Death in the Water

At the River

As it was early in the day, there were few people down by the river. No elementary schoolers or high schoolers, a few joggers, Inspector Matt George making his way to work... and then came that eight-year-old girl who pushed a taxidermized terrier around on a flatbed trolley with a smug look on her face. Just as yesterday, Henry stared with a completely deadpan expression, curious as to why she did that. Katharine and Miao both stared as well, both more horrified by anything else. With Katharine having only lived in Actaea for a few weeks and Miao having resided in Actaea's Chinatown before her family moved to Henry's neighbourhood, neither had ever seen that girl before and thus, unlike Henry, were not used to the sight of an eight-year-old girl pushing a taxidermized terrier on a flatbed trolley with a smug look on her face.

Nervously, Katharine asked: "Am I the only one—"

"N-No." Miao answered, taking a small step back as the girl walked past. Once she had gone, Miao asked Henry: "I-Is that normal?"

Without missing a beat, Henry replied: "Yes, she is seen often doing that."

As they continued on their way to the spot where Carchemish's skeleton should have been, both Henry and Katharine remembered the night before. They had been stuck in the backseat of the car owned by the three Men in Black, now two since Carchemish had killed one of them. No one ever suspected to see someone who had been dead for sixty-eight years walk out of a river, be it man or beast, and yet that was what happened. Equally astonishing was when one of the Men in Black had sent his shadow to move Carchemish, Carchemish struck the shadow with the claw of his right wing and its owner found himself slashed across the face. That night had been one filled with things people never expected. How often did people expect to encounter shadows who could move independently of their bodies or that could take hold of someone. The physical grabbed by the unphysical. How often did someone experience that?

When the three approached the spot where Carchemish's skeleton was beneath the river, footprints could be seen upon the bank. The tracks had four toes on them, almost like that of a bird of prey, but no bird of prey had left these tracks. These were the tracks of Carchemish, this both Henry and Katharine were sure of.

As Katharine put a red and orange towel down upon the bank and Miao placed a towel of her own next to it, Henry stared at the spot where Carchemish's skeleton was supposed to lay. It was in the shadow of a tree, one long since dead with long, twisted, gnarled branches and few smaller ones, that must have been broken when Carchemish had been shot down so many years ago.

How old had he been when he first swam down to see Carchemish's skeleton? Five or six. It was a rite of passage for the teenagers of Actaea to swim down and stick a hand into one of the eye sockets of the wyvern's skull and Henry had been doing that long before he even turned thirteen.

"Is that where his skeleton is?" Katharine inquired, standing next to Henry. She had removed her sarong and was clad in her side-tie bikini with red and orange stripes. Even now she was removing her sandals.

"It is, Katharine." Henry answered. "Where it should be anyway." Handing the digital phone to Miao, herself now in her bathing suit, a white-one piece with a snug-fitting skirt around her hips and thighs, he proceeded to unbutton his shirt, saying: "This is the moment of truth. Here we will either prove Carchemish has risen from the dead or that Louis was right and it is just another wyvern."

Placing the digital phone upon her towel, Miao said: "Sounds simple enough. How much do you want to guess the Men in Black show up after this?"

"I hope not, Miao." Katharine replied, tossing her sandals onto her towel.

Placing his shirt and glasses near Katharine's things, Henry noticed where Miao had put the digital phone. Out in the open upon her towel was just an invitation for it to be stolen by someone. Looking to Katharine's purse he then inquired: "Katharine, is there any room for the digital phone in your purse?"