing quickened. Judging the crime scene, Eduardo hadn't left by choice. "He's gone," Aaron whispered. I glanced over at him, he looked in the least to say, afraid. He gripped his head and yanked at hair,"He's gone, he's gone." Aaron repeated like a curse. Kai reached him before I did. "Hey, it's alright, we'll find Eduardo." Aaron took a deep breath through this nose and smiled gratefully to Kai. "Why would you say find like that?" I asked, Kai pointed to the bubbles. "Struggle, these bubbles are different than tear bubbles. They're smaller, and more urgent like high tide bubbles." I nodded understanding. Irritation flooded me when I thought of Agua. "I hate you," I accidentally thought aloud. Aaron and Kai looked over at me, confused. In the blink of an eye Aaron swam over close to my face,"You know who did this. Who? Please, Zayana," he pleaded. I bit my lip, that little please changed everything. "He's my dad," he whispered. "It was Agua," Kai said. I looked at him in urgency, subtly shaking my head. Kai didn't even look my way. "Prince Agua?" Aaron asked. "Why would he take my dad?" Kai finally looked toward me and I nodded, this talk was inevitable. It was bound to happen. I plopped into a chair while Kai explained everything. Besides for minor details such as I'm the princess and a human. Minor details, minor details. When Kai finished Aaron didn't look at me the same way ever again. "What did you do to make him hate you so much?" He asked, my lips tightened into a thin line and my eyes narrowed. "Hate is a strong word," I used my hands to show a gesture of weighing something. "Accurate, but strong." Aaron raised an eyebrow as if saying Get to the point and I finished,"I took what was rightfully mine, and he got upset." "How can we find him? I can help, I promise." "I don't know . . . " In truth, I didn't want Aaron to get hurt. All the people helping me I felt were my responsibility. And if someone were to get hurt . . . "You can come," Kai said. I whirled toward Kai, angered of him making this decision without my permission. My lips tightened into a line again and I glared. But Kai had his poker face on and didn't flinch nor waver from his made-up decision. I huffed and swam out the kitchen. Kai didn't understand what was at risk, how could he? Kai swam out after me. "It wouldn't be fair if Aaron couldn't help find his own dad. He can be proven useful." "But you didn't ask." "Where do we have the time to debate? Aaron will come with us because he has the right to." I may have been the princess but Kai was the oldest. I didn't respond and he took that as an ok, swimming off.
We all swam out and I checked left and right. Just as I thought, Agua was nowhere to be seen. Or Eduardo. We all swam at an okay pace for a bit when I noticed Aaron swimming just a bit ahead of me. I swam up to his point and he did it again. "Are you challenging me?" I asked grinning a little. Aaron shook his head just barely suppressing a smile,"I would never." I took the lead and swam in front when Aaron approached my side again. "I mean, unless you wanted to." I looked up and Aaron's eyes seemed to be teasing me saying Do it. Do it. Bubbles slowly formed on my fingertips and swirled around my hands. Without another word, I blazed. I looked back smiling but was surprised to see Aaron was right there, at my side. He looked over and feigned a yawn. I stuck out my tongue and sped up. I wasn't sure where we were going but it didn't seem to matter. I hadn't pulled out the canons yet but Aaron was almost, kind of beating me so I really had no choice. The bubbles. I shot forward racing toward Aaron. He looked towards me surprised and smiled. He took my hands and guided me. Without even realizing it, I was swimming in spirals with Aaron and that's when I let go. Not physically, but mentally in a way. I went free as a whole, in body and spirit. And I could tell Aaron felt it too. Aaron swam up and I followed. We spiraled up and jumped out of the water, the sun rays lighting up Aaron's face and the water spray. I closed my eyes and dived back down holding Aaron's hand. When we landed inside the water, I screamed in exhilaration. "I haven't felt that good, since I was . . ." I was going to say on land but caught myself. "When you were where?" Aaron asked. I frowned, I wanted to tell Aaron, but look where trusting people got me. Kylie and me were supposed to be friends. Kylie was going to offer me for money. Or shellons as they call it. So I came up with something else that was still just as true.
"Since I was home."