by Jordan Rivet
“This is more like our usual routine,” Yvonne explained. “You missed out while you were sick, Esther. The single folk cook here most nights there isn’t a picnic or barbecue, and then we hang out until curfew.”
“Why do you even have a curfew?”
“It’s for our protection. Nothing good can happen after midnight.”
Betsy directed a few of the women to draw up chairs in a circle for a game. Cally and Anita joined them, and within a few minutes Cally stood in the middle of the circle, acting out whatever had been written on a scrap of papery bark in her hand. Bole gathered another group on the dais, where he set up a target made of a board padded in cloth and began to throw little metal darts at it. That sort of game would be much more difficult at sea, where the floor had a tendency to move. Esther’s father surveyed the target, his hand in his chin, while some of the Lucindans went up to give the darts a try.
David caught Esther’s eye and jerked his head toward the exit. She met him on the porch outside the second set of carved wooden doors, which stood open to let in the breeze. The moon hung heavy over the town. Part of the lake was visible through the scrubby trees on the shore, shimmering like steel.
“I learned something about the last group to join the Lake People,” David said. “Thompson’s crew.”
“Yeah?” Esther glanced back into the Lodge, but the others were still occupied with their games. Laughter spilled through the doors.
“He’s afraid of them,” David said. “The Dentist. I asked him what would happen if we decided to stay but set up our own camp nearby to allow our people to get used to their ways, and he responded very aggressively. He said we’d have to follow the Code wholesale or it wasn’t worth the risk of letting a bunch of strangers near the town. Then he said last time they’d added strangers they were more trouble than they were worth. I thought he was going to send us away then and there. I tried offering him your tech again, but that just made him angry. Your dad pulled a nice save there.”
“I noticed.”
“Yeah, it was the right move to focus on how this town is like ‘the good old days.’ I don’t think the Dentist believes most of the stuff he spouts, but that’s one thing he means. My theory is he didn’t like the way things were going in the world before the disaster. He reset everything to his liking, and he’s invented a world that is a throwback in many ways. He only wants people in his town who buy into his ideas, though.”
“Do you think he really believes the Lord gave him instructions in a dream?”
David considered for a moment. “Doubtful. He’s capitalized on the myth, though.”
“I guess.” Esther folded her arms. The town was quiet around them, the lights from the cabins glowing brighter. “So he’s threatened by Thompson and his crew?”
“By Thompson. By any technology that would let his people move around or reconnect with the outside world. He’s terrified of losing his position. He’s like the Galaxy captains in that way. Another leader could supplant him pretty easily if he got enough of the men to agree. Thompson, the leader of the newest group, which hasn’t had as much time to buy into the cult of the Dentist, is the likeliest candidate.”
Esther frowned, running her fingers over the cool metal of her wrench. “Thompson offered to let me go fishing out of the blue. Then Betsy warned me that he wasn’t a good Code follower.”
“Interesting,” David said. “What’s his angle?”
“Not sure. He hasn’t been all that friendly so far.”
“Yes. What about Bole? Your fan?”
Esther rolled her eyes. “He’s an Elder. He seems like a nice guy, but he’s been with the Dentist for a long time. He has every reason to be loyal.” She remembered what Naomi had said. I follow the Dentist. I don’t have a sister. “The Dentist does have a hold over people. Otherwise, why would they put up with all the rules and ceremonies?”
“People want someone to follow.” David leaned on the porch railing. A light breeze ruffled his hair. “When the Galaxy captains decided to stay at sea, we were happy someone seemed to know what they were doing. In the chaos after the disaster we needed order. We needed a strong hand. Must be the same here.”
Esther nodded, thinking about her father. He had led the Catalina in the days after the disaster. He had provided structure and routines for the people. Even though he wasn’t particularly authoritarian, like Judith had been for the past six years or so, he still provided necessary order. But it became a problem when the one giving orders got a little too used to the power.
“Hey, let’s forget about all that for a minute.” David put his arms around Esther and drew her close. “I’m so glad you’re well again. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
Esther leaned her head on his shoulder. His heart beat in her ear. They were alone on the porch, and the town was quiet. No one would see. She wrapped her arms around his waist, putting her hands under his shirt so she could feel his skin against hers. They swayed in the moonlight, dancing without music.
“It’s a good thing I got a fever,” she said. “Otherwise, it might have taken a lot longer to find Naomi.”
“Are you absolutely sure it’s her?” David asked.
Esther hesitated. She had promised to always talk things over with David. They were a team. It was only fair for him to know that Naomi herself had denied the connection. She had claimed she wouldn’t go with Esther. That might be reason enough for them to give up and leave the lake before they got any of their people in trouble. But Esther was sure she could convince Naomi to go. Whether she was lying for some reason or just confused, Esther couldn’t give up on her.
“It’s her,” she said.
“Good.”
David leaned down then and kissed her face, her neck, brushed his fingers through her hair. Shivers ran over her skin like electricity. Esther wanted so badly to find a quiet spot where she and David could just be near to each other. But they couldn’t give the Dentist any reason to watch them more closely than he already was. Naomi was too important.
After too short a moment David sighed and released her. Esther felt colder the minute his hands left her waist.
“We can do this, Esther,” he said.
“I know.”
They went back inside the Lodge to join the others. It was Betsy’s turn to play the acting game, and she was flapping her elbows like fins and squawking while the women in the chairs shouted guesses. Esther was fairly certain she was supposed to be a chicken. Esther scanned the group on the dais. Cody was trying out the other game. His dart hit the inner part of the target, and all the men cheered.
“Do you see my dad?” Esther said. “He was over there earlier.”
“He probably went to bed early,” David said lightly. “You should head back to bed soon too, Esther. You still need rest.”
Esther narrowed her eyes. She thought they had been standing by the Lodge’s only exit. She started to say as much, but when she turned, David was already striding away from her to rejoin the men.
Chapter 29—After Midnight
SOMETHING TAPPED THE WINDOW by Esther’s bunk. She sat up. There it was again. Tap. A pause. Tap. She wondered how someone could swim up and reach her porthole before she remembered she was on land, in the women’s dormitory. The window wasn’t that far off the ground.
There was another tap.
Esther crept from her bunk and peered outside. An object struck the smoky glass as she reached it. Someone was throwing stones at the window. She couldn’t tell who in the darkness. She sensed movement at the edge of her vision. Shadowy figures gathered beneath the spreading tree near the cabin, the one with a trunk carved full of names.
Esther looked around the dorm. The other women all appeared to be sound asleep. She was probably the only one of them worried enough to sleep lightly. She tiptoed to the door and snuck out with barely a creak.
The town was hushed. Peaceful. Long moon shadows stretched across the ground, making the buildings look like they w
ere deep under the ocean.
A dark shape beckoned to Esther from the shadows. Heart thudding, she followed him toward the tree. As her eyes adjusted, she recognized Cody’s round shoulders. She started to relax—until she realized that Thompson was waiting for them, leaning against the tree trunk.
Esther opened her mouth to ask what the hell was going on when she realized a third figure was sitting at Thompson’s feet. He was clutching his leg, which twisted at an odd angle.
It was her father.
“Don’t make any noise, Esther,” Cody began.
“What the hell is going on!” she whispered hoarsely, dropping to her knees beside her father.
Simon’s face was tight with pain, but he managed a small smile. “I’m fine, button.”
Simon’s leg wasn’t just twisted. It was mangled. Long rows of scratches ran down its length. His blood glistened black in the darkness.
“I found him caught in the barbed wire fence,” Thompson growled.
“Couldn’t see it in the dark,” Simon said. “By the time I realized what had happened, I was too tangled up to escape. I fell trying to extract myself and wrenched my old injury.”
“What were you doing?”
“He was on his way to the Bunker,” Thompson said. “Tried to go through the jungle, but we have it fenced out there.”
“The Bunker?” Realization hit Esther like a swinging boom. He had been trying to rescue Naomi on his own!
“I don’t want to know what he was trying to do,” Thompson said. Esther could sense tension coming off him in waves, even though his posture was casual as he leaned against the carved tree trunk. “It would be worse for him if one of the Elders found him, so I cut him loose.”
“He was helping me back to my cabin when Cody found us while out with the curfew patrol,” Simon said. He sounded remarkably calm considering the amount of blood coating his legs. His hands were torn up badly too, leaving dark smudges as he tried to shift his injured leg. “He insisted on coming to find you.”
“Damn right!” Esther said. “What were you thinking?”
Thompson cleared his throat warningly. “I told you I don’t want to know what he was doing.”
“Why are you helping?” Esther asked. “You’re not going to report him to the Dentist?”
“I still might if I decide you’re a danger to me and mine,” Thompson said. “You seem like good people, though.” He stood and picked up the shotgun that had been resting against the tree. It glinted in the weak moonlight. “I’ll trust you to patch him up. This never happened.”
“Okay,” Esther said, wanting desperately to ask more. She knew he wouldn’t answer, though. “And thank you.”
Thompson grunted. “Don’t be late for fishing tomorrow.”
Then he disappeared into the night.
Esther turned her attention back to her father. They had to stop the bleeding and wrap him up as best they could. She’d need to grab blankets or something from the dormitory. She had no idea how they were going to hide this injury in the morning.
“You could have been killed,” she said, fighting the urge to cry in frustration. “Why didn’t you let me help?”
“I’m sorry, Esther, but I can’t lose one daughter trying to save the other,” Simon said.
She was startled by the raw tone in his voice. She would die to help her sister, but she hadn’t considered the situation from her father’s perspective before.
“We’re in this together, Dad,” she said slowly.
“It’s my fault, Esther.” Simon grimaced as he shifted his leg again. “I should never have assumed they didn’t survive. I should never have decided to stay at sea when there was the slimmest of chances.”
“You had no way of knowing—”
“It doesn’t matter. I left them. It has been almost seventeen years! I should have come back to look for them sooner.” He took a shuddering breath and fell silent.
Esther didn’t know what to say. Why hadn’t she anticipated this? Her father had spent so long keeping his pain and guilt from her. Of course he would want to try to make it right without hurting anyone else. She understood that feeling all too well.
Something rustled in the darkness. There was a noise, perhaps a bird.
“We should get you back to your cabin,” Esther said. “And I’ll wake up Anita. She’s better with injuries.”
“David stayed out late with some of the Elders to keep them occupied,” Cody said. “I’ll run ahead and make sure none of them are around before we move him.”
“Wait. David knew?” Esther hissed, remembering their stolen moment on the porch. She hadn’t seen her father after that.
“I asked him to keep your attention elsewhere,” Simon said. “And that boy will do anything for you.”
Esther swallowed her retort. It was odd to hear David being called a boy. She knew her father had as much a right to put himself in danger to help Naomi as she did. She was annoyed that they went behind her back, though. They may have been trying to keep her safe, but none of them were safe anyway. David knew that as well as she did. The nerve of that boy!
She’d deal with him later, though. Esther left her father beneath the tree and crept back into the cabin to wake Anita. She didn’t wait for an explanation, quickly gathering up blankets and clothing and following Esther out into the night. Esther prayed their luck would hold and none of the women would realize two of the strangers were out of bed.
Esther and Anita helped Simon back to the little cabin the men had been sharing. David was still out. Apparently, the curfew didn’t apply to Elders and their friends. Anita and Esther got her father patched up and put to bed. They concocted a story to tell the townspeople about how he had decided to go for an early-morning jog and he had tripped and fallen into a bramble patch. It was a bit thin given the extent of his injuries, but it was the best they could do.
“We could say he was attacked by a wild boar!” Cody suggested.
“That would have made a bit more noise than a trip,” Simon said. “I’d have been screaming bloody murder for one.”
“I guess. Bole told me they can be as big as dolphins.”
“And a lot less friendly.”
“So what do we think about Thompson?” Esther said. She was wiping the last of her father’s blood off her hands and knotting up the sheet they had used to clean his wounds.
“He’s been nice enough to me,” Cody said, “except for that first day.”
“Nice might be a stretch,” Esther said. Thompson was still a mystery. She’d see what she could get out of him on their little fishing expedition tomorrow.
“Well, not nice,” Cody said. “But he doesn’t seem all evil and controlling like the Dentist.”
“I agree,” Anita said. She checked Simon’s bandages once more and stood. “Don’t move around too much. Your knee will take longer to heal than the scratches, but you don’t want to open up your scabs.”
“And don’t try anything stupid again,” Esther muttered.
Simon frowned. “I’m afraid I won’t be trying anything for a while.” He met Esther’s eyes steadily. “I failed.”
“I’m sorry, Dad.” Esther got down on her knees beside his bed.
The others stepped away to give them a moment. A single lamp burned beside Simon, casting shadows across his tired face.
“You can’t feel guilty about this forever,” she said. “You’ve been there for me all along. That’s why you didn’t look for them. You kept me safe, and you did a great job of it.” Esther fiddled with the edge of the quilt on her father’s bed. She should have said something sooner. She should have thought about what he must be going through. “It can’t have been easy, being alone like that. You have to forgive yourself.”
Simon sighed, a sea-deep sound. He cupped Esther’s cheek for a moment, his thumb resting on her two thin scars.
“You’d better get back before you’re caught.”
Esther hugged him tight, and then she and Anita
hurried through the town to their own cabin. They made it back into their beds well before first light.
Chapter 30—Fishing
WHEN ESTHER ARRIVED AT the dock the following afternoon, Thompson and Bole were waiting for her. She had decided to bring Cally along. If the townspeople didn’t want women going fishing, that was too salting bad.
“Thanks for offering to take us out on the lake,” Esther said to Thompson.
He nodded stiffly. She couldn’t tell if he was hiding a smile or a scowl behind his beard. She was keenly aware of how vulnerable they were now that Thompson knew they had been sneaking around. Just because he didn’t like the Dentist’s Code didn’t mean he was their friend.
“That’s the whole point of this place!” Bole said.
Despite his joviality, Esther wondered whether he had been sent along to keep an eye on them—and on Thompson. She couldn’t forget he was still a member of the Dentist’s favored circle. But he was Yvonne’s brother. Esther wished she knew who to trust.
“I can’t wait to see what it feels like to sail on still water,” Cally said. “It’ll be great. My first time on a lake!”
Bole chuckled. “Wouldn’t want you to miss it.”
They headed down to the dock. Thompson fell in behind them, his heavy feet pounding loudly on the wooden boards. A fishing boat waited for them at the end of the dock. It was about twenty feet long, with a simple open cockpit and a collection of fishing poles sprouting from its stern like spines.
A few men had already gathered, including Cody, who had acquired a wide-brimmed straw hat from somewhere. Bole ushered them onto the boat. When everyone was on board, Thompson fired up the motor, and they pulled away from the dock. Esther breathed a little easier with the motion of the boat.
“I figure all you sea people can fish real well,” Bole said as he sat beside Esther and began untangling a fishing line.