Sequel: Released into the Air
Status: Finished

Submerged in Water

Father

"And that was how I traveled across the pacific ocean." Jonathan ended his story.

We all looked at him, completely stunned, our mouths open like we couldn't believe what we had just heard. Scott was the only one that seemed unphased by it.

Sitting around the coffee table in the middle of our parent's living room, we were supposed to be working on homework together as an attempt to try and study for tests and improve our grades. The school had called Aubrey and I and they didn't particularly like that we were getting barely a C- in two of our classes, considering Aubrey and I used to be straight A students.

If the school really knew what was going on, I was pretty sure they could cut us some slack but revealing our identities would probably make the situation worse before it got any better and telling our parents was out of the equation. We had kept them out of it for so long that catching them up to speed would be too detrimental.

"So you convinced a whale to let you ride on it's back?" Aubrey couldn't believe it. "Could you talk to it?"

"Not at first." Jonathan went on, causing us to all drop our heads into our books, preparing for another time wasting story. "But after a while, I could kind of make out what it was saying. I caught onto it's patterns and rhythmns." He shrugged like it was totally natural to notice things like that. "Now I can talk to sea life a lot easier."

I looked across the table to catch Rune rubbing his eyes. It was getting late and I was pretty sure my parents would walk in any minute to either give us more coffee or kick everyone the hell out. They didn't like that we were falling behind in school, but Aubrey and I argued that we wanted to have the 'regular' high school experience and that friends was a part of that. Study groups seemed to be the only thing we all could agree on, but now that I was looking around the group of bored faces, it was probably a horrible idea.

It would be so much easier to just forget about school and this normal human life and to escape into the sea somewhere. I was sure if I went deep enough, nobody could find me, not even Queen Inna. It would be too easy though and I was sure that my friends wouldn't appreciate being ditched in the middle of this disaster.

I heard a knock at the door and my parents went to answer it. I figured it was probably Scott's Dad or Robyn's Aunt coming to pick them up. I got out of my chair to greet the person at the door but was totally shocked to see the old man I had seen just outside the cove walking with Rune the first time I had spied on him.

Rune came up behind me. "Dale?" He coughed. "I mean, Uncle Dale? What are you doing here? I said I would be back before ten."

"Yeah, well something important came up and it's..." His voice trailed off just as his eyes reached me. His gray-blue eyes, the same ones that he seemed to share with Rune, grew large and he focused, trying to make sense of it all.

That was my que to get my parents out of the way. "Mom, Dad, you need to go." I told them.
They turned to protest but they saw the frightened look in my eye and didn't complain. They backed away but stood close enough to still hear.

"You." He whispered the word and then pointed to me. "It's you."

I pushed Rune outside the door, not wanting my parents to find out about me like this and shut the door behind us so that it was just Dale, Rune and I on the porch.

"What is this about, Mr. Striker?" I asked him politely, folding my arms underneath my breasts.

He turned to Rune and his voice was furious "You didn't tell me!?" His voice rose. "I knew you were heading out in the morning, but I thought it was to meet with that Robyn girl." He shook his head. "But instead you were meeting with her? You do know who she is, right?"

I stopped him from yelling at Rune by placing my hand up in front of his face to get him to focus his rage on me. "We know everything, Mr. Striker. More than you probably think. We've known for a while now, at least a month. We know that my... Mother... is looking for me and that she's a psychopath. We thought it was in everyone's best interest if I remained hidden."

He opened his mouth and left it open, looking for the words to say. "Everyone's best interest?" He mocked my words. "I just got a phone call. Three Oros are dead because Queen Inna thought that they were hiding information as to where your whereabouts are. We have absolutely no idea where you have been and we've been searching for you for years. Keeping you hidden is not in everyone's best interest. People are dying because you haven't come forward."

"That isn't fair, Mr. Striker. I never asked for this responsibility." I was firm. I knew I was in the right, even though I hated the idea of people dying because of me. I reminded myself it was Queen Inna and not me. I had nothing to do with this. "I didn't even know she was my biological Mother until a month ago. I was not raised to follow in her footsteps and I don't appreciate you putting your prejudices of her on me."

He stepped back, taking a look at me for the first time. "You really are your mother's daughter." He was shaking his head. "Always knows what to say. Can talk your way out of anything. Can talk your way into anything..."

"You knew my Mother?"

He nodded grimly. "She's a couple of years younger than me. I haven't talked to her since... the accident."

I stepped forward. "I need to know, Mr. Striker. This is very important. What really happened during the genocide? Of the Kamille?"

"I... I don't know. There was a small group of people put into a position of power just before the genocide happened. After it was over with, we couldn't find them. We figured they went into hiding and to be honest, after the first year we stopped searching for them."

I turned around and sighed, frustrated with that answer. "Do you know how Queen Inna survived and nobody else did? Does nobody find this strange?"

"Inna started reappearing only a year ago and that was after we had destroyed and burned a lot of information and witnesses about the events. I can't tell you anything you want to know, kid, I just can't." His voice had turned hopeless.

"Well," I reached for the last thing I had left. "Do you have any idea as to who my father is... or possibly was? We have reason to believe that during the time of the genocide, Queen Inna could've been anywhere from one day to around five months pregnant... with me. I don't know my exact birth date."

He suddenly got nervous, as soon as I brought up the word Father. "What's wrong, Dale?" Rune asked.

"Nothing." He was absolute about this. He turned to Rune and grabbed his shoulder, starting to push him down the steps and towards the truck. "Listen Rune," I heard him say. "You can't see her ever again."

"What!?" Rune protested, ripping his arm out of Dale's grip. "I know she isn't exactly the safest person to be around but forbidding me to see her is a little extreme, don't you think?"

Dale glanced at me, knowing I could still hear the conversation. He kept his voice low. "We can talk about this later."

"No. Emele deserves to know as well."

"It's nothing pesonal, Rune." Dale sighed and put his hands on his hips, keeping himself calm. "You can still... be friends with her, but that's it. Only friends."

"What?" I breathed.

Rune's voice broke. "What... are you getting at, Dale?"

"I might..." He turned to me and looked deep into my eyes. "I might be your Father."