I smiled. "Okay.”
The swim back to land was too tiring on my body, so Percy carried me on his back most of the way, while Ajax carried Atalanta. I don't know why, but Callum felt the need to guard us the whole way. I was almost worried that he was growing some kind of attachment to Atalanta, but when I asked, he assured me that he only liked her in a little sister sort of way. He had simply wanted to make sure that we got home safely.
I felt that there was something he wasn't telling me, but I didn't push. He left us with a short farewell once we reached the shore, anyway.
Where we landed wasn't too far off the track from the library or Theseus’s apartment. Seeing that it was the middle of the night, the five of us trekked through the woods naked, Theseus having the honor of carrying a tired, fully clothed Atalanta.
He had won rock, paper, scissors.
Once we reached Theseus's place, we collectively slumped onto his couch, his grumbles of us getting dirt and sand everywhere pulling a few tired laughs. One by one, all of us dragged ourselves into his bathroom to take a shower, and then one by one, we collapsed, clean and naked, into a tired pile on and around the bed.
It had been a long three days, but I don’t think I had ever seen Atalanta sleep so peacefully.
Early the next morning, Theseus had gotten dressed and drove over to Ajax's cabin to bring us back some clothes.
Once Atalanta was awake and had eaten breakfast, she demanded to go to the hospital to see her father.
Damn, if I had had a camera when we walked into that hospital room. All of our faces slack with shock to see Titus North sitting up, fully awake in his hospital bed. Watching Atalanta hug her father while crying tears of joy moved me so deeply, I couldn't help but cry along with her.
He was still somewhat out of it, but once he fully came to, I knew it would be difficult to explain to him what had happened to his daughters. One was dead, and the surviving one no longer human. Depending on his reaction, I was prepared to offer him the chance to become one of us as well. After speaking with the others, they also agreed. Atalanta didn't seem too excited about the idea, and I couldn't blame her. Knowing there was a chance that he wouldn't make it through the change.
We would cross that bridge when we came to it.
For now, the doctor said that they would be keeping him for another week to monitor his vitals and make sure that he didn't slip back into a coma.
It had been three days since we had returned from the trial. My parents had appropriately freaked out once I returned home. My mother vowed to never let her brother darken our doorway again. They hardly ever wanted me out of their sight, but I was an adult and I needed to be with my mate. From what I was told, Hip’s parents had about the same reaction.
For now, we were all still crashing at Ajax's place, but today the guys and I had finally begun fixing up Atalanta's cabin. We had our work cut out for us, but we wanted to make sure that it was in tip top shape for when her father came home. I asked around town and was able to get plenty of furniture, and would be moving it in the day after tomorrow.
We still weren't sure how to go about telling the rest of the townspeople. While we knew there wasn't any kind of prejudice against made Mer, and we no longer needed to keep her a secret since the council knew, the situation was delicate. We didn't know when our trial was to be rescheduled. Based on the council’s reactions to Atalanta, I highly doubted we would be able to keep her. Once they paired Atalanta with new sets of potential mates, they would sweep her off back to the city, and there was a chance we would never see her again. I was afraid that incorporating her into our way of life here would make it all the more difficult if she was forcibly torn away from it.
Percy had high hopes, said he was working on a plan to make sure that they could never take her away from us. I hoped he was right.
There was also the problem of Atalanta's fading memory. From what I could tell, stress seemed to be the trigger that escalated it, but it was certainly getting worse by the day. It didn't seem to be affecting her short-term memory too much, but I could still see her moments of confusion where she realized that she didn't remember something either we had told her or something about her past. But I could tell that it was scaring her and that she was trying to hide it from us.
Yesterday, I sent word with a courier out to the city asking for Zala to come visit us. She was an extremely skilled healer, and despite being a woman of the council, I knew that she would keep any secrets we told her safe, and Atalanta had seemed to connect with her during the trial.
“What’s that you have in your hand?” Atalanta asked, pulling me from my thoughts.
I had been taking a break from tearing up the rotting baseboards in Atalanta’s cabin, sitting on the edge of the cliff.
“It’s a compass.” I said, holding out the golden token my father had once given me.
She carefully sat down next to me, eyeing the raging waves below us.
“Is it a special compass?” she asked.
“Sort of. My dad gave it to me when I was little. His way of trying to guide me in the right direction.” I answered.
“Ah, a symbol as old as time.” She said dramatically. “Did it ever work?”
I chuckled. “No, it didn’t, but I liked the sentiment.”
I looked over to her. She was so beautiful. The sun was actually out today and it just made her skin look so warm and inviting to my touch. Her hair, which had grown noticeably longer, much to her annoyance, swayed in the breeze.
“You’re my compass.” I blurted out.
“What?”
I coughed. "I mean…since that time in my car, you encouraged me to follow my own path. For once in my life, I defied my uncle, made my own decisions. I was lost in my own shit, following along with the labels I was assigned: the town’s star athlete, the perfect guy all the girls wanted to be with, the guy who would one day take his place as the head of a noble family. I wasn’t happy, not really. I was just going through the motions. You were like my compass, pointing me in the right direction.”
She gave me this slow, breathtaking smile. “I don’t actually know what to say to that.”
“You don’t have to say anything,” I took her hand. "Just stay with me.”
I looked back over my shoulder. The others had joined us, looking out over the ocean in quiet companionship. These men were my friends and quickly becoming my brothers. Well, except Percy. We still had a lot of our own stuff to work through, but knowing that I wasn’t alone, that my one-sided childhood crush was returned, it was like I could float on fucking air.
I turned back to look at the water and squeezed Atalanta’s hand. “Stay with us.”
She gave a soft, content smile. “Always.”
….TO BE CONTINUED IN BOOK THREE
Afterword
(be prepared for much emotion and thank yous)
First and foremost, I want to say thank you to each and every one of you who have read Into The Seas embrace, reached out to me telling me how much you loved it, and have supported me over the last year. It really means a lot, and I don’t think I’ll ever forget your kindness.
2019 was not an easy year; my mother was in and out of the hospital, and in early January, I lost my oldest and closest friend. She did not pass away but is simply no longer in my life. It was an extremely harsh blow, and when I wasn’t at the hospital with my mother, I was curled up in my bed, simply done with the world. It was with the help of a few really important people that I’ve slowly been able to recover.