MARI
The beach filled up fast after the boats reached the shore. They kept coming in intervals, dropping so many people off. We’d already claimed a prime area in the rock opening, so everyone else had to stick their umbrellas and lay their towels down further away.
After swimming, my stomach made a ferocious noise, and Capo pointed to the bag we’d brought. Then he went onto the boat and brought out another bag. We ate some sort of cold Greek pasta with olives, chilled fruit, and chicken Capo barbecued on the pit.
It was all so filling, along with the sun, and I decided to relax under the umbrella while taking in the scene. Capo took his own and did the same. It seemed like the day moved faster after that, and before we knew it, it was that time of day that makes the world glow.
The sky had turned a soft pink, purples mixing in, and everything around us seemed like it was softer, touched by the light. My skin even felt softer, somehow, from maybe the sun and sea, and my lids started to flutter from the long day.
“Mariposa.”
I blinked, looking up. Capo stood over me, a shield against what little glare was left. He held out his hand for me and I took it. He had my fancy camera in his free hand.
“Wait,” I said. “My phone.” Even if we had no service, I wanted to have a few pictures saved on it, and it had been sitting on top of my bag when I’d been resting my eyes.
“In my pocket.” He took it out and handed it to me. I stuck it in my bag.
We walked down the beach to the blue wooden boat, hand in hand, and he helped me in and then climbed in. The boat rocked with a soft wave, and then Capo turned us around and we started moving toward the opening of the cave.
The mouth was dark before a break in the rock above allowed light in. It beamed straight down, hitting the water with force, and highlighting the almost unbelievable blue color.
Keely was into fantasy books, and I made a mental note to tell her that I was pretty fucking sure I’d found a portal to somewhere else. Had to be. It was so unreal. How beautiful it was. How magical the entire place felt.
I let my camera rest against my chest as I pulled out my cellphone. I snapped a few pictures of the water, of the shadowy-looking fish swimming around, and then I took one of Capo. That electric blue of the water, with what seemed like inky fish, could be found in his eyes, too.
“What’s this place called?” A few of the fish came closer to the boat, and I realized that they were silver, catching some of the light and almost sparking. Just like when the sun hit the azure water.
“Nafsika Cave,” he said. “It was named after Princess Nafsika. It’s been said that she saved Odysseus.”
“Odysseus?”
“Roman name Ulysses. King of Ithaca. Known for his cunning and resourceful ways.”
“Ah,” I said, thinking of him when he’d said that last part. The description fit him. “Sounds like if she wouldn’t have saved him, he would have saved himself.”
He laughed, which took me by surprise. It was raw, almost gritty, and I enjoyed the sound of it.
“If he did, he wouldn’t have named a cave after her.”
“Maybe she felt it was worth it then,” I said.
“Would this—” he motioned around “—make it worth it to you?”
He was truly interested in my answer. His eyes were solid on mine as we drifted over water that was darker, maybe even deeper. Like someone spilled oil over turquoise, but it was only a trick of the light.
I didn’t know the entire story, but I thought about it from my perspective.
“If it were me? Nah. I don’t need a cave named after me, or anything like that. I would have done it because of—a reason, or maybe two. Maybe he saved her in some way? Maybe she’d been drowning first, in a metaphorical sense, and saving him saved a part of herself. Then he made a grand gesture and…”
“Here we are,” Capo said.
“Here we are.” I looked around once more, my eyes focusing on the water when I got to it, then took a deep breath and released it slowly when I realized something. “I was thinking on the ride here that it would be nice to save some of this water in a jar, the color of it, for winter. I mean, winter is beautiful, in its own way, but it always felt so brutal to me. Like I could feel the chill deep inside of my bones, and it refused to melt, even when my clothes were warm. Heat burns, but so does cold.” I stuck my finger in the water, swooshing it around some, then met his eyes. “I don’t think I need to take some of it back with me, though.”
Maybe before…but now, all I need to do is look at you. Your eyes.Those were the words on the tip of my tongue, but I didn’tsay them. The atmosphere was too intimate, and the words felt soft. That didn’t make them untrue, though.
Maybe to some his blue eyes felt icy, ruthless, cunning. But Sicily, this place, had seeped into my blood, pushing the cold out, making me feel warm, content, and safe. He did, too. Even in the hottest times of summer, when hell was on my heels, his eyes would serve as a cool dip in some exotic place like this.
No, I wasn’t worried about the elements anymore—but that scared me, too.
