Chapter 20: The Song

Lachlan's POV

The iron had taken my strength in a day, but it had not taken my ears.

I heard every word she read.

I heard her voice go out over the pier, plain and loud and unafraid.

I lay in a foot of poisoned water with my sister on my chest, and I thought, that is my wife.

I heard the boats come in.

I heard the sheriff.

I heard Garrick Moss say, "Nine o'clock."

Then I heard her scream.

It was short, and it ended in a splash.

I do not remember deciding.

I put both hands against the lid of the tank and pushed.

The iron seared me to the bone.

The lid was bolted, but the bolts had been set by a man who thought a hurt animal does not push.

They tore out of the wood one by one.

The glass cracked across.

I came up through it in a rain of water and splinters, and my tail split into legs as I rose.

I landed on the planks on my knees.

The crowd screamed and scattered.

Lanterns tipped.

Garrick Moss stood at the rail with his back to me, looking down at the black water, with the thermos in his fist.

"Now," he said, almost tenderly, to nobody. "Now it's mine."

I crossed the planks in four steps.

A deputy grabbed my sleeve, and I shook him off without looking.

A lantern rolled under my bare foot, and I kicked it into the harbor.

The planks were hot with spilled oil, and I did not feel them.

I looked over the rail.

Fifteen feet down, in the lantern light, a green dress was sinking slowly, with her hair spread out above it.

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