Surrendering (Swans Landing) (5 page)

Then I left my mom sitting in the kitchen, alone once again.

CHAPTER SIX

Usually only one or two people at a time shopped inside Moody’s Variety Store outside of tourist season. Tonight there were more people crowded inside the small shop than I had ever seen at once before. The crowd had gathered at the food counter in the back of the store, where usually Miss Gale could be seen cooking and humming. But the dishes were dusty, and the stove looked as if it hadn’t been used in a while.

People sat on every surface available—the barstools, the countertop, an old barrel. The ones who couldn’t get a seat stood along the wall or leaned against the display shelves full of duct tape and canned beans and mosquito repellent.

Jim Moody stood behind the counter, his bushy arms crossed over his chest as he studied the crowd in the store. Maybe he was watching to make sure no one stole anything, or maybe he was just uncomfortable being around so many finfolk at once.

It didn’t surprise me that most of the crowd in the store was finfolk. Only a few humans were actually friendly to finfolk—Mr. Moody; my guidance counselor from school, Mr. Richter; Mara’s friend Claire, who stayed close to Mara’s side; Mrs. Kinsey, the local lawyer; and a handful of others.
Not enough.
Not as many as we would need if we hoped to fight back against whatever army Domnall brought with him.

“There are some people missing,” Mr. Moody said as he looked over the crowd. “More getting sick, I reckon.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Sick?”

His beard twitched as he pressed his lips together. “Strange symptoms, like Gale’s. Fatigue, confusion. Humans and finfolk both. Dr. Hanson can’t figure it out.”

I frowned as this information sank in.

“Go on, boy,” Mr. Moody told me, nodding his gray head. “I think that’s all that’s coming.”

I exchanged a glance with Mara, who sat on a barstool next to her dad. Lake’s mouth was set in a firm, thin line. I was sure he had already heard some of the details from Mara.

I cleared my throat, trying to get everyone’s attention. “Hello,” I called out.

But the conversations continued and my voice became lost in the noise.

“If I could have your attention,” I said.

When the noise still didn’t settle down, Mara shouted, “Shut up and listen!”

All conversation came to an abrupt end and dozens of eyes turned toward me.

I wasn’t a public speaker. I had spent my life trying to be as invisible as possible. The urge to burrow into my big hoodie and disappear overwhelmed me, and I had to take a deep breath before going on.

“If you don’t know me, I’m Josh Canavan,” I said, though the words were unnecessary. Everyone knew everyone else on the island, whether we wanted to or not.

“Oliver’s boy,” someone said, though I didn’t see who.

I nodded. “My dad loved the finfolk. He studied them and tried to learn everything he could about them.” I swallowed back the lump in my throat. “Unfortunately, I didn’t get the chance to get to know him. But I know if he was still alive, he would have made sure he was here tonight. There is danger coming to the island that will affect all of us, both finfolk and human.”

For a second time that day, I told how Sailor and I had found our way to Hether Blether and met the finfolk there. I spoke about the things we had learned from them, the things we had seen with our own eyes and heard them say.

“The king of the finfolk believes that his island is dying out because our ancestors left three hundred years ago,” I finished. “He believes that he can save the finfolk race by finding us. By taking over our home and our people, by forcing us to join him. Maybe it’s his duty to do what he thinks is best for his people, but it is
our
duty to protect our home from this invasion. We are not all finfolk here. Domnall knows how to use the finfolk songs against humans, even against those of us with a small amount of human blood. He will do whatever he has to in order to get what he wants.”

The room fell silent when I stopped speaking. I looked around at the faces that stared back at me, waiting for someone to say something, to have an answer to help us.

Mr. Richter straightened from where he was leaning against the wall. “Why does this Domnall think that coming here will save his people? What exactly is it he wants?”

“He thinks that the mists that protect Hether Blether from the outside world are failing because the song has lost its power,” Callum spoke up. He stood, grimacing as he put weight on his wooden leg. We had left Sailor and her mother with Miss Gale, letting them all sleep in Miss Gale’s big bed, but Callum had insisted on coming to the meeting. He didn’t look as if he had managed to get a nap in the time in between, and dark circles lined his eyes. We were both running on empty.

“Every finfolk carries the power to manipulate things through the song,” Callum said. “The song is the melody of the essence inside—the earth, the water, even living creatures. That explains why humans see things when they hear a finfolk song. It manipulates their minds into creating visions. But the song can also be used to manipulate
places
. The mists that protect Hether Blether were created by the combined song of the finfolk who live there. Whenever they sing, they renew the protective spell. But as the finfolk numbers have diminished on the vanishing isle, the song has lost some of its power. Domnall worries that the island will become visible to human eyes and will be at risk of invasion by them. It’s happened before, to an old island where finfolk used to live.”

“So he comes here to invade us instead?” Mrs. Kinsey asked.

“How do we fight them?” Mr. Waverly asked. Dylan stood next to his dad, his arms crossed and a deep scowl on his face. I was surprised he had come. He’d stood silently in a corner the whole time, glowering whenever anyone approached him.

Everyone fell silent, waiting for my response. I took a deep breath, knowing that no one would like what I was about to say. “I don’t know.”

Angry conversations started up again. I held up my hands to try to silence them. “There has to be a way to fight the finfolk, to make them leave Swans Landing,” I said. “We just have to figure out what it is.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t fight them,” a man named Piers Rousay said. “Maybe we should let these finfolk have the humans. What have they done for us these last sixteen years anyway?”

Claire’s face paled as she stared at the finfolk who agreed with Mr. Rousay. Mara patted Claire’s hand reassuringly.

“We’re not letting anyone take our home,” Lake said, his voice roaring over everyone else’s. “This island belongs to both human and finfolk. We’ll have to fight together to save it.”

“We need more people,” I said.

Mr. Moody scratched at his wiry gray beard. “Good luck, son. Many of them ain’t likely to take orders from no finfolk.”

“What about from you?” I asked.

Mr. Moody shrugged. “Can’t make no promises. Some of them are stubborn. Harry Connors, in particular.”

Mara’s gaze shot across the room, locking on Dylan’s, who stared back at her. Something in my gut twisted as unspoken words passed between them.

“We have to try,” I said, pushing away thoughts of whatever was going on between Mara and Dylan. It wasn’t the biggest thing to worry about right now.

“Do you have any idea when these finfolk will be coming?” Mr. Richter asked.

Callum shook his head. “We swam as fast as we could to try to get ahead. We don’t know how far behind us they are.”

Lake stood, pushing his long hair out of his eyes. “Then we have to be prepared, for whenever they show up.”

“I’ll talk to as many people as I can,” Mr. Richter said. “I’ll try to get them to listen.”

“The rest of us should do what we can to fight, whether or not we have help,” Lake said.

Everyone stood and began breaking off into groups or leaving. It seemed that the meeting was over, though I didn’t know what we had really accomplished. We still had no idea how to fight Domnall.

“How did things go?” Mara asked, reaching across the counter to touch my hand. “With your mom?”

We hadn’t had a chance to talk again before the meeting, so I hadn’t been able to tell her anything.

“Not as well as I’d hoped,” I said. “But pretty much what I expected. She kicked me out.”

Mara’s eyebrows shot up. “
What?
”

“I guess I’m homeless now.” The words didn’t bother me as much as I expected them to. I had known how mom would react back when I decided to leave. I had been homeless for the last five months.

“You can stay at my house,” Mara said.

I looked across the room to where Lake stood talking with Mr. Richter. Mara’s dad and I had never really talked. Before anyone knew the truth about me, I had spent my life avoiding crossing paths with other finfolk as much as possible, as if maybe they could figure out the truth about me if they got too close. I had no idea what he thought of me, or of the fact that I was involved with his daughter.

“You sure that’s a good idea?” I asked.

Mara nodded. “It’ll be fine.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

“Absolutely not.”

Mara glared at her father, crossing her arms. “Why not?”

Lake shot her a look like she had gone insane. “Because you’re seventeen and you are not moving your boyfriend into my house.”

I shifted from one foot the other, staring at the toes of my dirty sneakers. It was pretty clear how Mara’s dad felt about me now.

“Where is he supposed to go?” Mara asked. “His mom threw him out.”

“I’m very sorry about that, Josh,” Lake said. “But I have to be Mara’s dad here, and I’m not comfortable with the two of you living under the same roof. I know what it’s like to be a teenager.”

“We are capable of restraining ourselves without tearing each other’s clothes off every second,” Mara snapped.

Lake’s neck reddened and his nostrils flared.

“What if I promise to keep at least three feet between us at all times?” I asked, cracking a grin to try to lighten the tension in the air. It didn’t work, judging from the way Lake’s eyes flashed.

Mara let out an annoyed huff. “
Now
you want to be my dad. Just in time to piss me off.”

Lake scowled. “Watch your language. It’s my final decision. He’ll have to stay somewhere else.”

Mara opened her mouth to say something, but I reached out and grabbed her hand. “It’s fine,” I said. Mara and Lake had a rocky relationship, and I didn’t want to be the cause of any new problems between them. There was no reason to make him more upset than he already was. I nodded to Lake. “I understand. I’ll find some place else to go.”

Mara shot her dad one last glare before she followed me out the door. We sat down on the top step, our sides pressed close together. Mara leaned her head on my shoulder. Twilight had fallen and the half moon hung in the sky behind the thick clouds. The island was quiet and still. In the peacefulness around us, it was hard to imagine that something bad was coming.

“Sorry about Lake,” Mara told me.

“It’s okay,” I assured her. “Maybe I can stay with Sailor. Callum and I can snuggle together on the couch.”

Mara’s mouth curled into a slight smile. “So about Callum,” she said. “What’s the deal with him?”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

She lifted her head, her eyebrows raised. “What’s going on between him and Sailor?”

I shrugged. “They became close. That’s all I really know.”

“Are they dating?”

“Yes, they went out to the movies last week,” I said dryly.

Mara punched my arm. “You know what I mean.”

“Does it matter?” I asked, kicking at a loose rock on the step near my foot.

“Not to me,” Mara said. “But I think it matters to Dylan.”

My forehead creased into a deep scowl. “And whatever concerns Dylan concerns you?” I snapped.

Mara pulled away slightly. I felt her gaze on me, but I didn’t turn to look at her.

“Dylan is my friend,” she said.

I let out a bitter laugh. “Is that all he is?”

“Are you accusing me of something?”

“You two have had five months alone together,” I said. I didn’t want to fight with Mara, but I couldn’t hold the words back. Everything that had happened that day had settled heavy on my shoulders and I was suffocating under the pressure. My nerves were too frayed and on edge. I needed a release, to vent something before I exploded.

“I saw the way you two looked at each other,” I went on. “Why don’t you tell me what happened while I was gone?”

“What about what you’ve been doing?” Mara asked. “How do I know you didn’t find your own Scottish finfolk like Sailor did?”