Listen to the Water | FULL SERIES | Wattys 2022 Shortlist | ✔

(25) Lies

I lie where I am for a while, just tracking the song. My hands haven't stopped shaking since I first laid eyes on Taiki here. I can remember the last time I felt like this. It didn't end well for anyone involved.

I've started to suspect Taiki is not as mentally stable as he pretends to be. Or even mentally okay. Everyone in the tribe treats him kindly, but almost too kindly; he helps out everywhere, but no one complains when he disappears for a day at a time. Even if he leaves without warning. And now this makes twice that he's spaced out and responded by returning to the last place he was in danger. Last time, it was the drop-off where he healed me from a shark bite. This time, it's here.

Is he waiting for the Sami to come back? Here to take revenge? He's smart, maybe, but I seriously doubt his ability to defend himself, let alone attack. He's not even armed.

Right now he's sitting in full view in the most visible, recognizable part of the city, both tail-lit and singing. I slip over the edge of the pit. The wall reflects my eddies back to me as I glide down it, circling the cathedral as I go. By the time I reach rubble, Taiki's back is to me. I can no longer see his tail, but its light echoes faintly on his elbows and hands.

The jagged blocks of rubble are dark and slimy, but they swallow my currents as I sneak over them. I'm as good as undetectable until I'm right behind the bowl. My grip on my dagger handle is hot and slippery. I loosen it to let cool seawater wipe my palm, then clench it again. Taiki has given no indication that he knows I'm here. I rise up silently behind the upended den. Then I charge.

One moment, I have an arm around his neck; the next, I've spun and slammed him flat on his back, my dagger-point tickling his neck. The handle scrapes my chest. If I drop my weight, he dies.

He doesn't react.

There isn't a shred of surprise in his face. Or shock, or fear. His eyes meet mine, and I'm almost certain he's actually seeing me, but he just keeps singing. My hands tremble so hard, the dagger nicks his skin. He doesn't flinch. I'm freaking out. What now? If he doesn't listen to me, do I actually hurt him? It's easy—too easy—to imagine, but now that I'm actually here, the magnitude of my weapon's proximity barrels down on me.

I release Taiki and shove him away from me, recoiling until my back is against the bowl. My bent arm keeps my dagger between us. What is wrong with him? This is not normal. This is not okay. He finds purchase on the rubble and props himself up, head tipped back to the sky. He's still singing.

I stay where I am. Taiki finishes the song and looks down at something in his hand. He rolls over and bobs up into the water. I scramble away. He doesn't even look at me as he swims up to the offering bowl and releases four smooth pebbles into it. He makes a small sign and dips his head, eyes closed. Then he turns away. I sheathe my dagger and surge at him. This time when I pin him again, he winces.

"You lied to me."

He just looks up at me.

My hand-lights pulse with the river-flood of my emotions. They're breaking out, and I can't hold them down anymore. My words sign themselves. "Masae told me about the prophecy. Did you know?"

He nods.

I'm shaking all over now. "So you knew all that about Rashi supposedly being a made-up substitute for Andalua, and my people being Shalda?" I can't believe this. I don't want to believe this. "That my village might not be on my island anymore, and might not even be alive? That your people have been trying to sing mine into the sea, and I may never be able to get back because no spell that strong exists anymore? And you didn't tell me."

"You wanted to go back to your village."

I want to scream. I want to hurt him, just to see some expression on his face. I thought we had an agreement. I thought I had some control over some part of my life, and now he's telling me it was all a lie that he maintained because I told him what I wanted, and he obeyed without another word.