“Y’all are supposed to be some hedonistic island of hippies, left-wingers, and African witches.”
He said it so earnestly that I laughed. Something loud and sudden that felt good to release. But Hailey must have misread because she cleared her throat, and if stony looks could kill, there would be a report on the local news about Barry.
Barry must have realized how he sounded because he tried cleaning up.
“What I meant was—”
“It’s okay, Barry. We hear that stuff all the time.” Then I added for good measure, “I heard you mainlanders are nothing but a bunch of soft, greedy, stuck-up children who don’t know how to take care of themselves.”
Barry waggled a finger at me. “Ah, you got me there—”
“Ada.”
He considered it. “Ada. Beautiful name. Good boat name.”
“I know,” I huffed out, swallowing the surge of annoyance. “I have one.”
Hailey cut in, likely sensing danger… not for me, but him. “Barry,” she said, her voice high and loud as she gave me a pointed look that I returned with one of my own. “Did you notice anything else the night of the storm?”
“The whole evening was off. Now that I find out your friend—”
“Naira.”
“—is from the Isle, the freakiness of the whole thing, and the lady showing up makes more sense.”
Wait. What?
Hailey and I shared a look. Barry’s words had hit center target.
“There was this woman standing at the end of the dockwearing this long cloak like the one Little Red Riding Hood would wear. Only this one was black.”
In my mind, something began dislodging itself.
“I called out to her because she was right at the edge, not moving, but she could have fallen, you know.”
Coils of snakes constricted and unwound themselves in my gut, and I pulled off my backpack, unzipping it, digging in.
“I said, ‘Hey, ma’am, you might wanna back away from there.’ And I started walking to her, like so, thinking maybe she needed help or something. My mother, bless her soul, used to do that when her memory got too bad. Wander off and get into predicaments until we had to put her in a home. She’s passed on now.”
“I’m sorry.” Hailey ducked her head all respectful like, activating me to nod in sympathetic solidarity.
Barry’s words triggered something I’d seen and I pulled my phone out. Unlocked it. I was fumbling with shaky fingers to where I’d last seen the shots from Naira.
“But the lady turned real fast on me. Looked at me and, swear to god, her eyes glowed like rubies. And her teeth. Two long ones. Like a tiger. Big! Like a saber-tooth.”
His eyes were saucers, growing larger until they were nearly all white as he recalled the moment. His voice lowered to a near whisper. He moved in closer. Barry wasn’t bullshitting either. He was scared. I could tell.
“I mean, it—she stopped me cold. I’m not ashamed to say I didn’t think much ’bout saving her at that point. Next thing I knew, this voice from nowhere was warding me off, but I wasn’t sure if I’d heard it inside or out of my head. You know what I’m saying?”
I didn’t know, but I could imagine. Barry’s story put Naira and Luke here, and my excitement grew. Not only them, but now there was a mysterious woman with saber-tooth fangs. I’d found them. I pulled up the selfie of Luke and Naira on the boat.
“I blinked. I swear that’s all I did. Felt a gust of air. And the next second she was gone. Like she was never there.” He let out a slow breath. He checked if we believed him. I did. Hailey’s face was a blank slate. I had no idea what she was thinking.
“Haven’t told a soul,” Barry continued. “I’d been drinking that night. I don’t want to believe what I saw. It’ll give you nightmares. But I been thinking, those murders and disappearances all over the news. Then fang lady. Gotta be something. Don’t you think?”
I held my phone screen out to him and showed him the picture. “Is this like what you saw?”
Hailey craned her neck, angling for a better view. Barry’s eyebrows furrowed in concentration.
