Volume 7: Copal

Issue 3: Cannonball

Florian Reyes Honeywell

By Roach

A bright turquoise tinted the crystal clear water. I peered down. Lines of refracted light danced against the tiles on the bottom of the pool. I dipped my foot in the water, my movement stirring the lines of light below. Then, I slipped my other foot in, seating myself at the edge of the pool.

The water was surprisingly warm as it lapped against my skin. Although the night chilled the air around me, steam rose from the water’s surface. The resort’s heating system maintained a balmy comfort. A light tremble ran through me—not from the contrasting temperatures, but the buzz inside of me. A hint of pheromones clotted my nostrils; a clear warning that a pool was no place for a hive.

“Come on Flory-worry,” Amber’s voice sounded behind me. “The pool won’t bite you.”

Before I had a chance to reply—mainly to remind her that she was the one who dragged me into this—she plunged in. In one athletic swoop, she dived headfirst. My hands reflexively reached out to shield my face as droplets of water spluttered in her wake.

Just ten minutes earlier, I had been ready to settle in for the night when Amber came knocking on my room. She insisted that I joined everyone else at the pool, located on the resort’s rooftop. Apparently, I didn’t have her permission to spend the night alone at a resort doing homework.

For a few moments, I traced Amber’s shape—distorted beneath the rippling water—before she resurfaced on the other side of the pool. She claimed one of the corners, positioning herself near Jazmine and a group of students which I recognized as the Uno players on the bus. The rest of my classmates were scattered across the pool, their laughter and conversations hanging in the night.

Out of the small crowd, Camilo emerged—his swimming somewhere between doggy paddling and an untrained crawl. He swam up to me.

“Oh, Florian. Thank God I found you,” he said, out of breath.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, immediately concerned.

“I’m about to turn invisible. Please distract him.”

I stared at him. “Who…? Wait, what?”

Before I could say anything coherent, Camilo pinched his nose, squeezed his eyes shut, and submerged himself. And, just as I looked down, he was gone. Not just gone underwater, but vanished—Houdini style.

Still stunned, I stared at the spot where my friend should have been. Shortly after, a deep voice drew my attention.

“Hey bro, have you seen Camilo?”

Daniel had drifted over to me, floating on a peach-colored pool ring. Matching water wings hugged his muscular arms.

“No…” I lied. So this was who Camilo had been running away from. I took it that the roommate situation wasn’t going well for him, something which I could relate to—albeit I suspected we had opposite problems. While Jay had done their best to avoid me, I wasn’t sure Daniel had left Camilo’s side.

“Oh.” Daniel started to float away, the pool ring sending him into a slow pirouette. “Well, I should…”

“Wait,” I said, realizing that I was already losing him. His blue eyes widened as he looked at me. “Umh, Daniel… Why…” Camilo had asked me to keep him distracted, but I had no idea what to talk with him about. What did Albatrosses like? Football? I didn’t know anything about sports. Instead, I said the first thing which came to mind, “Why are you using both a pool ring and water wings?”

Daniel flashed a broad smile. “Well, the pool ring is for fun. But I’ll let you in on a little secret,” he said. Then, his voice fell to a whisper. “Water wings emphasize my muscles.”

“Oh.” The statement was so absurd that I thought it had to be a joke, but at the same time, he sounded so sincere. So I couldn’t really bring myself to question it. “I see,” I finally managed.

There was a long pause. His brawny figure bobbed in the water, following the pool ring’s slow rhythm. He watched me expectantly. I bit my lip, trying to think of something else to say. How was I supposed to follow up that? Ask him about his muscles? No, this wasn’t going well. What else could I say to him? I remembered back to the lobby; what had Daniel been telling Camilo again? Something about going to the gym?

I cleared my throat. “You know what, Daniel… I think I remember now. Camilo said something about forgetting a water bottle at the gym. So, I think he went to look for it.”

Daniel smiled again. “Cool, thanks buddy!”

And, with that, he slipped out of the ring. He held onto the pool edge next to me, then lifted himself up with ease. With water dripping off his lightly tanned skin, he set course for the rooftop door—still wearing his water wings as he headed back into the resort.

Once he was gone, I surveyed the crowd for Camilo. After a quick glance around the pool, I spotted him near Gabriel, Jay, Lucy, and a couple of others. Although they were all grouped together, I noticed a divide amongst them; while Camilo and Gabriel were chatting with one another, Jay and Lucy faced slightly away from them in their own conversation.

I couldn’t really remember seeing them all together like this since Jay’s birthday party. Unsure if their gathering was something I wanted to involve myself in, I looked around again.

Amber remained in the same corner as before, but now she sat on the edge of the pool. She stared out across the water, her head swaying slightly as her eyes wandered. The way she almost perched on the pool edge—elevating herself above everyone else—gave the distinct impression of a spider. A spider surveilling its web, studying her prey as it became increasingly tangled in her threads. Unease washed through me at the image.

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And that’s when I realized how perfect this setting was for her powers. A bunch of our fellow students, hanging out together by the pool… How every relationship and every interaction would feed into her bonds, offering new streams of information.

I decided to leave her be, and check out what Camilo was up to instead. I wasn’t ecstatic about hanging around Jay, but at least Gabriel didn’t seem as… hostile.

I stood up and circled around the perimeter of the pool, until I found myself near Camilo and the other theater kids. When I approached, Jay glared at me. Then, alongside Lucy and the green-haired girl from before, they started to drift away.“Hey Florian,” Camilo greeted me, but his eyes flickered around suspiciously. “Where’s…?” he trailed off.

“I sent Daniel looking for you in the gym, so you should be safe for now,” I said. “But… what was all that about? Is he bothering you?”

“Nothing, he’s just…” Camilo sank his head halfway into the water. While submerged, he let out a sigh which formed a small gurgle of bubbles. Once he reemerged again, he said, “He’s nice, just… a bit much.”

Gabriel stifled a chuckle. “Maybe he likes you,” he said, his tone teasing.

“What?” Camilo’s face flushed a hot red. “No way. He’s the straightest person I’ve ever met.”

Gabriel couldn’t contain his laughter this time. “Well, maybe you’re special.”

Camilo stuck out his tongue at Gabriel. “Shut up.”

In turn, Gabriel slapped at the water—sending a wave toward Camilo.

“It’s on now,” Camilo grinned as he splashed water back at him.

I took this as my cue to leave. Neither of them seemed to notice as I backed away from their placid warfare.

I debated with myself whether or not it was worth it to bother Amber—she had seemed… preoccupied. Then again, she was the one who invited me, so maybe… Just then, as I turned around, I noticed someone else I recognized.

Hannah stood alone, leaning against the railing. She had wrapped herself in a towel, which hung snugly over her shoulders. She cast her gaze out to the mountains and forests, which lay cloaked in darkness.

I took a deep breath, air rattling through my useless lungs. One final attempt at socializing, I decided. Otherwise, I could just head back to my room.

I walked up to her.

She turned to me. “Hey,” she greeted. I thought her lips twitched into a small smile, but—as we faced away from the pool lights and toward the night—it became difficult to see.

“Hi, what’s up?” I said.

“Just checking out the view,” she said.

I wrapped my fingers around the railing, leaning forward slightly as I looked to the night sky. A scattering of brilliant white stars spread across the sky, forming bands shrouded in stardust. The Milky Way, I realized. We were so far away from all the city lights that I could actually see it.

“It’s beautiful,” I finally said.

“Photo-worthy, don’t you think?” She gave me an expectant look, which caught me off guard until I remembered. My stupid photography story.

“Right.” I cleared my throat. “Too bad I left my camera in my room… Didn’t want to get it wet.”

She looked me up and down. Self-consciousness washed over me. Since I hadn’t brought any swimwear with me, and had to resort to an old pair of shorts. “You didn’t swim though, did you?” she finally said. “You’re dry.”

God, was my cover story unraveling this easily? “Yeah… I was going to, but I guess swimming isn’t really my thing.” At least, that part was true. Before my transformation, I didn’t mind swimming. But now, on the few occasions I had tried, the swarm rang the alarm bells as soon as I set foot in water. While I could reign them in, it became increasingly difficult to do so once I ventured into the depths. Even if there wasn’t any danger of drowning, I suspected it was in their nature to be alarmed by the sensation of being submerged.

“I see.” Her tone was measured, which I wasn’t really sure how to interpret. She turned back to the wilderness again.

There was a long pause. Although our classmates’ conversations and laughter—mixed in with the splashing of water—continued as before, the noise seemed to fade into the background. I glanced at Hannah, trying to decipher whether or not that was the end of our conversation—if it was time for me to leave. Her wet hair clung to her neck, black locks straying to her delicate collarbones.

Hannah was the one who broke the silence. “What do you think that is?” She pointed to the sky.

I traced her finger with my gaze. At first glance, I had been so consumed by the stars that I hadn’t noticed what she was talking about. But now I did.

A faint shimmer of blue swelled above the treetops—almost like the top of a snow globe. I stared at it, waiting for it to do something. But the translucent shimmer stayed put, far away from us.

I squinted. “It’s not… It’s not the northern lights, is it?”

Hannah laughed.

“What?” I said. “It could be a… I don’t know, a sky phenomenon or something.”

“You don’t leave the city much, do you?”

“Well, no, I guess not.” I paused. “Not anymore, at least.”

“Not anymore?” she echoed.

“My parents travel a lot for work, so I used to go with them when I was younger. At least until I was old enough to manage on my own.”

“Oh.” She paused. I expected her to follow up by asking about their work—like people usually did—but instead, she said, “I guess that makes sense. You haven’t really told me anything about your family.”

“Neither have you,” I countered. Over the course of our classes together, she had kept me updated on her badminton practice. But now that we were on the topic, I realized that she hadn’t told me much about her life outside of sports at all.

“Well…” she trailed off. “There isn’t a whole lot to say. I don’t really spend much time with my family.”

The way she said it could really mean anything—were they busy, estranged, deceased? I studied her, but her expression didn’t give anything away. Regardless, it didn’t sound like something I should pry into. “Sorry… That can be hard,” I finally said. “I don’t really spend much time with mine, either. So, I kinda get what that’s like.”

She smiled, somewhat cautiously. “It’s not too bad,” she said after a pause. “My badminton coach… He’s become something of a mentor for me.”

“That’s good, at least,” I said. “How’s badminton been, by the way?”

“It’s…”

Before she could say anything else, a shriek interrupted her. “Cannonball!” a voice bellowed from behind us.

A splash followed suit, raining over the both of us. The warm pool water prickled against my naked back. I turned around—more startled, than anything else—just to see Daniel emerge from the epicenter of a sequence of waves. He gasped for air, while some of my classmates laughed around him.

Next to me, Hannah shook her head with an exasperated smile.

“So much for staying dry,” I mumbled.

“Maybe it’s time for a dip?” she said, and started toward the pool.

I considered it. As long as I kept to the shallows, it shouldn’t be a problem to keep the swarm under control—just inconvenient. And, after everything else that had happened lately, I could handle inconvenient.

I threw one final glance over my shoulder. The wall of shimmering blue remained in the sky, distant and looming. Maybe it had something to do with the refuge, I wondered?

Trailing after Hannah, I stepped into the shallow end of the pool. Its warm waters enveloped me, almost comforting, as I quelled the swarm’s hum.