A/N:So people aren't confused and pronouncing it like the alcoholic drink in their head, Daquiri's name is pronounced duh-KEER-ree. I made it up, so...but I promise all the other names are real names. Or nicknames.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the ideas that belong to the H2O: Just Add Water franchise that are not my own.
CHAPTER 1| CHANGES
Daquiri stared out the window of the car as they passed by the unfamiliar scenery on the way to Arroyo Elementary. Farther north, at this time in the seasons, it would've been colder and almost all the leaves would have already fallen. But in southern California, it was like it was still the middle of summer. It was great, actually, but under the circumstances, she couldn't really enjoy it.
"Are we almost there?" Fox asked, bouncing excitedly in the back seat.
Daquiri twisted in her seat to look at her little brother. "We'll be there in a minute, Fox." She glanced at Arak at the wheel before looking back at Fox. "Do you remember everything we told you this morning?"
Fox slowly tacked off a list on his fingers, his eyebrows scrunching like he was thinking really hard. "Um…don't get in fights…don't eat glue…" he glanced up, "…or paper…"
Daquiri tried to suppress a smile at that, not wanting to encourage him. She knew Arak was grinning out of Fox's view, though.
"Ri," Fox said, scooching forward in his seat as far as the seatbelt would allow, "why can't I go to school with you and Arak?"
"Because you're seven, Fox. You're not old enough to go to our school, bud." She reached out a hand and wiggled his knee back and forth. "But don't worry. You'll make all sorts of new friends here. You'll be so busy playing with them, you won't even think about Arak and me." She smiled. "It'll be like we're invisible. We just won't be able to compete."
Fox giggled at that idea, though knowing she was joking. All the same, it seemed to help him to forget his troubles.
"And here we are," Arak announced, pulling into the elementary parking lot and rolling to a stop at the curb near the front entrance. He turned around to face Fox as well. "Time to go, buddy," he said cheerfully.
Part of her little brother's expression still read excited, but she could tell he was also a bit unsure. She unbuckled her seatbelt. "C'mon, Fox, I'll make sure you're all set," she said before getting out of the passenger side door. Fox followed suit a bit more slowly, taking his time with his belt buckle and carefully sliding out of the car when Daquiri opened the door for him. She knelt down next to him and made sure his backpack straps were adjusted correctly, and he silently stood still for her, which was a tad unusual for him. For all he was a lover of everything and everyone, as his big sister, she could tell he was nervous, despite his excitement earlier.
"Hey," she said softly, smoothing down his spiky red hair, only to have it stick up again. "There's a note for you in your lunch, and I left you a little surprise in there." She tweaked his cheek. "If you start to feel lonely, just remember I'll be thinking of you all day,"
"All day?" he repeated.
"All day," she confirmed with a smile. "Okay? Now give me a hug and kiss goodbye."
Without needing further bidding, Fox hugged her tightly around the neck and gave her a peck on the cheek, and she kissed his forehead in return. She stood up and gave him a shooing motion.
"You remember where your classroom is, bud. Go and get 'em!"
Giving her one last look, her little brother turned around and ran off to the front doors, mixing in with the other kids heading to their classrooms. With a sigh, Daquiri got back in the car.
Arak didn't say anything until he'd put the car back in gear and they'd driven out of the parking lot and back onto the road.
"I don't know how you do it with him," he said with a slight chuckle.
Daquiri frowned. "Someone should've been able to bring him to class on his first day at a new school," she replied, not really addressing Arak's attempt at making her feel better. Like she could tell when something was wrong with Fox, Arak could almost always sense when she was troubled.
When her older brother didn't reply right away, she leaned an elbow against the window pane of the car and propped her chin against her hand, looking back out the window with a brooding expression. "That kid deserves the world."
She heard Arak give a big sigh. "I know, Ri," he said, his voice lower.
There were several beats of silence between them.
"You should try to think about something else for once," he finally lingered to say. "I'm sure you're super excited about going to a new school yourself." There was a cautiously teasing tone to his voice.
Daquiri shot her brother a look. "I can hardly express my excitement in words," she deadpanned.
"You'll survive," Arak said with a chuckle, shaking his head. "Just make sure you write down a list of guys that try to hit on you so I can go hit on them." His voice was mostly teasing, but there was an edge of seriousness to it that she knew all too well.
She rolled her eyes. "I think I'll be able to handle it, Arak."
He gave a slight chortle. "Yeah, I know how you'll handle it," he said with a snort. "Just try not to get sent to the office at this school."
"You're one to talk," she retorted. "You were just talking about punching people's lights out."
Arak laughed. "Yeah, well, I've had a good teacher."
Daquiri's head whipped to look at her brother in angry disbelief at the same time that Arak seemed to realize what he had just said. His eyes widened.
"Ri, I'm sorry, I didn't mean—"
"Just shut up, Arak," she snapped, turning away from him.
"Ri, you know I would never—"
"Shut up, Arak."
He quieted after that.
They rode on in silence the rest of the way to school.
When Arak parked in the space they'd been assigned in the lot, Daquiri immediately shoved the door open and slammed it behind her, shouldering her book bag and heading for the front entrance. She didn't slow down even when she heard the car engine quickly get cut off, followed by a succession of another door slam and rushed footsteps behind her.
"Ri!" Arak called as he caught up to her. She sped up her pace, but he caught up her wrist and pulled her sideways to face him.
Being unable to tug her hand away, she rounded on him. "What?" she snapped vehemently. "Did you wanna give a demonstration on what your teacher showed you?"
"You know I didn't mean it like that, Ri," he said, his voice soft but serious.
"But you still said it, Arak," she reiterated, unable to keep the anger out of her voice.
"I know, I wasn't thinking. And I'm sorry."
Frowning, she looked away.
"Aw, c'mon, Ri," he pushed, taking her by the shoulders. "Don't be mad at me. We're trying to stick together as a family, remember?"
Daquiri rolled her eyes and shoved his hands away from her. "Don't you play that card," she said as she turned and started walking again.
But Arak seemed to know she was relenting. He fell in step with her, slinging his arm around her waist. "You know you can't stay mad at me."
Daquiri snorted. "Oh, you wanna bet?"
Arak grinned. "You know you'll lose any bet when it comes to the Tickle Monster."
Daquiri shot him a warning look. "Arak, don't you dare—"
But before she could move away, her brother picked her up, book bag and all, and ran. He was the only one in the world who knew her ticklish spots, and he took full advantage of this fact.
"I am going to kill you," she gasped around the inevitable giggles that escaped her. She wasn't the giggling type. She really wasn't the giggling type.
"I think you'll have a hard time killing me up there," he laughed, though he started slowing down a bit.
"Arak, put me down."
Her brother was still laughing when he set her down, and she shoved him away.
"You idiot," she grumbled, punching him in the arm.
"You've forgotten the meaning of fun, Ri," Arak said with a smirk.
"And I suppose your idea of fun is making every person in this school think we're dating?"
"Well hey, that'll fix your boy problems, right?" Arak joked.
Daquiri rolled her eyes. "You're impossible."
"That's code for 'I love you,' right?"
Despite the irritated vibes Daquiri was sending out, Arak really was one out of the only two people she even liked, let alone loved—the other one being Fox. With them being her brothers, though, she wasn't sure if they counted.
She and Arak walked the rest of the way to the entrance in companionable silence.
"Well, I'll see you later," Arak said when they reached the doors.
"Yup," she replied, giving a little wave goodbye. Her brother smiled at her before melting into the mass of kids clogging the hallways.
With a sigh, Daquiri straightened. Well. Here went nothing.
Now to see if she could get away finding her classes without having a guide…
She was glad she had 15 minutes before the bell rang, since it took her almost 12 to find her homeroom.
The rest of the kids in the class all seemed to be talking with each other or fooling around when she walked in. Walking up to the desk in the corner of the room, she stood there for a moment until she was forced to get the teacher's attention.
"I'm new. Should I sit somewhere specific?"
The teacher looked up with a bit of a surprise. "Oh! Are you Daquiri Laurens?"
"Unless you have other new students coming in today," she replied dryly, "yes."
"Well, we're glad to have you," she said brightly. Everything about her sunshiny personality screamed 'new teacher.' "I don't have the students sit in any certain order, but…" The teacher paused as she looked around. "You can sit next to Christopher over there." The teacher gestured over to the other side of the room. "He's the tall boy sitting and reading."
Daquiri had to wonder how it would be apparent that anyone was tall while sitting down, but when she looked over at who the teacher was indicating, she discovered that she had thought too soon. Even sitting down, this Christopher guy looked like a giant.
Just then the bell rang, and a lot of the kids started moving towards their seats, though many just kept right on talking where they were.
This was the part of being new that she hated the most.
"Alright everyone, class is starting!" Mrs.—actually, Daquiri couldn't remember her name from her schedule—called out. Daquiri shifted the weight on her feet apprehensively, debating just going and sitting down so she wasn't standing up there with everyone staring at her. Before she could move, however, Mrs. Teacher touched her lightly on the shoulder for a moment. Daquiri tried not to bristle at the contact.
"We have a new student who just moved here—this is Daquiri."
Daquiri glanced around the class and pressed her lips together for an awkward moment, tapping her fingers against the strap of her book bag once. Again. Awkward.
The teacher smiled. "Would you like to tell a little about yourself or anything, Daquiri?"
Daquiri glanced between the rest of the class and the teacher before raising an eyebrow at her. "Not really."
There were some snickers throughout the class at that, and Mrs. Teacher gave a bit of a laugh. "Alright, then I guess we can get straight to learning, hmm?" She gestured to the seat she had indicated earlier, like Daquiri would've already forgotten where it was.
As she made her way to her seat, she definitely regretted not just sitting down right away. She hated the way everyone stared at her. Well, except the Christopher guy, who still had his nose in his book. When she sat down next to him he glanced over at her for a moment, gave a quick smile, she supposed in welcome, before going back to reading. He couldn't have gotten much farther in his book, though, as the teacher started up with the day's lesson then.
Getting out a pencil and folder full of loose leaf, she straightened them neatly on her desk before resting her chin on a hand to stare up at the front of the classroom. She resisted the urge to heave a sigh.
Only seven more hours of this to go.
Daquiri didn't manage to get herself lost until fourth hour.
The extra-curricular classes like P.E. and music always seemed to be the rooms that were most out of the way and hard to find, and she wasn't having much better luck finding the art room. She'd been pretty surprised to learn Arroyo Burro High School even had an art program, considering most schools nowadays seemed to have cut them out. Her old school hadn't had one, so this was about the only reason she'd been even a little excited to come here.
But even then, she still wasn't all that stoked.
She was pretty resigned to thinking that she'd just have to go back to the office to figure out where it was at this point, since she had about thirty seconds until the bell rang. She didn't really mind being late to class, it was just back to the uncomfortableness of staring strangers arriving late produced that she wasn't looking forward to.
Before she could gather her bearings to find her way back to the front of the school, however, she found herself lurching forward as she was shoved into from behind. The wall saved her from falling, but her books weren't so lucky. She swore under her breath as the few books and papers she'd been carrying scattered to the floor. She knelt down to pick them up.
"Ack! I'm sorry!"
Daquiri looked up to see another girl bending down to help. She had to blink to make sure she was seeing correctly, though.
The girl was probably the oddest sight she'd ever seen.
Or really, her hair was. It was styled into long dreadlocks, which wouldn't have been altogether all that odd, except for that each strand was dyed in a separate color to make a mass of aquamarine blue, sea foam green, bubblegum pink, tangerine orange and coral. Some of the dreads were twisted around each other to make multi-colored spirals, and it was literally the most bizarre thing Daquiri had ever laid eyes on.
To the point where she kind of forgot to listen to whatever the girl was babbling about.
"—and I'm always such a klutz, especially when I'm late for class. I guess you're late for class, too. Wait, are you new here? I know like, everyone here. Well, sort of…"
Staring at the girl, Daquiri blinked again. Um.
"…I'm looking for the art room."
The girl seemed to brighten at that. "Oh! You're in art, too? That's where I'm going!" Rainbow Dread Girl stood up with the other half of her stuff. "C'mon, I'll show you where it is!"
Since the girl started bouncily trotting off down the hallway with her things, Daquiri didn't have much choice but to follow her.
"So what's your name?" Dreadlock Girl asked when Daquiri caught up with her.
For whatever reason, that always seemed to be her least favorite question to answer, as unreasonable as it was. But she supposed the girl was taking the liberty of helping her.
"It's—"
The bell ringing interrupted her. Great.
"Quick! Run!" the girl squealed and, before Daquiri could protest, grabbed her hand and practically sprinted down the rest of the hall. Daquiri almost fell over when Rainbow Dreads halted in front of a door.
What the heck was wrong with this—
"In here!" the girl chirped before swinging open the wooden door with a flourish. She pulled Daquiri inside. "We are not late!" she announced. "It is still eleven-thirty-five!" Dreadlock Girl paused to look at the clock on the wall. "I think anyway."
Daquiri tried to willfully force the color rising to her cheeks back down as pretty much every head in the art studio turned towards them at the crazy girl's outburst.
Simply being late probably would've been better.
"Were you kind enough to show our new student to class, Gypsy?" the teacher asked, eyebrows raised though there was a smile in her eyes.
Gypsy? Was that some kind of nickname?
"Yes, ma'am," Gypsy grinned. Much to Daquiri's chagrin, Gypsy splayed out her arms toward her in a displaying motion and started to announce to the class, "This is—" Then she paused, seeming to realize something. "Wait, what's your name?"
Daquiri wanted to bang her head against the wall. Or maybe Gypsy's.
"…Daquiri," she said through her teeth.
"—Daquiri!" Gypsy finished for the class's benefit. Then she turned to the teacher. "Can she sit with me, Mrs. Adams?"
Pleasesaynopleasesaynopleasesayno—
"Go ahead," Mrs. Adams said with a smile. "You can explain to Daquiri what we're doing."
Great.
"Oh, and welcome," she said to Daquiri with a warm smile. The redhead barely managed a nod at the teacher before Gypsy was pulling her along again.
The girl started babbling on about some method of painting, but Daquiri wasn't really listening anymore. She'd taken this class to use as a respite from the rest of school, where she wasn't obligated to say anything and she could just work on something she actually enjoyed in peace. This Gypsy girl was anything but peaceful.
"—and you know, I really prefer painting without any kind of specific method, I just like to feel it, y'know? But Mrs. Adams doesn't always go for that and says I should—"
"Gypsy," Daquiri interrupted. Considering she'd hardly gotten a word in edgewise thus far, she was almost surprised when the girl actually paused in her torpedo monologue at the sound of her name. Daquiri took a breath. "If you just tell me what we're doing, I think I'll be fine doing it alone." She took back her things from the girl. "Minus the conversation."
Gypsy drew her mouth into a bow to one side. "Oh." She nodded slowly. "Okay then." Then after a beat, she gave herself a little shake physically as well as would appear mentally, as she went straight into the explanation of the projects they were working on with the same energy as before. With the way the girl seemed to go off on random tangents rather frequently, Daquiri was fairly sure the explanation took way longer than strictly necessary.
Daquiri had to resist the urge to sigh. Just talking to this girl made her feel like she needed a nap. Associating with Gypsy in any manner of way appeared to be reason enough for a respite in and of itself.
Settling into the chair at the easel station next to Gypsy, Daquiri started sketching out an idea for the project, blatantly ignoring or shooting down any of the girl's random comments or attempts at conversation, which she made despite Daquiri's previous discouragement. And that was basically how the entire class went. If it hadn't have been for the annoying rainbow child, Daquiri would have actually enjoyed it.
But apparently the Universe wished to grant her no happiness.
When the bell finally rang, Daquiri wasn't sure whether to be relieved or disappointed. But next period was lunch, so she could at least decide what people she was going to be within the vicinity of. Or lack of people, rather.
As she was leaving the classroom and following the other stream of kids heading towards the cafeteria, Gypsy caught up with her again.
"Hey, so since you're new and all, you can totally sit—"
"No." Daquiri didn't even glance at the girl. "I prefer being alone, thanks."
She was hoping Gypsy would take the hint and leave her alone then, but she clearly underestimated her level of persistence. The girl stuck to her like glue.
"Are you sure? I know it can be hard making friends on the first day, and I can totally relate to that. I mean, I moved here forever ago, but I still remember what it was like, so I totally get it, and I mean, I'm not like all of those bullies who're just like total jerks to new kids, and..."
After about a minute, Daquiri just started to ignore Gypsy's run-on ramblings and tune her out, since apparently she didn't have an off switch. Arak's warnings not to get sent to the principal's office were starting to get a lot harder to take heed of.
"Look, Gypsy," she said through her teeth once they walked through the cafeteria doors, "I appreciate the offer—" Not really, "—but I'm fine. You have friends, so you can go sit with them. But leave me out of it."
Before the girl could react, Daquiri spun on her heel and stalked off towards the doors that led to the outdoors courtyard.
She'd never thought she'd have to work so hard not to make friends here.
"How was your first day, Fox?"
Fox's bouncing in the backseat was of pure excitement. "I met lots of kids! And my teacher is really nice! And look—" Fox paused to go digging through his backpack. He pulled out a piece of paper, "—I painted a picture in art class!"
Daquiri smiled. "That makes two of us, bud."
She leaned her head back against the seat as Fox continued to chatter on about his day, with her and Arak making comments here and there. School had tired her out and, despite her best efforts to pay attention to her little brother, she was having a hard time keeping her eyes open. She let out a quiet sigh as she gave up and let them close.
"Hey," Arak said in a low voice, indicating he was talking to her.
Daquiri cracked an eye open at him.
"You should get some rest when we get home."
She raised an eyebrow, her eyes still closed. "And why should I do that?"
"Oh please, Ri," Arak scoffed lightly. "You stayed up with Fox practically half the night because he couldn't sleep. You don't have to tell me for me to know you're exhausted."
Daquiri was silent for several moments. Her eyes opened a bit and shifted to the window. "Do you think Dad will be home?"
"I don't know," her brother responded. "I don't know what his new work schedule is, being at a new department and all."
When Daquiri didn't reply, her brother continued. "C'mon, Ri, I'll keep an eye on Fox. There's no sense in starting out at a new school just to overwork yourself before even getting a chance to settle." He caught her eye when she glanced over at him. "You'll drive yourself into the ground, Ri."
Turning away, she crossed her arms and pulled her legs up under her on the seat. "Whatever," she muttered, closing her eyes. Inside, however, she really was relieved. Even though Fox was older now, he still needed a lot of looking after, and even though of course Arak always did his part, Daquiri volunteered her time more than anything else. She loved her little brother more than life itself, let alone sleep.
But at the same time, it was good to have a break.
When they pulled into the house driveway, Daquiri went straight to her new room to catch a much-needed nap. They had just moved in two days ago, so a lot of things were still in shambles when it came to organization. Daquiri had to weave around and over boxes and piles of belongings just get to her bed.
She collapsed onto it with a huff, letting her book bag drop to the floor with a thud. Between interacting with new people, continually keeping up with Fox, and her lack of sleep the previous night, Arak had been right: she was exhausted.
Hardly minutes passed before she was out like a light.
The sun was setting when she woke up again. She lay in bed for a few minutes, trying to regather where she was and what she was doing. Waking up here would take some getting used to still.
Getting up, she left her room to go find where Arak and Fox were. She didn't hear them, which was fairly unusual, so she wondered if Arak had set up the TV to watch a movie or something.
She walked out to the kitchen, but her ears told her before her eyes did that the TV wasn't on. In fact, it somehow felt even quieter out here.
She noted a piece of paper on the counter, and she picked it up to find words on it.
Ri,
Went with Fox to the park. Be back later.
Arak
Well then.
She sent him a text asking when they'd be home before opening the fridge to find something to eat. Well, she guessed she could get her homework done early now…
She jumped a bit in surprise when the door slammed open. And they were home. So much for doing homework.
"I just texted you," she called as she made her way around the corner to the front door. "I was just seeing when you guys were—"
Daquiri stopped when she saw it wasn't her brothers at the door. "Oh," she said stiffly. "Hi, Dad."
Lawrence Laurens narrowed his eyes at her from where he stood in the doorway, looking like he was having a hard time focusing on his daughter. It took him a few moments before he said anything.
"Where're your brothers?" he slurred, sounding like he'd been gargling on gravel.
Daquiri took a cautious step back. "You're drunk," she observed warily.
The comment seemed to irritate him, and he rubbed a hand over his face. "Daquiri. Your brothers."
Her stomach felt queasy at the question. It was never a good idea to let him know she was home alone, but it also wasn't a good idea to lie.
"They're—" her voice faltered for a moment. "They went to the park."
Her father seemed to consider this for several moments. Then he walked further inside, stumbling a bit but not completely unsteady on his feet. Drunk, but not so drunk as to keep him from doing stupid things.
That was the worst kind of drunk.
"Get me a beer," he muttered, waving a hand towards the kitchen as he walked past her into the living room.
"Get your own beer," she said with a scowl. Besides refusing to do anything her dad said half the time, she hated even being around alcohol, much less touching the stuff. Seeing the effects of it didn't exactly encourage her to find it appealing. "I have homework to do," she said coldly before turning away to go back to her room.
Daquiri flinched when her dad grabbed her arm.
"You know it's against the law to disobey a cop's orders," he growled.
Daquiri tugged against his grip and glared up at him. The resemblance to her fight with Arak that morning was a bit unnerving. "Last I checked, it wasn't legal to assault a minor, either," she said through her teeth. "Especially not your own daughter."
A pained noise escaped her when she was backhanded across the face. Working her jaw, she brought a hand to her mouth. Her fingers came away bloody.
"That's jus' called good ol' fashioned discipline," her father replied, his voice low with contempt. He pushed her away forcefully, throwing her against the counter that divided the kitchen and the living room. "Now get me my drink."
Steadying herself against the counter, Daquiri wiped her mouth off on the back of her arm. "Starting over new, huh?" she said. "New house, turning over a new leaf?" She scowled at him. "Yeah, things are going to be real different here."
"Daquiri. Drink. Now."
"No," she spat. She moved away before he could come at her again. "I'm not doing this anymore. I'm done."
"Oh, get over it, Ri," her father leered, leaning his palms on the top of the counter to face her on the other side. "You're a big girl. I think you can handle it now."
"Maybe for Fox, but not for myself," she retorted. "And don't call me that name."
Her dad snorted. "Or what? You'll fight back?"
Daquiri lifted her chin. "There's nothing stopping me, is there?"
"I can fix that."
Daquiri stared down her dad for a moment. Then she bolted for the door.
Her spot in the kitchen gave her a slight disadvantage, and even drunk as he was, her father still had the instincts of a cop. He managed to catch her wrist, and the force with which he pulled her back made her lose her balance. She slipped on the wooden floors of the hallway and fell, half suspended by the arm her dad still held tightly. He yanked her back up, twisting her wrist in the process.
"Still think you can fight?" he growled.
The moment she was steady on her feet again, Daquiri used her other arm to elbow him in the gut as hard as she could. "Yes." When his grip loosened from surprise, she tore away from him, out the door and kept on running.
A lot of times, she couldn't use running as an escape from her father. Sometimes he wasn't intoxicated when he was angry, or Fox was home and Arak wasn't, or some other number of reasons. Also a lot of times, it wasn't that bad. Sometimes her dad just wanted someone to yell at, or to just knock around a bit for a minute. She considered it more of an occupational hazard of being a kid of a single parent.
Sometimes she just needed to get away, though.
Back in Oregon, she'd had go-to spots, but here she just went straight. She didn't stop, even when she heard thunder in the distance. She hadn't realized a storm had been brewing.
By the time the house was out of sight, the rain had started coming down. After only a few minutes more, it was pouring out in sheets.
A lot of weather hadn't stopped her from getting out of the house before, and a rainstorm wasn't very different now. But before too long, she did have to stop.
She stood at the edge of a cliff, the ocean crashing fifteen feet below, the sound of blood pounding in her ears. Or, wait; it was more of a roaring. The noise puzzled her for a few moments until she realized there must be a waterfall close by. Very close by. It was dark by now, the only light source the full moon that shown above: all she could see was the churning black waves, working themselves into a froth from the storm. She wouldn't want to be caught in the water during weather like this.
Then out of nowhere, thunder boomed above, with a flash of lightning following soon after.
In her already tense state, Daquiri practically had a heart attack at the sudden noise, jolting in a hard flinch from the surprise. Had she been more prepared, she wouldn't have been standing so close to the cliff edge.
She let out a surprised yelp as she lost her footing on the wet grass. The yelp turned into a scream when she realized she was falling.
For a split second, she felt like her stomach had been wrenched up into her throat. Then she gasped as she plunged into the cold water.
Salt water filled her mouth and nose, and she coughed from the shock and cold, which only made her choke worse. It took a few moments to gain her bearings enough to struggle back up to the surface.
She could hardly see through her now-waterlogged vision, much less figure out which direction the nearest shore was in. Even if she'd known, she was too disoriented to figure out which direction was which. All she could focus on was trying to keep her head above the water to breathe. She coughed as another wave washed over her, pulling her back down into the surf.
She tried yelling for help when she surfaced again, but she doubted anyone would be able to hear her in this storm, much less over the roar of the waterfall. The chances of anyone even being out in this were small. And if this storm lasted, she didn't think she'd be able to keep up.
Daquiri had a very certain sense that she was going to die.
Without warning, she felt a strong force of water pushing her down from above, which she instinctively struggled against, despite her confusion as to what it was. It couldn't be the rain…
That was when she realized that she'd actually gone under the waterfall.
Before she could decide whether that was good or bad, a strong wave pushed her forward, sending her crashing against the cliffside. She let out a gasp as the wind was knocked out of her, and her body went limp, refusing to work for her. All she could do was let out a struggled cry as she was sucked back under the water.
After the events that had led her here, a part of her just wanted to let go and give it all up; at least then she wouldn't have to keep running—to keep living the way she had been for the past five years.
Then thoughts of Fox and Arak crossed her mind as she felt herself being pulled under, and her chest ached for a different reason than from the lack of oxygen. She couldn't just leave them alone—especially not Fox.
Heck, when had she ever just given up?
Pushing through her lightheadedness, Daquiri forced her limbs to start working again, determinedly fighting her way back up to the top. She was not just going to let herself drown.
Just when she thought her lungs were going to burst, her head broke through the surface. She heaved in a breath, struggling between a mixture of coughing and sucking in air. She was okay. She wasn't dead.
It took Daquiri a few moments to realize that the water she was treading in was no longer churning in a frenzy, with no waves to speak of. In fact, she'd never seen water looking so calm. Then when she actually looked around, she realized she was no longer by the cliffside, but in a fairly large pool of water; the rumble of the waterfall was now muffled, and when she looked up she saw a large hole way up in the ceiling like a skylight. The moon was just starting to creep past its edges.
Where was she?
Looking around curiously, she decided she must be in some kind of cave—most of the sky above her was covered apart from the skylight, and the air smelled a bit musty and saltier than regular ocean air, like it didn't have a breeze flowing through it on a regular basis.
Caught up in her surroundings, Daquiri was caught by surprise when the water in the pool began to bubble. She was alarmed at first, but then she watched in a bit of befuffled amazement as little drops of sparkling water began to rise up towards the ceiling. She watched their course as they traveled up through the skylight, and disappeared in the moonlight. The full moon now sparkled bright in the middle of the skylight, looking eerily ethereal.
It was probably the strangest sight Daquiri had ever seen, but considering the circumstances, she wasn't really in the place to sit and think about it.
Slowly swimming her way over to the edge of the pool, she heaved herself out of the water and up onto the smooth rock floor of the cave. She was exhausted, and bone-cold now; she shivered as she stood up and looked around. It was pretty dark in the cave, but she could barely see the silhouette of a tunnel entrance. Cautiously, she walked over to investigate.
It was much too dark to see further into the tunnel without some source of light. Even if it did lead out into the open again, she'd never be able to navigate the way in the dark and tired as she was. It looked like the only way she'd be able to get back out was back under the cave wall of the pool—but even then, she didn't know how far she would have to swim before she reached shore, and she wasn't sure if she had enough strength at this point for guesswork. Sighing and unsure of what to do, Daquiri leaned a hand against the cave wall.
She gave a bit of a jump when the top of the cave suddenly lit up like a night light. It winked out into blackness again with the removal of her hand.
The heck?
Cautiously putting a hand to the wall again, her eyes widened as the ceiling once again sprang to life. She stared up at it in stunned silence.
Crystals glittered with an ethereal blue glow across the ceiling, revealing the stalactites that dripped down in a way that was both menacing and beautiful. The crystals continued along down the tunnel ceiling, illuminating the path until it disappeared behind a bend.
"What is this place..." she wondered quietly to herself. Her words echoed around the walls in soft whispers.
This place either felt magical or was giving her a serious case of the heeby-jeebies. Possibly a mix of both.
Looking back at the pool again, she steeled her nerves. She didn't want to go back in there. And now that this way actually looked doable, she didn't think she really had much else of a choice.
Taking a deep breath, she continued into the tunnel, keeping her hand sliding along the wall as she went deeper into the cave, only hoping that she'd be able to make her way out of here without anything else going wrong.
With the crystals to guide her, it didn't take very long to find the cave entrance. Which was lucky, since there were tunnels that led every which way off in multiple other directions. She probably would've ended up hopelessly lost if not for the lights.
Most of the entrance was covered by a veil of moss and lichen, which was kind of off-putting, but at this point she'd stopped caring. She just wanted to get home.
It was no longer raining when she stepped out onto a rocky alcove of the beach, hidden away from the average person's eye if they didn't venture further. By the looks of the cave, it was apparent not many people did.
Daquiri made her way up the sand dunes back to the top of the hill, realizing the part of the cliff where she'd fallen was actually quite a ways away. The rocky peak of the top of the waterfall looked to be a pretty fair distance off; she'd lost track of how long she'd been walking through the caves.
Once she had figured out where she was, though, she made haste to get back to the house. She hadn't brought her cell phone when she'd ran out—whether luckily or unluckily for her, as it would've been ruined after that ocean dip—and she figured the majority of the household would at least be worried about where she was. That, and she was still exhausted. She didn't know how she was going to get herself to do homework now.
"Ri!" Arak jumped up when she came through the front door. "You're okay!"
Daquiri pushed him away when he pulled her into a hug. "Of course I'm fine, Arak. Relax."
Her brother gave her a look.
She avoided his gaze. "I just had to get out for a while."
"Why are you all wet?"
"It was raining."
"You smell like salt water."
"I...might've taken a small swim."
"In your clothes?"
"I was naked?"
"Ri."
Daquiri crossed her arms and turned her head away. "So I fell in. I'm fine."
"You fell in? From where?"
"I just slipped off the edge of the cliffside, chill. I didn't get hurt."
"You fell off a cliff?!"
Daquiri gave an impatient sigh. "Where's Fox?"
Arak gave her a frustrated look, but he gestured to the back hallway. "He's in bed already, it's almost one in the morning."
"And Dad?"
She could see Arak restraining himself from rolling his eyes. "He passed out a while ago."
Daquiri rubbed a hand over her face. "Good. I need some quiet if I'm going to get my homework done." She began to head off to her room.
Arak caught her up by the arm. "Ri..." his voice was lower now. "What happened?"
Daquiri locked eyes with her brother for a moment. "What do you think, Arak?" Then she tugged her arm away and went off to her room for the night.
A/N: I was going to put an author's note down here for something, but now I can't remember what it was. Oh well.