The corner of Sawyer’s mouth pulled down. “Strike? As in, fight?” Then his eyes got wide. “Do you have to fight often?”
Ciaran was silent for a moment. He was so torn about wanting to disclose everything to Sawyer and not wanting to ruin their bonding time alone together. “No. Thankfully.” That wasn’t a lie. They didn’t have to fight often, but Ciaran couldn’t shake the feeling that something bad was coming. He studied Sawyer’s eyes, wondering what he should divulge.
“What’s wrong?” Sawyer asked. He slid his hand over Ciaran’s chest. “I can feel what you feel, you know?”
Ciaran’s smile was a mix of gratitude and sadness. He was thankful for Sawyer’s openness but sorry he couldn’t shield him from the bad parts.
“You can tell me,” Sawyer murmured. “Anything.”
Ciaran ran his thumb along Sawyer’s cheek, relishing the warmth and honesty in his ice-blue eyes. “I know, I just....” He sighed again and decided to go with the whole truth. “I don’t mean to hide anything from you. I’ve been alone a long time.On my own, as the leader of my consortium. I try and shoulder everything so as not to burden any of the boys.”
Sawyer took his hand in both of his as if he was saying Ciaran wasn’t alone anymore. He was with him.
“I’m not used to talking about stuff with anyone.”
“Not even Fray?”
“Most things. But not all. He’s my best friend, and we’re close, but I don’t want to burden him with my responsibilities.”
“You’re not a burden,” Sawyer offered gently.
“No, but....” He half shrugged, not truly realising until he’d said that out loud how much hehadfelt like a burden. Maybe he’d unpack that later, but he needed to get back to the point. “And I don’t mean to ever keep anything from you, not deliberately. I’m just not used to it. You can ask me anything, and I’ll be honest.”
“Same,” Sawyer said with a hint of a smile. “I’m not used to it either. I’ve been alone most of my adult life. Even as a cop.” He made a face. “Especially as a cop. So we both have to get used to being open and honest with each other. It’ll take time, but I don’t think you’re hiding anything from me deliberately.”
But the truth was, Ciaranwashiding something from him, and that ended now.
“There is something I have to tell you. I was going to tell you later, maybe. I didn’t want to ruin our time here at the hut.”
Sawyer squeezed his hand. No fear, no misunderstanding, only concern for Ciaran. “What is it?”
“We think something’s happening,” he said. “Trouble in our world. A threat is coming, but we don’t know what or when. Well, we think we know, but we fucking hope it’s not that. I’ve been in touch with a few consortiums. The Bass Strait boys have fucking bailed, leaving us to face it alone. And the Maori boys have said they’ll come?—”
“I’m sorry, what?” Sawyer blinked, a deep frown on his face. “A threat?”
“Yes. The trench is silent. All deep-sea life has gone, kinda like when animals know when an earthquake is about to happen. Fray and I went for a look, and it was eerie as hell. And Dylan said he thought he saw something in the water when you fell in. He said there was something there with you, but Otis didn’t see anything. I sent three out to search but they found nothing.”
“Hmm.” Sawyer’s frown turned pensive. “Like how the forest was too quiet? Or how there are no birds here, no other animals. Well, except Salem.”
It wasn’t like Ciaran could tell him the truth about the critters in the forest....
Then Sawyer did the cutest little head tilt. “What do you mean threat, exactly? Does this have anything to do with what Dylan said that night on the dock in Hobart? He said, ‘She’s coming back,’ and he looked really fucking scared.”
Fuck.
“Well, first of all, Dylan gets super anxious and freaks out easily. But it’s a folklore thing, kind of. He ran into the Bass Strait consortium, and they were leaving. Fucking cowards. The leader of their consortium—his name is Dirk—was always a piece of shit. Fray calls him Dirk the jerk.” He was getting off-track again. “Anyway, you’ve heard of the kraken, right?”
Sawyer’s eyes went comically wide. “The kraken.... You mean, like, giant squid, kraken?”
“Well, not really, but yes?—”
“The Norse mythology kraken?”
“Closer, yes.”
Sawyer squinted his eyes shut, and when he opened them, Ciaran could see... anger?
“Wait,” he said. “Hold the fuck up.”
