Swans Landing #1 - Surfacing (31 page)

I shivered in the cold breeze. My wet sweater was long enough that it clung to my thighs, offering some modesty but not much warmth to my lower half. My shoulder ached, but I didn’t think that it was severely hurt. Probably mostly just bruised.

“Josh!” We were joined by Elizabeth and her crew as they raced down the beach toward us.

“Oh, Josh!” Elizabeth threw her arms around his neck, squeezing him tight. “You saved my daddy. Thank you!”

Mr. Connors scrambled to his feet and snatched Elizabeth away. “Get away from him, Lizzie.” He glared at Josh, inspecting him from head to toe. “So that’s your secret, boy? You’re one of
them
?” He jerked his head toward me.

Elizabeth looked from her father to Josh and back again. “What’s going on?”

“They’re not second-class citizens,” Josh said. “They’re people, like everyone else.”

“They’ve brainwashed you, boy,” Mr. Connors told him. “You know what happened to your daddy. Don’t forget his legacy.”

“The finfolk didn’t do anything to my dad,” Josh said, burying his hands into the pocket of his soaked hoodie.

Mr. Connors sneered in my direction. “That’s what
they
say.”

“It’s what I say. It’s time the truth was known. I’m finfolk. My dad couldn’t change, but I can.”

A whispered murmur arose from the kids gathered behind Elizabeth and her father. They gaped at Josh with wide eyes, as did I.

“You’re killing your mama with this,” Mr. Connors warned. “Think about what you’re doing to her. Think about what your daddy died for.”

“What did my dad die for?” Josh asked. “Does anyone really know what happened that night? All we have are guesses and rumors, but no one knows.”

“Her people killed him!” Elizabeth insisted, glaring at me.

“I don’t remember my father,”
Josh said sadly,
“but I’ve read his journals and papers. He loved the finfolk people and he loved Coral Mooring. He would hate what y’all have done to his name, how you’ve turned him into your poster boy for your hatred. As his son, I won’t let you do it any longer.”

Elizabeth’s mouth moved, but no sound came out. My hands shook as I looked up at Josh. He swallowed, the muscles in his neck twitching.

Mr. Connors stepped forward, his body tensed and rigid. “Now listen here, son. We can forget this whole thing. Pretend we never heard it. Go back home and take care of your mama. We’ll help you. You’re one of us.”

“I’m not,” Josh said. “I never have been.”

Elizabeth looked as if she were about to cry at any moment. “Yes, you are! You’ve always been one of us. Please, Josh, let’s go. Come with me.” She held her hand outstretched toward him.

But Josh stepped closer to me, shaking his head. “This is what I am.”

“After everything we’ve done for you?” Mr. Connors roared, spit flying from his mouth as he spoke. He paced across the beach, kicking up wet sand around him. “My wife helped your mama after your daddy died. We’ve given you money, food. We’ve treated you like you’re one of us.”

“And yet, you can’t accept me for what I am?” Josh asked.

“They’ve destroyed our livelihoods!” Mr. Connors roared. He leaped before I could react, his hand locking onto my arm again. He shook me, his fingers like daggers into my skin. I cried out as pain shot through my shoulder.

“Let go of her.” Josh started forward, but Kyle and Will moved in front of him, holding him back as he struggled against them.

Mr. Connors’s eyes were wild and dark in the moonlight. His face had twisted into something sinister. “Year after year, I’ve had to watch my family struggle while your daddy’s catches get bigger. It’s not right and I won’t let it go on any longer. I’m tired of watching my family do without because of people like your daddy taking what should be mine. What do you think Lake Westray would do to get his daughter back in one piece? Give up his waters? Leave our island for good?” He leaned closer to me, his breath hot on my cheek. “How much do you think you’re worth to him?”

I opened my mouth to tell him that I wasn’t worth much at all to Lake, but a blur of motion flew past me. Mr. Connors sailed backward and I nearly tumbled to the ground with him.

It took a moment for my eyes to adjust in the darkness and make out the shape of Mr. Connors lying on his back in the sand, my father standing over him with one foot planted on his chest.

“Keep your hands off my daughter,” Lake growled. The wind whipped his hair into a wild frenzy around his head, making him look like a sea monster.

Claire stood nearby, shivering in the cold wind. Sweet, brave Claire who wasn’t stupid at all, but a genius.

“What are you going to do, Westray?” Mr. Connors asked. “You’ve already done your best to take away my family’s way of life. You plan to take me out right here, in front of my own girl?”

“You don’t respect the water or the creatures in it. I haven’t had to do a thing to you, you’ve done it all on your own.”

Mr. Connors pointed a thick finger up at Lake. “You people don’t belong here. You’re an abomination that shouldn’t exist. Go back to the water where y’all belong. The people of this island want nothing to do with you.”

“Not all of the people of this island,” Claire spoke up.

Mr. Connors sat up in the sand. He looked at her for a moment, then threw back his head and laughed. “That’s your backup, Westray? A little twig of a girl?”

“Not just her,” said another voice.

“Mr. Richter?” I asked as my guidance counselor stepped out of the shadows under the pier. “What are you doing here?”

He smiled at me. “Just because I want you to follow the school rules and apologize for hitting someone doesn’t mean I’m not on your side, Mara.”

More figures emerged from the shadows behind him. Miss Gale with her arm wrapped tightly around Sailor. Jim, the old man from Moody’s Variety Store, still polishing his harmonica on his shirt. And then Dylan, who couldn’t quite meet my gaze.

Mr. Connors scrambled to his feet and moved toward Elizabeth, pushing her behind him for safety.

“I told you to leave those young’uns alone, Harry,” Jim growled. “They ain’t done nothing to hurt you.”

“Well, go on,” Mr. Connors said. “Cover up another murder as an accident.” He held his arms out to his sides. “Here I am, do it!”

Miss Gale shook her head. “We’re not what you believe we are. When our people came to this island and decided to live on land, we became more human over the years. Maybe more human than any of
you
can claim to be.” Her gaze swept accusingly over the group assembled in front of us. “We don’t need to kill or hurt anyone to make our point.”

“But,” Lake added in a low tone, “if you touch my daughter again, you’ll have more problems than empty crab pots.”

“I could have let you drown,” I said to Mr. Connors. “But I dove in after you to save your life. You would be dead if it weren’t for Josh and me.”

He spat onto the sand, as if we’d caused a bad taste in his mouth. “I wouldn’t have been on that pier in the first place if it weren’t for you. You didn’t do me no favors except to save your own hide from another murder. There are those of us that know the truth about what happened to Oliver Canavan and we won’t forget.”

“Tell us the truth then,” Josh said. “Since you seem to know what we don’t.”

Mr. Connors’s beady eyes shone in the moonlight as he looked around at us. “You know what happened. You know how they covered up his murder, claiming that he drowned accidentally.”

“Oliver Canavan’s body washed on shore the morning after Song Night,” Jim said in his old, raspy voice. “No one knows what happened before then. No one saw him there that night. As far as we all know, it was an accident. You know the waves were rough, with the storm coming. He shouldn’t have been near the water.”

“That’s what they want you to believe,” Elizabeth said. Her face was pale in the moonlight and fear was etched deep into her expression. “They’re liars, all of them.” She turned toward Josh, her eyes pleading. “You’re one of
us
, Josh. You’ve always been one of us.” She reached toward him, but then let her hand drop as if she were afraid to touch him. As if whatever made him finfolk could rub off and infect her.

Josh shook his head. “A smart person told me that I needed to stop living a half-life and be honest about who I am. I am finfolk. Sailor is my half-sister and I’m one of
them
. So if you have a problem with them, you have a problem with me.”

Most of the group shrank back as Josh’s eyes scanned over them.

“This ain’t over, Westray.” Mr. Connors stared across the sand at Lake, his nostrils flared as he sucked air in and out. “I’m going to prove what really happened to Oliver Canavan. You people kill everything you touch. You’re a disease and I’ll make sure I rid this island of your infestation.”

Lake and Mr. Connors faced off in silence for long moments. Lake’s hands twitched, but he didn’t move.

“It won’t bring her back, Harry,” Miss Gale said. My gaze slid toward her and I blinked in confusion. But Miss Gale didn’t explain who she was talking about and it was clear from the flicker of sadness that crossed Mr. Connors’s face that she didn’t have to. “This vendetta you have won’t solve anything.”

Mr. Connors spit on the sand again and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “We’ll see about that.” He grabbed Elizabeth’s arm and dragged her across the sand away from us. Elizabeth looked back at Josh, then turned and walked away with her father, her friends trailing after them.

Chapter Thirty-Six

The next morning promised a day of bright sunshine. I rolled over on my mattress, blinking at the sunlight streaming through the porthole window.

The incident on the beach the night before had left me too exhausted to put up much of a fight when Lake led me away toward home. I had slept well. No nightmares had woken me and I couldn’t even remember dreaming.

A knock sounded on the ladder to the loft just as I’d changed into jeans and a sweater. “Are you up?” Lake called.

“Yes, come on up,” I said.

I sat down on the mattress, cross-legged, as Lake’s head appeared at the top of the ladder. Seeing me there, he climbed the rest of the way up, a shoebox tucked under his left arm.

“You okay?” He stood at the end of the mattress, looking down at me. The silver chain around his neck glinted against his skin, the pendant hanging over the center of his chest.

“I’m fine,” I said, picking at a piece of lint on the comforter. Hadn’t that been the same thing I’d been saying for the past year? Was I really fine? “Well, actually...my shoulder is a little bruised, but I’ll be okay, I think.”

Lake sat down next to me, stretching his legs out across the floor and setting the box between us. “Last night,” he began in a quiet voice, “when I saw you there with Mr. Connors holding onto you, I realized that there were a lot of things I hadn’t yet told you. And I imagined what it would be like if I never did get that chance.” When he looked at me, all I could see were unshed tears in his eyes. “I’ve always loved you, Mara. And I’ve never once stopped thinking about you or your mom.”

For the first time ever, Lake had come to me. He could have let me slip away last night, as he had always done ever since Mom first left with me, but instead he found me. And he didn’t let go.

“Why were you there?” I asked. “How did you know where to find me?”

“I didn’t,” Lake said. “Not for sure. But Josh and Miss Gale came looking for you and he said you’d had an argument. And when I told them what had happened, Josh said that maybe letting you leave was the wrong choice. We were all looking for you. Then Claire found me and told me what happened.”

He reached over, running a hand tentatively over my head. “I know I haven’t been the kind of dad you want me to be.”

I lowered my head to blink away tears. “I really could have used you for the past year,” I said, a slight edge to my voice. Even if I forgave Lake and understood him better now, there would always still be that ache inside for all that we had missed. It would take more time to heal those wounds. “It was hard, watching Mom die alone.”

Lake pressed his lips together in a tight line and nodded. “I know. It was hard watching her die from so far away. But you have to understand now that I could never have come after you. I’m tied to this island. Even going to the mainland that day to meet you at the ferry dock was a struggle. Finfolk are bound to the water and it always calls us back. The farther inland we go, the more we drown in the air.”

“Why hasn’t it affected me before now?” I asked.

“It has, with your cravings for salt. But before now, you’d never been in the ocean. You’d never had a chance to be truly finfolk. It will be different for you now. You won’t be able to leave the ocean without feeling like you’re dying.”

I wasn’t sure that I liked the idea of not being able to leave the ocean whenever I wanted, but then the thought of going too far from it filled me with a panic that made it hard to breathe. I had lived my life away from the water, always feeling the cravings in the back of my mind. Now that I could change, the water had claimed me.