Page 27 of She Who Was Once the Sea

"She saved my life, Lucas," I whispered, keeping my eyes trained on the points of his shiny shoes. "She’s the one who stopped those guys from beating me to death."

He was quiet for a long moment, the heavy sound of his breathing filling the room.

Finally, I looked up. He was studying me with a deep frown, nostrils flaring as if warring between anger and pity.

"I think we might be wrong about them," I continued. If I was going to bury myself, I may as well do it thoroughly. "I don’t think that they’re the monsters we think they are. I mean, they’re definitely bloodsuckers. But—"

"But they’ve been cursed to drink blood by the Stone Witch?"

I jerked my head up so that we were once again eye to eye, mouth falling open. That fact was absolutely not part of the Fratelli’s training or core belief system.

"You know?"

He didn’t break eye contact with me as he nodded his head. "I met one of them once," he said slowly, like he was second-guessing every word before letting it spill from his lips. "Decades ago now. I can’t even remember her name. We… were close. Briefly, at least."

I felt myself frowning, and he must have seen something on my face, because he laughed before continuing. "Don’t worry. It wasn’t your girl. This one had long, blonde hair and, if I’m being honest, seemed far less frightening than the woman we met today."

"She’s not my girl," I argued feebly, but he waved me off.

"I found her feeding on a man in a back alley one night, probably thirty years ago now. I was still relatively new to the job, and I’d been left alone for the first time. It was only my naiveté that prevented me from killing her on the spot. I pulled my knife and approached her, but when I got close, she laughed at me and told me that the man had just tried to kidnap a little girl from her home through a bedroom window.

"I didn’t believe her at first, but she led me around a corner to a ground-level apartment. A window was cracked, and inside, I could barely make out the form of a young child sleeping peacefully in her bed. She asked if I would have preferred that she let the pedophile live, and when I said no, she laughed again and walked away."

Lucas was staring off into the distance as he spoke, as if recalling a fond, far-away memory.

"I suppose I could still have done my job. Or I could have walked away. But I followed her as she left the alley. I told her it was to ensure she didn’t kill anyone else, but I’m sure she knew that I was full of shit.

"The next month, while on patrol, I went looking specifically for her. I felt guilty for letting her get away, and I thought I was ready to kill her this time. Somehow, I found her just before sunrise. She laughed when she saw me standing there with my knife, then walked right past me without hesitating, as if she knew I wouldn’t be able to stab her. And she was right.

"After that, she and I would find each other every month. She told me the same story that I’m sure your girl told you. And I tried, for a while, to help her find a way to break the curse. She was sure that there must be a way."

His face grew suddenly hard. "And then a member of the Fratelli was killed. A man named Robert. I wasn’t sure if it was her or one of the others, but I blamed her anyway. She told me that he had drunkenly attacked someone at a bar, that whichever one of them had killed him had done so in pursuit of justice. But I knew Robert. I knew that he would never do something like that."

Lucas studied his hands for a long moment. "That night, I tried to kill her. I pulled out my knife and swung it at her. I never came close, of course—she was much faster than me. But I think she could tell I was serious. Thankfully, instead of reciprocating, she simply ran away. And I never saw her again."

I let the silence sit, still and heavy in the room as he finished his story, both of us barely breathing. How could I even begin to speak again?

"There’s a way to break the curse?" I asked finally, clinging to the one piece of information I was comfortable acknowledging.

Looking up at me again, Lucas nodded. "We—I think so. It was really difficult to find, but I think we were getting close when… everything changed. There are books in the Basilica’s library, ancient books, that discuss the Stone Witch. And her weaknesses."

I felt my breath catch behind my ribs. "And those are?"

"From what I was able to find, she thrives on… well, drought. She’s not necessarily killed by water—this isn’t a ‘Wicked Witch of the West’ scenario. But she certainly does what she can to dry up any city she visits. And I’m fairly confident that it was her suggestion to remove the canals from Rossaia in the first place, although history would never admit that a woman was responsible."

"Do you remember the names of any of those books?" I asked, mind racing a million miles per hour. "Or has it been too long?"

The corner of his mouth twitched up in a slow, regretful smile. "It hasn’t been long at all," he admitted quietly. "I re-read them at least once every month. I know it’s probably far too late for us—I’ve aged significantly, and she is essentially immortal. But part of me thinks that if I can break the curse, maybe I can atone for trying to kill her all those years ago."

His voice grew quiet as he finished speaking, eyes staring at a point in the distance I couldn’t see, drifting over some far-off memory.

I nodded before standing up again. "Want some help?"

Chapter 14 - Marella

It was midnight by the time I realized that my ability to once again drink water had not sated my other thirst, and while I’d half-hoped that Garrett might come back to visit me, he never did. So, I pulled on my stolen red dress and a black jacket Garrett had given me from a closet in the apartment, grabbed the set of keys he’d left for me by the door, and let myself drift out into the warm night air of the piazza.

As I stepped outside, the first thing I wanted to do was walk over to the fountain in the center of the square. I felt drawn to it, like an invisible hook was dragging me towards my family.