Juan took a deep breath. “Okay. Taz, Ducky, Lashawn, and Sarah, you guys are on watch. Everybody else, head down to the common area. We need to talk about this in detail.”
“Yo,” Taz called, “what do we do if we see this naked bitch?”
“I know what I’m gonna do.” Ducky grinned, rubbing his crotch. “I’m gonna get me some pussy.”
“Great,” Sarah muttered under her breath. “Juan, why did you stick me with these assholes?”
“Hey!” Taz protested.
“Because Christian and Louis aren’t back yet,” Juan told her. “If they don’t get back soon, I’ll send Kevin or Mike up.”
Dripping, we followed him downstairs, shrugged out of our rain gear, and took our seats.
“Okay,” Juan said, shaking the water from his hair, “anybody else hear or see this mysterious woman?”
Nobody spoke.
“All right. Nate, give me a rehash. Tell us exactly what you saw.”
“Kevin and I were out on the roof, talking about what Salty said last night, and I heard somebody singing. When I glanced out at the ocean, just for a second, I saw a woman.”
He paused, lost in thought, and then continued.
“She was beautiful. She had long, blond hair, and even though she was far away, I could see her eyes very clearly. It was weird. Felt like her eyes were looking right through me.”
“And she was singing?” Juan asked.
“She was singing. Then she vanished beneath the waves.”
“And that’s all?”
“That’s it.” Nate glanced at Lee, but Lee didn’t challenge him this time.
“Kevin,” Juan said, turning to me, “did you see this woman, too?”
I shook my head. “I didn’t see anything. To be honest, I thought Nate was full of shit. Now, I’m not so sure.”
“Apology accepted,” Nate grumbled.
Juan knelt down and looked at the kids.
“James. Malik. What did you guys mean up on the roof, when you said you’d heard a lady singing to you?”
They stared at the floor and shuffled their feet nervously.
“Go on, boys,” Anna urged, “it’s okay. Tell us.”
“The fish lady,” Malik began, not looking up. “I dream about her every night. She sings outside my window, and tells me to jump in the water. I…I tried, but I’m not strong enough to get the window open. I’m too little.”
The regret in his voice was almost heartbreaking. The windows weren’t designed to open, so that Baltimore’s elite wouldn’t take a swan dive after a bad day on the stock market. But a kid like Malik wouldn’t have known that.
“Malik,” Juan prodded gently, “why does she want you to jump in the water?”
“She said that she would teach me how to swim. And when she talks, I can’t help it. I have to do what she says.”
A shadow crossed his face. When he spoke again, his voice was choked. “She’s a nice lady—but scary, too.”
Juan turned to James. “You’ve seen her as well?”
He nodded. “Yes sir. At night. I heard Malik talking to her through the window. That’s when I first saw her. She said if we came down, she’d give me a big hug like my mom used to.”
“We tried to—” Malik began, but the older boy shot him a warning glance.
“Tried to what?”
Malik was silent.
“Boys,” Juan sighed, “you’re not in trouble, okay? But I need you to tell us the truth. What did you try to do? Open the window?”
Malik shook his head. “No. When we couldn’t get the window open, we tried to sneak out onto the roof one night. She said she’d be waiting for us, down in the water. We didn’t want to go, but we couldn’t help it. So we snuck out of our room while everybody was sleeping. But when we got up to the roof, Taz and Ducky were standing guard and they told us to go back to bed.”
“And those idiots never thought to mention it to the rest of us,” Juan muttered. “Boys, when did you first start seeing this lady?”
“Just a few nights ago,” James whispered. “Malik’s seen her four times, and me only two.”
“Danielle,” Sarah interrupted, “have you seen this lady too?”
“No,” Danielle picked up her doll and began combing its hair. “Girls can’t hear the fish lady. Just boys.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because that’s what she told Malik and James. They told me, and I thought they were making it up to play a trick on me. So they asked her and the fish lady told them I couldn’t see her.”
Lori spoke up. “So why do you guys call her the fish lady?”
Malik said, “Because she doesn’t have any legs. Just a tail like a fish.”
None of us knew what to make of their story. It was impossible to tell where the truth ended and childhood imagination began. But Juan, Mike, and I had all heard something, and Nate had seen a figure in the water.
After dinner, Lori and I went back to my room. I checked the garden while she lounged on the bed, reading an out of date issue of Cosmopolitan.
“So what do you think, Kevin?” she asked.
“I think this houseplant is going to do fine,” I said, gently fingering the leaves, checking for brown patches. “I just wish I knew what it actually is. I’d love to find a book that identifies plants. We’ll have to wait a few more days to see what happens with the seeds I planted.”
She rolled up the magazine and swatted at me. I grabbed her arm, pulled her off the bed and we collapsed to the floor, wrestling with one another. Our laughter turned into a kiss—long, soft, and lingering.
“I’m not talking about the garden,” she said with a smile, lying on top of me. “I’m talking about this ’fishlady.’ What do you think?”
“Well, if it was just Nate, I’d say he’s cracking under the strain, and if it were just the kids, I’d say they were having bad dreams. But all of them together, plus what happened with…” I glanced at the mound of dirt covering Jimmy’s head. “With what happened yesterday—I don’t know anymore. It’s like reality and fantasy are blending, you know? I can accept the rain, and I can accept the Satanists. I can even consider the possibility of Salty’s giant sea monster. But mermaids? That’s pretty fucking hard to swallow.”
“Yeah,” she whispered, her breath tickling my ear. “It does seem a little far-fetched. But these days, I’m willing to believe just about anything.”
She pointed to the skylight. The rain drummed against it, obscuring the sky.
“A year ago, I wouldn’t have believed that it would just start raining one day and never stop.”
I looked into her eyes. “A year ago, I wouldn’t have believed I could be with a girl as beautiful as you.”
She sat up on top of me, her pelvis cradling mine. She grinned, gave me a playful squeeze, and then got to her feet. “So you really think stuff’s going to grow in here without direct sunlight?”
“Sure.” I shrugged. “It’s worked pretty good so far.”
“Yeah, I’ve got to admit, it has.”
She flopped back down on the bed and opened up the magazine. I turned back to the plants.
“When were you born, Kevin?”
“September twenty-second. Why?”
“I’m reading the horoscopes.” She scanned a few pages and then smiled. “Hey, you’re a water sign. That’s pretty appropriate, isn’t it?”
“I guess so. A little fucking dark though, don’t you think?”
She giggled.
I tilled the surface soil with my fingers, carefully avoiding Jimmy’s resting place.
Lori was quiet for a moment, and then she made a small sound in her throat.
I turned. She was frowning.
“What is it?”
“Nothing.” She snapped the magazine shut.
“Come on, Lori. What is it?”