silently. Her age and wisdom surrounded me with peace and I smiled as I held out my hand. She nudged it with her head and I lovingly rubbed my hand over her shell as one of her fins brushed my side. Dwarfing my slight frame with her size, the sea turtle gazed up at me with large, steady eyes. I froze as images flashed across my vision: sunning on a flat rock as the ocean sprayed over her warm shell, nibbling on sea grass with the rays of the sun filtering through the water. Image after image was shared with me until she broke my gaze and circled me. I reached out and curled my fingers around the edge of her shell, hoping to go for a brief ride.
Reading my mind, she propelled us towards the shore. We glided effortlessly along the rocky bottom of the shallow coastline. I patted her head gently when I let go and she swam away; fading into the black of night. That’s when I felt the unmistakable warmth of darkness.
Chapter 7
My eyes scanned the inky water carefully, anticipating that someone or something would emerge from the endless space surrounding me. When no one materialized, I concentrated instead on where the darkness was coming from. I made my way past a bed of rocks, drawn to a depression in the sand just past it. It seemed innocent enough, but the intensifying darkness that swirled around it intrigued me. What was a random spot of darkness doing off the shore of Cyprus?
I circled the indention of sand to make sure that it was the source of what I was sensing. As the moonlight danced through the water, the sand took on a metallic sheen and appeared to shimmer beneath me. I inched closer to get a better look. It reminded me of the bronze and gold tones of the Underworld. I tentatively reached out a hand and ran my fingers along the fine grains of sand. They glittered even brighter and I smiled at their beauty and the warmth that ran up my arm. It touched a part within me that was still young, still new. The part of my soul that had absorbed the darkness from the pomegranate rejoiced and I had to stop myself from rolling around in it like a dog in the grass. As I reached out to touch the sand again, I was surprised when it reached back.
Climbing up my wrist and around my forearm, I froze with fascination, which quickly changed to horror when the sand collapsed in on itself. The sand around my arm refused to release its hold and I shook my arm as it began to pull me down into the sandy abyss. If this was anything like quicksand, I wanted nothing to do with it. Suffocating in a sandy grave was not my idea of a good time.
The darkness within me was calling out to me, urging me to stop resisting. But the rational side of me took over and I fought with all of my strength to wrench myself free. The movement only created another sudden collapse and soon the sand was up to my shoulder. As I lost my balance and the sand pulled me the rest of the way under I held my breath and squeezed my eyes shut. The sand surrounded my body and shifted back and forth against my skin. I knew I was dropping quickly, but to where was a mystery. Drowning in sand would not have been my first guess as to how I would die, but then everything just….stopped. Until I fell several feet and landed hard on my stomach.
As I listened to the sound of water rushing nearby, I took a quick inventory. Breathing..check. Ability to move…check. Lying on the ground…check. Clothes now completely dry…check. Terror inching up my spine…check. I took a deep breath and peeked out of one eye while I tried to figure out how I could be completely dry when only seconds before I had been underwater. Did the sand dry me off? Those thoughts were erased as my open eye soaked up my surroundings. Silver grass. Bronze dirt. A
Reading my mind, she propelled us towards the shore. We glided effortlessly along the rocky bottom of the shallow coastline. I patted her head gently when I let go and she swam away; fading into the black of night. That’s when I felt the unmistakable warmth of darkness.
Chapter 7
My eyes scanned the inky water carefully, anticipating that someone or something would emerge from the endless space surrounding me. When no one materialized, I concentrated instead on where the darkness was coming from. I made my way past a bed of rocks, drawn to a depression in the sand just past it. It seemed innocent enough, but the intensifying darkness that swirled around it intrigued me. What was a random spot of darkness doing off the shore of Cyprus?
I circled the indention of sand to make sure that it was the source of what I was sensing. As the moonlight danced through the water, the sand took on a metallic sheen and appeared to shimmer beneath me. I inched closer to get a better look. It reminded me of the bronze and gold tones of the Underworld. I tentatively reached out a hand and ran my fingers along the fine grains of sand. They glittered even brighter and I smiled at their beauty and the warmth that ran up my arm. It touched a part within me that was still young, still new. The part of my soul that had absorbed the darkness from the pomegranate rejoiced and I had to stop myself from rolling around in it like a dog in the grass. As I reached out to touch the sand again, I was surprised when it reached back.
Climbing up my wrist and around my forearm, I froze with fascination, which quickly changed to horror when the sand collapsed in on itself. The sand around my arm refused to release its hold and I shook my arm as it began to pull me down into the sandy abyss. If this was anything like quicksand, I wanted nothing to do with it. Suffocating in a sandy grave was not my idea of a good time.
The darkness within me was calling out to me, urging me to stop resisting. But the rational side of me took over and I fought with all of my strength to wrench myself free. The movement only created another sudden collapse and soon the sand was up to my shoulder. As I lost my balance and the sand pulled me the rest of the way under I held my breath and squeezed my eyes shut. The sand surrounded my body and shifted back and forth against my skin. I knew I was dropping quickly, but to where was a mystery. Drowning in sand would not have been my first guess as to how I would die, but then everything just….stopped. Until I fell several feet and landed hard on my stomach.
As I listened to the sound of water rushing nearby, I took a quick inventory. Breathing..check. Ability to move…check. Lying on the ground…check. Clothes now completely dry…check. Terror inching up my spine…check. I took a deep breath and peeked out of one eye while I tried to figure out how I could be completely dry when only seconds before I had been underwater. Did the sand dry me off? Those thoughts were erased as my open eye soaked up my surroundings. Silver grass. Bronze dirt. A
Similar Books
