Blue

Hold Water

Adam's face was completely fine two days later. So fine, in fact that he ended up putting his fist through the glass of the mirror, shattering it. He looked dully at the shards of glass still left in the mirror, his face haunting him in a hundred different tiny slivers, and turned away from the mirror, shuddering. He had no idea why he had just done that. It was just the sight of it, looking so normal, so familiar. It was alien. He hated it.

He was sitting on the floor, surrounded by glass shards when Curtis came in. There was no familiar dance of knocking and bidding someone to come in. Adam felt the urge to punch his mirror surge up again. He glared at the ground at Curtis' feet until Curtis stomped his foot, directing Adam's attention back to Curtis face and hands.

'What happened?' Curtis asked.

Adam shook his head, 'Nothing.'

Curtis looked back at the glass, the broken mirror, and at the way Adam's arms, once they were finished signing, went right back to being wrapped securely around his legs. Curtis lifted his hands and Adam hurriedly shook his head. Don't ask. Curtis sighed.

'Fine. Fine. Talking to people who understand usually helps, though. Just so you know. I'm supposed to bring you to the training ground. Are you ready?'

Adam rose to his feet. Training. This was the one thing he had now. More importantly, this was an outlet he had now. He could train in the sea now, breathe the water like air now, kill the sirens that lurked there.

'I'm ready. Let's go.'

When they got to the big door Curtis had told him was the door to the training room the previous day, Curtis stopped and waved his hands briefly in the air to draw Adam's attention away from the door.

'I just want to make sure you know how this works. I don't know much because I've only been to one of the trainings, the one yesterday, but the one yesterday was led by the top Ensigns. Those are the people with the bands. I don't know how they do bands or how they're assigned or anything, but they're important. Yesterday one of them broke us into pairs to sparr. Try not to sign that much when you're out there. They'll probably say something about it..' Curtis' hands stalled and his brow furrowed slightly.

'I'm forgetting something,' Curtis said. He stared hard at the ground and Adam waited for the thought to rain down on Curtis' brain once more. They stayed like that for a minute.

Curtis mouth rounded to form an 'o'. His stalled hands and arms drifted once again through the air, 'The door is a double door system. It's weird and I have no idea how it works, but basically there's a door behind this one and a tiny room and it's going to fill up with water. And just so you know, breathing water is really uncomfortable.' He waited until Adam had nodded to this information before he began to unlace his boots. They set their boots next to the others–the line was much longer than four this time–and Curtis began to turn the large wheel attached to the door. Curtis' strained to turn the wheel, his entire body tugging the wheel to the left. When he had opened the door, he shooed Adam in, swatting his hands at Adam until Adam stepped into the room past the door.

The room was tiny and Adam strangely felt a bit claustrophobic, especially when Curtis joined him in it, a moment later. It was all strange and damp and small, though Adam could tell that four people could easily fit inside of it, sandwiched between the two doors and their wheel door handles. Curtis shoved the two dripping swords he had brought with him into Adam's hands and began to turn the inside wheel of the door they had just come through. The room shook and vibrated under Adam's feet. When they were sealed in, Curtis turned to the side, to a dull blue button Adam hadn't noticed. He jammed his thumb into the button and then turned back to face Adam, his face screwed up into an apologetic look. Adam braced himself as the tiny room began to fill with water.