Anne Brown - Promise Bound

“You could have read that somewhere. Calder, why are you doing this?”

“Raisins,” I said.

“Excuse me?”

“You gave me a box of raisins. Right before I fell out of the boat.”

“Impossible,” she murmured.

“Please,” I said. “Come with me down to the lake. I want to show you something.”

Her eyes widened and her jaw fell; her aura changed from confusion and grief to hope and possibility. She moved her shaking hands to cover her mouth and spoke through her fingers. “The Star of the Sea? The redheaded woman who sat with me on the rocks?”

I didn’t know what she was talking about, and I shook my head. “I don’t remember much else,” I said. “I don’t have anything more to convince you with.”

She laughed, startling me. “That’s the most convincing thing you’ve said so far. If this were a con, you’d have done better research.”

A smile pulled at the corners of my lips but quickly faded. “I want to take you to the lake. What I need to show you … I can only show you there.”

Her serious expression returned. “Because it’s her, right? She’s back?”

“Who?”

“The Star of the Sea. Our Lady.”

So all these years it was someone else she’d been hoping to see. I was going to be another disappointment.

“She appeared to me one day,” Mrs. Boyd said. “Years and years ago. She told me she’d send Patrick home. I didn’t believe her, of course, but still I prayed she’d keep her promise.”

Ah. Nadia. Lily was right all along.

“She did send me home,” I said slowly, hoping the weight of my words would convince her. “I’d like to explain. Please come with me, and I’ll show you.”

“But you’re still too young,” she said, doubt returning.

“I know, just please come.” I took her hand, and she stared at my fingers, running her thumb over the back of my hand.

“Too young,” she said, but she took a step toward the door.

I led my mom to the fishing pier by the playground and told her to wait, then I ran toward the trees.

“Where are you going?” she asked.

I turned and walked backward a few steps. “Just over there for a second. I’ll be right back.” But once I reached the trees, it took me longer to get up the courage than I had planned. What would she do? Would she scream? Would she run? I worried she’d get tired of waiting and head back to the café.

Deep breath. Deep breath. You have nothing to lose. Everything to gain. Nothing to lose. Deep breath. Don’t be a coward. This is your mother. Your mother. Deep breath .

After what seemed like hours, I waded into the lake, out of view but close enough to hear my mom walk the length of the pier, the creak of dry splinters under sensible shoes. In the near distance, I could hear the dull rumble of an approaching boat. I’d have to make this quick.

I submerged and swam underwater, making the transformation a hundred yards out, then swimming back to the shore head-on. When I surfaced, cutting through the bands of light and the disk of sunlight, she had left the pier and was standing on the shore. “What on earth are you doing out there?” Then her hand went to her heart. “Is the Lady here, too?”

“No,” I said. “Not anymore. Or … at least … not where we can see her.”

She smiled. Embarrassed. “Then get out of there before you catch your death of cold.”

I raised my hands from the water, palms facing her. “Not yet. I want to show you the reason why I don’t look the same, why I look too young.” I dove, flashing my silver tail in an obvious display, the kind of reckless thing I would normally never do so close to shore. When I came up again, she’d fainted dead away.

Gah! It was a completely stupid thing to do. What was I thinking? How could any mother accept a son like this?

“Mom?” I called, barely more than a whisper. I swam in and pulled her out to three feet of water. Maybe the cold would revive her.

When she came to, frantically blinking her eyes, I let her go and retreated a hundred feet so as not to scare her again. But this time, there was no fear in her eyes. Her face glowed with unrestrained amazement, a bright white light streaming from every pore. She burned with light as if she were her own solar system. A million stars against the dark water.

It was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.

MARIS WHITE

Below the spot where Lily and I swam, a crayfish was caught in some lost fishing line, the other end of which was tangled in a leaf. He was dragging it like a ball and chain. Lily surprised me with an ironic laugh that cut off all thoughts in my head. It wasn’t really funny, which told me how far Lily had fallen. Still, the human trill of her laugh reached my own hungry soul. There hadn’t been any good hunting yet this season.

When we were little, Pavati and Tallulah would try to copy the effervescence of a human laugh. They could rouse up only a hollow imitation. Not so with Lily, even though, right now, her laugh sounded more maniacal than joyful.

It struck me how Lily didn’t realize how powerful she could be. That was a good thing. I didn’t need another competitor, but I could use a follower. I didn’t know how everything got so out of hand. Wasn’t it just last spring I could turn Pavati, Tallulah, and Calder in whatever direction I wanted them to go? That was how it should have stayed. I couldn’t put my finger on the moment when I lost control.

Still, if I was losing Pavati, this Half was a good replacement. My dark colorations made me the better stalker, but just like Pavati’s blue shimmer, Lily’s color would make her the better lure. Beautiful. With that innocent expression that drew people to her. It would be a binge-worthy feast.

Pavati was proven and true in this regard. Given a choice, I’d prefer to stick with a tested hunting partner. If only that baby hadn’t interfered with what I’d spent years cultivating. What I wouldn’t do to subtract it from the equation.

When I refocused on Lily, I saw the cloud descend on her face. I could hear the cat-hissing static in her brain. She glowered at the crayfish now as if she wanted to destroy it.

“Why do you fight yourself?” I asked.

Lily covered her ears with her hands and shook her head. “I JUST WANT IT TO STOP!”

I drew closer. I meant it as a comfort. “You feel the worm inside your mind? Feel it twist? There is a cure for that, you know.”

Lily looked at me with a pained expression.

“Follow me,” I urged.

A low growl rumbled in Lily’s chest.

“That’s right. You were born for this life,” I said, low and soothing. “Human beings, they were born to sustain you in this life. It’s nature’s plan, Lily. There’s nothing wrong with being at the top of the food chain. You don’t have to apologize for being what you are.”

“I can’t,” Lily said, but it was a lie. She knew she could. In fact, she knew she would. “But I have to, don’t I? If I don’t, I will die right here. I can’t let my parents find me dead. That would be cruel. I couldn’t do that to them, so I will hunt for them. I owe them that much.”

I nodded. It was as good a rationalization as any.

“Don’t fight it,” I said, my voice falling deep and low, soft as velveteen. It was good advice. I could watch the urge aligning itself within Lily, see it tumbling over her vertebrae like water over a rocky, shallow creek, branching over her shoulders and down her arms to her fingertips.

Lily’s hands clenched and unclenched, seeking some invisible body. Her thoughts roiled like thunder, pounding out all other sound. Her legs gave way. The water came up to meet her face.

“Dive, Lily!”