Page 67 of Between Salt and Serenades
“Oh, hey ya! Look who’s back!” Our grandfather climbed down from a creaky wooden ladder with a pail in his left hand. “I’d been wondering if I was gonna see you again.”
Zellia stood next to me, rocking on her heels with her hands clasped in front of her, waiting to be noticed. When our grandfather fully descended from the ladder and faced us, he froze in his tracks.
“Well, would you look at that,” he gawked, slowly setting his pail down to the floor beside him. Zellia flashed a shy smile, and her hand made a small, quick gesture, as if to say hello. All her excitement from earlier flew out the window, and she stood almost frozen next to me, letting her apparent nerves take hold of her body. “You’re a spitting image of your older sister, Zellia.”
“You know my name?” she asked, her beautiful face puzzled.
“Of course I do! How could I forget you? You’re my youngest grandchild, after all,” he said, a jolly smile rounding his already plump cheeks.
“Do you… do you mind if I hug you? Is that strange? I?—”
“I would love that.” My grandfather cut her off. Zellia took a hesitant step forward then threw her arms over the man. He returned the embrace, albeit with less gusto than she had. Before the moment passed, I ran forward and joined in on the hug, squeezing them both between my still-weak arms.
I should have felt embarrassed, and maybe a small part of me did, but the part of me that was overwhelmed by joy and love had far more of a hold on me. So, I held on to those I loved just a little longer, long enough for laughter to bubble up in each of us.
“Well, isn’t this lovely,” an unfamiliar woman's voice echoed through the workshop. “I’m just going to excuse myself. Whydon’t I grab you all a bite to eat? Yeah, that sounds good. I’ll go do that.”
Zellia loosened her hold on our grandfather, and I lifted my head to peer over her shoulder. An older woman stood before us, her face pleasant and round. She offered us a jerky wave and started heading for the door.
“You’re Rory’s mother?” I asked, pulling away fully from my sister and grandfather.
“I sure am.” She stopped just as she reached the doorway. The woman clutched her coin purse in front of her and rocked forward onto her toes before rocking back onto her heels once more. “The name’s Evina. Nice to finally meet you girls.”
“Nice to meet you too, Evina. I’m Sidra, and this is my sister Zellia,” I said. “Are you sure you don’t want to stay?”
“Oh no, don’t be silly. I’ll let the three of you catch up. I’m sure there’s much to discuss,” she said, pushing copper hair behind one of her ears.
“You’re staying here for a reason, though.” The meaning behind my words lingered in the air between us.
“You’re right about that,” she said after several dramatic blinks. “But I won’t be gone long. I’m simply going to walk a few stores down for a little treat to go with a bit of tea.”
“She’s not a prisoner, little minnow,” my grandpa said with a chuckle. “Evina will be okay in town for a few minutes. It’s a very public place, and the hybrids aren’t very public people.”
“I suppose so,” I said, offering Rory’s mother a weak smile. I didn’t want the woman going and getting herself hurt in the name of snacks, not when the hybrids could be after her.
“A treat would be lovely!” Zellia blurted. If my curious sister stayed here in Barthoah any longer, the food of the sea would be ruined for her forever. I really should have been feeding her bland foods like soupy rice and plain oats. We didn’tbothneed to be terribly torn apart, our hearts—and stomachs—having twohomes. My heart was torn between the sea and land enough for the two of us.
“Alrighty, then. I’ll see the three of you later,” Evina said before disappearing out the workshop door. As I listened to the sound of her steps as she padded off, Zellia flashed our grandfather a curious look shadowed by the faintest hint of doubt. I’d been where she was now, standing in front of a man claiming to be family, having no idea how to interact with him or what to say.
As much as I wanted to give the two of them a moment to connect and get to know each other, I battled with time and how little remained. If all went well with the hybrids, there would be time later for quaint conversation and buttery fingers from cookies.
“Seeing both of my granddaughters in the same room brings me great joy, but am I wrong to assume something… not ideal has occurred?”
“You could say that.” Bitterness seeped into my words. “I went back to the Dreslee for a few days to amass our pod and convince them to come to land. The only one willing to join, though, came against my wishes. And you’re staring right at her.”
Zellia shot me a sharp look, but then her face softened like butter as she gave our grandfather a sheepish smile.
“Ah, so I havetworebellious granddaughters then,” he said with a soft chuckle. “Why did you want your pod to come to land? I don’t want to imagine what would have happened if the elders agreed to your request.”
My head jerked back at his mention of our elders before I remembered he’d known about them since long before Zellia or I were even born. He’d had peeks into our world for decades, and that was the whole reason we were here in the first place. His knowledge.
“We need to stop the hybrids somehow. Because the elders denied us, we’re gonna need your help to do it.” Zellia’s sheepishness had faded, and what remained was one of the hidden sides to my sister I’d been trying to coax out for years: her strength.
“Well, in that case, why don’t you girls sit down, and we’ll see what we can figure out together, hmm?” He gestured to the eclectic sitting area nestled in the corner of the workshop.
We all took our places, settling into leather armchairs and petite settees. We explained everything that occurred during my time in the sea, the information we’d gathered from Rory, and our most recent discovery: the enchanted enclosures. Our grandfather remained silent as he absorbed our words, his face twisting with various emotions each time we told him something rather shocking. By the time Zellia and I were done talking, the man looked as though he’d cycled through every emotion his body was capable of.
“It has been a busy week then.” He mustered a weary smile, though his wrinkled forehead was written with a very different story.
