Wolfwater

by Alia Hess

  “What happened to your neck, Sasha?”

  He glanced at Trav and touched the sutured cut on his throat. “Oh. Uh…”

  Corvin grinned. “He, er, cut himself. Shaving off that awful beard of his.”

  Sasha’s mouth pulled into a tight line. “Yeah… I am not good with that kind of razor. Not like Corvin. He is… expert.”

  Trav’s eyes narrowed, going from Sasha’s neck to Corvin’s face. “He cut himself deep enough to need stitches?”

  Corvin gave Trav a tight smile and shrugged.

  I promised I wouldn’t say anything. What would Dewbell think, if she knew? She wouldn’t look at Corvin the same way. “It’s not big deal, Trav. Don’t worry.” Sasha pushed his plate away. “I’m fine. Really. Nothing happen.”

  Dewbell’s hand rested on Sasha’s arm, her other caressing his neck. He pulled in a breath as she flipped over her paper note and wrote something new: “Let’s go talk somewhere in private.”

  Sasha’s lip quivered and he shook his head. Dewbell stared intently, her icy blue eyes boring into him. Could I just tell her Corvin rescued me? That would be okay, right?

  “Dewbell and me going to go talk for few minutes, okay?” He said. “Don’t really get a chance for me and her to just say stuff.”

  Sasha expected Corvin to protest, or give him the hairy eyeball, but he was scratching at scuffs in a shell button on his shirt. “M’kay. But fair warning, all the pie might be gone by the time you get back.”

  Damn. He’s not even worried. He spills his guts to Dewbell all the time. He knows I do the same. Well, I promised I wouldn’t talk about it, and I don’t want Dewbell to think badly of Corvin after he saved me. I’ll only give her the bare minimum and skip the rest.

  Sasha headed outside. A guard wandered by, glancing impassively at them. Dewbell shut the door behind her and Sasha leaned against the wall. “So how you doing, baby? Haven’t talked to you very much since we been in here. You okay?”

  Dewbell waved a finger at him and pointed at his chest.

  He sighed. “You want to know what happened.”

  She nodded.

  Dewbell had asked him on multiple occasions to share his struggles with her—whether it was his urge to drink, needing to find the perfect gift for Dusty, or general life advice. If he could tell anyone, it was her, but he wasn’t going to divulge details. Especially not how stab-happy her consort was.

  Sasha glanced through the open window. Trav was talking, brow creased, as Corvin dug into a slice of pie. Sasha turned away from the window and put a hand on Dewbell’s arm. “You want me to tell you?”

  She nodded adamantly.

  “We meet this guy while ago. Sharkguts. He was act creepy, and said he could give me protection for ‘favors.’ I told him no. Then… couple nights ago, he break into our hut when we are asleep.”

  Dewbell put a hand over her mouth.

  Sasha pulled in rapid breaths, gripped with phantom sensations of his waistband being pulled down. His full stomach cramped. “This guy put knife to my neck and tell me not to move. Nothing happen. But… I was try to get away from him, and that is how I got this cuts.” He pointed to his neck.

  Dewbell trembled, eyes wide.

  He wiped away an escaping tear. “It was horrible, baby. I was so scared. And I could not do nothing.”

  She cupped Sasha’s face in her hands, her lip trembling.

  “But listen, Corvin was real brave. He saved me. He did real, real good job at stop that guy.” He pulled up the hem of his shirt and pressed it to his wet face.

  Dewbell’s arms wrapped around him and he squeezed her tightly. She stroked his hair, then pressed her face to his neck and emitted a small sob.

  This was a bad idea. I shouldn’t be burdening her with this. She has enough to worry about.

  He sniffled and pulled back so she could read his lips. “I am sorry, baby. You don’t need to hear this story. Nothing happen to me. I promise. I am okay. And Corvin has been strong.”

  Dewbell’s eyes glistened, filled with pain.

  “Can I ask you favor?”

  She perked up a little and nodded.

  “Will you let me hold you again for minute? You give good hugs and I really need some today.”

  She leaned into his open arms and he held her tight, burying his face in her soft blonde hair and inhaling the scent of her powdery perfume and clean skin. She wasn’t Dusty, but she was his friend and felt like home.

  He pulled away. “Thank you. I am lucky to have friend like you. All my friends, really. I hate that me and Corvin in this mess right now, but makes me feel good that everybody care so much.”

  She pulled a paper from her dress and wrote him a note, then wiped her eyes. “I can’t stand seeing you two in this horrible place. It hurts my heart so much and I feel so helpless.”

  “No, you are helping all the time. You bring us delicious food, listen to my problem, and keep Corvin from going crazy. That is more than enough.”

  “It doesn’t feel like enough.”

  “You do everything for everybody all the time. Maybe you need to take break, huh? Stay at home for while and relax. Lay in bed and read some trashy books. Drink some of Corvin’s expensive wine.”

  “I would feel guilty doing that with you guys stuck in some awful little hut.”

  “Don’t be… what is American word?” A martyr. “Don’t hurt yourself because we are hurting. Nobody be happy with that. And don’t really hurt yourself.” He glanced at the long sleeves covering her arms. “You take care of yourself, okay?”

  Corvin’s shout erupted from inside the hut. “How could you say that, Trav? Sasha is my best friend!”

  Trav’s normally soft voice boomed back. “Well, why do you keep acting so twitchy when I bring it up? If it was someone else here who did it, why not just say so? Why do you have to be so—so… weird all the time? God, you know sometimes—”

  Sasha took Dewbell by the hand, pulling her back into the hut.

  “That’s all you ever think of me as, isn’t it? ‘Owl’s weird brother.’ ‘Owl’s creepy brother.’ You don’t even let me hold Son of Owl!” Corvin slapped the table. “He’s my nephew, for God’s sake. I have to wait until you’re out of the room, and then Owl will pass him off to me. What exactly do you think I’m going to do to him?”

  Trav’s mouth pulled tight. “Well, you did own an entire factory full of children. And a slave you forced to be your maid.”

  “Whoa. Calm down, guys.” Sasha put a hand on Corvin’s shoulder but he shrugged it off, staring at Trav.

  “So, what, then? You think I’m going to kidnap Son of Owl and make him work in a factory in Hammerlink? I’ve made amends for what I’ve done. What more do you want me to do?” Corvin said.

  Dewbell frowned and pushed between Trav and Corvin, putting a hand on Corvin’s trembling face.

  Trav scowled. “Maybe stop being such a creep all the time? I’ve heard a lot of stories about you, even ones from Owl. She didn’t seem to think they were a big deal, but they freak me the hell out. I don’t like you around Son of Owl because I never know when you’re going to snap.”

  Sasha grimaced. “Guys, really, let’s just—”

  “Oh! Calling me a creep is a great way to keep me from snapping, isn’t it, Trav?” Corvin shrugged, a plastic grin on his face. “And jumping to conclusions about what happened to Sasha. That’ll work too! It couldn’t possibly be that I saved him from some horrible rapist named after fish entrails!”

  Trav’s face fell. “What?”

  Dewbell’s mouth parted and she stared at Sasha.

  “And somehow, I’m the bad guy here!” Corvin snarled. “The bastard deserved it. Every. Single. Stab. Over and over. And I’d do it again.” He turned to Sasha. “For you. I’d do that again, because I don’t want that stuff to happen to you like it did to me.”

  Trav glared at Corvin and shook his head. “That’s why you are a creep, Corvin. That’s what worries me. That’s why I don’
t want you to hold Son of Owl.”

  “Corvin’s not”—Sasha frowned—“okay, Corvin is bit creepy, but he is good guy, and I feel safe to hang out with him. You think he would be my best friend and I would stay in same hut with him if I think he is going to stab me? No way. You think Dewbell would sleep in same bed with him if she was scared of him?”

  Dewbell’s eyes were wide, her lip quivering.

  Trav said, “She looks plenty scared to me. I think we should go.”

  “I don’t think Dewbell is scared.” Sasha looked at her. “Are you? Or you just upset?”

  Dewbell let out a sob, touching Sasha’s stitched neck. She pulled out a paper and scrawled a barely-legible note. “I can’t handle all of this right now.”

  Corvin tried to gather her into her arms and she pulled away, leaving the hut and stomping up the sand. Trav glared at Corvin then followed Dewbell toward the gate.

  Wiping his face, Corvin disappeared around the side of the building and Sasha sighed, glancing at the empty hut. Maybe everyone just needed a bit of time to cool off.

  Bits of pie, pizza crusts, and dirty dishes covered the table. He cleaned them away, putting the dishes in a crate to wash at the handpump. He retrieved a mop—the head still red from Corvin’s attempt to wash the bloodstains from the floor—and pushed crumbs and sand out the door. Hopefully, it made the hut look Corvin-level impeccable.

  Sasha left, following footprints to a tiny hut at the water’s edge. He peered through the window. Corvin sat against the wall, his cheeks wet and eyes red.

  “Corvin?”

  He looked up, then quickly wiped his eyes on his sleeve and stood, walking to the window. “Go away, Sasha.” The shutters slammed closed.

  Sasha sighed. “Don’t worry about Trav. At least he has never punched you. When Owl and everyone get back, he won’t be so stress out. And Dewbell—”

  “She hates me now.” Corvin’s voice cracked. “I’m a horrible creep, apparently, and nobody should be around me. Just—just leave me, please.”

  “Dewbell don’t hate you. Dewbell loves you more than anything. She’s just upset right now like everybody else. And you are not horrible. You saved me. Two times you save me here. From Sharkguts, and from my crazy brain thinking walking into ocean is good idea.” Sasha sat against the door and dug his toes into the sand, staring at the endless sea as weak light undulated on the beryl surface. “And you stitch my neck and try to make me feel better with your jokes and stories. You are good friend, Corvin.”

  Muffled sobs came through the door.

  “You know, I been thinking about escaping this place. Escape for real. And I got idea, but I need your help.” A salty breeze rustled Sasha’s hair. “There is some… holes? In cliff wall, on opposite side of this beach. I been thinking, maybe is like, tunnel. We could climb in and it take us to land outside of fence. But I am not tall enough to see. You could push me up.”

  “Even if that worked, and we got out, where would we go?” Corvin asked, voice watery. “We can’t go back to Nis. They’d find us. The Mainland? Wait there until the retrieval party gets back?”

  “Everywhere besides this beach sounds like good place to me. Maybe we could go to Nis for minute and get some things—you could say goodbye to Dewbell—and then we leave for little while. Shit, we could take boat to The North and wait for everybody.”

  “That’s ridiculous. But all of this is so fucked; I’m ready to try it. Thinking about being here for another three or four weeks makes me die a bit inside.”

  The door swung open and Sasha fell backward, catching himself. Corvin offered him a hand and pulled him up, his wet eyes filled with interest. “Show me those tunnels, Sasha.”

  Maybe this is a bad idea. What if it doesn’t lead to anything? I’ll be getting Corvin’s hopes up for nothing. It’ll just make him more upset. But if it works…

  They skirted around the little hut, heading for the opposite side of the beach. Corvin wiped his eyes and stuck his hands in his pockets, staring straight ahead.

  One side of the detainment gate was visible through a gap between the huts. That fat guard, Halfmoon, sat on the embankment, holding playing cards. A couple of detainees, recent ones by their full faces and nervous eyes, stood by a palm tree, conversing.

  This will probably turn out to be nothing but a fantasy, but I’m going to savor a few seconds of hope, anyway. If we got out, I would go home. I’d pack some things and lay all my love notes for Dusty across the bed for her to find. Then Corvin and I could grab a boat and make our escape. No one would come to the Mainland to look for us. We could hang out in one of those coast towns until the retrieval party came back.

  But if they did that, how would they know when it was safe to return? What if they were kicking back on a Mainland beach for a month, and Dusty was at home with all of his love notes, wondering where he was?

  But I don’t want to be here any longer. And neither does Corvin. He can’t take it.

  Sasha glanced at Corvin’s hollow cheeks, the dark circles under his eyes, and his downturned mouth. Trav was wrong. Corvin wasn’t going to snap. He was going to fall apart.

  I bet I look just as bad.

  They neared the cliff face, fence posts and razor wire blending into the foliage and disappearing before reaching the surf. The knobby, pitted rock certainly looked like a better barrier than wooden posts, but Sasha had stared at this particular bit of scenery for over a month, and his eyes immediately caught the deep indentations higher up the wall.

  “You know, this is only idea. It might not work,” Sasha said.

  “I know. Let’s try anyway.”

  Sasha reached the wall, the stone shiny with seawater and peppered with barnacles and orange starfish. He stole a glance up the beach. A guard wandered between huts, peering in open windows, then turned for the gate. Several palm trees huddled near the cliff, their leafy fingers obscuring the rock from the guard’s view.

  After hooking his bare foot into a crevice, Sasha said, “Okay, push me up.”

  Corvin put his hands on Sasha’s backside, supporting him as he reached for a handhold. He gripped the stone, feet scrambling for purchase. After wiping his wet hands on his jeans, he climbed further, pulling himself into one of the large hollows.

  Blinking in the darkness, he groped blindly and wriggled farther, overwhelmed with the aroma of salt and dank vegetation. His hands hit solid wall on all sides. This was not a tunnel.

  After pushing himself out, he glanced down at Corvin and shook his head. Climbing slightly higher only revealed pits more shallow than the last. Sasha pressed his forehead to the stone and swallowed the hard lump in his throat. He reluctantly climbed down. Corvin helped him back onto the sand of the worst beach in the world.

  “Sorry, Corvin. It was stupid idea.”

  Corvin squinted at the cliff, then turned, his gaze wandering across the ocean and detainment fence. “It’s okay. Once I saw the holes you were talking about, I didn’t really think it would work, anyway. They looked pretty shallow.”

  “You are not upset?”

  “I’m a bit disappointed, but it’s got my gears turning now. Maybe there’s another way.”

  Sasha stared at his sand-covered feet, wishing he were standing on the yellow shag rug in his bedroom. He ached to ward away the ocean chill with the rocket heater in his front room. The pipes ran through benches molded into the walls, heating the seats. There was nothing better than sitting there with Dusty, warm and snuggled together in a blanket, as they sipped coffee and watched birds hop on the branches outside.

  Corvin started up the beach toward their hut, then faltered. “Hey. It was a good idea. But we can come up with a better one, I bet. And if not, it will be a good distraction, at any rate. Maybe by the time we figure out how to escape, it will be time to go home anyway. And that wouldn’t be bad, right?”

  “No. Going home would be great.”

  “Well then, let’s go eat some pie and talk about escape ideas.”

 
; Sasha gave a small nod. “Okay.”

  “And then I’m going to write Dewbell a letter. Should it be an apology? I don’t know if I did anything wrong, but I don’t want her to be upset with me.”

  “I don’t think she is upset with you. She seem like she was more upset about cuts on my neck. And then everybody arguing. She just need little bit of time. But… sometimes Dusty is mad at me and I don’t know why, and I say sorry, anyway.”

  “Apology it is, then.” Corvin looked back at the cliff wall. “Y’know, if that had really worked, I would have given you a big, sloppy kiss.”

  “Eh, I got to be real drunk for that.”

  “I’ll have Dewbell bring some wine from home.”

  Sasha barked a laugh and elbowed Corvin. “I’m lonely, but I’m not that lonely.”

  Corvin grinned, banishing his previously haggard, desperate-eyed expression.

  Sasha said, “I don’t even want to think about what this would be like if it was only me here alone. Not ready to make out with you, man, but I’m glad you’re here with me.”

  “Me too, Sasha.”

  Halfmoon rounded a hut, his beady eyes nothing more than narrowed slits in his fat face. When he spotted Sasha, he stopped and hooked his thumbs through his belt loops. “You two. What are you doing?”

  Corvin’s gaze darted frantically as if a good excuse might be posted nearby.

  “Oh, we were just taking walk. Is nice out right now, huh? We are so lucky we get to hang around outside and not rot in tiny cell.” Swallowing a bitter taste in the back of his throat, Sasha tried on a smile.

  “Lucky? You’re spoiled. No criminals should be treated as well as you two.” Halfmoon sneered. “That lady friend of yours makes some delicious food. She looks mighty delicious too. Think next time she shows up, I’m gonna get me a taste… Gonna eat the food too.”

  Sasha’s mouth fell open as he pictured sweet Dewbell’s face.

  “Like hell you will!” Corvin lunged at Halfmoon, and the huge man shoved him into the sand.

  “Don’t make me use this on your skinny ass. Waste of energy.” He scowled and brandished his club.

  Sasha imagined Corvin being cracked on the head with a club like that brawler in the food line, and his stomach curled. He helped Corvin up and pushed him several steps back.