Deep Betrayal (Lies Beneath #2) (30 page)

Calder busied himself with the anchor, then found some tiebacks to strap the dagger to his arm. He looked at me with purpose and put both hands on my shoulders. “Ready, then?” he asked.

Those two words imbued me with confidence. He was not going to argue with me about staying behind. We would do this together. I put one foot up on the rail and, keeping my eyes on his face, stepped up and over the side of the boat.

I sliced through the water, feeling everything rush upward—my blood to my ears, my hair trailing. I don’t know how deep I plummeted. The water here was different than anywhere else I’d been. Neither cold nor warm, it felt—if it was possible—alive. I could recognize each molecule individually as it bumped and trembled along the length of my limbs. The humming made the water feel dry, as if a thin layer of air outlined my body.

The only disruption to the steady vibration was when Calder shot through the water and exploded in silver shards of light. I shielded my eyes, feeling shrapnel of pure energy penetrate my skin. When I dared to look, Calder was inches from my face.

His hand slipped behind my neck and he kissed me hard, crushing his lips to mine. Only then did I truly feel what he’d been trying to tell me before. To lose him now would be impossible to bear.

Calder pulled back from the kiss and unsheathed the dagger. He held it firmly in his hand and pulled me along beside him toward the source of the heat.

As we dove deeper, the water swirled into unnatural patterns of lilac and green, and then intensified by the fathom
to violet and jade. As the color deepened, my skin burned. The vibrations burrowed deep into my flesh, making their way into my bloodstream and racing for my heart. What was this place? There were no underwater landmarks; the surface seemed miles away. The sun was nothing more than a pinprick from another galaxy, and still I had no need for air.

Calder led me on, nearing the lake floor, to a large boulder, which hummed like a beehive. As we closed in, Calder abruptly dropped my hand and put on the brakes, skittering backward a few strokes before hesitating and leaning forward again. He reached, hands trembling, toward the boulder.

It was black and lichen green with coppery flecks, oval in shape, like the deformed egg of some prehistoric bird. When his fingers met the boulder’s surface, he jerked his hand back and studied his fingers. He touched the boulder again, caressing it along its humped back. Then his shoulders slumped.

Calder let his hands gently follow the smooth surface, investigating all sides. He pressed both hands against it and pushed. It was as big as my twin bed, so I was surprised by how easily it rolled. Calder treated it gently, respectfully, letting it rest on its side. It was so light, so delicate, I wondered why it didn’t float.

Calder spread his arms wide, slid them under the boulder, and carried it to the surface. I followed him, quickly retracing the trail we’d taken down. When I emerged from the water, I sucked greedily at the air, taking my first breaths since leaving the boat. I didn’t even want to think about how long it had been.

Calder dropped the dagger onto the floor of the boat and
rolled the boulder gently onto the swim deck. But it was no boulder. The boat barely acknowledged the extra weight.

Calder watched my face closely as I drew my finger over its porous surface. After only a few seconds of examination, I began to see the line of an arm, the curve of a knee, the turn of a face, although the features were long since lost. It was more human than animal, but more stone than human. Looking at it now, in this fetal position, curled like a sleeping giant, I knew it was ridiculous to think she could have ever been responsible for the attacks. Even in her dark stony corpse, I knew she was a peaceful thing.

“It’s her?” I whispered, afraid my voice would wake it.

“Yes.”

“Is she asleep?”

“No,” Calder said, and there was a deep mourning in his voice that was beyond even what I was feeling. “Maighdean Mara isn’t the killer. She didn’t leave the cave to fend for herself. She left the cave to die.”

“What killed her?” I asked.

“We all did,” Calder said, and tears welled in his eyes. “Neglect.”

“We need to put her back,” I said. “She belongs in the lake.”

I rolled her off the swim deck and into Calder’s arms. He returned her to her resting place while I climbed into the boat and retrieved Dr. Coyote’s pennies. I dropped them one by one into the water and watched as they chased Maighdean Mara all the way to the bottom.

I
t was a quiet three hours back to Bayfield. There would be another attack, another body. What did it matter if it was someone I didn’t know? Whoever it was, it would be someone else’s best friend or neighbor, sister or brother. It was only a matter of time. All I knew for sure was that we were back to where we started, and I had run out of good options. There was no one left to blame.

My fingers rubbed nervously at the beach glass around my neck. It heated at my touch and gave me comfort. I’d wanted to ask Calder about it since our confrontation
with Maris and Pavati on Oak Island, and even more so since he told me the story of Maighdean Mara’s three daughters, but I’d been afraid he might make me give the pendant back to Maris, and it was my last connection to Dad.

Still, now, in the silence, seemed as good a time as any for the inevitable. “What do you know about my pendant?”

Calder glanced down at it and furrowed his brow. He looked at the water in front of us and said, “I never saw it in real life until you and I were on our way back up here, but I’ve seen it plenty of times in Maris’s memories. It was our mother’s. She was a direct descendant of Maighdean Mara’s daughter, Namid. I don’t know how you came to have it.”

“I told you. It was a graduation present. Dad said Grandpa gave it to him, to give to me.”

“Yes, but how is it that Tom Hancock had it?”

I didn’t know the answer to that. “I think your mother is in the glass,” I said.

“She’s not in the glass. I know where she is.”

“I don’t mean literally, I mean … I think she’s with me, somehow. If I’m afraid, she calms me. She’s what drew me to the water … the day Maris attacked. I knew it was wrong, but I couldn’t help myself. She made me go in.”

“You think my mother set up an ambush?”

“That’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying—if I had to guess—I think she’s glad we’re home. When she called me into the lake, I think she was calling me
all the way
home.”

Calder pulled me in front of him, wrapping his warm
arms around me as he steered the boat. The early-evening air was clean and cool on my face.

“That’s how I feel when I’m with you,” he said. “All the way home. And I don’t want to give you back, either.”

I leaned against him, letting him support me. My lids grew heavy. Each time I opened my eyes, the sun seemed to have lunged farther across the sky. By the time we pulled into the marina, the light was fading to purple.

“Do you think Maris knew Maighdean Mara was dead?” I asked, breaking the silence as Calder finished tying the dock lines at the Pettits’ slip. “Do you think she was mad about me having the pendant and she was tormenting us with a big wild-goose chase?”

“I don’t think so,” he said grimly.

I looked at my fingers. My nails were lined in a dark, chalky substance. Traces of Maighdean Mara—a mystical creature reduced to gritty residue. “Neglect is a terrible thing,” I said, holding my hand out in front of me.

“Yes,” he said.

“It’s scary. None of us is meant to be alone. It was a mistake for you to leave your sisters.”

“No. I’ve made plenty of mistakes, but that’s not one of them.”

“You said yourself you couldn’t make it on your own. That you just wandered aimlessly, and when you did search for something, you searched for family.”

“I have a new family now.”

“Mine? Look at us. Right now, the epitome of neglect. I’ve seen my dad once in the last three weeks, and that one time he was saying goodbye.”

“He’s around. You know he’s around. He’ll come home as soon as he can manage.”

“You’re missing my point.”

“What’s the point, Lily?” He reached for my hand and helped me step from the boat to the dock. We held hands as we walked slowly, defeatedly, back to the car.

“Your sisters are neglecting their natures, and they’re near death. Now Maighdean Mara”—I pulled my hand free and held it up before he could interrupt me—“I have no idea how great she once was, but now there is nothing left of her. Neglect, Calder. It’s a destructive thing.”

“Where’d you hear all that?”

“Father Hoole told me … that day you saw us talking … the day Jules and everyone showed up. But listen to what I’m saying. This senseless killing, it comes from somewhere. It comes from hurt. It comes from some great neglect.”

“We’ve all been neglected at some point. You can’t justify this, Lily.”

“Not justify. Explain. Crazy is crazy, but hurt comes from somewhere. What does that level of hurt
look like
to you?”

“Hurt so great you’d kill? That kind of negative energy would be impossible to look at. At least, not directly, and not without getting sick. I’d need to prepare … wear sunglasses or something. It would take some serious prep time.”

And that was all it took. In that moment, I knew. I knew who the killer was. And I knew where I needed to go. The only question was, did Sophie know what she was walking into?

“What day is it?” I asked.

Calder scrunched up his forehead. “Tuesday. I think. Why?”

“We need to find Pavati!”

He almost laughed. “Lily, I can’t find her just like that.” He snapped his fingers for emphasis.

“It won’t be hard this time. Jack told me back in the spring that he and Pavati used to meet on some flat rocks. Just south of town? I’d bet anything that’s where she is.”

“I know those rocks. They’re about a quarter mile past the fishing pier.”

“Thanks!”

“Thanks? Lily, what’s going on?” he called as I ran ahead of him, as fast as I could, across the lot to the car. I jumped in the driver’s seat and fished around under the mat for the key. The car started up on the second try, and I peeled out, leaving long black lines on the road and Calder looking frantic in my rearview mirror. People turned to watch as I sped down the county road. I pulled my cell phone out of the center console and saw three missed calls from Mom. I hit Send.

“Mom? Is Sophie home?”

“She said she was going for a walk. I was baking. Now I’m in the back painting, but I don’t think I’ve heard her come in. Are you driving? You know I don’t like you on your phone when you’re driving.”

I turned off my phone and tossed it in the backseat. How could I have been so stupid? I could now see how Pavati had worked it all out with Sophie two nights ago. Sophie was bringing Jack to Pavati so she could make good
on her promise. But did Pavati know how truly dangerous Jack had become? Somehow I couldn’t believe Pavati would intentionally put Sophie in danger. I only hoped I wasn’t too late.

In less than two minutes I found Jack’s van pulled off the county road. I slammed on the brakes and turned sharply into the drive. The car behind me laid on the horn.

The dirt road ended abruptly after the spot where Jack had parked. I skidded to a stop, kicking up a cloud of dust that engulfed the car. I couldn’t believe Sophie would have got in a van with Jack Pettit, but every fiber of my being knew I was fooling myself.

The road narrowed to a footpath that twisted its way through the woods toward the lake. I raced down its length. With each footstep pounding the hard-packed ground, my muscles ached, my lungs burned. The wind pulled tears from my eyes.
Please, no. Oh, please, no. She wouldn’t be so stupid
.

I followed the path east, until I saw them.

For half a second, I forgot my fear. The beauty of the scene overtook my senses. I could see why Pavati and Jack had made this
their place
. A sentry of pine trees, their branches heavy and drooping with long, hair-like needles, shielded the spot from boats and errant hikers. Spiderwebs hung like wedding veils from the smaller trees, their silver threads shimmering with mist from the lake. The ground—a flat plate of brownstone—soaked up the heat of the sun and ran smoothly into the lake, barely six inches above the water level. Thick spongy patches of moss grew under the trees and made soft places to lay one’s head.
The sky opened before me, the gray water deep and choppy beyond.

Where the brownstone met the water, two bodies stood at the edge. One tall, one small. The smaller figure leaned away from the other, her face turned away from the despair that only she could see.

“Jack, no,” I said, but neither of them flinched. Maybe I hadn’t actually spoken. Maybe the wind drove my voice back into the trees. By Jack’s feet was another chain and cinder block—just like the anchor he kept in his boat.

“What are you doing?” I said, this time louder. I searched the water for any heads breaking the surface, but there was no one out there.

Sophie twisted around to look at me, but Jack did not.

“The mermaids are dangerous,” Jack said, his voice eerily calm. “I need people to believe me.”

“The mermaids aren’t killing anyone,” I said, closing the gap between us.

“They have before,” he said. “They will again.”

“Tell me what you want. Just let Sophie go.”

Jack tightened his grip on her wrist, but Sophie said, “Stay away, Lily. Pavati needs to talk to Jack. I’m helping. I don’t need you.”

“I want the lake searched,” Jack said. “I want her found. I want her to suffer for what she’s done to me.” He reached down for the chain and turned to face me. His face was sunken, his skin red and splotchy. “She promised she’d come back.”

I took ten steps closer and Sophie said, “She did. And she’s here again. Under the water.” She pointed with her free
arm down at the lake. I couldn’t see the spot because their bodies blocked my view. Was Sophie trying to distract him, or was Pavati really there, using the lake as a filter so she could better look at Jack?