Chapter 30
Harper tossed and turned all night; she slipped into dreams and fell back out.
She was in the locked room, her toes slowly freezing beyond help and her fingertips numb with the chill.
As soon as she began to truly feel the hopelessness that this dream carried, she was thrust back into the waking world.
When dawn began to break, Harper was glad.
She pulled on her running shoes and hoodie; checking on Kyle, who was snoring in his bed, she slipped out after giving Polly a kiss on the head.
At the dock, Murphy was waiting. “We’ll keep this quick, we’re out there and back. The fishing boats are all planning short runs today. Feel that wind?”
Harper nodded as she donned her thermal suit and life vest. “Quick, just need a little water from the site of the ‘incident,’ as Boston calls it.”
The outboard motor was deafening. By the time they reached the coordinates fifteen minutes later, Harper’s head was ringing. She scooped water into the vials as efficiently as she could.
“What’s the point of this?” Murphy asked. “Explain this to the non-scientist here.”
“Abundance,” Harper replied as she sealed the last vial. “They have readings from the samples on the day of the wave, and now they need to run the DNA again to see if what they found was a fluke, or if there is an abundance of that creature in this spot.”
“And what creature is that?” Murphy asked as she prepared the motor to launch.
“Ideally? Thalassic calide. But I actually have no idea. Whatever they found, they aren’t telling me, at least yet. I imagine they’ll send a report after they analyze these samples.” Harper closed the water samples in the lockbox. “Alright, Skipper, let’s roll.”
The motorboat roared back into East Dock as the winds picked up speed. Harper hopped off and tied the little boat back to dock. Murphy handed her the water samples and then climbed off.
“I’ll send the bill for the gas to you? To Boston?” she asked.
“Send it straight to Akiel, he offered to pick up the tab after all.” Harper grinned.
“I’ll be over by nine to pick up your colleague,” Murphy said. “My cart’s on this side of the island.” She nodded to the cart parked off the end of the dock. “What happened anyway? I got the message from Akiel that we needed to rush these samples and get Kyle off the island ASAP.”
“I’ll buy you lunch later, if I’m still here, and explain all.
But basically, I think BSI is pulling the project.
This was a courtesy to begin with, and these are the death throes.
I’m heading to Bell Manor for the storm.
I’d be surprised if they don’t send me back as soon as the weather clears, and Boston can say once and for all that it was a bust.” Harper pulled the thermal suit off and folded it up in the dock storage locker.
She was fighting the guilty excitement she felt now that she was free to go to Bell Manor, all responsibilities in town satisfied.
“I heard you were heading to the manor,” Murphy said. “Bell suits you, you know. No one can send you back if you want to stay.”
Harper paused, the possibility pregnant in the air, the very words rushed through her like a hopeful wave. “We’ll see after the storm.”
Harper dropped the samples off at the lab.
She would need to stop by there anyhow before they headed to the dock.
It was only 7:00 a.m. and she wasn’t quite ready to go back to the house.
Instead, she jogged the short distance into town and straight to the grocery.
Hedy was, predictably, shuffling here and there behind the glass front.
As Harper entered, she looked up, unsurprised.
“Stock boy doesn’t get here till nine, place is a mess,” she muttered.
Hedy was right. Last night’s quake had knocked boxes and bags free from their shelves, rice coated the floor in an aisle, and oranges dotted the landscape, having escaped from their neat stack in the tiny produce section.
“I’ll get the broom,” Harper said simply. Hedy nodded.
An hour later, the floor was free from rice and oranges, and Harper had managed to get the shelves back to a sort of order, although she doubted it was up to Hedy’s standards. The old woman looked at her work and grunted.
“Appreciated,” she said as she took the broom and dustpan from Harper.
“Hedy, you said something last time I was here, can I ask you about it?” Harper asked hesitantly.
Hedy nodded.
“You said you knew I’d make it here one day,” Harper started cautiously. “What did you mean by that?”
“I think you might know,” Hedy replied dryly as she situated herself on her stool behind the counter. “Outsiders have a rough time on Bell, but you’re not an outsider, are you?”
“You wouldn’t know it by the looks Bennie gives me,” Harper said with what she hoped was a conciliatory smile.
Hedy laughed, a rough, chesty sound that made Harper jump before she realized what it was. “You’re not wrong on that one, we’re not the friendliest lot.” Hedy chuckled. “Einar keeps telling me as much. My boy left the island for a spell, you know.”
“He told me, but he came back,” Harper said, leaning against the counter.
“Lots of young people leave and come back. Bell has a way like that.” Hedy paused, examining Harper. “You’ve seen something.”
Harper swallowed, searching for the words. “I have. My teammate has too … it rattled him pretty bad. And the cat … caught something one night.”
“The cats and the huldufólk have never quite agreed on things,” Hedy said with a furrowed brow.
“Lots to argue about amongst the Fae … oh! Cinnamon rolls. Do take one, and one for your friend.” Hedy shuffled to the front, where a tray of baked goods was making its entrance on the shoulder of the tiny woman from down the street.
Harper sighed. She would have to remember to ask Hedy the big questions earlier in the morning if she wanted a full answer.
She waved a goodbye and carried the baked goods back to Kyle, who would be getting up and ready by now, stopping for the water samples on her way.
She suspected he would not be sad that he was leaving this place.
He’d been too shaken the night before to react much to the news that he was to be on the 9:00 a.m. ferry back to Boston.
For her part, Harper found a seed of excitement in her gut.
She didn’t know how Bell Manor would know she was staying, but she had no doubt they’d find out.
Back at the house, she found Kyle packed and ready, sitting at the table with fresh coffee.
“Murphy’ll be here in about an hour. You have water samples to cart back and a cinnamon roll courtesy of Hedy.” She set both pastries on plates and sat at the table across from Kyle.
“These might be the only thing I’ll miss,” Kyle said as he took a bite.
From the couch, Polly shifted position, paws flailing in the air.
“Okay, there are other things. Polly, grilled cheese, and I sincerely will miss you too.” Kyle looked down at his coffee.
“I’m pretty embarrassed about how I acted last night. ”
“You don’t need to be,” Harper said as she pulled a bite off her cinnamon roll. “You saw something that shouldn’t exist and then a 4.7 earthquake hit.”
“It was just standing there in the window. Then it hopped down to the floor, Polly freaked, that was the lamp … I swung at it, I don’t even know where I found the stick … I just … What was it?” Kyle looked at Harper, his question hesitant.
“I don’t know, but you didn’t imagine it, and you have every right to be rattled. It makes sense to send you back to Boston, between the storm and the broken boat—I’m surprised they aren’t sending me with you.” Harper squeezed Kyle’s hand.
“They can’t. I mean not without talking to Lady Bell,” Kyle said though a full mouth.
Harper looked at him curiously.
“I heard it from my advising professor at BSI. Your appointment came from Lady Bell herself, and only Lady Bell has the final say on when the project is over. I mean, you can personally leave whenever, it’s not like you’re a prisoner,” Kyle stuttered.
“But the project itself doesn’t end until Lady Bell says so,” Harper finished for him. “Which means that as Team Lead, I officially unofficially work for Lady Bell, not BSI. Why didn’t you say anything to me about this?”
Kyle shook his head. “I thought you knew.”
Harper nodded and digested what Kyle had said. It should have been disturbing, an outsider, not university affiliated, having final say over the start and stop of her project, but instead, she felt oddly comforted. She didn’t have to leave, and Boston couldn’t make her.