Tortus Bay

2.02: Theories and Explanations

Henry slept for a long time, and while he slept he dreamed. He saw his mother's face. His father's. He ran through the streets of his old hometown until he road names all became unfamiliar and the buildings shrank to single-story boxes. Tortus Bay. He spun, swung, and raced back off in the opposite direction, but the village stretched on forever. The sidewalk stretched on forever.

And it had teeth. Long rows of razor sharp fangs, sprouting inward from the edges of the white cement. He leapt, landing on the black asphalt of the street—which squished under the weight of his feet. A tongue. He turned again, to sprint away, but it was too late. He fell weightless into the yawning maw.

Kara was there. She was telling him something important. Clair hovered above her. She was also telling him something important. Their voices overlapped, their words combining into nonsense. Magcedome. Trabay. Desope.

Then there was Niles, ducking into a doorway. Niles, stepping into an oven. Niles, climbing atop the Tortus Bay Inn with Jamal and Diana. Niles, standing at the end of the street.

When Henry finally woke, he wasn't sure if it was the gentle rapping on his bedroom door or the persistent twinge in his lower back which roused him. Regardless, he pulled himself out of bed and blearily answered the knocking. "You were just in my dream," he said.

Kara's eyebrows arched. "Impossible. I've been out here the entire time."

"And I'm awake?"

She kicked him in the calf, and he jumped back with a yelp of pain. "Sorry, that's the only thing that works. Trust me, I know. I also slept the entire day away."

"Wait. The whole day?" He tripped his way over to the window and pulled back the blind to reveal the yellow light of dawn.

"And night." She held up a greasy take-out bag. "Breakfast?"

***

He filled her in on everything that had happened over their well-deserved meal of beef tongue tacos and their subsequent walk across the village to the Inn. There, they collected everything that he owned (which amounted to two large armfuls), paid up with a grateful Diana, and offered their farewells to Jamal.

"I knew you were gonna stick around here," the man said. He smiled. "Had that feeling from the first moment I laid eyes on you."

"Thank you. I appreciate everything you've done for me."

Jamal winked. "You do like keeping your secrets though, don't you?"

"You think I'm much more interesting of a person than I actually am."

With the entire contents of room number 5 divided up between them, Henry and Kara trundled back toward his new apartment. There they returned to the matter at hand. "You're sure you saw Mathas Bernard?" she asked, softly. A large number of people milled about the street.

"I've only ever seen him in a picture, but he was the spitting image. There's no long-lost twin brother, is there?"

"Not that I'm aware of."

Henry smiled at a throng of older women outside of the Double S, shrugging at his backpack to indicate that he was unable to stop and chat. "Is the other thing possible? Could he be... back?"

"I don't know." She was quiet for a moment. "I don't think so. But I couldn't say for sure."

"A deputy down at the station told me that you're one of the most powerful in the village."

Kara side-eyed him. "Taylor. He's an alright guy, despite being a cop. Would turn the village into a coven, if he had the chance."

"So why doesn't he? What's stopping him from throwing some sparkles in the air in front of all the people who don't believe in magic, and giving them no other choice?"