Sea Haven 01 - Water Bound

was. Its tentacles were down, but it was watching her. Thinking it prudent to give the octopus a little space, she moved in a counterclockwise motion around the rock and began working again. The octopus swam clockwise and met her on the other side. Her heart jumped when she saw the creature coming toward her, getting bigger and bigger as it came near.
    Again she changed direction. The moment she began picking, the octopus followed about a foot behind her, just bobbing, tentacles down. At that point, Rikki decided the octopus wanted the sea urchins more than she did, either that or it was protecting his den. Whatever—the creature made a rather loud statement she wasn’t ignoring.
    Laughing at the memory, she rose, her arms outstretched, embracing the sea. Happiness wrapped her in mist and the wind whipped her hair into a wild frenzy. She inhaled and closed her eyes, needing to feel—to absorb the water into her skin, into her blood. She could feel the tides running through 100

    her, filling her need for freedom, to be able to be wild and to show every emotion, deep and strong. The force of her passions often shook her. She rarely showed feeling, but the emotions were there, hidden beneath her carefully constructed false calm. Just like the sea, she was turbulent and wild, angry and loving. She felt every sensation, but it was only here, with water around her, that she dared let herself feel so strongly, so passionately.
    She opened her eyes to take one last look at the sea before she went back to the farm. The swells were enormous, the sea crashing against the bluffs.
    “Oh shit,” she whispered, dropping her arms and staring at the turbulent, choppy water. “Did I do that?” There were boats out in the very rough sea.
    Swearing under her breath, she raised her arms again to encompass the coastline and did her best to calm her mind, to still the fears she had about allowing Lev in her house and the guilt over not telling her sisters about him. Breathing slowly, in and out, she brought forth the image of a calm sea, of clear skies, of the gulls flying overhead and water lapping gently at the rocks below the cliffs.
    She felt the wind tugging at her clothes and ruffling her hair. The mist swirled around her, the spray dotted her skin. Her body, thirsty for the moisture, instantly absorbed the droplets. In her veins the pounding rhythm slowly began to calm and her heart slowed to a gentle beat. Water swirled for a moment just under the bluff, rising like a cyclone in a thin column, leaping up toward her, as if reaching to kiss or embrace her, and then it spun itself out, collapsing back into the calm sea.
    She slowly allowed her arms to drop as she looked out over the gently rocking water. Jubilation. Pride. Satisfaction. A dawning hope. Emotions flooded her and her brain began working a million miles an hour trying to assimilate what had just happened. She hadn’t accidently turned on a few faucets. She hadn’t skipped water out on open sea. She had actually manipulated a huge body of water. She had a gift beyond price. Lev had been so matter-of-fact about her ability, so certain she could do it, but this—
    controlling a large body of water had never occurred to her.
    Rikki wasn’t certain she believed her own eyes. Turning away from the water, she made her way back to her truck, all the while wanting to practice.
    She needed a place to go where no one could observe her, and no one could get hurt. The farm had a pond that was used for irrigation. She could sit beside the mass of water to her heart’s content and see if she really could do this amazing thing.
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    She did have the presence of mind to drive slowly so she didn’t get stopped again. With her usual single-minded purpose, she drove straight out to the pond and jumped out, nearly running to the pond. The water lay flat, seemingly unresponsive to her, but as she made her way down the slope, she imagined she could see ripples forming, moving toward her, as if she were a magnet.
    Rikki sank down on the very edge of the bank. The lip was narrow and she knew it was a precarious perch at best, but she was eager to test her ability. On the drive, she’d begun to doubt, thinking it was much more likely a coincidence, but she’d felt the water that time, felt it move through her, inside her, just as she did when she was under the water. She’d felt like she was a part of the sea, connected to it in a way she never had been with anything else. The