Bonded (The Raegan Mason Trilogy) Read Free Page A

strawberry cheesecake for dessert to finish off the wonderful lunch.  After eating so much I wasn’t sure I was up for more shopping so we decided to go to the Aquarium. 
    The Aquarium opened in the spring.  You would think living on an island, you would get tired of seeing the marine life, but for me it was always a new and exciting discovery waiting to be made.   To think that creatures of all sizes and shapes living together in the ocean makes me feel so small and insignificant.  Something as beautiful and dangerous as a jelly fish or something as large and graceful as a whale, there’s room for everything.  What creatures have we not discovered?  What does the ocean hold in her depths that we cannot reach?  Just thinking of that reminded me of the music I heard last night.  Could one of these beautiful creatures make that music? 
    We walked toward the dolphin show.  The dolphins jumped through hoops, tossed balls to each other and splashed the audience.  Aunt Sarah laughed each time they waved their fins and splashed some more.  We weren’t soaking wet, but it was very refreshing in the heat of the day.  During the fun of getting showered with salt water, I began to hear a faint humming.  It seemed very familiar and I searched the area for anything that would be making that sound.  It was a faint sound, but I knew it was the same music sounds I heard last night.  I scanned the group of people around me.  There wasn’t anyone looking in my direction, no one was playing an instrument or a radio.  I felt an intense desire to find the source.
    We got up to leave the seats and I kept searching the crowds.  The music they played for the dolphin show was definitely louder and faster paced than what I was hearing.  It seemed far away but at the same time it felt personal and alluring.  We walked to the indoor aquarium where the fish and other small sea creatures were housed.  The music seemed to follow me.  I kept turning around looking for the source, but only found faces of other people admiring the ocean life.  It didn’t get louder or closer but stayed at the same level as we walked through the indoor aquarium.
    We left that building and went to the deep sea creature house.  It was dark.  Many of these creatures were found at the deepest parts of the ocean.  Light wasn’t necessary for them.  Black lights were used to illuminate their bodies.  It was beautiful to see the glowing colors highlighted by the black lights.  People bumped and shuffled through the rope lined tour.  I could hear the music getting closer and my heart beat increased.  A current of electricity streamed over my skin as someone brushed by me.  Their skin was damp and cool leaving a residue of moisture on my arm.  I reached out to find the person but only grasped air.  The music trailed away and then ended abruptly as the door to the building opened and closed.  Whoever it was left the building.
    Aunt Sarah and I finished our tour of the Aquarium and headed home for dinner.  I helped her wash the vegetables and put some chicken in the oven to bake.  We enjoyed a quiet evening discussing my miraculous recovery.  She told me my parents had left an inheritance; one I had no idea about growing up.  Evidently, my parents were heavily invested in various stocks and bonds on top of their life insurance.  A trust fund had been established in my name by my mother’s parents when I was just a baby.  They died before I met them.  No one ever talked about what happened to them, only that they were gone and left behind some money for my mom and me.  I never asked since Mom never talked much about it.  I figured it was a painful subject.
    Aunt Sarah was the only relative I had.  After she and my father lost their parents, she ended up spending a large part of her life caring for him and making sure he was safe.  She was almost ten years older than my father. I never met my grandparents on either side.  Supposedly,