I press on Celia’s chest again, again, then lean over, press my mouth against hers and exhale. Breathe, please breathe…. I brace myself, waiting to hear Naida’s voice, waiting for her to cast me aside….
She doesn’t.
But Celia breathes.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Celia
I cough, gag. Water erupts from my throat and spills down my neck. I’m cold. I feel beaten, like my body is nothing but bruises. But air—I can breathe, I can breathe. I turn on my stomach, and more water pours from my lungs; I force a breath in. Another, another. I’m out of the water, I’m out, I’m alive. Jude pulled me out; he got to me in time.
I can’t believe I’m alive.
I turn onto my back again, panting, too tired to move; my eyes drift over and—
She’s here, watching me with dark eyes. It wasn’t Jude who pulled me out; it was her. I can’t feel my limbs, but I try to back up; I push myself across the pavement, into a wall—the calliope, I realize, when I look to the side and see paintings of trees and birds. The little bit of effort leaves me winded, exhausted. When I look up, she’s holding up her palms, a surrender.
“It’s all right,” she says, framed by the Ferris wheel behind her, like it’s some sort of halo.
“Lo.” I can tell by her voice, by her eyes now that I look closer—
Feet pounding on pavement—I look up to see Anne and Jane running toward me, hair whirling around them in the wind, eyes wild and angry. They don’t slow as they look from me to Lo, though their eyes widen at either her skin color or her nudity. I don’t have time to work out which it is—Jane runs, drops down beside me, and Anne charges into Lo, knocking her to the pavement. They collapse together; the concrete cuts them both up, but Anne is to her feet almost instantly with blood running from both knees.
“Get away from her!” Anne shouts. “Jane, get her out of here!” Lo looks like a caged animal, crouched to the ground while Anne looms over her. Anne’s hands are drawn into fists, her eyes serious. Jane hauls me to my feet; I stumble and hear Anne shout again, Lo make some sort of hissing sound in response—
“Stop!” I shout. Jane freezes. Anne doesn’t take her eyes off Lo to look back at me. “Stop.” Breathe, just breathe. “She saved me.”
“She tried to drown you. We saw the whole thing from up by the pier.”
“It was Naida,” Lo says, voice fallen as she presses against the wall, wary of Anne’s fury.
“Where is Naida now?” I ask weakly, coughing as yet more water forces its way from my lungs. Anne turns to look at me, baffled, but says nothing.
“She’s gone,” Lo answers.
“Gone?” I meet her eyes; she swallows, nods. Lightning crashes, and the wind whistles through the rides. I can hear the waves, wonder how much of the shore they’ve consumed…. I close my eyes for a moment.
Gone. She’s gone. It doesn’t seem real.
“Will someone explain what’s happening?” Anne snaps, looking from me to Lo. Jane’s still holding on to my arms with a death grip; I shake her off.
“It’s fine. It wasn’t her who tried to kill me. It was the other girl… in her head.” Saying that sounds just as stupid as I thought it would.
“How do you know she isn’t lying?” Anne says darkly, glaring back toward Lo. Lo’s eyes flicker dangerously as Anne leans a little too close. I inhale, hold my breath—Anne’s anger pitted against Lo’s strength isn’t something I want to see.
“I… I can tell. I can’t explain it—”
“I don’t trust her. I know what I saw,” Anne says, unconvinced. She looks from me and Jane to the fence behind the calliope, where I realize our car is sitting, headlights still on.
“Let me go or Jude will die,” Lo says suddenly, voice dark. We stare at her; her face is steady. “He was swimming behind me, but he isn’t here yet. He must still be in the water.”
I inhale, panic, look at Anne. “Let her go!”
“How do I know she won’t try to kill you again?” Anne snaps.
“I…” I don’t know. I just believe she won’t. And that’s not going to be enough for my sisters.
“I can tell,” Jane says shortly. She glances at me, rises. Jane trades places with Anne; my sisters look at each other warily, have a silent conversation I’m not let in on. Jane extends a hand to Lo. Lo looks at me, back to Jane, eyes cautious but daring. Finally, she reaches up, holds out her palm. Jane cringes as she lays her fingertips on Lo’s blue-toned skin. Anne tenses as Jane inhales, waits a moment, then draws her hand back.
“She doesn’t want to kill us. Any of us. She wants to save Jude. She loves him—” She stops short, glances back at me. Lo looks down, closes her eyes.
“I have to go now,” she says under her breath.
“Go. Let her go!” I snap. Jane winces but finally steps back from Lo and the calliope. Lo leaps to her feet, moves to bolt, then turns—
“If I change, Celia, if I go dark… be careful. Don’t trust me.” She looks from me to my sisters. “Remember what I said about twins?” She looks from me to my sisters grimly as I nod. “Triplets are even better.” She swiftly turns, sprints down the pier, and dives off the side, like we’ve set her free. I rise as she’s falling. Please find him, please find him—
“What did she mean?” Anne asks, but Jane interrupts before I can answer.
“And who are they?” Jane asks, pointing to the other side of the Ferris wheel. I narrow my eyes against the rain and look up.
Moving toward the base of the pier, gazing out over the water, are people. A dozen or so, maybe more. The girls are tall and willowy, with long hair and sharp faces. The men are muscular and bare-chested. They watch the ocean like it’s telling them something, like it knows secrets they want. The man in front turns slightly to talk to the others, and even through the rain, I can see something on his chest. Rows and rows of scars, thick like the side of my hand and raised up off the skin.
Naida’s memories rear up in my head, trample through my mind.
I couldn’t forget this memory, the memory that ended in screaming, the memory that Naida buried deep down inside her. It’s them.
The monsters that changed her.