Aquinnah

Day 1: Chapter 3

The canoe skimmed easily through the water.

The girl stopped paddling once they reached the safety of the sound to catch her breath. The placid waters glistened, rose colored and calm. The beauty around them had both momentarily transfixed, two small silhouettes against a giant sky.

The shoreline appeared quiet. She could no longer hear the urgent cries of the Dowak bird or the strange howls from the forest.

She was home.

Before them was Town Harbor. The docks were flecked with colorful sailboats and small fishing vessels. Just beyond it, lay the giant edifice of the Great Gates, strong and unyielding. It was built by the people, fortified from the rubble of the War of Sorrows. The setting sun reflected off the steel forged with concrete, drift wood and dead cars. Just past their line of sight were the Guardsmen who manned the Gates. And beyond that, the paved lane that led towards the center of Town.

She turned back to the boy. He sat quietly in the canoe, his hands clasped in his lap. When he caught her looking at him, he stared back with wide eyes.

"Who are you?" she asked. "Before I bring you inside, I must know."

But the boy did not speak. He stared back at her, and then down to his hands.

"I can't help you if I can't trust you."

The child blinked up at her with those pale eyes. The girl wondered again if he spoke her tongue, but she knew no other languages to offer.

Who was he, if he didn't know the words of her ancestors?

Pale Devils, purveyors of the Underground, bringers of sickness, destruction, and-

The girl peered at him curiously, the boy who did not speak.

"If you don't talk to me I'll throw you back in the sea, you know. Don't think I won't," she said.

The boy's eyes widened, and tears began to roll down his cheeks. His tiny shoulders shook as he tried to hold back his tears.

"Can't swim?"

He shook his head.

So he did understand.

"I don't know why you're crying. You're better off with me than out there."

The boy looked back from where they came, and she saw the same flash of fear in his eyes as before.

No, she would not leave him. And she would not throw him overboard either. She already decided the moment she dove into the dark blue, she would do anything to protect him.

The girl began to paddle again, faster now, arms burning. The horns would sound any minute, and they were still several minutes from shore.

As they neared the harbor, her mouth was quiet, but her mind was racing.

What she was going to do with the child, she did not know. The Pale Kind were forbidden, so she could not simply walk through the Gates with the boy. They would be quickly arrested - or worse.

She considered the hidden route through the smugglers' caves, alongside the hidden channels where men managed to get their banned goods past the Gates. But this was dangerous for a young girl and if she was so much as spotted on the narrow paths that lead there, Father would surely find out.

But perhaps the boy could hide in her canoe. She could easily cover him with her fishing gear, he was so small and light. But she was unsure if she could successfully move the boat through Town without drawing attention. Her canoe was usually docked alongside the others for the season, and bringing it in would surely bring questions.