Waterwight Breathe

by Laurel McHargue

  “No. But I’m not afraid of him anymore.”

  “Odin! Why are you here?” Orville strides forward commandingly and stands in front of the ancient god. I wince when I see my friend’s severed wing.

  Odin waits until we’re all in close before answering. “I am old. I am tired. But most of all, I am lonely.”

  The villagers mumble and he waits for them to stop.

  “When Celeste was by my side, I found new hope that I could survive and be happy. But she did not belong forever in Oblivia.”

  He pauses, studying me intensely with his eye, and smiles when Dad rushes to my side and wraps an arm around me. The two men stare at one another for a while before Odin speaks again.

  “And so, I come to you,” he points to his wolves and ravens, “we come to you—with one request. Simply put, we ask to live out our lives here, with you, on this planet, as mortals.”

  Orville and Nick look to me, their eyebrows raised in astonishment. It’s not lost on any of us that this was a suggestion Chimney had made not long ago. We had laughed, then.

  “But, the rain!” Blanche speaks up, and I take it as a good sign. She’s thinking about her community, thinking about life.

  “The rain will come, the rain will go, it will happen as it has without my meddling. There are forces far greater even than mine at work in this universe.”

  “If we let you stay, will you protect us against other threats to our safety?” Mac asks.

  “I will take up arms as you have, if necessary, and fight as a man.”

  He would sacrifice his powers to live with us—and someday, to die.

  Orville turns to face us. “Are there any objections to Odin’s request? Is there need for further discussion?”

  The villagers are stunned to silence.

  I study Odin’s wizened face and try to imagine him as just a man. Then I remember the times I’ve been called just a girl, and more than just a girl. Who’s to decide what drives us to be who we are, and more than who we are? And how long will a centuries-old god live once he abandons his realm?

  Orville waits for someone to speak, and from the crowd, Blanche walks forward, passes Orville, and hands the infant to Odin. He holds her gently in his crooked hands, and a tear falls from his eye.

  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  The night is filled with sounds of soft conversation, weeping, chuckling, and sighing. I rest in Nick’s arms in the field beyond Teresa’s garden and we watch as stars grow brighter and comets streak across the sky.

  “It’s over, right?” he whispers. “And you’re back.” His fingers caress my cheeks, the outline of my lips, my neck. “I love you, Pipsqueak.”

  I tremble and tingle. I can’t speak. He doesn’t wait for my answer, though, and when he presses his lips to mine, when he holds me more tightly in his own trembling arms, I lose myself in him—my particles releasing themselves to join with his in a way that frightens me, in a way that frightens him—and when he tries to release me, to end his glorious kiss, we both feel a pain that feels like death.

  I can’t do this to him anymore. I can’t keep hurting him.

  I pull away from him and stand, my body still glowing and nebulous, and I struggle to pull myself together.

  “I love you too, Nick!” I say. “Tell my father I’m sorry! Tell him . . . we’ll find each other again in another time!”

  And then I turn and run and fly toward the sea.

  ~ 37 ~

  I AM MORE than Celeste Araia Nolan, though I didn’t ask to be. With Omega in hand, I fly through darkness over the turbulent water until a familiar precipice rises from the horizon. I will see Old Man Massive once more before I leave.

  “Little Paloma,” his whisper booms, “you have come to say goodbye. Thank you, child.”

  To an old mountain spirit, everyone is a child.

  I stand on his bulbous nose, the same place I’ve stood time and time before, but I’m not the same girl.

  “How do you know, Old Man?” How has he known to do or say any of the things he’s done for me and said since I ran away from the children’s home?

  “I do not know how. I simply know what I feel.”

  “Is this the right choice, though?” Even before he answers, Omega glows warmly in my hand.

  “Unlike me, you were never meant to stay. I felt this from the moment you woke me, though it saddens me.”

  “You saved my life more than once, and my friends’ lives. Thank you, Old Man. I won’t be burdening you again.”

  “You never have burdened me, little dove. You have given me a purpose for the brief times your path has touched mine. A greater purpose awaits you.”

  “How can that be? Haven’t I done enough already?” I feel a tantrum coming on.

  “Almost, child. You have made a decision. Follow it, and you will see.”

  His words fill me with a sense of serenity unlike I’ve ever felt before.

  “There is one more thing I know I have to do,” I say, and I lay Omega in the crease of his nose, in a place I once rested myself.

  The mark on the back of my head tingles and I let myself disperse in the air above my mountain friend. I spread myself thin like a blanket, and then drop myself down upon his craggy boulders in a warm embrace.

  This is how I hug a mountain.

  He chuckles. It starts slowly, and my particles jiggle until he laughs with abandon and I’m bounced back into the air. When he stops laughing, I snap back into myself and recover my spear.

  “What a gift you are, child. Now go. Remember me in your dreams.”

  He closes his eye and I lift from his nose, leaving an amused grin on his bearded profile. Just as I start skyward, however, flames shoot through the darkness and Noor sweeps beneath me, tumbling me onto her back.

  “Don’t you dare!” I shout at her. “I’m finished with the gods!” Even if she tries to drop me back into the sea, I’ll dissipate and she’ll never find me.

  “Settle yourself, Celeste. I am here to help you find your way.” Noor’s voice is hypnotic, and although I have no reason to trust her—why didn’t she come when I called for help in the past?—I feel I’m where I should be.

  I say nothing, but cling to her back as the wind whips past. She’s taking me to the other side again, but I don’t want to go there. I can’t return.

  “Only for a moment,” she says, reading my mind.

  And then I see she’s not taking me to the village, she’s taking me to the abandoned lab. Before I can ask why, Noor unleashes a stunning blast of flames and the building explodes into ashes. Lilith’s mangled army bubbles and bursts into a choking sulfurous gas, and the gigantic dragonfly lifts up and away in a breathtaking arc.

  As I ride her into the heavens, I’m reminded of an image at the top of the great door to Odin’s dining hall. It appeared to be a figure riding a fire-breathing winged creature.

  I shiver as the air grows thin and my flimsy dress flutters around me. We pass through the nacreous clouds of the realm once belonging to the god who only wanted someone to grow old with, and we keep climbing until I feel I’ll float away.

  “This is where I leave you, Celeste. This is where your burdens end.”

  “But wait!” I call to Noor as she drops from sight.

  I’m left alone in the universe, floating among countless galaxies with nothing but Omega, my dress, and my emerald scarf.

  I can’t return to my father and the place that felt like home with my new friends. Old Man Massive knows this. Whatever I am, I’m too dangerous to be close to those I love.

  The spear is no use to me here—and Omega should never again fall into the hands of people who could use it for evil, people on the planet even now with anger in their hearts and cruel, selfish desires.

  I know what I have to do.

  I look toward the planet where good people will mourn my disappearance, and my last teardrops as a girl breach the brims of my eyes. The choice is mine: wipe them away or let them fall. I let them run down my cheeks and d
rop through the atmosphere.

  My teardrops undulate and grow in size as they plunge toward the planet, and I know what will happen when they reach the troubled orb.

  I unzip my dress and slip it from me, releasing it to the universe. I won’t be snapping back into it ever again. I pull my curls free from my silk scarf—stained with my blood and Nick’s and Harmony’s—and push it away to follow my teardrops.

  And I am free.

  “Never to return!” I shout, and just as I once threw this spear into the sea, I hurl Omega into the heavens far, far away from a planet I once called home.

  Never is forever now.

  Omega bursts into flames before it’s out of sight, and a thrill shivers my body because I feel in my slowly dissipating particles that its destruction ends the powers and fluxes that have plagued and perplexed those on the planet below.

  They will learn to thrive in a natural world on a planet soon to be reborn.

  I dissolve into the universe, into my final form, and I smell honey-lemon muffins! My mother is here! Zoya is too, floating among the galaxies with her children. And I feel Chimney’s presence.

  I’m here, Chim! Don’t be afraid!

  I tell him we have not died, we’ll never die, we’re here—home!—with all who arrived before us.

  My particles disperse until they’re everywhere and nowhere, and I feel euphoric. My teardrops are about to splash into the sea of the living planet, and when they do, they’ll cause a flood that will engulf it all.

  It’s happening, and my molecules feel the fear and chaos of those submerged.

  Breathe! I tell them all—all across the planet—because I’m everywhere now and a part of me is in each of them. Remember you can breathe!

  And I feel a rebalancing across the planet as the waters recede. Those with goodness in their hearts discover they can live both submerged and topside, and those with wicked intentions will feed Kumugwe’s realm.

  Nick emerges from the water believing he’ll never love anyone the way he loves me, and he won’t, but I see her emerge—the girl who will find my scarf washed up on a beach after the flood—and when she finds Nick, he’ll recognize it and know she’s the one he will be with. He’ll see me in her eyes because I’ll be there. I’ll be a part of everything and everyone.

  And I see other things—things that have yet to happen.

  After years of helping my father and Blanche raise baby Sharon in a nurturing, healthy home, Odin will transform and share in the wonders I’m discovering here—wonders greater than those he enjoyed as a god. He will not regret the decision he made to become human before his transformation.

  My loyal animal friends will propagate and live in harmony with humans until they transform, and then they too will join me in this unencumbered state.

  Katie, Lena, Jack, Bridger, Ryder, and Maddie will find partners to grow old with until their final transformation, and their healthy, copper-skinned babies will frolic on land and in the sea. Some will return from their day’s adventures with stories of a beautiful opalescent mermaid who sings to them, and an underwater castle held up by sea lions, and vats filled with eyeballs.

  Merts will emerge from the water as they were before The Event, as three—father, mother, and child—and Layla will shake her shining copper-color coat of hair, releasing Lou from his bondage, though he will ride with her upon her back until their time on the planet is over.

  A wingless Orville and Riku will soon add twin babies—Charlie and Claire—to the village, and baby Aiden will be born to Mac and Teresa shortly thereafter. They will become the new leaders of their village and beyond, and they will lead with fairness and with pure intentions in their hearts.

  And they will enthrall others across the planet with the stories Orville has shared with them . . . stories of a girl he once met in a dream, a girl he rescued and who rescued him, a girl with powers no human should ever possess, a girl named Celeste Araia Nolan.

  And those who listen will meet me in their dreams.

  ~ Acknowledgments ~

  Mike McHargue, husband of mine for over 35 adventure-filled years, thank you for being the greatest patron of my work. I would not have been able to complete and publish the number of books I have out there in the world without your constant encouragement and belief that what I’m creating is far better than good.

  Carol Bellhouse, thank you for your timely, spot-on, and intuitive chapter-by-chapter edits of this last Waterwight book. Your bubble bath recordings kept me focused, motivated, and amused. Someday I may share them with the world.

  Stephanie Spong, thank you for staying up all night to read and reread this book so you could provide me with (pages and pages of) insightful advice for making Celeste’s final adventure memorable in a big way. I have a sack of potatoes waiting for you at my house.

  John Orville Stewart, namesake for one of my most significant characters, thank you for continuing to inspire new ideas during our morning walks.

  Cindy Jewkes of Good Tales Editing, thank you for proofreading my final manuscript. More books from me await your eagle eyes.

  Thanks to my beta readers Judy Cole and Kelly Burggraaf for your suggestions on how to improve different elements of this book.

  Ashley Larson, thank you for working the kinks from my writing muscles. You are a massage therapist extraordinaire.

  Thanks to my 2018-2019 Patreon patrons of my podcast Alligator Preserves for supporting my creativity on air and helping to provide needed funding for the production costs of this book: Susan B. Russo, Charlene McDade, Carol Shaughnessy, Stephanie Spong, Donna Baier Stein, Erin Sue Grantham, Mimi Finch, Mary Jelf, Jake McHargue, Mary Wilson, Brenda Sebern, and Sean Toodle. ;)

  Thanks also to Leadville locals who continue to support my writing with their services and promotion: Beth and Kenny Donoher at Silver City Printing, Brenda Marine at B&B Shipping and More, Elise Sunday at Fire On The Mountain, and Marcia Martinek at the Herald Democrat.

  Thank you, Mum and Dad (may you both exist in peace in places far away and very near) for tolerating years of my dream sharing. Who knew, way back then, what inspiration they would bring to my writing?

  Thank you, Marilyn Hintsa, my best buddy since kindergarten. You knew my dreams would become books!

  And of course, thank you, kind readers. If you enjoyed this final adventure with Celeste and the characters who shared her quest, please consider recommending the series to a friend and posting a review on Amazon!

  ~ About the Author ~

  LAUREL McHARGUE was raised in Braintree, Massachusetts, but somehow found her way to the breathtaking mountains of Colorado, where she has taught and currently lives with her husband and Ranger, the German Shepherd.

  She dreams in Technicolor, writes in many genres, and hosts the podcast Alligator Preserves. Check out Laurel’s blog, where she writes about life—real and imagined.

  www.leadvillelaurel.com

  ~ A Personal Note from Laurel ~

  I would love to hear from you!

  Connect with me here:

  Facebook: Leadville Laurel (author page)

  Twitter: @LeadvilleLaurel

  LinkedIn: Laurel (Bernier) McHargue

  Web Page: http://leadvillelaurel.com/

  Email: laurel@strackpress.com

  Podcast: Alligator Preserves

  Check out my other books on my Amazon Author page

  and let me know what you think!

  And remember, we struggling authors/musicians/artists/actors love positive feedback, so if you like what we do, please consider writing reviews of our work! If you don’t like what we do, well, if you can’t say something nice . . .

  Aberrant

  Abnormal, unusual, deviant

  Abominable

  Awful, horrible, monstrous

  Abomination

  Horror, eyesore, disgrace

  Abrupt

  Sudden, unexpected, quick

  Adversary

  Opponent, rival, enemy

  Alab
aster

  Soft white, semi-translucent

  Amnesia

  Loss of memory

  Aninnik

  Inuit word for breath

  Ashen

  Pale, pasty, gray

  Balk

  Resist, refuse, thwart

  Beckon

  Summon, signal, motion

  Betray

  Deceive, bluff, trick

  Bolster

  Boost, strengthen, encourage

  Breach

  Open, break, crack

  Bulbous

  Round, bulging, swollen

  Cantankerous

  Irritable, crabby, argumentative

  Careening

  Speeding, traversing, traveling

  Censure

  Criticism, disapproval, scorn

  Chastise

  Reprimand, scold, rebuke

  Chimera

  Fantasy, illusion, figment

  Churning

  Rolling, mixing, agitating

  Claustrophobia

  Fear of enclosed spaces

  Competence

  Ability, skill, fitness

  Consequence

  Significance, penalty, cost

  Constrict

  Tighten, narrow, squeeze

  Convoluted

  Complicated, difficult, intricate

  Culprit

  Offender, criminal, wrongdoer

  Defunct

  Obsolete, outdated, useless

  Demeanor

  Manner, conduct, behavior

  Demise

  Death, end, expiration