Chapter Thirty-Five
“Daddy!” Elizabeth screamed. The group rushed forward, but the pier cracked dangerously, threatening to dump all of them into the frigid water. A human might not survive the shock of the cold for very long—nor the roaring waves that would toss him against the wooden pilings below.
Kyle and Will, the guys who had just moments ago been holding me captive, inched closer to where Mr. Connors held on. But the groaning of the pier grew louder as they moved toward the weak, rotted area and they had no choice but to back off helplessly.
My eyes darted toward the water and then back to Mr. Connors, swinging wildly as he tried to pull himself up.
“He has to let go!” I ordered.
Elizabeth looked at me like I’d lost my mind.
“I can pull him to shore! But first he has to let go.”
Elizabeth shook her head and I advanced on her. Her eyes were wild with fear and desperation. She knew they could never pull her father to safety, he was too heavy and the pier too weak to support all of them crowded around the hole.
I grabbed her shoulders. “Tell him to let go. Trust me.”
Her tear-filled eyes glared at me. “Why should I?”
I resisted the urge to shake her as violently as her dad had shaken me. “Because right now, I’m the only option you have.”
Elizabeth opened her mouth, but there was no need. Mr. Connors lost his grip on the broken wood and he plummeted, screaming, into the crashing waves. I raced toward the end of the pier, unbuttoning my pants and then pausing only long enough to peel them off, not caring that everyone else was staring at me. I raced toward the broken end where there was no longer a railing and then jumped, arcing into the night air.
For a moment, I felt as if I were flying, suspended over the churning water below. Then I plummeted back to earth, crashing into the ocean.
The shock of the cold quickly turned into a searing pain as my body restructured itself. I opened my mouth, filling my lungs with salt water as bones popped and moved, and scales tore through my flesh.
I needed Josh or Dylan there to help me. I needed the song to take away this excruciating pain that kept me curled into a tight ball in the water, unable to move or help.
A thought hit me: Could I sing the song to help myself?
The lessons with Miss Gale filled my mind. She had taught me the song of the water and I focused on the melody that surrounded me, trying to hum along with it through my clenched teeth. I felt the pain ebbing away and I stretched my legs as they continued to change. My thoughts became clearer, no longer absorbed only with thoughts of the pain I endured.
I had to find Mr. Connors before the water killed him. I would not add another death to the ones the finfolk were being blamed for.
I dove down, shooting through the water toward the pilings. It was dark and murky and almost impossible to see anything within the shadows. I surfaced, but the water roared too loud here and I couldn’t hear my own voice when I called to him.
Despite my being finfolk, I still wasn’t a strong swimmer and didn’t have enough practice in the water. The waves tossed me toward the pilings, ramming my shoulder into the wood. I slipped under the surface, blowing out a stream of bubbles as I gasped at the pain.
When I resurfaced, I turned a full circle, searching the darkness for any signs of life nearby. A wave tossed me under again for a moment and I fought my way back up, shaking water out of my eyes. I was afraid that I was too late and Mr. Connors had already been bashed against the pilings all around me.
“Mr. Connors!” I shouted. But my voice didn’t carry far, drowned out by the sound of the waves.
Swimming without moving my injured shoulder was awkward and the ocean tossed me even more. I managed to grab one of the pilings as I slid by, my fingers digging into the splintering wet wood. My breath puffed out in the cold air as I clung to the piling and scanned the area around me.
Only a few feet away, a round head broke the surface, sputtering water. Relief washed through me and I struggled through the waves toward him.
Another head surfaced next to the first one. When I drew closer, I froze for a moment, staring at the person struggling to pull Mr. Connors back toward the shore.
“What are you doing here?” I gasped over the sound of the waves around us.
“Looking for you,” Josh said simply. I wanted to wrap my arms around his neck and cling to him as we had done before in the water at Pirate’s Cove. But Mr. Connors’s choking cough reminded me that this wasn’t the time for that.
Instinct kicked in and I swam to Mr. Connors’s other side, hooking my injured arm through his and helping to reel him through the crashing waves and away from the pilings.
Mr. Connors didn’t help much to get himself back on dry land. He let the two of us pull him out of the water and for a moment I thought maybe he’d passed out or that he had drowned anyway. But once we’d laid him on the sand, Josh softly kicked his side with his toe.
“You can stop the corpse act now,” Josh muttered. “You’re back on the shore.”
Mr. Connors’s eyes popped open and he sat up, glaring at us. “I suppose you expect a thank you?”
Josh slipped back into the pants he’d left on the beach. “It wouldn’t mean much, coming from you, so don’t waste your breath.”
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.