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In the very beginning, Ina found a corner to hide in.
It was hard to find the perfect corner. The shrine isn’t busy, but she’s not the only one who lives here. Being found is the last thing she wants. It’d be hard to focus with someone talking to her, asking her questions, would you like me to get the priestess? Ina wants to be alone. She gathers every pillow and blanket from her room and the guest room. The room she decides to use as her hiding spot is the storage room for rice. She tucks herself under a cabinet and shores up her defenses. Her pillowy grave doesn’t do much about the voices in her head.
It wasn’t bad at first. The priestess told her it would be a slow process. Too much at once would overwhelm her. It’s a gentle transfer of power. At first, it was just a few voices. She could easily leave those in the back of her head. Now, day by day, the voices got worse. Day by day, she could feel a festering in her chest. She feels like she accidentally dropped salt but instead of landing on the floor, it’s in her skin.
She’s feeling hopeless. No matter how hard she covers her ears, the voices do not quiet. They pound at her head, whispers she can’t hear and voices she can’t discern. She breathes heavily. Pained tears prick her eyes. She wants it to stop.
It’s not stopping.
The fort isn’t working. Priestess said the ocean helps, Ina wipes at her eyes with her sleeve. She breathes shakily. It’s hard work to crawl out of her fort. She’s reluctant to do it. She doesn’t want to be found. Every corner has the hair on her neck standing up. She can feel shadows clinging to her skin. The voices in her head weren’t letting up. She rubs at her temples as she sneaks her way out of the shrine.
The island offers an ocean in every direction. It wasn’t hard trekking down the hillside to get to the beach. The grainy sand between her toes feels better. There’s not a noticeable difference, but it almost feels like the voices are less harsh now. Accommodating. Her head throbs painfully and she’s moving closer to the tide.
And nearly trips over a person.
“Wha-?” Ina scrambles backward. Her heart is in her throat as she takes in the person- a girl- laying down on the sand. She wasn’t there purposefully, Ina realizes. She’s laying on her side. Blonde hair is in her face. Her dress is cute, but it’s not a priestess robe. She’s not from around here at all.
She’s hurt. Ina’s flaps go flat against her head. There’s a bruise on this girl's jaw. Her arm is discolored. It’s half-buried in the sand and Ina is afraid to look at its state of it if she touches it. There are scratches through this girl's stockings. A tear in her blouse reveals a cut over her tummy. Wrapped tightly in her palm is a golden pocketwatch.
Ina fretfully crouches down. She hadn’t been taught the magic of the Ancient Ones yet. Healing was out of her ability. It makes her frustrated with herself. The priestess could heal her. Ina clenches her hands into fists. She has to confront the priestess as she is now. Everyone in the shrine would know she was struggling.
The girl lets out a small, pained noise. Ina hesitantly places her hand over the girl's forehead. It shouldn’t be that hot, Ina worries. She needed help.
Ina makes a decision.
She’s not very strong to manage lifting someone. She can do a piggyback ride. She can manage that with shaky legs. The girl is dead weight against her, her nose buried against the back of Ina’s neck. Ina exhales and begins the trek up to the shrine.
She’s so focused on getting the girl to safety that she doesn’t notice the voices have stopped.
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Her name is Amelia.
She’s shy, curled up in a guest bed with a cold compress against her forehead. The priestess had done her magic and healed away much of Amelia’s injuries. She’d stared with huge eyes the entire time. Ina stood gloomily to the side. She’d gotten scolded for hiding. The only thing she’s reassured of is that Amelia would be fine.
She’s less reassured to realize Amelia is insane.
“I’m not from this time.” Amelia is explaining. She’s lifting her head with pride, a smile tilting at her lips as she holds up her watch like it’s a precious treasure. “This lets me time travel! I’m a junior investigator right now and I’m looking for…” Amelia stumbles over her words, her face red, “Uh, I’m looking for something. Someone. I can’t find her and I've been hopping around this time period. She’s around here somewhere.”
Ina says, “Um.”
Amelia grins at her, “Thank you for helping me! I really appreciate it. If I had been out there too long, see,” She’s showing off a knobby little button on the watch, “the emergency button would have triggered because, because the watch just does that when I’m hurt, it does that.” She pokes her tongue out with concentration. “I tried to get rid of it but Kronii really didn’t like that.”
“Kronii?”
“Yeah! She’s this grumpy lady that-”
“I’m glad you’re okay,” Ina says, just to stave away the rambling being thrown on her. “Um. I’m Ina.” She fidgets. She realizes she’s never met anyone before, not her age, not so suddenly. The seclusion of the island made it nearly impossible to make friends. It wasn’t like she was interested either. She wanted to focus on her studies and not on friendships.
Amelia scoots over in bed, “Hey, c’mere, I’ll let you play my gameboy.”
“What?” Ina asks.
Amelia is fishing a small box-like device from her dress pocket. She looks deviously excited, “Always bring travel entertainment! I was actually kinda hoping I’d get to play this with Gu- with someone I know.”
“Oh,” Ina says. She’s not sure how to feel about that. She doesn’t like being a replacement.
Amelia is tugging at her wrist, “C’mon! I’ve got a few games in my pocket you can try.”
Ina thinks about resisting. She had instructions to go clean up her fort. She needed to do her chores. She needed to work on her connection with the Ancient Ones. Her feet are moving against her will. She’s crawling into bed beside Amelia. They’re laying down, shoulder to shoulder, as Amelia hands her the metal box.
“Okay,” Amelia smiles, the blues of her eyes reflecting the ocean back to Ina, “Let me teach you the controls.”
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Ina opens her eyes.
It’s a dry morning, she can tell. Her nose itches with it. Her head throbs with a headache brewing behind her eyelids. She exhales through her nose. When she opens her eyes, her dreams have washed away.
Amelia is asleep. They aren’t in that shrine. Ina takes in their bedroom. The armchair by the bed. Books on the desk, a few bookmarked that Amelia had yet to comb through. Ina feels something touch her legs. She smiles wryly at the shark tail twitching underneath the covers. Gura had decided to she wanted to be the big spoon. Her arms were wrapped loosely around Ina’s stomach. Ina idly reaches down to pet her hand over Gura’s wrist. She’s distracted by Amelia.
Her hair is longer than her dream. They were just kids back then, she reasons. Tentatively, Ina reaches out. She brushes her fingers up Amelia’s jaw. It’s absent of a bruise. Her arms are tucked underneath the pillow, but Ina knows they aren’t injured either. She’s safe. Amelia sighs in her sleep. Ina makes Ina’s heart swell.
She leans forward and kisses her on the nose.
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Amelia doesn’t stay long. A woman in a blue coat comes to fetch her. Amelia looks sheepish but happy, her excitement barely overshadowed by their parting. We’ll meet again, she promises. There’s a sharpness in her eye that has Ina believing her.
And she does. Every other weekend, the time traveler drops by with something new to do. She brings toys, she brings more games for her Gameboy, and she shows her favorite book. The voices in Ina’s head aren’t so prominent when the time traveler is near.
She’s not around all the time though. The weeks without her take a toll on Ina, somehow worse than before. Armed with the knowledge that she could be better but she can’t be, not without someone, it’s painful. She’s surviving day by day with rocks rattling around in her skull, with a chorus of voices rising up in her head.
She takes the plunge.
The ocean is cold on her skin. The Ancient Ones in her head hum. She feels like hot pavement being doused in cold water. She exhales. Her head hurts. The fledgling magic she’s learned does little to alleviate it. She pulls her knees up to her chest and lets herself sink until she’s at the bottom of the shallow reef.
It’s a new place to hide. No one can find her. The priestess might, but with her dwindling power she may not have the ability to breathe underwater as Ina can. It’s a weird feeling, to inhale and feel air where none should be.
Her head hurts.
Miserably, Ina buries her head in her arms. She can feel those shadows that cling to her. She’s learning to brush them away. She’s getting better about it. The progress is too slow for her liking.
“Hey, are you okay?”
Ina flinches, her eyes going wide. She’s underwater. She shouldn’t be able to hear anyone that clearly. She looks up and meets blue eyes. Amelia, she thinks, but this isn’t Amelia. This girl has snowy hair. Her dress is adorned with golden bracelets and jewelry. A shark tail sways behind her. There are golden baubles wrapped around the fin.
The shark is small. Ina blinks in surprise. She’s almost the size of the actual sharks that swim in these reefs, the small things that cling to the bottom of the sea floor.
The girl is frowning at her, “What? What’s with that face?”
“You,” Ina breathes in surprise, “What… who are you?”
The shark’s brow is furrowing, “I’m… I’m just passing by, hey, why are you crying?”
“I’m not crying.”
The shark swims a little closer. She’s cautious, but there’s concern written across her face. The Ancient ones bristles and roar in her head. Ina buries her face into her knees. She wants to hit herself in the head. Maybe then it’ll get rid of this headache.
Hands are touching her face. Ina inhales sharply. A tentacle is materializing, an angry vengeance behind it as it lashes out. The shark shrieks and ducks down. She’s much faster than Ina’s awkward attack.
When she looks back up at Ina, she’s scowling, “What the heck was that for?”
“What do you mean?” Ina squeaks. “You just touched me out of the blue.”
“Well, I,” The shark fumbles with her words. Her face is blooming pink. “My mama taught me a trick to help. I thought- well, I just wanted to-” She meshes her mouth into a thin line.
Ina stares. The tentacle is fading back into darkness. The Ancient Ones are hissing angrily in her ear. It’s getting harder to focus and that’s dangerous, she knows. She needs to focus. She breathes in and out. The pain doesn’t alleviate at all.
The shark approaches her again. Ina watches her from above her knees. Tentative hands are brushing through her hair. A feathery soft touch along the crown of her head. Magic is in the air. She feels like she’s being gently lowered into snow. Ina exhales. It numbs the pain. She doesn’t have to think or focus when it’s like this. She relaxes.
The shark is grinning shyly, “Feel better?”
“How do you do that?” Ina croaks. She’s desperate for any sort of trick like that.
“Oh, uh,” The girl winces, “Um. I could try to teach you?”
“Please, it’s…” Ina breathes shakily. The absence of pain was welcome. It was enough to make her emotional. “It feels nice.”
A tiny giggle in her ear. She introduces herself as Gura. She talks a little bit, about the fish in the area and how cute this island looks. Ina mutters a bit about herself, too dazed to offer more than halfhearted mumbles. Gura doesn’t mind. The shark looks amused and pleased about this as she runs her magic along Ina’s scalp with dexterous fingers.
“Actually, I have a question,” Gura says, “Do you know where Atlantis is? I’m lost.”
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Ina tilts her head against Gura's palm. She knows it’s Gura who woke her up. The touch is too familiar to forget. A chilly breeze along her skin with every caress has her sighing happily. Her headache is all but gone.
Her shark kisses her neck, a half-awake mumble in Ina’s ear, “Rough night?”
“Dreams.” Ina whispers. She doesn’t want to wake Amelia. The detective was still out cold. She’s happy to sleep in and cuddle. Gura has the same idea. Her arms wrap around Ina’s waist and pull her closer. She peppers slow kisses up her neck and back down, a mindless pattern filled with sleepy rumbles. Each press of her lips leaves behind a winter breeze. It’s a soothing balm on her aching head.
Gura whispers, “What kinda dreams?”
“Memories,” Ina whispers back. “Don’t worry. They weren’t bad.”
“Mmm.” Gura nestles against her. The shark kisses along her skin lull Ina back into a doze.
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Amelia brings an extra Gameboy.
Gura takes hers with eager hands, her tail wagging at the prospect of video games. Future stuff was a beacon for her. She was enamored with it. Amelia was happy to supply. When she handed off hers to Ina, Ina could read the lines. Amelia’s hands were empty.
“Don’t you want to play?” Ina asks.
Amelia blinks, “Well, I’ve played these like a bajillion times so it’s fine! You guys have fun, I wanna watch.”
Ina fidgets. She’d never been cared for like this. Thoughtless actions like these startled her. It made her chest warm.
Amelia looks at her keenly, “How about we trade-off, you play a bit and I play a bit? That sounds fair, right?”
Ina relaxes, “Yeah, I like that.”
Gura worms her way into the conversation by bumping against Amelia’s shoulder, “Hey, don’t forget me, I don’t mind. I can trade too.”
“We’ll pass it around then,” Amelia says. She shoves the shark. “Get off me, you stink.”
Gura slaps her knees with her tail. Amelia makes a disgusted noise that has Ina laughing.
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Morning breakfast smells nice.
It’s Gura at the helm of the kitchen. Her tail sways back and form, a cheery tune following her as she attends to bacon and eggs. A cute purple apron is her armor today. It’s Ina’s apron but Ina isn’t protective of it, not when it looks cute on her shark.
Ina sits at the table, content to watch. The smells were nice. It was home, a comfort that envelopes her ribs and has her breathing love. Her eyes fluttered closed.
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“I made pancakes!” Gura is scrambling across the shrine. She’s dripping water and there’s seaweed draped over her tail. It doesn’t dim the smile on her face as she holds up a tier of freshly made pancakes. “Look, Watson, look.”
Amelia, who was pouring herself orange juice, says, “You just got one of the priests to help you, didn’t you?”
Gura sticks her tongue out, “I’m learning, you biscuit eater.”
Amelia sputters, “What-”
“Ina!” Gura is whirling on her, excitement and exuberance are written in her smile, “Here, try my pancakes, I made them
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with love.” Gura is placing the eggs and bacon before her. Ina hears the click of the plate sitting on the table. She sighs through her nose. A shark kiss is being pressed to the top of her head. Gura’s bangs are tickling her flaps. “Ina? Did you fall asleep?”
“Mm.” Ina cracks an eye open. She feels amused and absurdly happy to see Gura has her hair tied back into a ponytail. “Your cooking is nice.”
Gura smiles wryly, “Say that after you eat it, please, I know you have it like every other day, but if you review my product without trying it they’ll delete it from the web.”
Ina laughs incredulously, “A review? Okay, I’ll give it
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five stars.” Ina holds up her hand to show off Gura’s score. She’s speaking around a mouthful of pancakes. It’s delicious, but it’s not different from the pancakes she’s had around the shrine. It only cements the fact that Gura asked for help. It makes her happy, in a floaty kind of way that makes her feel special. Gura made pancakes for them, for her.
Amelia is eating hers like it might be poison. Gura is frowning at the time traveler, “Hey, what gives?”
“Ehh,” Amelia says. “It’s not you, it’s me.”
Gura scowls, “What does that mean? You’ve barely tried it, c’mon.” She’s grabbing the fork from Amelia’s plate and spearing a portion of her pancakes. Amelia reals back like it’s a noxious cloud. Gura is chasing after her with menacing intent.
“No, Gura stop, wait!” Amelia cries. She’s smiling despite this. “Wait, you’ll kill me!”
“Then die!” Gura yells. “Try my cooking, you don’t know if you like it until
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you’ve tried it?” Gura tilts her head.
Amelia is tiredly leaning her head against Gura’s shoulder. She’s yawning. Her words are half muffled with sleep, “Unnn. No. I’ve had your bacon before.”
“Well, it’s just eggs.”
“Any food from you is good food,” Amelia says but she kind of dozes off halfway through her words. Gura rolls her eyes, but she’s smiling. When she catches Ina’s eyes, she winks. It makes Ina happy, unabashedly happy that there’s nothing going on in her head but affection and love for the girls before her.
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