Dark Waters - Page 48
“I went back to Tommy. Waited for the snake. Revenge, don’t you know? I keep saying, now’s the day, Bill old boy. But I’m afeared of her now. I’m so afraid, and Tommy made me brave last time, but Tommy won’t talk to me anymore. But one day. One day. I’m waiting. I’m waiting!” He shouted the last word at the silent woods.
Suddenly he snatched up his axe, lying just inside the cabin door, still cradling Tommy’s skull in his free hand. “No one should stay forever. No one, no one, and I’ll axe you before I allow it. I will, I will . . .”
He raised his axe. Ms. Zintner shoved Coco behind her just as Mr. Adler said, “Kids, get back!”
But Brian’s brain was racing. He saw the radio bobbing on Ms. Zintner’s hip. He thought of the strange voice. Give us the Captain, he thought. It had sounded menacing. But maybe . . . maybe . . .
He reached forward, snatched the radio, and stepped around and in front of Mr. Adler before he could say anything. Brian’s voice rose over everyone else’s, strong and confident: “Captain, I think your men have been asking for you.”
The captain stopped, as though he’d walked into a tree. The axe lowered. “What are you saying, boy?” he growled. “Tommy hasn’t talked to me in oh so many days. Ever since I put him on that bed.”
Brian didn’t answer. Instead he held out the radio.
It immediately came to life, crackling in his hand. Captain Sheehan jerked back a step. “What’s that?” he demanded, looking deeply suspicious. “What’s that thing?”
Gathering his courage, Brian came forward, within range of the axe. The captain didn’t swing it. The radio was still crackling.
“Listen,” said Brian. “Listen.”
Silence. For a moment, there was utter silence in that clearing, except for the sound of crackling. Brian’s heart sank. He could be wrong. What if he was wrong?
But then a voice spoke from the radio:
“Bill,” it said. “Bill, is that you?”
The captain stared. “Tom?” he said. “Tom, where are you?”
The hollow voice said, “Waiting for you, in course. What’s taking you so long?”
“But, Tommy, I didn’t kill the snake. I promised I would and I keep my promises.”
“We’re gone, Bill,” said the soft voice on the radio. “All of us are gone but you. It doesn’t matter anymore. You did your best. You did enough for us. Enough for the old Goblin. Now, you just come along with me. You just come along.”
“I can’t,” whispered Bill. “Serpent’s out there. I haven’t killed it yet. That’s what I meant to do. Kill it. But I was afraid.”
“Not anymore,” said the voice on the radio gently. “Not anymore.”
Brian glanced sideways to see Ollie’s face streaked and shining with tears. Her free hand had closed, white-knuckled, on her watch. There was so much jagged longing in the old captain’s voice. And all of them understood what it was like to feel lonely, although maybe not as lonely as Captain Sheehan. And maybe all of them, but especially Brian, knew what it was like to feel as though you’d failed your friends.
But he hadn’t. He knew that now. And maybe Sheehan was learning it too.
“Over the water, Bill. Into the moonlight,” whispered the ghost on the radio. “I was always close by, my dear. Always. Bill, it’s time to rest now.”
The voice fell silent.
Complete silence in that clearing, in front of the lonely old cabin where a skeleton lay on the bed.
In that silence, they heard the ringing of metal. The chimes, Brian thought. The fishhooks.
“It’s coming,” whispered Phil.
They all spun around, with the cabin at their backs, scanning the forest. Brian, heart racing, thought he saw a glimmer of silver scales, there and gone.
Captain Sheehan stood still. Then he looked at Brian. “Thank you, my boy. You don’t know, but—thank you. I suppose I’ve one fight left in me after all.” His eyes were wet. “I didn’t think I could. But I can. And then I’ll go find Tommy.”
“We need to get into the cabin,” snapped Mr. Adler. “Come on—and block the door.”
“Nay, don’t go in,” said Sheehan sharply. “Cabin’s no more than a trap. Head due south. Do what my men tried to do. Take the boat.” To Brian, “You’ve a compass, boy?”
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