Of the Sea

Chapter Ten

Astrid had barely dried herself off when she heard a knock at the door. She plotted an excuse to hand to Alec or Dupree or whoever was at the door, but all thought left her mind when she opened up to see Celine West standing with her arms wrapped around her torso, as if she was trying to keep warm in June. She gave Astrid a nervous smile, to which Astrid returned the gesture. Her expression suddenly turned serious, making her look weary in a way.

"I need to talk to you." Celine said, locking her eyes with Astrid.

"Is something wrong?"

Celine nodded. "Do you mind if I come inside?"

Astrid had half a mind to shut the door and lock it, but she was curious about what the woman, who seemed in desperate need of sleep, might have to say. She stood back and allowed her to come in.

"I told you I knew your father, right?" Celine sat her purse down on the kitchen table and began to search through it. "I knew your mother too, only I just didn't know she was your mother." Celine explained.

"You knew her?"

Celine looked up at her. "I knew her postmortem."

Astrid sighed. "Why are you here?"

Celine went back to ruffling through her purse, and then pulled out a plastic bag that contained pictures. Her voice was suddenly nothing but a quick whisper. "I know what happened to you and your mother six years ago. I know it wasn't an accident. I know her death wasn't caused by whatever they said it was."

Astrid stood still as stone, anticipating what Celine would say next.

"How long has your father been gone, Astrid?"

"It's been a month."

Celine nodded, and sat down in one of the chairs, appearing to be thinking over something. "A few years after the...after what happened, your father sought me out. He related your mother's death to that of my brother's. I thought it was just coincidence, after all the deaths were decades apart. But he told me his...his theory of what might have actually happened, gave different records and reports of the same type of attacks, all within ten miles of this coastline. I thought he was crazy, as you must think I am right now."

Astrid sat down across from her, listening to her intently. "What was his theory?"

Celine slid the plastic bag over to Astrid, who dumped the pictures out of the table. They looked like crime scene photos, although they were all of the same symbol: a "U" with a line through the center. Some appeared to be scratch onto metal, other into fish or rocks. Astrid flicked her eyes up to Celine, expecting an explanation.

"It's a trident. This was the only thing that linked all of the deaths together, aside from them being close together. There's twelve recorded pictures of these symbols. This one-" she pointed to one scratched into a silver hull, "was on your mother's motor boat. It gets worse."

Astrid clenched her jaw as Celine pulled out another bag of pictures. This stack was of various fish strung together by a string running from their mouths. Astrid looked up at her again.

"It's the astrological sign for Pisces." Celine explained.

"What does this have to do with the deaths?"

"I don't know." Celine shrugged. "But I think your father did. I think he's trying to figure it out."

"My father is a fisherman." The words fell out of her mouth, and she felt like they had hit her in the stomach. She suddenly had to urge to go out and find Morgan.

"Maybe so, but I think he's in danger, Astrid. He tried telling everyone that there was something in the water. Authorities didn't listen to him. They thought he was deranged after Gaille's death, but he wasn't. He was one step ahead." Celine took her photos back, and shuffled them into the bag. "I think he's out to prove something."

Astrid looked at her thumbs, and heavy feeling of regret settling in her stomach. She had turned away her only resource to what was happening below the surface. She had squandered all chances of knowing the truth.

"Have you seen anything strange, lately, Astrid?"

The girl clenched her jaw, and shook her head. "No ma'am." She knew Celine could sense she wasn't telling the truth, but the older woman didn't question her further.

Celine pressed her lips together, stood, and made for the door. Astrid politely followed to see her off, and halfway across the driveway Celine turned to her and said, "I just wanted you to know the truth."

And that was that.

* * * *

Donovan was down to a jug of water now. He had run out of gas yesterday, so he was left drifting in the middle of the Atlantic. Dying, though, was not something he worried about at the moment. He had captured what he had come for. Two of them, in fact. He'd strung them up in a fishing net, and hung them in the sun. The first day they had fought to escape the nets, only managing to exhaust themselves, and the second day they hissed and bared their teeth, as they did the third and fourth day. But today, they were silent. The youngest was weakening, and the eldest held onto her hand.

"Are you going to talk to me now?" Donovan asked, slumped against the outside of the cabin, picking at his nails with his pocket knife. The eldest narrowed her piercing blue eyes at him, but did not speak. "Are you part of Pisces?"

He watched her eyes grow wide in surprise. "How do you know about that?"

He glanced back down at his nails before saying, "They've been awful busy in Bedford, Maine." The eldest was at a loss of words. She pushed her blond hair back, her eyes darting as if searching for an explanation.

"It was a gamble for you to come out here." She told him as if he didn't already know. He cut his eyes over at her, giving her an ill-mannered look.

"I know. And it seems I will die out here, but that doesn't matter. I'll have my answer, and then I will be at peace."

"What answer?" The eldest wriggled in the nets.

"Why her? Why did you kill my wife? Of all people?" Donovan got to his feet. "She would never harm a living creature."

"I cannot answer that, for I am not part of Pisces." She said.

"You expect me to believe that?" Donovan raised an eyebrow.

"If I were, I would have already taken down this ship." She replied.

"Well, it's a shame that you're not," Donovan sauntered over to her, "because I came for answers. And I'm not letting you go without them."

The eldest bared her teeth at him. "It's evil men like you that have Pisces killing in the first place."

"So they're a justice system?" He questioned.

"They patrol our waters, or at least they use to. Shoreline attacks are not part of the system."

Donovan twirled his scraggly beard, and chewed on his lip. "So they're rogue?"

"Apparently. I will be speared for telling you this, are you happy with your answer?"

Donovan shook his head. "Not quite." Something suddenly thunked against his hull, and he reached for his scoop net to retrieve yet another pair of fish. "Tell me," he began, "what do the fish mean?"

The eldest swallowed and clung to the net. There was something less fierce in her eyes; fear. "It means they're coming."