Away in a Tentacle Lair

29. Kai

Chapter twenty-nine

Kai

I 'm sitting underwater, waiting for the boats to leave. Whenever I open my eyes, I see the black shapes moving across the blue, fogging my vision. I tug in the air from the mask around my face and then try to pass it back to Mum. A hand grabs mine, but I fight it. Mum needs to breathe more than me. She says no one can do what I can. I'm her superhero who is going to break the curse.

I'm not. I know she is wrong. I like being an octopus. But Mum wants the curse broken so she can sleep in a real bed like a real wife.

I've never wanted that before Leo…

Leo.

I'm not underwater. I'm…

I'm not sure where I am, but I stop fighting the hands that are trying to stop me from taking off the mask.

Why would I need a mask if I'm not underwater?

“Good boy, Kai. Relax.” It’s Leo’s voice so I let the hands guide my arms down to the bed.

I'm in bed. I run my hands across the cotton sheets and frown.

“You're in the hospital, Kai; you were shot,” Dad mutters from somewhere close by. “We're going to leave you here for as long as possible, but we must get you out before sunset.”

“Right, sunset.” Leo's shaky voice reluctantly agrees.

I'm sure it's not a problem. They can move my arm-length body into a bucket of water, and no one would bat an eye. Leo would be surprised to see how small I can squeeze when needed.

“Kai, can you open your eyes, please?” Leo sounds more broken by the minute, and I can't bear it.

“L…”

“That's it, wake up; I know you can do it.”

Was there ever any doubt?

I try my eyes again, and the dark images are still there. I blink rapidly and slowly, and the images clear into faces—not just Dad and Leo, but also Alice and Nicholas. I'm sure everyone else is here, too, just further back.

“How soon is night?” They all need to get home.

“Kai. You were shot. They had to operate.” Leo squeezes my hand. “They had to remove your spleen.”

“Oh.” That would be the organ that made it possible to hold my breath for longer than most people. “Well…” it's better to be alive, but my throat constricts before the words get out.

“It's time to go, Kai.” Dad starts disconnecting cables from me while I gawp like a fish. Leo offers me his hands, which I take, trying to find a smile. I've clearly misunderstood what he's doing as my legs are swung around. Pain is… well, it's there, but it's not registering as pain. Whatever painkillers are flowing through my body are working.

“Ow it…” It hurts but doesn't hurt; it just feels like it should.

“Just let us do all the hard work.” Frank puts my feet on the floor, but I don't even feel anything under my feet.

“Oh dear,” I giggle. “This isn't real.”

It can't be real when my insides are on fire, burning with a painless agony. The pain is there, but my mind is refusing to accept it. It gets better after I'm manhandled into a wheelchair and covered in a blanket. It's getting late; at some point, half my family will turn into octopus, and the other half will have to carry us out.

On the way out, I do a lot of long blinking, and I lose time with every blink. Leo's hand stays firmly in mine, the one constant in the journey. The wheelchair becomes the car, and the car becomes Leo's arms.

We’re home, but no one is relaxing. It will be fine when I can shift and sleep in my tank.

Just as I think I might make it to the safety of my night tank, there's a booming knock on the door. Red and blue lights swirl through the window, identifying the callers as the police.

“Go,” Dad orders, “don't let them find him.”

Only Granddad's direct dependents stay with me and Leo, heading down rather than up.

We have more time going this way. The police won't start the search in the basement. They were searching for me. Am I that important?

Nicholas leads the way through the secret doorway and into the cave.

“Welcome to tentacle lair,” Nicholas introduces the sandy bay. “This is where our ancestors smuggled our bounty onto the land.”

“Wait, so you are pirates?” Leo chuckles, the sounds vibrating through my body. “Not mafia?”

“Mafia is a word that describes a family that commits crimes. Our only crime is being related to men who didn't care about the sea.” Frank defends us valiantly.

“So you're not mafia, you're pirates?”

“Like I said…” Frank prepares to defend the family's honour, but Leo interrupts him.

“Pirates that turn into octopi?” Leo laughs so hard my whole body giggles. If I weren't stoned on the pain meds, I'd be crying right now. “Octipirates?”

Nicholas and Frank start laughing. Alice puts her fingers to the bridge of her nose and groans, but I know she finds it funny. Jonus doesn't hold back, and I can hear the rest of my cousins giggling throughout the cave.

But something else gets my attention—the big round pool of light in the sky. Leo releases me from his arms when I pull free, but I know he's right behind me as I hobble into the water. My hands grip the rocks for support; the water is only as deep as my thighs. I'm deep enough to leave the cave and stare at the moon.

“It's beautiful,” Leo mutters, wrapping his arms around me from behind.

“It's so still,” I reply.

I've only seen the moon from underwater before, and only on the nights I've not made it home and had to sleep in the bay. With the water rippling above me, the moon always seems to dance. Tonight, it is still and clear. I can see so much detail on its bright surface.

“Does this mean…?” Leo plants a kiss on the top of my head instead of daring to speak the words we were all wondering about.

“The curse is broken.” Nicholas finishes for him.

“So I just had to get shot? Why didn't it break when Mum died?”

“Because your mother did bleed all over the research centre floor. The cops found the boss holding a gun and his security officers shooting at unarmed men. The cops closed it down, and after this, there will be no more dumping their dirty water into the sea.” Leo makes it sound like a David and Goliath story, in which I took on the mighty research corporation and won. I would be surprised if destroying the filtration system stopped the tainted water from entering the sea and breaking the curse. All that matters is that we all stand up to our willies in ice-cold water.

“Leo, I need…”

He catches me as my legs give out, dragging me out of the water to sit on the sand. I feel pampered as the family brings towels, blankets and cushions, as though I did something more important than getting in the way.

I put Leo's life before my own, and I'd been prepared to die for him. That's a much more romantic way to have broken the curse than turning off a few water pipes.

Just as I find a sexy use for my tentacles, I go and lose them. Maybe that is the real curse.

“I love you, Kai,” Leo moves his face to mine, “but whatever you're thinking, stop.”