Page 6 of Dry as a Fish
"Guys, let me talk to her alone," Delphon insisted.
"Or you could just take me back home," I said.
All of the guys behind Delphon looked at each other, and the reality of my situation sank just a little bit deeper. Maybe he had taken his hand off my shoulder because there wasn'tanywhere I could go. He dragged me an unknown distance underwater and then dumped me on the shore of a moon pool. That pool could be the only way in or out of this place.
"You don't want to go back to the school," Delphon said softly. "Will you please just hear me out?"
"I didn't say that home was the school," I muttered, feeling that sudden welling of sadness I'd tried not to deal with, tried not to look at. Home was a place that was lost to me, lost by my own choices, lost by an upbringing that didn't give me any other choice than to run away because they wouldn't let go of their idea of who they wanted me to be.
Delphon straightened his spine, his eyes brightening. "I can take you back to the mundane," he said, his tone more enthusiastic. "I can take you back home."
It took me a moment to register what he was saying, as I didn't expect it. They made it clear at Orientation that there was no going home, and here he was saying that he could take me there?
"What's the catch?" I asked.
"Have dinner with me," he said.
"Have... dinner... with you, and you'll take me back home to the mundane realm?" I asked, still not believing what I was hearing. Orientation had been brutal.
"I'll take you back home regar-" Delphion started to say.
"Dephon, you can't!" one of the peanut gallery chimed in. "She's your heartsong! You can't just let her go!"
"I'll take you back home regardless," Delphion insisted, glaring at his friend. "But wouldn't you rather go home well fed?"
"Delphion, you idiot," one of the others said.
"I'm not going to trap her here," Delphion hissed at hisfriend. "First off, there is no way I'd do that to her, and second, you know what my parents would say about that."
I wanted to go home.
I missed it so much. Another shiver rolled through me as the wet fabric of my dress stole a little bit more of my body heat. If I went home like this, dressed like this, it would be like jumping out of the fire into the frying pan. My parents weren't going to honor kill me for running away and returning like this, but things would go a whole lot easier if I came back looking modest.
"You don't even know my name," I said.
"Delphion!" another one of the peanut gallery groaned.
"I would love to know your name," Delphion said.
"I'm Sloane and I'll have dinner," I said. "But first, I need a change of clothes."
Chapter
Four
SLOANE
Wherever we were was definitely underground. I could hear a soft roar in the distance, deep but overlaid with sharp slaps and burbling gurgles like a fast-moving river. I looked around as we walked, noticing the light radiating from the rocks themselves, like the walls were glowing. There were no windows, just the steady enclosure of teal glowing rock. I walked with Delphion down the hallway, his group of friends peeling off from us when we reached a junction where one of the hallways was much wider than the others. They all headed down that way, towards a dense sound of overlapping voices. Delphion led me to the left, away from the large hallway and down a smaller one where we walked shoulder to shoulder. We walked in silence.
Every so often, he would open his mouth as if he were going to say something, and it would feel like there was a hum in theair, like an orchestra tuning its instruments, but instead of saying anything, he would let off a soft sigh and continue to walk. I didn't ask him any more questions, I was too focused on the fact that my shivering had gotten worse to the point that my teeth were chattering. I thought about asking him if I could cuddle up to him, but I immediately squashed that urge.
I didn't know him or his culture. Asking him for cuddles could be like asking him to marry me.
Eventually we entered into a large chamber, the size of a McMansion living room.
There was a pool set into the corner of the chamber, with moss all around its edges. I couldn't see the bottom of it. Around the rest of the room were chairs made for bipedal bodies, several bookshelves, and a large television set in front of a couch.
"You have a television?" I asked. I hadn't seen anything like a television since coming to the Magic Realm. We had school tablets, that was for sure, but they didn't have shows or any connection to the internet I knew before. They were used to connect to the local school network and social messaging system. Its primary use was managing my school and work schedule, though there seemed to be more work than school from what I could tell.
