Dima shakes his head and signs back,Can’t. I promised Tyoma I’d help him with something.
As he leaves, Bran looks at Damien and me.Come with me.
Damien looks over at me, and when I start to follow my cousin, he pushes off from the island and falls in step beside me. It’s overcast and windy when we get outside, but every once in a while the clouds part and the sun comes shining down. I tilt my face to the sky and let my hair whip around. I don’t even bother trying to tame it, knowing it’s pointless.
We take the path down to the beach, stopping to kick our shoes off when we reach the sand. I roll my jeans up to right below my knees and watch the waves crash against the shore.
Let’s show him the cave, Bran signs to me.
I grin and nod my head while Damien asks,What cave?
You’ll see,I tell him.
He looks between me and Bran and grins before signing,Okay, lead the way.
As we start walking, I notice that my cousin quickly starts to do his own thing. He walks close enough to let the waves cover his feet, before shoving his hands in his hoodie and walking into the wind as he follows the beach in the opposite direction of Max and Talia’s house.
“So how cold is the water right now?” Damien asks, looking out at the large expanse of water that is constantly in motion. It’s nothing like the lakes I’ve seen in movies, water so still and calm you could almost forget that it’s water at all.
When he turns back to look down at me, I grin and say, “Only one way to find out.”
“There is another way,” he argues with a gorgeous smile on his face. “You could just tell me.”
“Where’s the fun in that?” I nudge his arm and start walking towards the wet sand, smiling when he eventually starts walking towards me. When the first wave runs up the shore and hits myfeet, I force myself to not wince at how cold it is. He tilts his head, studying my reaction, and then gives a soft laugh.
“It’s freezing, isn’t it?”
“Is it?” I tease, walking backwards and letting the next wave hit my ankles and calves.
He’s close enough to me now so the next wave hits the both of us, and the loud, “Jesus fuck!” he gives when the icy water hits his skin has me tipping my head back and laughing.
He takes a few quick steps back to avoid the next wave and looks out at me with his hands on his hips. “You actually choose to go out in that? Why would you do that?”
I spread my arms and let the water hit me. “It’s invigorating,” I say.
“It’s insane,” he counters.
I shrug and after the next wave has passed, I walk back further up the shore so I can be closer to him. “It might be crazy, but I still love it.”
Nudging my arm, he leans down a bit and says, “That’s because you’re a little crazy, Sitka.”
“Am I?”
“You are.” There’s a slight grin playing at his lips when he says, “A little adrenaline junkie.”
I grin, but I don’t tell him he’s wrong.
We keep walking and after a few minutes, he says, “I hear you’re racing tonight.”
“Who told you that?”
He stops to reach down and pick up a shell from the beach. Brushing off the sand, he holds it in his palm, and when I see what it is, I reach for it without thinking.
“A unicorn horn,” I say, running my finger along the shell, feeling the ridges that spiral around its length.
“Well, that has to be pretty rare,” Damien teases. He watches my fingers graze the shell. “I always thought unicorns would be bigger.”
“Not in Oregon,” I say, picking the small shell up so he can see it better. “Our unicorns are very tiny.”
