AN: Hi guys! Thanks for reviewing, keep it up. Sorry it's been so long since I updated, madly busy with homework and whatnot! Please let me know what you think of Carrow, I really want him to be good!
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
I've never noticed the patterns on the ceiling before. Thin, spidery cracks in the plaster, spreading across the ceiling like veins. I focus on the patterns, tracing them with my eyes, trying not to think about anything else. It doesn't work.
I keep allowing my thoughts to wander back to the cove that day, and the strange boy Carrow, and how he was certain we'd meet again. I've steered clear of the cove since then, but I keep letting my eyes flit to the window, glancing at the cove, hoping to catch a glimpse of the boy with the tail again.
I'm almost certain Aunt Saph suspects something. She keeps glancing at me, smiling knowingly, but not saying anything.
Apart from these odd interactions however, everything continues as per usual. Mum and Dad, along with Grandma and Roger, Skype us every morning. I enjoy being with Aunt Saph, and today, she comes down and says: "Kerenza? I need to go down to the shop today, so why don't you come along too? You can hang around St. Piran's for a few hours, and we can go have lunch afterwards!"
So we jump in the car, and a few hours later, I'm wandering aimlessly around St. Piran's, wondering where to go.
In the end, I find myself ambling along a pier, perched with my legs dangling over the edge. Before my thoughts sweep me away entirely, I can feel the entire pier vibrating under me as someone runs across it.
"Hi!" I glance up, and find myself staring into two, moss-coloured eyes and a mane of red curls.
"Er... hi?"
The girl standing above me laughs. "My name's Rowan! Sorry, I'm a bit mad as you can tell."
She has the kind of genuine warmth that you can't help but warm to immediately. I smile at her. "My name's Kerenza Trewhella, but you can call me Kerrie."
She looks surprised. "Trewhella? That's a local name. Funny, I've never seen you round before! Usually, I know everyone! That's why I came up to you- you're new."
She looks so proud of herself for this I can't help but laugh. "Yeah, yeah I am new. My Dad's from here, as is my Mum. They moved after they got married. I'm staying with my Aunt Sapphire..."
Her face brightens. "Sapphire Trewhella? Oh, of course! She and my Mum've been best friends since school! You just tell her you met Katie Polkerris' daughter, she'll know me!"
I nod, pleased to have found a friend.
"So," she asks, flopping down beside me, "come to St. Piran's often?"
"Nah, not really. I never have much reason to!"
"Well," she gestures to herself theatrically, "now you do!"
We laugh together, and sit for half-an-hour, talking, and I bask in her company.
She turns to ask me something. "You'll be coming to Carrack Down tomorrow right? For the bonfire?"
Before I have the chance to answer that I haven't a clue what she's on about, a voice above me says: "Well of course she is!"
Aunt Sapphy's standing there, smiling. "Hello, trouble," she says to Rowan, "not arrested yet, I see. How's your Mum?"
"So what exactly is it?"
"I'm sure you had bonfires in London, Kerenza!"
"Yes, Aunt Saph, but what for?"
"Midsummer's Eve- the summer solstice." She gazes into space for a second before saying: "It's a powerful time for earth."
I stare hard at her for a moment, before going to change. She doesn't notice. As though she's not even there.
We leave when we're all dressed- her in a deep purple dress, I in a red jumper and jeans- and walk to Carrack Down. As we walk, she tells me all her memories from past bonfires. All except from the year Grandad disappears. I never hear about that. All I know is he disappeared a little while after Midsummer's Eve, never to be seen again. Dad, his Mum and his sister never talk about it- not to me at least.
The walk is a scenic one, though so is almost any walk you take in Cornwall. We end up right on the beach, and it's dusk- the sky is lavender, and the sun appears to be sinking into the ocean and setting it on fire. There's a huge bonfire going, and the people surrounding it are dancing, singing folksongs, and throwing wreaths onto the fire. It feels like I've stepped back a thousand years to the times when Cornwall was it's own country, and gods still trod the earth.
"Kerrie, Sapphire! You came!" Rowan comes hurtling to a halt in front of us, a woman who looks exactly like her in hot pursuit.
She introduces herself as Katie, Aunt Saph's best friend, and the two of them go to join in the dancing. I turn to Rowan warily. "Do we have to, erm, dance?"
She takes one look at my face, and starts laughing. "Of course we do! But lets get you a boost first." She drags me over to the refreshments table and grabs two bottles of cloudy lemonade. We stand there, swigging the tart drink, and she's about to haul me over to the bonfire, when she freezes.
"Oh heck," she whispers, "she's coming straight to us! Why's she staring at you, look!"
I glance up to see who she's talking about, and that's when I see her.
The woman is tall, and reminds me of a mountain, she's so statuesque. She's wearing a brown dress and jacket, with scarf and hat the colour of poppies. Her face is wrinkled, but her dark eyes are to bright for her to feel elderly. She's old certainly, but not elderly.
"Who is she?" I hiss at Rowan.
"Granny Carne," she whispers reverentially, "she's been around forever, and most folk will swear she has magic."
"Do you think so?" I ask.
She shrugs. "Seems like it."
I feel a bit uneasy, and when I glance up, I'm pierced by a pair of bright, penetrating eyes.
"Hello Kerenza," says a low, warm voice.
"Um, how did you know my name?" I blurt out. My eyes dart around, searching frantically for Rowan, but she's scooted away.
The corner of Granny Carne's eyes crease in a smile. "I know things."
I don't doubt it for a moment. I don't know why, but I'm almost certain she knows about my time at the cove yesterday, and it's making me nervous.
She scrutinises me carefully. "The sea is a powerful thing, my girl," she says, finally breaking the silence, "you have to be careful with it. Just ask your aunt." and then she leaves.
Staring into the dancing flames, I try hard to forget. Forget how the old woman's eyes bore into me, how she knew things. I try to lose myself in the warmth of the fire, how the flowers on the wreaths glow in it for a second before flaring up and vanishing. I focus on the way the dark hair of the women flies around their waists as they dance, how the children are laughing and the men are singing.
I try to join in the singing, to drown out the omnipresent song of the sea, but I can always hear it, thrumming away nearby.
Rowan waves her hand in front of my face. "Kerrie? Kerrie? KERRIE! Are you coming?"
"What, sorry?"
She rolls her eyes. "You numpty! I said, I'm turning fifteen next week, and I'm having a beach party at St. Piran's to celebrate! Are. You. Coming."
"Yeah, sure, if Aunt Saph's okay with it!"
She beams at me and says her goodbyes. With a start, I realise it's already one in the morning. Aunt Sapphire and I walk back to the cottage in companionable silence, both of us stealing glances at the sea.
In spite of every ounce of common sense I have telling me other wise, I'm back at a now abandoned Carrack Down. I know it's not the same cove where I met him, but I'm sat on a rock, and facing the sea. I don't know where he is or what I'm supposed to do now, so I call out a single word. "Carrow?"
Nothing. I laugh at myself, but it's a panicked laugh. "Carrow? Are you there?" I'm alone on a beach in the middle of the night, and I'm scared. I'm about to get up and try and find my way back, when a voice behind me asks: "leaving so soon."
Carrow leans back and studies my face for a moment. "Why so surprised, Kerenza? You called for me didn't you?"
"Well, yes," I concede, "but I didn't think you'd hear me."
He stares at me.
"It doesn't matter," I whisper.
"Why are you whispering?" he mimics my hushed tone, "no one can hear us! Watch." He grins at me, and yells "HELLO!"
"Carrow!" I hiss, "be quiet!"
He laughs at me. I scowl back.
"Don't be grumpy, Kerenza. Now, do you want to see my home?"
"Um... That's probably a bad idea."
He raises an eyebrow. "Oh really? Why?"
"I hardly know you, for one thing. And I'm not a very strong swimmer. And it's dangerous to swim at night."
"Yet you still came here and called me."
I flush.
He grins, and in a sudden, swift movement, he reaches forward, grabs my wrist, and yanks me in. I barely have time to shriek, before I'm completely submerged in icy salt water. It's filling my lungs, I can't breathe, I need to go home... Dad... Aunt Saph.
"Shh," says Carrow, "stop thinking. Let go of the air! You don't need air!"
But I do, I do need it. I'm drowning, I'm dying...
Carrow obviously senses it too, because with one hand, he grips my wrist, and with the other, he grabs my chin, and tugs at my face so I'm staring into the depths of his green eyes.
"Let go," he says. And I do. I let the thoughts of Air drift away, and suddenly, I can breathe.
"Carrow!" I splutter, "I could have drowned!"
He shrugs. "You didn't."
I glare at him, until he sighs. "Alright, I am sorry. But now, you are in Ingo, and-"
"What the hell is Ingo?" I demand.
"Ingo is everything here, all that is not Air. And now we are in Ingo, you must trust me, because right now, you'l only be able to breathe whilst I'm holding your wrist.
I look at where his hand is wrapped around my wrist. "Where will you take me?"
He laughs, and says: "Where won't I take you?" and he gives his powerful tail a flick, sending us into the depths of the ocean.