Whispers Under Water, page 34
“I felt bad because we haven’t been spending a lot of time together, and wanted to tell you that I was still thinking of you.”
Caitriona kissed him. “Thank you. Me too. And I’m sorry I’ve been so cranky lately.”
“It’s okay. The first year can be rough. I remember.”
She went into the kitchen and found a glass to use as a vase.
“So, I was hoping I could also take you out for an apology dinner?” Monroe said.
“How about an I’ve missed you dinner? You don’t have to apologize for being busy.” Caitriona filled the glass with water and set the bouquet in it.
“Even better.” Monroe came up behind her and slipped his arms around her waist. He nuzzled into her neck. The beard he’d started growing over the break had thickened and it tickled. “How have your nightmares been?”
Caitriona turned in his arms to face him and smiled. “Currently nightmare free.”
“Good to know.” Monroe pressed her against the kitchen counter and kissed her.
The weather helped lighten Caitriona’s mood as spring shoved winter aside and the Sun’s axis titled higher above the horizon.
During the transition into a new year, the sun’s orbit drifted around the island like a hula hoop, only granting minimal light while it was on this side of the mountain range. And the moon circled in a vertical position. As these orbits shifted, the sun would begin to rise on the opposite horizon that it had risen from in the previous year, effectively switching their time zone relative to Phandora from the Northern Hemisphere to the Southern.
The deep winter days had been lit with a sunset sky, the Sun rising enough to smear the world in color for a few hours before lowering into the dark again. Those cold days had been a formidable opponent for Caitriona, who had grown up with the sun as a constant companion. She didn’t think she’d take it for granted ever again. And though the melted ice and snow gave way to mud, and rain clouds often covered the sun, the shining beacon rose higher in the sky and the days grew warmer. The island thawed and the grounds sprouted with fresh life as the animals and students shook off their hibernation.
Caitriona, Alaia, and Eero were eating lunch in the cafeteria on the first of April when Chitzi stopped by their table, looking nervous.
“Hey guys,” Chitzi greeted them, twisting her fingers into knots.
“Hi Chitzi, is everything okay?” Alaia said, watching with concern.
“I’m looking for Dusha.”
Caitriona and Alaia exchanged glances. Dusha had been suspiciously absent lately. The girls hadn’t been spending as much time together as they used to, but she was never around. She wasn’t ever in the dorm room during her free time and hadn’t met any of them during their shared lunchtimes. And she was missing classes.
“She should be in Athletics right now,” Alaia said.
“Unless she’s skipping again,” Caitriona added.
“She skipped Athletics?” Chitzi paled.
“And Prophetics,” Alaia said. “Professor Galen asked me yesterday if she was alright, saying she’d missed her session that morning.”
“She wasn’t in History on Monday either,” Eero said.
Chitzi fell onto a mushroom stool. “Are we sure she’s okay?”
“Well, I know she’s been sleeping in the dorm. She doesn’t come in till really late and leaves really early every morning. But I…” Alaia paused and looked apologetically at Chitzi, “I thought she’d been spending the time with you.”
“No,” Chitzi shook her head. “We’ve been riding almost every night together, but she hasn’t shown up at all this week. I thought maybe she was mad at me or…” Chitzi blinked rapidly a few times, “just didn’t want to hang out anymore.”
Alaia reached over and took one of Chitzi’s hands. “I’m sure that’s not it. Something else must be going on. We haven’t seen her all week either.” She gestured between herself and Caitriona.
“I saw her headed into the woods this morning,” Eero said.
All eyes turned to look at him.
“What?” Eero shrunk under their stares.
“Where?” All three girls said.
“At the start of the Greenveil Trail.”
Chitzi jumped to her feet and hurried off. Alaia went to follow, but Caitriona held her back.
“Let her go. She’s an earth student, she’ll be able to find Dusha much faster without us trailing behind.”
The Greenveil Trail started at the edge of the woods in the park along Lake Varuna and went all the way to the foothills of the Webennu mountain range. It was the main trail through the Parasol Woods and dozens of others spiked off it.
“How am I supposed to sit through class, not knowing what’s going on?” Alaia looked pained. “I’m really worried about her.”
Caitriona took out her phone and sent a text to Chitzi.
Caitriona
Txt us when you find her.
She showed it to Alaia. “It’s the most we can do.”
Alaia nodded. “But if I don’t hear anything by the end of class, I’m going in there myself.”
“Don’t go without me. I get out at five.”
“Okay.” Alaia grabbed her tray and disposed of it before leaving for her class.
“What do you reckon she’s up to?” Eero asked.
“No idea,” Caitriona said.
Chitzi texted less than an hour later, saying that she’d found Dusha and that she was okay. And that she had a big surprise.
That surprise took the form of a massive gray wolf sitting beside Dusha in the common area of their dorm. The mountain of fur took up as much space on the floor as Dusha, his paws as large as her palms.
“Holy crap on a cracker,” Caitriona said, frozen in the entryway as she came face to face with the beast.
“Isn’t he amazing?” Alaia beamed. She was sitting on the floor next to Dusha, holding her hand out for the wolf to sniff.
Justine and Chitzi were on the opposite side of the room.
“It’s…something.” Caitriona took stock of the space they were giving Dusha and the wolf. “Is it safe?”
“He,” Dusha corrected. She stroked the wolf’s head in a gesture that brought Professor Kamali and Shango into Caitriona’s mind. “And yes. He’s my animea.”
Caitriona skirted the room and joined Justine and Chitzi. “I thought freshmen couldn’t have animea?”
“Dusha,” Justine said, giving her roommate a pointed look, “decided otherwise. This,” she gestured to the wolf, “is why she’s been skipping class.”
The wolf gave a low growl and Justine paled. Alaia backed away slightly. Dusha shushed him and stroked the fur along his back that had risen.
“And he’s only mostly safe,” Justine added.
“What does that mean?” Caitriona looked at the wolf warily. He was clearly uncomfortable, sitting as close to Dusha as possible. His brown eyes, perfect copies of Dusha’s, flicked from one person to the next as if waiting for them to pounce.
“Well, when I went to see Professor Olya, who was completely speechless, by the way. Seriously, speechless.” Dusha smiled and scritched the wolf’s ears as if he’d been a good doggy to shock their earth professor into stunned silence. “He said that Bulat, that’s what I’m naming him, isn’t solid yet. He thinks that because my connection to Gaia is so new and fragile, that his substance is…underdeveloped.”
“And apparently he won’t attack unless provoked,” Justine said.
Dusha bristled. “Of course he won’t. Only if I feel threatened by something.”
“That’s comforting,” Caitriona said, only partially serious.
“Yes, I feel completely safe.” Justine’s voice was thick with sarcasm.
Caitriona had never seen her this worked up before.
“Justine, he is my animea. Don’t you get what that means?”
“More, I think, than you do,” Justine said. “Do you know what happens if you two are separated right now?”
“We won’t be separated.” Dusha’s voice was firm and her fingers dug into the wolf’s fur. Bulat shuffled closer to her so he was almost sitting on her lap.
“He will disappear,” Justine went on. “And the piece of you that resides in him, will disappear too. And there’s no guarantee that you’ll be able to get it back. Do you have any idea what that would feel like? To have a piece of you die?”
Dusha jumped up and Bulat was instantly on the defensive. He stood next to Dusha, his raised hackles reaching higher than her waist. His teeth bared at Justine. Everyone else got to their feet, Chitzi putting herself between the two groups.
“We won’t be separated!” Dusha repeated.
“You’d better hope you aren’t.” Justine stood her ground. “You’re strong Dusha. But are you strong enough to survive something that painful? Think about how you feel now. I can see it on your face. You’re in agony. Think about how much worse it would be.”
Caitriona peered closely at Dusha, picking up what Justine was saying. Her normally pale complexion had a sickly pallor to it and the bags under her eyes were almost as deep as Caitriona’s. The corners of her eyes and mouth were creased and pulling down, as if her face was caught in a permanent grimace.
Bulat growled again, low and threatening.
“I can’t believe you’ve done something so reckless!” Justine threw up her arms and stormed off towards her bedroom.
Bulat made a motion to leap after her but Dusha held firm to his scruff.
Chitzi put her hands up towards Dusha. “Dush, you need to calm down.” Her voice was calm and soothing. “He’s reacting to you. Just calm down.”
Dusha looked at Alaia, who was looking scared, and then took a deep breath. Bulat sat but remained on his haunches.
Alaia reached out and took Dusha’s hand. “It’s okay,” she gave a comforting, warm smile.
“Maybe we should go for a walk,” Chitzi suggested. “Get some fresh air. Connect to the ground.”
Dusha nodded but stayed put. “Caitriona, will you talk some sense into her?” She waved towards Justine and Caitriona’s bedroom.
Caitriona pursed her lips. That seemed a bit unfair. “Dusha, I get where you’re coming from. But you have to see this from her perspective too. You’re the one that’s bringing in a new roommate without any warning or respect for our comfort. Considering our new roommate is a dog damn near the size of a small bear.”
“It’s not like I found him wandering in the woods and decided to keep him as a pet,” Dusha said.
“No, you didn’t just find him wandering. You created him. That wasn’t an easy task, and it wasn’t something that you did in an afternoon on accident. You’ve been working on this for a while and didn’t tell any of us. Didn’t warn us.”
Dusha stroked the wolf’s head and neck. Its coat was a light gray that precisely matched Dusha’s sleek locks, with a layer of darker, coarser hair running along its back.
“I guess I see your point,” Dusha conceded.
“Just give her some space, she’ll come around,” Alaia said. “How could she not? He’s so cute.”
Caitriona snorted. Cute wasn’t the word she’d go for. He was certainly a beautiful animal, but things that were cute didn’t normally initiate the fight or flight response.
chapter thirty
Caitriona couldn’t sleep. Despite the tea’s effort, she felt the frustration stirring and had nothing to distract herself with lying in bed.
She needed to bake something.
The cafeteria’s kitchen floor was the same spongy moss as the rest of the building. And every surface, tool, and appliance was naturally created. The stoves were formed from a single, fifteen-foot slab of stone, lit from a perpetual fire beneath. The industrial-sized refrigerator was a massive block of never-melting ice with frosted, glass doors affixed to the front. The counters were smooth wood, polished from centuries of use.
She preferred this kitchen to the Hive’s smaller communal one because, despite it’s otherworldly appearance, it reminded her more of Tea Cakes. Normally, it was occupied with students and staff preparing meals, but it was well passed dinner hours and everything was quietly waiting for the morning shift.
Caitriona plucked an apron from the wall and flipped through her recipe box. She needed something complex to occupy her mind. Deciding on macarons, she scurried around, gathering supplies and ingredients.
“I didn’t realize we had kitchen mice,” Oliver said, smiling from the doorway.
Caitriona whirled around. “Hey! What are you doing here so late?”
He held up his phone. “I left this here when I dropped off the veg for dinner. What’re you doing here?”
Caitriona motioned to her apron. “Baking, of course.”
Oliver smiled wider and stepped fully into the room. “Fat chance I’m missing this.” He pulled a stool up to the counter.
“Oh no, no. If you’re going to stay, you’re going to help. I don’t tolerate slackers in my kitchen.”
Oliver jumped to his feet. “Bossy, bossy.”
Caitriona smacked him with a spatula and tossed an apron at him.
“So what are we making?”
“It’ll be a surprise. Have you ever made meringue before?”
“I love merengue!” He spun and slid his right hand around her waist, taking her left hand with his and holding it up high. He swept her around, dancing exaggeratedly, before attempting to spin her. She tripped over her feet and he caught her, laughing.
“Not merengue. Meringue.” She struggled out of his grasp.
He continued to hum and dance with a ghost partner. Caitriona rolled her eyes and started organizing the workspace.
“All right.” Oliver sashayed over and then leaned his elbows on the counter. “How does one make this meringue you speak of.”
“First we need to get the ingredients gathered and ready. Let’s start with this.” She pulled out the notes for confectioner’s sugar she’d made when she figured out a new buttercream recipe. “Have you used the grinder before?”
“That thing is terrifying.”
“Scaredy-cat.” Caitriona handed him a bowl and ushered him off to the dry goods pantry.
It was lined with barrels and sacks of various grains and sugars. She had him measure out the coconut sugar and monk fruit sugar and then they went into the room that housed the massive mill grinder. She checked her notes and adjusted the settings before turning it on. It ground the sugars into a fine powder, sounding like tectonic plates scraping together. She told Oliver how much arrowroot powder to add when it was done and returned to the kitchen.
She began weighing the other ingredients, mumbling measurements to herself. She was glad she’d chosen to experiment on a complex recipe. It would require her concentration, especially with the added distraction of having to teach someone along the way.
And Oliver needed a lot of help. He’d never separated eggs, didn’t know what a soft or stiff peak was, looked very lost when she instructed him to fold the ingredients together, and looked at a pastry bag like a torture implement. She explained everything as she went, knowing he probably wouldn’t take in half of it. But it was good to disappear into the chemistry of baking. And half the time she was talking to herself, wondering aloud at what ingredients would yield the proper results.
When they had two trays of silver dollar-sized domes, Caitriona felt confident they’d been successful. “Alright, let’s make the filling. We should have enough of the sugar left to do buttercream.” And she sent him off to the larder for butter.
“What kind?”
Caitriona laughed. It would be such an absurd question in the Tea Cakes kitchen. But on the island, it was a legitimate inquiry. “Cow’s milk please.”
After he returned with the container she gave him the measuring cup.
“Alright, so put in the butter and turn the beater on to cream it just for a second. Then we’ll add in the sugar.” She left Oliver to get that started and went to search the pantry for inspiration.
She’d used maple syrup in the cookies, and when she saw the bushel of oranges, she thought an orange buttercream would pair nicely. She returned just in time to see Oliver dump all of the sugar into the mixing bowl and flip the switch.
“Wait! No!”
But too late.
The fine particles exploded in a cloud of sugar dust. Oliver shut off the mixer and when the sugar settled, they were both covered. Their eyes blinked from masks of white powder and they fell into hysterics.
Oliver retrieved a couple of towels and handed one to her. He apologized, shaking his head and loosening the sugar from his hair. “I had no idea that would happen.”
“It’s alright.” Caitriona wiped her face. “I should have told you. And probably given you this.” She held up the guard designed to fit around the bowl, preventing anything from spilling while the mixer was running.
“At least we know it tastes good.” He smacked his lips after licking them clean.
“Well yeah. It’s sugar,” Caitriona laughed. “Alright, let’s see what we can salvage.”
They finished the buttercream without any more incidents. She added a squeeze of the orange and some zest and spooned it into a pastry bag. Oliver snuck his finger into the frosting.
“Bloody hell, I could eat that with a spoon.” He made for another swipe and Caitriona pulled out of his reach.
“Keep your fingers outta here.” She scraped all she could from the bowl into the bag and then handed him the spatula. “Here, you can lick this clean.”
She set the pastry bag aside and checked on the cookies, gently tapping the top of a dome. A thin film protected it from her finger and she deemed them ready for the oven. They only took a moment to bake, so Caitriona didn’t dare walk away. She watched them carefully and pulled the pans from the oven just before they could start to brown.
