Anne Brown - Lies Beneath

For the first time in weeks, I was warm. Very warm. The water couldn’t touch that. No one could change that. Or, perhaps, one person could. If Lily took my advice and left, the cold would rush in like water into a sinking ship. I might not have been happy with my life before, but at least I had accepted it for what it was. Now I could never go back.

I lingered on the details of the night, longing to reverse time and do it all over again, or speed up time to the next opportunity to be with her. Lily nestled against my chest. Her head sank heavier on my shoulder. Her eyes closed.

“I love you,” I whispered, kissing her forehead. She didn’t respond. “Lily?”

She slept more peacefully than anyone I’d ever seen—a stark contrast to my sisters’ restless slumber. I wondered if this was the peace that forgiveness bought.

Behind us, the Hancock house stood silent and invisible against the black trees. Below us, the hammock was our cradle. The weight of Lily’s arm around my chest reassured me. I was both exhausted and exhilarated. I would do anything to preserve this feeling, but I dared to close my eyes, and sleep overcame me.

Idon’t know how long I slept. Maybe an hour. Maybe only a minute. When I opened my eyes, it was still dark, but the birds had all gone quiet. A fish broke through the water with a small pip . Wind ruffled the trees. When something larger surfaced, just a hundred feet from shore, I was both surprised and disgusted that I had allowed myself to hope.

Someone raced toward shore with arms extended over the surface of the water, palms up, in a gesture of peace. At first I assumed Tallulah had come to explain herself, though I couldn’t imagine what she’d have to say. But it was Pavati’s wide, exotic eyes that burned through the darkness.

I gently extricated myself from the happy tangle of arms and legs that Lily and I had become. The hammock tilted as I rolled out, but I retucked the blanket around her before she had time to register my absence. She murmured softly as I walked toward the lake and listened for any sign of ambush.

“Pavati,” I said, greeting her when she stopped fifteen feet out.

She said, “Peace, Calder,” but there was a strange anxiety in her voice.

“Are you here on behalf of Maris or Tallulah?”

Pavati squirmed, and she spoke quickly. “It was Tallulah’s confession to make. It wasn’t my place to speak for her. Not then, not now.”

I paused to consider Pavati’s anxious face. “How am I supposed to look at Lulah ever again?”

“Listen,” she said, looking quickly over her shoulder. “I’m not here to talk about her.” Her tail lashed behind her.

“Say what you’re here to say, then.”

“Maris has taken the Hancock matter into her own hands.”

Instinctively, I glanced behind me at the house.

“She’s taken the little girl. She’s accepting a daughter in the father’s stead.”

“You’re a liar,” I said, but despite my accusation, I couldn’t help but listen for the sound of Sophie turning in her bed, a soft snuffle, a murmur. I heard nothing, but did that mean Pavati was telling the truth? The house was no quieter than before. Surely I hadn’t allowed Maris to steal Sophie right under my nose. But was it possible? Oh, God … “Why would she do that?” I asked.

The sun broke the horizon behind Pavati, throwing her face into shadow. “Please,” she said. “Neither of us has time for explanations.”

“I’m not stupid. This is just a trick so I’ll leave Hancock unprotected. I suppose you wouldn’t mind if I went inside to check on—”

“Look at me, Cal.”

She pulled closer, and I could see her face again. My heart lurched with sympathy. For her. For myself. I couldn’t tell. I couldn’t even tell if the thought originated with me. My head felt light and detached. My legs swayed with indecision. Pavati stretched her arms toward me, and I could see only truth and panic in her eyes.

“She really took her?” I asked.

Pavati leaned north, begging me to follow.

“How do I know you won’t attack Hancock?” I said.

“Maris and I got into a fight.” She rose just enough so I could see the long red gouges across her neck and shoulders. “She knows I’ve had a soft spot for that little girl. This is Maris’s way of punishing me for saying she was wrong to shun you. Please. I promise no one will touch the father,” she said, her voice more even and calmer than it had been before. “Besides, I’m going with you. She’s taken the child to Basswood, and it’s too cold for her to be out there. For all I know, she’s already dead.”

A scream ripped across the water from my sisters’ campsite to my ears. Pavati’s eyes flashed, and the horror on her face was real. “Are we too late?” she asked.

I tore off my clothes and ran into the lake, leaving Lily alone in the hammock.

Once transformed, I searched Pavati’s mind for some sign of deceit. Though her thoughts were scattered and clipped, I could find no contradiction in them. My only choice was to cling to her unbreakable promise— No one will touch the father— and hope we weren’t too late.

I shot through the water, whipping my tail until it all but blurred. Pavati followed, mere inches behind, her body bending and arching, plowing through the waves as Sophie’s cries pierced the water.

My mind tried to tease out the possible terms of a truce, or even an exchange. What compromise could we reach? What did I have to offer her? How could I convince Maris to spare the child? It would go against her nature to release her claim on the Hancock family entirely. But hadn’t I defied nature? Could that same peace be possible for them? And where was Tallulah in this? How could Maris possibly explain Tallulah to me?

As I approached the beach, I was thankful not to hear Maris’s thoughts, which meant she was still on land. Presumably Sophie was with her. Alive. I turned to confer with Pavati, but she had surfaced. I followed her up, and my face hit the air just as she said, “Here he is, Maris. Give the child to me now.”

From behind me, Maris said, “Gladly. She’s more trouble than she’s worth,” and then, “Tallulah, you’re up.”

I turned just in time to see Maris raise a rock high above her head and bring it crashing down on my skull.

When I regained consciousness, I was trapped in a ghost net six feet underwater, my wrists bound, facedown in the sand. Pavati and Tallulah were gone, but I could sense Maris floating nearby, watching me. I turned my head as much as the ancient fishing net would allow.

“There, there,” Maris said with mock concern. “How’s your head, little brother?”

My eye throbbed and, as far as I could tell, my nose hadn’t always bent to the right. I torqued my body to get a better look at her. “What the hell is wrong with you, Maris? Where’s Sophie?”

She raised her eyebrows, surprised by my question. Her hair floated in a white halo around her head. “Seriously? That’s what you want to know? Pavati took her home. No harm done.”

I twisted and jerked, howling with unrestrained fury and searching for any breach in the net. “Just like that?” I asked through clenched teeth. And then I remembered Pavati hours earlier, promising me no one would touch Hancock, telling me Maris had agreed to take a daughter instead. The truth sank in, and I went still. No one would touch Jason Hancock, and Sophie was safe. But Maris had accepted a daughter as the father’s substitute, and I’d been played for a fool.