by Aaron Galvin
“He’s the one took my boy’s suit,” Edmund spat. “If he’s here, Collins can’t be far away. Boucher’s the muscle paid to watch Daddy’s little darling.”
Kellen heard a thud as Tieran tossed the mooring lines onto the boat and stumbled aboard.
“All righ’, Silas. Shove off!”
The trawler engine belched the scent of fuel and black smoke as the engine thundered to life. Kellen winced at the sudden noise, as did the other captives in the surrounding cages. The doors of the warehouse screamed open on their rusty hinges and a gust of sea wind howled through.
The trawler stuttered ahead.
Kellen saw the black pitch of night before Tieran threw a rope line across the deck. A blue tarp whipped over the cages, simultaneously covering and blinding them.
“Maybe we should yell for help,” Tardiff suggested.
Bryant shook his head. “Boat’s pretty loud.”
“Aye,” said Edmund. “And you can bet what ears might be listening are on the Crayfish’s payroll. Don’t have to pay night shifters as much to look the other way either.”
Tardiff threw himself at the edge of his cage. “Help!” He batted at the blue tarp. “Hel—”
A wooden rod smacked the top.
“Quiet in there, or I’ll have your tongue out!” Tieran hissed.
“Is he serious?” Marrero asked Kellen and the marshals.
Edmund answered with a blank stare.
“H-how do you know?”
Kellen took the silence to mean Edmund had seen more than his fair share of tongues taken. He took a deep breath. “So,” said Kellen. “How do we get out of this?”
Edmund sighed. “I already told you. We wait—”
“To be Salted, I know. When does that happen?”
“Hang on,” said Marrero. “What does that even mean?”
Kellen watched the two marshals exchange a glance.
“Well, come on, tell us,” said Kellen. “Give us some clue. It’s better than not knowing anything.”
Edmund humphed. “Be careful what you wish for, pup.”
“The kid’s right,” said Bryant. “They might as well know.”
Edmund clenched his jaw as he looked each teen in the eye. “In the olden days—”
“I’m not looking for a history lesson, Grandpa,” said Kellen. “How far back you taking us?”
“How far back you want to go, pup?” Edmund growled.
Kellen glared back. “Just tell me what I want to know.”
“Hey.” Bryant spun Kellen around. “You wanna see home again? You best listen to Ed.”
“Go on,” said Tardiff. “Tell us. I’m listening, even if Kellen won’t.”
Edmund sucked his teeth. “In the olden days, Salted’s what sailors called the most experienced among them. For instance, my partner, Bryant, over here would look at little pissants like you boys and direct you to me if you had any questions. ‘Ask Ed,’ Bryant might say. ‘He’s Salted.’”
“So it means you know a thing or two,” said Kellen.
“It means the Salt tried to drown me and I fought for air,” Edmund replied. “I’m hardened. Salted. The testing time is coming, pups. We’ll see if you’re this lippy afterward.”
I’ll be around. Kellen knew. Doesn’t matter what it is. I’ll make it.
A corner of the tarp ripped back. Tieran held the edge of it in hand as he grinned down at the captives. “That’s righ’, lads. It’s almost time.” His drunken gaze meandered to Kellen. “You ready to get Salted too, mate? Ready to put on the last coat you’ll ever wear?”
“Tieran!”
Kellen saw the bearded fisherman from the warehouse stride across the deck.
“Wha’?” Tieran said. “Something to say, Silas?”
“Leave them alone. They’re scared enough as is.”
“I’ll do as I like,” said Tieran. “Need I remind you, I’m the Crayfish’s dockmaster and auctioneer—”
“We’re not on the docks,” said Silas. “Or the auction block. I’m captain of this ship. Ya do as I say, or I’ll toss ya in myself and let ya swim to the Graves.”
Tieran sneered and let the tarp fall closed again.
Kellen listened to his heavy boots clomp further up the boat. Then he punched the bars.
“That’s right, pup,” said Edmund. “Get mad. Might help you live longer.”
“What did he mean?” Kellen demanded. “The last coat you’ll ever wear?”
“You a slow learner, pup? Need me to spell it out for you?”
Tardiff shook his head. “You want us to believe if we wear one of these…hoodie, pajama sweatsuit, things you and some of these other guys have on that we can’t take it off again? That it would kill us?”
“Aye,” said Edmund. “That’s what I’m saying.”
Marrero snorted. “That’s stupid.”
Kellen thought back to the Lavere County jail, watching Henry Boucher saw the hooded suit off the dead marshal. They’re never getting me in one of those suits…
“Kell, you believe this old geezer?” Marrero asked.
“You’ll wear one,” said Edmund.
“No,” said Kellen. “I won’t.”
Edmund sighed. “Kid, if you’d seen what I have in my lifetime, you’ll beg them to put the coat on you when the time comes.”
“How’s that?” Kellen asked.
“Because where they’re taking us—” Edmund shook his head. “A suit like this is the only chance you’ve got of seeing the shore again.”
“Ed,” said Bryant. “You hear what the captain said about where we’re going?”
“Where?” Kellen asked.
“The Graves,” said the elder marshal. “It’s an island off the coast.”
Bryant cursed. “This isn’t happening. Not to me, Ed. Not after—”
“Calm down, Bryant,” said Edmund. “It’ll be all right. You’re the Silkstealer, remember?”
“What is that?” Kellen asked.
“Not a that, a he,” said Edmund, nodding in Bryant’s direction. “The Silkstealer’s a boogeyman known throughout the Salt, right? A mass murderer of Selkies and a living nightmare to Silkies.”
Mass murderer? Kellen looked at his cellmate skeptically. This guy?
“I wish you’d quit calling me that,” said Bryant.
“I wish you’d start owning it,” Edmund replied harshly. “Makes you valuable. Might be they even put you on a tour as a spectacle, rather than put you in the pits. You’re just like these boys, except you should know better. All of you need to wake up to the position we’re in. It’s every man for himself now. Make no mistake. You find a chance to get away, take it.”
Kellen saw fear in his friends’ faces and fought not to let it overtake him too. “You said we’re going to the Graves. You ever been there?”
“Heard about it,” said Edmund. “Rumor has it the Crayfish likes to make an impression on his new property. Sounds like we’re going down a Gasping Hole, fellas.”
“Why do I not like the sound of that?” asked Tardiff.
“You boys are in your prime,” said Edmund. “Strong. You’ll be fine if you do what they say. For now at least.”
“I’m done with that,” Kellen whispered. “Soon as they unlock this gate, I’m going out swinging.”
Edmund grinned. “That’s the spirit, kid. Remember that if you survive the Gasping Hole.”
The old man shuffled to the back of his cage and sat down. He laid his head back against the bars, stared at the tarp in angry silence.
Kellen waved his friends over. “Look,” he whispered. “I don’t care what these guys say, they let us out of here, we fight.”
Marrero nodded.
“And go where?” Tardiff asked. “In case you didn’t notice, Kell, that bit of water we saw…I’m thinking that’s the ocean!”
“Your point?”
“There’s no ocean near Indiana, idiot. God knows how far we are from home. Are we in California? Florid
a?”
“Nah,” said Marrero. “Too cold for either of those. Gotta be somewhere further north.”
“Who cares where we are! In case you didn’t notice”—Kellen grabbed the bars of his cage and rattled them—“we’re not exactly guests here, Tardiff. What do you think’s going to happen when we get where they’re taking us?”
“I dunno,” said Tardiff. “And you don’t either!”
“Yeah? Well, I know a place called the Graves, and going down whatever a Gasping Hole is, doesn’t sound great. Plus that French guy who brought you in…he killed Campbell at the jail.”
“No way…” Tardiff sniffled. “So w-what do we do, man. How’re we gonna get out of here?”
“We fight.” Kellen looked around the cages. “There’s three of us and the two marshals.”
“What about Boone?” Marrero asked.
Kellen glanced at the Lavere town drunk. Boone had sat with his back against the bars upon waking and hadn’t said two words to anyone since. Kellen wondered if the old man thought himself still in a dream where men morphed into seals.
Kellen turned back to his friends. “He can’t help us. Probably just get in our way.”
“Count me in too…” The beefy man who Kellen had seen brought in with Tardiff and Marrero stood in his cage, his meaty paws grasping the bars. “You get me outta this cage and I’ll strangle the first one I get my hands on.”
Kellen grinned. “Done. All right, that’s six of us to what…five, maybe six, of them?”
“Sounds right,” said Marrero. “So what do we do, Kell?”
“First one out grabs the guard with keys and—”
“Are you nuts?” said Tardiff. “What if they have guns, man?”
“Look where we are, idiot.” Kellen glanced around the deck at the surrounding cages. Found people watching him, new hope in their eyes. A few had stood, their hands drawn into fists. Kellen gathered they didn’t all understand him by the way their faces scrunched, but he knew they understood what he planned.
“We’re in freaking cages, Tardiff,” said Kellen. “They’re taking us somewhere by boat and killed our friends for God’s sake! I think we either fight now or—”
A foghorn sounded.
“All clear, mates!” Tieran shouted.
“All clear!” a voice even further away answered.
Kellen felt the engine shudder beneath them, then quiet. We’re here. His throat felt dry. Butterflies swarmed in his gut even as nervous energy coursed through him. He glanced around the cages at his companions. Saw Marrero don the same murderous look he often had before stepping onto the wrestling mat back home. Tardiff anxiously nodded at him. He heard the trucker pop his knuckles.
Be the leader. Kellen prepped himself. Show them what it means to be a man.
Kellen heard the tarp pulled away.
Tieran held the end of it in hand. A towering shadow loomed behind him and at the top, a swirling light. It alone warded off the pervading darkness.
A lighthouse? Kellen continued searching the area.
“That’s righ’,” said Tieran. “Get a looksee around, ladies and gents. There’s no way back—”
“Quiet, Tieran,” Silas boomed. “And get them off my ship.”
“Will do, your lordship.” Tieran bowed and nearly tumbled over the side. He laughed at himself, then whistled. “All righ’, you sorry seadogs, get ‘em off the captain’s boat.”
“Wait! Mister! I got a secret for ya!”
Kellen spun.
Boone stood at the end of his cage, scraggly arm waving for attention. “Mister!”
What’s he doing?
“Hey, mister!”
Tieran jumped down onto the deck, giving a wide berth to the cages as he made toward Boone. “What’re you on about, then?”
“Wonderin’ if ya wouldn’t mind makin’ a deal?”
No. Kellen thought, watching Boone’s eyes round at the sight of Tieran removing a flask from his pocket.
“And why would I wanna do that?” Tieran asked.
Boone licked his lips. “Well, mister, I got quite the secret for ya.”
No! Kellen glared at the old man. Shut up, Boone.
“Righ’, give it up then.”
“No, sir, ain’t the way deals work.”
Tieran laughed. “You’re too much, mate. So what you want for this lil’ secret?”
“Well, I heard tell you’s takin’ us somewhere I don’t rightly wanna go. Sheriff Hullinger never did keep me behind bars very long. Think I’ve seen enough for now, so I’d like ya to set me free,” said Boone. “Want your word on it.”
Like he’d honor his promise. Kellen thought.
Tieran took a swig of his flask. “Set you free?”
“Yessir,” said Boone. “You let me outta here and I’ll tell you my good secret.”
“Done.” Tieran stoppered his flask and pocketed it. He removed a set of keys and opened the gate.
Kellen’s heart rushed at hearing the lock unlatch. He anticipated Edmund rushing the cage, grabbing Tieran like they had planned.
The elder marshal remained huddled in the back as his cellmate exited.
Tieran closed the gate and locked it. He put his arm around Boone and leaned on the old man to keep from falling as the trawler shook in the ocean’s wake.
“Well, I’ll be!” said Boone, stepping up on the gangway. “This here’s an island, ain’t it? What’d ya wanna bring us all the way out here for?”
“Don’t you worry yourself about that. You’re a free man, now,” said Tieran. “So, let’s have that secret.”
Kellen’s chest pounded as Boone looked squarely at him.
“Well, mister. Them boys is plotting against you.”
Kellen watched Tieran’s drunken gaze wander over the cages and faces. “Which boys?”
No…
“Him,” Boone pointed at Kellen. “Him and them others from around town. They’s waiting on you to cut’em loose outta them there cages. Then they’s gonna backstab you and your fellas.”
Tieran glared at Kellen as he reached into his pocket again. “Is that so?”
“Yessir,” said Boone. “Reckon they’re gonna get out—”
Kellen watched as Tieran pulled something black from his pocket and pointed it at Boone’s head. No! Kellen closed his eyes.
A gunshot echoed across the night sky.
Kellen heard an immediate splash accompanied by screams in the surrounding cages.
Another gunshot silenced them.
Kellen opened his eyes.
Tieran held his gun in the air. “Anyone else have a secret they’d like to share with ol’ Tieran, eh?” He pointed his aim at Kellen. “You lot still plan on running?”
Kellen shook his head, lifted his hands in front of him. “D-don’t shoot me.”
Tieran chuckled. “Nah, mate. Sounds like the lot of you wanted to fight, eh? That’s all righ’. The Crayfish’ll have big plans for you and your pals.” He pocketed his gun and gave another whistle. “Righ’! Get ‘em off the boat and step lively with ‘em!”
A score of men in hooded suits bounded up the gangway, each with a coiled whip hanging off their person and a wooden baton in hand. Scars littered their extremities. All bore brands of a Crayfish—some on their necks, others on the back of their hands. They clanged their clubs on the cages as they went down the rows, unlocking one at a time.
One unlocked the beefy man’s cage, and Kellen watched him come out brawling.
Three of the hooded men descended on him with their clubs, knocked him woozy to the deck less than a minute later.
“Get ‘em on his feet, then!” Tieran shouted.
Another hooded man threw a bucket of seawater in the beefy man’s face.
Kellen winced as the man howled.
“Wakey, wakey,” one of the captors joked.
Kellen backed to the corner furthest from the mayhem as two men pulled the beefy man to his feet and half carried, half dragged, him down the g
angway.
Another unlocked Marrero and Tardiff’s cage. “Out with ye!”
Kellen watched Edmund walk out of his own accord and Marrero set his jaw before allowing himself to be led next.
“No,” said Tardiff, huddling to the back. “This isn’t real…”
“Out with ye!” the hooded men growled from the opening.
“No!” Tardiff hugged his arms around the bars. “Please, I want to go home!”
The hooded man entered the cage and pried at Tardiff’s arms.
“No…please!”
Kellen saw the captor reach for his club. Now! He found himself suddenly on his feet, arms reaching through the bars, punching at the hooded man. Get his club!
“Kell!”
Kellen felt strong arms tugging him away.
“Let go, kid,” Bryant said.
“No!”
Bryant lifted Kellen off his feet and yanked him free of the bars. They fell as one to the floor of their cage. Kellen struggled for his own release as a hooded man clocked Tardiff. A loud pop suggested he broke Tardiff’s arm.
Kellen shrunk at the sound.
“Kell…” Tardiff screamed as a pair of men finally pried his hands loose.
“What’s wrong, boy? Ya want ya mummy and daddy? They can’t hear ya now.”
“Marrero…” Tardiff cried.
“It’ll be all right,” Marrero yelled.
Kellen knew it wouldn’t even as he watched them drag Tardiff away.
“Do what they say,” Bryant commanded in his ear.
I’ll kill them. Kellen rocked back and forth as he heard his cage unlocked.
“On ya feet!”
Bryant stood and offered an open hand to help Kellen stand.
Show them you’re not afraid. Kellen accepted Bryant’s hand and felt himself yanked to his feet. Don’t be like Tardiff. They’re hazing you, that’s all. Kellen convinced himself. He glared at the hooded man. Just hazing.
“What’re ya lookin’ at, seadog,” the man shouted.
Kellen stood tall, straightened his shoulders, and strode past Bryant out of the cage.
“Oooh, look at that one!” one of the captors catcalled. “A right brave one, ain’t he, Tieran?”
“Bah, see how he fares when facing the Gasping Hole.”
Yeah, we’ll see. Kellen clenched his fists and tried not to fall as he found his sea legs. He peered over the side. Choppy ocean water gleamed darkly as white swells crashed over the island rocks.