Body of Water (17 page)

The creature took advantage of my pause and struck my chest again. I heard my sternum crack before the pain crushed my vision and I soared backwards. For a brief moment I thought I could see everything. The beach, monster, Dom, house, pub, and millhouse. Everything looked bright, detailed, but so, so small. I knew I'd strike the water at any moment. My back began to prickle and then the world turned black.

I am five years old. The big, scary dog always barks at me. It is not only barking now. It is running towards me, its sharp teeth bared. I am scared. I know it wants to kill me, just like it killed that other dog.

My hands clench and I concentrate. The dog stops barking and slows down, its body moving towards me only because it is too big to stop. It falls to the floor, its head ploughs into the crispy grass and it flips over. It stays still now. Its fur looks dry in the burning sun.

I know that it is dead and that I have killed it. I took the water from its body and pumped it into its lungs.

The man who owns the dog is shouting at me and scoops the dog up in his arms. The dog's head slips from the man's arms and water pours out of its mouth onto the yellowed grass.

I hear someone run up to me, pick me up and carry me away. I can't take my eyes off the water trickling between the dead blades of grass. It is moving towards me like it's alive. I reach out. My hand looks different, older. Water rushes in from behind me, lapping against the body of the dog, which looks much bigger now. But this is not rainwater. This water smells of the sea. What am I doing in the sea?

The person carrying me away calls me by a name that I do not recognise.

I tried to roll over but something bulky stopped me. I opened my eyes to see Dom's face half-buried in the sand, his neck purple and black from strangulation. I raised my head and hand to check Dom's breathing and the movement brought him to life, his body crouched over me as he examined me with concern.

"I thought you were..." I said. "What happened?"

"Ye don't remember? Ah came roond in time tae see the Nuck-"

"The Nuck?"

"-knock ye intae the water. There was a sound, a boom, as ye hit the water. Ah thought ye lost. The sand was covered in something thick and sticky that smelt like blood. There was a terrible shaking of the groond and then there ye were, floating above the waves. Ye reached oot with yer hands and the Nuck keeled over ontae its side. It just dropped down dead. Then ye fell back into the water."

"I killed it?"

"Aye. Ah crawled tae the water's edge and ye were there, babbling tae yerself aboot that dog. Once Ah had the strength Ah dragged ye back here."

"I killed it."

"Ye're Fin-folk. Ah ken these folk. Ye have the power of the storm. Something must have happened when ye hit the water. Ye've never been in the water before, have ye? Maybe that's why. Maybe it woke something in ye."

"Growing up I was always aware of water, where it was in the house, even in other people's bodies. I only managed to control water once, when I was in danger. A dog was attacking me. I drowned it. I was so scared at what I'd done I never used my powers again until last night with Mackay. He told me to use my fear and anger. I never needed to until I thought I saw you dying last night. I don't think it was the sea that caused this; I think it was the fear of losing you to that monster."

But Dom wasn't listening. His expression changed as if he'd remembered something. "And now A'hm going tae lose ye."

"What do you mean?"

His eyes flickered downwards to my chest and back to my eyes. He bit his lower lip. "Ah ye in much pain?"

I started to look down but he caught my face in his hand and warned me with his eyes. "Ye're hurt awful bad."

I pulled his hand away and examined my body. "Oh God." I could barely tell where the Nuck's blood, black and sticky, ended and mine began. My shirt was torn and hung away from my chest revealing an open wound. I felt faint when I caught a glimpse of bone. The cord of my pendant trailed out of the deep gash. I started to pull gingerly at the two ends of the cord but Dom's hand closed over mine.

"Don't. Ah tried while ye were unconscious. It won't budge."

He stroked my hair and I started to cry.

"Losh, moppy," Dom said, stroking my hair. "Don't upset yerself. It's going tae be all right."

But I had to get the pendant out of me. I pulled on the cord again. It resisted, glued into place by clotted blood, but then a wet pop and it moved freely. I pulled it out but the pendant didn't follow. Two useless strands of cord dangled from my fingers. It had snapped. I tossed the pieces aside and wondered what to do next. If I was clean I might be able to see the iron shard embedded in my flesh.

I rubbed away my tears with a filthy sleeve. "Can you take me to the water?"

Dom hesitated.

"Please?"

He lifted me carefully, carried me to the water's edge, but then paused. "Ah haven't been in the water since..."

Now I held his face in my hand. "You'll be fine, I promise."

He took a step and paused again. I'd never seen him look so uncertain, vulnerable. He caught my gaze and smiled humourlessly. "Who's the coward now, eh?" He gritted his jaw and took another step.

I soon felt wetness on my back and Dom cradled me in his left arm while he cupped his right hand into the water. He bathed my face and chest, cautious not to rub the skin. My wounds tingled.

"You bathed my hand in seawater, didn't you?"

He nodded while he worked. "It's a great healer for people like us."

"Like us?"

He looked back at the island and then to me. "Well, ye're not exactly human are ye?"

He bathed me while I lay in his arms in silence. Dom was right; whatever I was I wasn't human. Maybe that's why I'd always struggled with my temper, never fitted in, but I had connected with Ruth and Beth. I had loved them and I knew that they had loved me too. But London may as well have been a million miles away. The new life that I found myself entrenched in might very well be slipping away from me.

Dom finished cleaning my wound and he examined my chest closely.

"Can you see it?"

He leaned in closer but the movement dipped me further into the sea. The water washed over my body and into my gouged chest. At once a blue light illuminated his face and his silver eyes sparkled against the grey light of the overcast morning. "Starnlight..."

The tingling in my skin grew and I felt a sudden rush of warmth spread through my body as if Dom had wandered into a sunlit patch. Then a feeling of deep calm surfaced in my thoughts. My lungs opened out and I took a deep breath. Tears welled up in my eyes again as I breathed out, as if all the pain and sadness was being cleansed from my mind.

For the first time since Ruth's death I felt hope. The warmth in my chest intensified.

Dom waded back out of the water and set me down at the back of the beach, sitting up with my back against the rock face. He placed his hand on my chest and swore softly under his breath.

"Ah don't believe it."

I covered his hand with mine and moved it gently away. My wound had healed except for a low, smooth dome of blue stone that stopped the skin from reforming completely. I tapped it with my finger and felt my sternum thud beneath it. Was it fused to me?

"What happened?"

"I remember my pendant shattering, then there was a blue light, it distracted me and then the Nuck knocked me into the water."

"Do ye think it was inside yer pendant all along?"

"Must have been."

"Where did ye get it?"

"My mum gave it to me. She said that it would protect me. It was from..." I realised then that the pendant, sent by Auntie Margaret, must have come from Maggs. She had another question to answer.

"Yer eyes shone like blue fire." Dom said the words thoughtfully as if trying to make sense of what he knew. When his eyes strayed from his reverie and focused back onto me he looked at me like he'd never seen me before.

His mouth was on mine even before I realised he'd leaned closer. It wasn't the hard, forceful kiss that I'd imagined Dom would give but one of a man tasting a foreign food for the first time, fascinated but hesitant, all too ready for it to taste wrong. My hands crept into his as he kissed me again, his expression thoughtful, but I could feel Dom's physical reaction; the pulse in the balls of his thumbs, his breathing getting faster. Dom kissed me a third time before I had the courage to kiss him back. Our only contact was hands and lips.

When we finally drew back, the sky had lowered, thick and heavy.

"We should find Maggs."

Neither of us moved.

My gaze locked into his. "What are you thinking?"

He brushed his lower lip with his thumb and smiled. "Ah'm wondering what ye've done tae me and how tae stop it."

"You want it to stop?"

He looked away, his eyes back on the water. "All Ah've wanted for so long is tae find ma skin and leave. Tae swim as far as Ah could, tae be greeted by ma own kind. But now, if Ah'm left here and ye leave..." His hand squeezed mine and he looked down.

I squeezed his hand in return. "I'm not going anywhere."

He looked at our entwined fingers. "Since Ah pulled ye from the water Ah've felt strange. Thought it must be that it was the first time Ah'd been back in the water since, ye ken, but Ah found it hard not tae look at ye. Ah held ye when Ah got ye tae safety. Tell me, is it magic?"

"What do you mean?"

"Have ye done something tae me?"

"If Mackay had been good and kind would you have stayed?"

"Ah don't understand..."

I was reluctant to try and explain the concept of love with Dom and it felt absurd to assume he had fallen for me. Clearly his feelings were alien to him and I wondered if he'd kissed anyone before.

I looked up at the horizon where dove-grey clouds darkened into a slate sea. I felt the tug from the water again but this time it felt sinister, like something evil beneath the waves had recognised me. "Come on."

We walked towards the pub in silence. Dom led me back onto the path towards the little building. I stole a few glances up at Dom's face but his expression was unreadable, lost deep in his unshared thoughts.

As we left the path for the pub's approach Maggs appeared in the porch, her worried expression striping her ruddy complexion with pale frown lines.

"What have ye done!" she demanded from Dom.

"He killed the Nuck."

Maggs looked at me aghast and steadied herself on a vertical beam. As short as she was, it was easy to tower over her but I still drew myself up as tall as I could. "I need answers. Lift the spell."

She didn't move.

"DO IT."

The pub was empty save for Tammie and Millie who chuckled with each other by the fire. I pulled my jacket around me to cover my chest. When they saw us the lightness left their faces to be replaced with concern.

"I need to be alone for a moment," Maggs said, locking the door behind us. She smoothed her skirts down with her little red hands and then bustled out of the bar.

Neither Tammie nor Millie moved. They watched me intently, their gazes briefly flicking to Dom who stood next to me, his hand on my back.

Maggs reappeared some time later. "It's done."

"Who was my father?"

Tammie shifted in his seat, Millie looked at the floor, Maggs remained mute.

"You have to tell me now."

"No, I don't," Maggs said. "The spell prevented anyone from telling you the truth assuming they wanted to. If we don't want to, nothing will make us."

I closed my eyes and concentrated. My senses skipped from pump to pump along the bar until I found what I was looking for; the bar gun. There was enough fluid in it for me to grab hold of it and wrench it from its anchor. Water sprayed into the air before I caught it and held it in place.

Tammie swore.

When I opened my eyes a cloud of water hung above the bar. Most of the colour had drained from Maggs' face, leaving just the tip of her nose red.

"The sound of the winter gales-" Millie started.

"No," Maggs cried.

"He needs to know," Millie insisted. "They say the sound is not the wind, but his screams. His power is strongest in winter, causing the storms that batter our islands year after year."

Dom nodded as he listened.

"He rules the sea for half the year until the Sea Mither returns every spring to undo his damage."

"The what?"

"She calms the water in the summer," Tammie chimed in despite Maggs' ferocious glare. "Since these islands were formed their powers have risen and fell every season until the year the Sea Mither did not return."

"Where did she go?"

"We don't know but that summer Mackay introduced us to his bride." Millie let the words hang in the air and it occurred to me that I didn't have to concentrate to keep the water there. My subconscious seemed to have it under control.

"You didn't know her?"

Tammie looked solemn. "We'd never seen her before and between us we know everyone, on every island."

Millie continued. "Mackay was vague about how he'd met her and she herself refused to be drawn on her past. Her pregnancy showed too soon for Mackay to be the father and ended too soon for it to be natural."

Maggs darted forward, anger boiling her face. "He was a beautiful baby."

Millie looked past Maggs and examined me closely. "Yes, he is."

Maggs whirled to face me. "She was so weak, Michael. So sad. She'd spent so long protecting us she wanted to walk among us. She never imagined that Teran would disguise himself as Mackay and-"

"Where is she now?"

"She returned and defeated Teran the following winter," Tammie said. "But we could tell she wasn't the same. Her power faded as her sadness grew." He jabbed his walking stick to the dark window. "And now we live with this." As if on cue, thunder rumbled in the distance.

"Why does Teran want me?"

Maggs dabbed her face with a bar towel. "His obsession with her extends to ye. Ye're his only child."

All eyes turned to Dom as he stepped forward. "Ah think it's more than that. Ah was building something for Mackay."