"I absolutely agree," I told them.
✧˖°.✧˖˚▹ₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦˚.˚◦○˚ ୧ .˚ₓ༺༄ؘ 𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 4 ༄ؘ༻ₓ˚ .୧ ˚○◦˚.˚◦○˚ ୭˚▹ₓ˚.✧˖°.✧
Shaniya frowned as she looked at the rearview mirrors on the side of the car. "Give me my mask and put on your head yours."
I desperately wanted to inform my chaperone that a better and more grammatical way of saying the latest sentence that came out of her mouth was: "Give me my mask and put 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥," but I decided to zip my lips.
"That bell means that we must wear these masks or else we'll die from a lack of oxygen," my chaperone said.
"How did we reach death?"
"It's because the 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦, Corlorown."
It's because 𝘰𝘧 the pressure, I thought.
"The pressure at this depth will make it difficult to breathe."
"What pressure?" I asked.
"𝘞𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦, Corlorown. It's everywhere around us. Masked or not, you still have to think using your brain."
I was trying my hardest but I couldn't comprehend how there could be water pressure everywhere around us. There was no water here. I wondered where all the water had gone when this part of the sea had gotten drained, and I should've kept wondering. But I second-guessed and told myself that it was the wrong question. I asked myself something else instead.
"Why is it drained? Why did the town drain the sea of its water?"
Shaniya opened my hand and aggressively snatched up a mask from it as if she were a rottweiler and the masks in my hand a sizzling piece of bacon. She then slipped it onto her head.
"Why are you asking me as if I'm the town myself?" She asked in a muffled voice.
"I thought you'd know," I said, replying with the most obvious answer.
Shaniya then snorted. "Of course I know."
"Then why won't you tell me what you know?"
"I will. I just wanted to ask you why you were asking me these questions as if I was the town myself before I told you."
"Oh."
...
"Can you tell me what you know?"
"About what?"
"About Murthorn Marine, of course."
"Well, it used to be a buzzing town-"
"I already know that. I meant if you could answer the question that I asked you earlier."
"Do not interrupt me. Ever."
"Sorry."
"Do not repeat yourself."
"Sor- um... whatever. Could you please answer my question?"
"Well, what's your question?"
"Why did the town drain the sea of its water?"
"To save the town," Shaniya replied. "Put your mask on, Corlorown."
I did as Shaniya told me to. The mask was dark and smelled faintly of a cave or closet that had not been opened in some time, and faintly of new shoes. I blinked behind the slits of the mask at Shaniya, who blinked back.
"Is the mask working?" She asked me.
"How would I be able to know?"
"If you're breathing, then it's working."
I said nothing in response as I stared at something that caught my attention. Out the window of the car, I saw a line of large barrels, round and old, squatting uncovered next to some odd, enormous machines. The machines looked like huge hypodermic needles, as if a doctor were planning on giving shots to a giant. There were many people - men or women, comprehending their gender was simply incomprehensible because of the masks - checking on the needles to make sure they were working properly. It looked like they were. The needles plunged deep into holes in the seashell-covered ground and then rose up again, full of a black liquid. The needles squirted the black liquid into the barrels with a quiet black splash and then plunged back into the ground over and over again while I watched through the slits in my mask.
"I think that's oil," I guessed.
"Ink," Shaniya corrected. "The town is called Murthorn Marine. Obviously, it's no longer in contact with any marine, as the town's people've drained it away. However, the town still makes ink that was once famous for making the darkest, most permanent stains."
"So the ink's in those holes?"
"Those holes are long, narrow caves," she explained. "There are octopi in them. That's where the ink comes from."
"I thought octopi only make ink when frightened."
"I imagine an octopus would find those machines very frightening indeed."
Shaniya turned the car onto a narrow path in the shells that twisted upward, climbing a steep, craggy mountain. At its peak, I could see a very faint, pulsing light through the afternoon grey. At first, it looked quite abnormal, but then I realized that it was a lighthouse, which stood on a cliff that overlooked the whole timeline of how the land of seashells used to be a beautiful sea full of marine life, then the town's people drained it, and then it stayed as a mass of seashells and stones.
As the car sputtered up the hill, I looked over at the window to see what was yet another strange sight.
"The Forest of Seaweed," Shaniya said before I even asked the question. "When they drained the forest, everyone thought that the seaweed would just shrivel up and die. But my information tells me that for some unknown reason, the seaweed learned to grow on dry land. Never enter that treacherous forest, Corlorown. It's not fit for any man or beast."
You don't have to tell me that, I thought. The Forest of Seaweed was frightening enough for my common sense to kick in and tell me that the forest was not something that I could be content with staying in. It looked so frightening that if the forest saw itself in a mirror, it might shrivel up and die just by its reflection. It was less like a forest and more like an endless mass of shrubbery, with shiny leaves of probably invasive plants and seaweed twisting this way and that, as if the plants were still swishing around underwater. Even with the window closed tightly, I could still smell the repulsive scent of fish and soil and I could still hear the sound of the rustling of thousands of leaves that'd somehow survived the draining of the sea.
The clanging of the bell sounded again, and because of the curious scent of the Forest of Seaweed, I felt a bit sick, which contributed to a headache. When the bell clanged as if it were trying to make everyone in the town deaf, my head rattled like a drum. Like some type of baby rattle. I shook the feeling off and tried to focus.
Shaniya removed her mask, so following her example, I removed mine. She steered the car onto a paved road that wound past the blinking lighthouse and down a hill lined with trees, which I felt enormous amounts of gratitude for. If we kept up with the trend of bumpy and smelly roads, the car would've smelled worse that the Forest of Seaweed. We passed a tiny white cottage and then came to a stop at the driveway of a mansion so large that it looked as if several mansions had crashed together. Although that's not a compliment since several mansions crashed together is not a good look, but rather a very messy one. I looked up at the highest window in the mansion and guessed that it was the window of a bedroom. If I had lived there, that bedroom would've been my favorite room because of the pretty view of the waves crashing on the sandy shore, revealing a collection of glittering and shiny seashells and maybe destroying a little kid's sand castle. It wasn't pretty anymore.
I looked down and saw the frightening sight of the Forest of Seaweed, moving in slow ripples like spooky laundry hung out to dry, and the distant spilling of the blackest ink I'd ever seen.
Shaniya braked and got out of the car, stretched, and took off her gloves. Her back was facing me which gave me an opportunity to gaze at her long, silky, thick hair. It was shiny and almost as black as the ink, which could make any woman jealous. Only I wouldn't say that to her. I needed a haircut soon, but Shaniya made me look bald.
"Listen to me, Corlorown," Shaniya ordered. "You are on probation. Your penchant for asking too many questions and for general rudeness makes me hesitant to keep you. Penchant is a word here that means a habit."
"I know what penchant means."
"See, this is what I'm talking about," Shaniya said as she rolled her eyes. "This is where our first client lives, and we are meeting with him for the first time. You are to speak as little as possible and let me do all the work. I am very excellent at my job, and you will learn a lot if you keep quiet and remember that you are merely an apprentice. Do you understand?"