The Sea in our Veins

Virgil slowly awoke to two people whispering. They sounded like they were in the middle of an argument.

“He saw my mark,” the guy said, sounding worried.

“Your majesty, with all due respect, why did you show him your mark?” a girl asked.

“You were the one who said that humans wouldn’t know what my mark means.” he replied.

“I did,” she replied, “I just didn’t think you would go around showing it to everyone.”

“I didn’t show it to everyone,” he said, “I trust him.”

“Then why do you think he had such a bad reaction to your mark?” she said, “Do you think he knows about us? That might be the reason why he reacted so badly.”

“I mean, I wasn’t really subtle about not being human,” he said. “And I don’t think he knows anything about us or else he would have said something earlier.”

“So, what’s the plan, your majesty?” she replied.

There was silence for a moment before the man’s voice came again, “He seemed genuinely afraid of the water,” he said quietly thinking.

Virgil slowly opened his eyes, only to have to close them again when he got blinded by the light. He opened his eyes again and saw that he was lying on the couch in a living room that looked really fancy. On one wall was a large fireplace that had a real fire crackling and warming the space up. Another wall was filled with windows, through which, Virgil could see the ocean. He slowly sat up and saw Wesley and another woman standing by the entryway of the living room. When they saw him looking at them, they stopped talking and Wesley walked to his side.

“How are you feeling?” he asked, “What do you remember?”

Virgil struggled to breath, searching desperately for an exit. “Please don’t hurt me,” Virgil begged desperately.

He tried to get off of the couch, but his legs gave out and he collapsed with Wesley barely catching him.

Virgil started hitting and punching him, “Stay away,” he said desperately, “I’ve been good. Please don’t hurt me.”

“Who hurt you?” Wesley asked but Virgil was unable to answer.

The woman knelt down next to Virgil, “It’s okay,” she said, “You’re safe here. I promise to not let anyone hurt you. Are you okay if I hold your hand?”

Virgil managed a small nod, and the woman gently took his hand. Her hand was warm and it helped him calm down. “You should probably go,” she said to Wesley.

Wesley hesitated before getting up and leaving the room. Slowly, Virgil found it easier to breath and he calmed down.

“I’m sorry about that,” the woman said. “None of this should have happened.”

“It’s okay,” Virgil said quietly.

“No it’s not,” she replied. “I’m sorry that we had to meet under these circumstances. My name is Emma.”

“Are you Wesley’s mom?” Virgil asked.

Emma couldn’t resist laughing, “No,” she replied, “I’m more like his assistant. He rescued me from a bad situation and now I help him however I can. He’s been telling me a lot about you.”

“Really?” Virgil asked. “What has he said about me?”

“He wants you to meet his father,” Emma replied, “Something that he doesn’t really say about people.”

“Who is his father?” Virgil asked. “I know he’s someone important but Wesley won’t tell me anything more about him.”

“Wesley and his father are sort of distant from each other. They used to be closer before but after Wesley’s brother died, they blamed themselves for it. Wesley’s father and Wesley both threw themselves into their work. This is the first time Wesley taken a break from all of the work that he enjoys doing. He seems really happy, something that he hasn’t been in a long time. Other than that, you should probably ask him yourself.”

“Ask me what?” Wesley said as he came back into the room, juggling three mugs. He carefully set them down on the coffee table before handing one to Virgil.

Virgil sniffed the beverage suspiciously. “What is this?” he asked.

“I made coffee.” Wesley proclaimed excited.

Emma took a careful sip of the coffee and immediately sip it out. She took the mug from Virgil. “This is absolutely disgusting,” she said, “How did even manage to make coffee this bad?”

“I followed your instructions exactly,” Westly said. He took a sip of his coffee and his eyes lit up. “It tastes perfect,” he said.

“I’ll make hot chocolate,” Emma said before glaring at Wesley.

“What?” he asked.

“Be nice,” she said before disappearing into the kitchen, holding the mugs as far away from her as she could.

The two boys sat in silence for a moment with Wesley sipping his coffee.

Wesley was the one to finally break the silence. “Do you mind telling me where you saw my tattoo from? I never thought that someone would have one like mine.”

Virgil took a deep breath, unsure what to tell Wesley. He settled with asking Wesley, “Where did you get yours from?”

Wesley glanced at Emma before he said, “I was born with it. So, where have you seen my tattoo from?”

“I think I may have been born with it too,” Virgil replied, “I have the exact same mark on my back and I’ve had it for as long as I can remember.”

couch and taking his shirt off and showing his back to Wesley.

Wesley leaned back on the couch, thinking through things, “How old are you?” Wesley asked.

“Fifteen,” Virgil replied.

Wesley’s mouth dropped open, and Virgil got annoyed at Wesley's exaggerated reaction, “What” he demanded.

Wesley quickly recovered, “Are you sure you’re fifteen. You look like you should be ten.”

Virgil stood up, ready to attack Wesley, only to have Emma hand him full mug, “This should be better that whatever foul beverage Wesley was trying to feed you.”

Virgil slowly sat back down on the couch and carefully took a sip of the mug. The hot chocolate was so rich and creamy and Virgil couldn’t stop the sigh of contentment that slipped out. Virgil glanced around the room and then asked, “Where am I?”

Emma looked at Wesley, “You didn’t tell him?” Emma asked.

“I was a little busy,” Wesley complained.

“We’re at my house. After you collapsed on the beach, Wesley brought you here. We also were able to find your friend, Michael and he knows you’re fine,” Emma replied.

“How long was I asleep?” Virgil asked.

“It’s been a day,” Emma replied, “Michael said that you needed the rest.”

Virgil quickly finished off the rest of his hot chocolate, savoring the beverage before setting the cup on the coffee table.

“I should be going,” he said, “Thank you for everything.”

“Why do you need to go right now?” Wesley asked.

“What?” Virgil asked.

“Why do you need to go right now?” Wesley repeated, “Why don’t you stay for dinner?”

“It’s okay,” Virgil replied, “You guys probably want to just have dinner by yourselves.”

“Actually, we would love to have you for dinner,” Emma replied, “I usually make extra, so it’ll be nice to have another person to eat it.”

“Please,” Wesley begged.

Virgil hesitated but found that he couldn’t say no, “Sure,” he said.

Wesley’s face lit up and he grabbed Virgil’s arm and pulled him off of the couch. He started dragging him down the hall, away from the living room. Virgil caught glimpses of the other rooms and saw that they looked as fancy as the living room.

“What are you doing?” Virgil asked confused as Wesley started leading him up a flight of stairs.

“Emma got me a new gaming device. I want to play it with you,” he said.

Once they were upstairs, Wesley led him to his room. Inside was a large bed with two TVs hanging on a wall in an alcove that looked like a hangout area. Virgil saw the newest gaming console on a shelf next to the TVs, still in its box. Virgil sat down on one of the couches and watched as Wesley opened the box and tried to set it up. Virgil soon joined him on the floor, trying to help Wesley to the best of ability but soon gave up upon seeing the tangle of wires. It took Emma’s help to set the thing up. Once it was set up, the two of them started playing a racing game. Both Wesley and Virgil were really bad at it. Virgil had to explain to Wesley how to use the controllers but even after he started playing, he still eyed his controller with suspicion, like it would bite him when he wasn’t looking.

Virgil was slightly better at the game than Wesley as he had some previous practice from playing at Michael’s house. But his prior experience didn’t take him very far. After a couple of rounds, the two of them started to get the hang of the game. Wesley started beating Virgil, which lead to Virgil demanding that they switch games. The boys went through the stack of games until they decided on a new game and played it until they heard the call for dinner.

Emma, Wesley and Virgil ate dinner all together around a small table and Virgil had to admit that Emma’s seafood linguine was the best food that he had ever eaten. He asked Emma whether she worked in a restaurant.

Emma laughed, “I wish,” she said, “I always wanted to be a chief but life just didn’t pan out.”

“And now you have to work with Wesley,” Virgil replied, “I can see what you mean.”

“Hey,” Wesley replied, offended.

Virgil and Emma started laughing and after a moment, Wesley joined them. Virgil kept piling his plate higher and higher but neither Emma nor Wesley said anything about the portions he took. In fact, Wesley ate way more than him and he still finished first.

Once everyone was finished eating, Virgil asked if he could help with the dishes but before Emma could answer, Wesley dragged him down into the basement. Wesley showed him his home theatre and asked Virgil to pick a movie to watch. Virgil opened the cabinets and his jaw dropped at the sheer number of movies. While Wesley went to go and get the snacks, Virgil scanned through the movies until he found the movie he was looking for and he showed it to Wesley.

“What is it about?” Wesley asked as he dumped his armful of popcorn, chocolate and candy onto a table.

Virgil had a gleam in his eyes, “It’s about a shark,” he exclaimed excited.

Wesley’s eyes lit up. “Let’s watch it,” he said happily.

Virgil hesitated for a moment, realizing that Wesley didn’t know what movies about killer sharks meant. The two got comfortable in their chairs, each grabbing a couple of shacks before Virgil pressed play.

Virgil was disappointed on the fact that Wesley didn’t seem at all scared by anything that was playing on the screen. Instead, he was laughing manically while Virgil did his best to not show he was scared. During the violent scenes, Wesley just laughed harder and threw his popcorn at the screen. Towards the end of the movie, Virgil could feel his eyes begin to close but he forced himself awake. But as the gentle music of the credits played, his eyes snapped shut and he finally let sleep claim him.