Lost at Sea

Eleanor’s heart raced as she thought over all of the information Jasper had given to her. She still couldn’t remember any of it personally, but it felt so right and filled so many holes she had in herself. Who would have thought that she’d been an avid reader? Or that she had such a passion for animal that she rescued everything and anything that seemed like it needed help?

She was right in the beginning, though. Knowing about who she was made her miss that girl even more. She would be thirty-three if she had not died.

But, unfortunately, she had. Eleanor was physically no older than twenty-three, although on the inside she felt a million times older. There was something about the vastness of the ocean that aged a person’s soul, not to mention the feral culture she’d been thrust into against her will.

Eleanor carried Jasper closer to the shore than she herself had ever been. The water was thicker, warmer near the people. Body oils and pieces of junk that she had never seen before flicked passed her. Truthfully, she hadn’t thought this through. Her confidence was beginning to waver as she realized his people would kill her just as soon as her people would kill him.

“Wait,” she whispered, hesitating. He was patient and seemed to understand. As her chest heaved in a desperate attempt to collect enough air, he only pulled her face around to look at him. She stared into glowing brown eyes and lost herself within seconds. Her lips tingled from the excess amount of oxygen, but also an indescribable urge to lean forward and press them against his.

“It’s okay,” he whispered, leaning his forehead to connect with hers. The contact was enough to make her belly quiver. “I feel it, too.”

Did he? Did he feel that need the way she did? The need to be closer, to hold him in her arms and never let go. She didn’t think he could feel it as intensely as she could, because even she was having a hard time believing.

“I don’t-” Her voice choked off. She took a deep breath and tried again. “I don’t want to let you go.”

“I know how you feel,” he murmured, pulling away to give her a dazzling smile. Even with the dark circles and the hollows of his cheeks, he was easily the most amazing thing she’d ever seen. She didn’t mind how sappy she was beginning to feel.

Over Jasper’s left shoulder, a great hulking ship caught Eleanor’s eye. She swallowed, but decided that it was a better idea than bringing him to shore.

“Hold your breath,” she ordered, watching him gulp down a lungful of air and squeeze his eyes closed. She locked his arms around her neck and dove down beneath the surf. Within seconds, they’d caught up with the ship easily and she was surfacing again.

The winds must have been good for sailing, because it was moving much faster than Eleanor thought it would. However, that could have been because she’d never been that close to a ship that was in one piece.

“How am I going to get on?” Jasper asked, his mouth dangerously close to Eleanor’s ear. She shivered, but gave him a sad smile.

“You’re a man,” she said. “They’ll stop for you.”

She slipped her head under then, concealing herself beneath the froth of the waves. She gently held him above the surface and watched with distorted vision as he waved his arms. Faintly, she could hear him calling for help. The sailors saw him quickly enough and without so much as a second to say goodbye, he was being scooped from her ocean.

She had no right to feel so hollow, but as she watched him being lifted away, she felt her heart go with him.