MARJORIE

Thursday, April 12, 2018

Is she drunk?

If she was, it wasn't on beer or moonshine — Marj couldn't smell any alcohol of any kind on the girl's breath, but she couldn't think of another explanation for Cora's red cheeks or dilated pupils.

Or occasional misstep — the pale-haired girl actually tripped over the last step at the top of the stairs, and would've pancaked her face if Marj hadn't dug her nails into her arm.

"My thanks," Cora said, looking highly embarrassed. "And apologies — it would appear that I'm not one for heels." As she righted herself, she wiped at her sweaty brow. Very sweaty brow. Strange — it was damn near close to absolute zero in the Armstrong Building's empty halls, yet she was leaking like a broken faucet. It was weird enough for an obligatory inquiry to form at the tip of Marj's tongue. But she killed it — Helena told me to take her to the bathroom. I'm not her nanny.

So she just led the girl around the bend, until they reached the restrooms. Cora looked relieved. "Thank you," she said again. "Will ye wait for me? I'll not be a moment."

Marj pursed her lips. Can't you find your own way back? "Make it quick," she said.

"Aye!" Cora said, and turned to go through the door. Marj lashed out, seized her arm again.

"That's the boy's bathroom," she said, pointing to the sign. Cora turned and squinted at the words, and looked mortified.

"Mercy," she muttered. "I'm off my head today, aren't I?"

Marj watched her disappear into the other door, feeling annoyed and at the same time weirdly curious. It wasn't the alcohol-free drunk state she seemed to be in — it was the girl in general. 'Lena had okayed her and the old man's sudden appearances, but... Was she the only one who thought there was something off about her? It wasn't her very archaic accent, not really... It wasn't her very intense focus on the film, a film that had bored Marj to tears the first time she'd seen it, not really... It wasn't the stark contrast between her, pale of hair and porcelain of skin, and Darwin Blakesley, who was brown as a chocolate chip cookie... What was it?

What do you care? Get back to being happy that you aren't at home right now.

Her lips folded in on themselves again. True, but only for another half hour, at best... But there was hope: Ms. Laurent had mentioned coming over tonight. Maybe she could convince her to stay for a late meal...

She continued down along that path, thinking about an enticing spread to lay out for the woman — taco salad maybe? Or meatballs, hadn't she bought two packs of them this weekend? — and didn't notice that something like ten minutes had passed until something landed at the window opposite the wall she leaned against: a Wingull, one peering through the glass right at her, wearing a very angry look on its face. Is that a collar around its neck?

The flying-type Pokémon shifted its glower over to the bathroom, and Marj remembered: Didn't a drunk girl go in there ten minutes ago? Why was it taking her so long to whizz and wash her face?

She stepped into the girl's bathroom. "Cora?" she called. Her voice was clipped, borderline impatient. "Cora?"

At first, no answer. Then a noise, one just like those she sometimes heard at the house at night. Not similar in the actual sound...but in the breath it took out of her, in the way it sent fear crawling along her spine, spreading from inside her chest like cancerous roots. She felt her eyes swell in their sockets as they cast a stupefied gaze around the bathroom, ready to encounter something horrifying.

They reached the stalls. Cora was slumped in one of them, her head hanging inside the toilet.

F*cking hell. The fear didn't evaporate, not entirely, but instead mixed and braided with a flash of furious aggravation. Why couldn't 'Lena be here? 'Lena knew how to handle sudden and upsetting bullsh*t like this with a straight face, even a smile. Marj hated surprises, and she hated involvement when there were ten thousand better uses of her time.

Unfortunately, she couldn't just leave. She at least had to make sure that the girl was all right... Right? Teeth sinking into her lower lip, she stepped forward.

"Cora?" She grabbed the girl's shoulders and pulled, digging her head out of the f*cking toilet bowl. She flopped like a life-sized doll, her head rolling back as Marj straightened her. She looked terrible: her entire face was red, and not the I-just-confessed-to-my-crush kind — dangerous, brain-boiling red, and drenched in sweat that dripped from the edge of her chin. A horrible thought occurred to Marj, and she smothered the urge to cringe away: Is she sick?

Maybe, maybe not, but for certain she was delirious: the girl's thick white lashes parted as her eyes opened, and when she saw Marj, she clutched at her shoulders with both hands. "Water," she gasped.

Marj stared at her in amazement. Water? Arceus, tell me that's not why she was in the toilet! "There's water in the classroom," she said, rattled.

"No," Cora said, her eyes bright and feverish. "Not enough. More. Big...big water, please." Her grip on Marj's shoulders became painful with desperation. "Big water! I need...big water...Please!"

Marj tried to dig her way out of the girl's grip, but it was ironclad. "Let go of me!" she snapped.

"Please!" Cora begged. "I was wrong, I... I thought I could resist it, but... Please, I need water, or I'll...die..."

Die? What the hell was wrong with this girl? What was she saying? She was going to die if she didn't get water? What idiocy was this? Is this some kind of drunken fit? Is she playing a prank on me?

She's not making up the fever, is she Marj?

That one thought gave her pause. No, that thick, oppressive heat coming from Cora was certainly not fake — it was so intense that Marj could feel it radiating from her hands, hell, radiating from her skin. Dangerous? This...fever or whatever it was had to be lethal. Yes, enough to kill her.

"Let me go get Helena," she said.

"No," Cora rasped. "No, no, no, I need it now, please... Big water. Large water. A pond. A river. A fountain. I beg of you!"

The Rose Building came to mind. "We have a pool," she said doubtfully. But it was closed since it was after hours... Right? And Cora didn't seriously expect for her to take her over to a—

"Yes!" Cora cried. "Yes, the pool, take me there!"

"I can't, it's closed."

"Then open it!" Cora snapped. "There be some human around with a key, yes? Find them, have them open it!"

Human—? "That's not how that works. I'm a student — I can't just order the janitors to go around opening sh*t because I feel like it." Finally, she managed to slip out of the girl's grasp. "Wait here," she ordered. "I'll go get your grandpa." I f*cking hope he knows what to do with you!

She'd reached the door when she realized that Cora had gotten up and was following her in a swaying shamble, her ankles knocking into each other. She stumbled into the wall jamb and collapsed — before Marj could stop herself, she dove, saving the girl once again from breaking her teeth against the floor.

"I said stay put!" she snapped. "What the f*ck is wrong with you?"

Cora glowered at her with rheumy eyes. "Release me," she spat. "If ye won't help me, I'll help meself!"

She shoved Marj back and then scrambled back to her feet, making her way drunkenly outside the bathroom. Marj followed her back into the hall, and found that the Wingull who'd taken a post outside the window was going berserk, squawking and flapping its wings madly as Cora leaned heavily against the wall, trudging down the way. Marj watched her, feeling hugely conflicted. The science classroom was right down the hall and to the left — at a sprint, she could collect 'Lena and the old guy and have them up here in minutes, and leave them to handle the situation.

But the memory of that toxic heat once again halted her — for all her craziness, Cora was right about one thing: she was going to expire very quickly if she didn't cool down fast. Maybe in the time it took for Marj to get the others, and for them to get back here, and decide on what to do with her. The Rose Building was five hundred yards away — maybe if she helped the girl along—

Are you f*cking stupid? A pool, Marj? Do you really think this is a halfway sound idea? What the hell are you going to do if you arrive and it's locked?

She didn't know. She felt like she didn't know a lot of things right now. Except that she had a phone, and she had Helena's number — maybe she could get the girl to the pool and then call her, and tell her about the emergency?

That was stupid too. But it was all she had, and feeling a little terrified, she went with it.

"Slow down," she growled as she reached the girl. She snatched up a pale arm and looped it around her shoulders. "You're going to trip and fall again like that."

Cora looked at her blearily and whispered, "Thank you."

It was the only conversation they had the rest of the way outside — it took all of Marj's focus to deliver the girl safely down the stairs, and through the giant double doors at the end of the hall. It was sweltering outside, and the world seemed to be split in two: the sky was afire with sunset, but the ground was black and growing blacker as shadows consumed the earth, stretching towards the sun-blasted school building. Marj could make out the fence lining the pool easily enough, though, but doubt dogged her every step: This is stupid, Marj. You're not her f*cking nanny! Why didn't you call 'Lena? Why didn't you call the police? There's obviously something wrong with this girl — she needs better help than what you or her feverish mind can think up for her!

She tried to block the thoughts out. It became easier when the Wingulls arrived.

Was it the same one that had been glaring through the window? If so, he was now joined by a friend, and they circled high above Marj and Cora, their slim little bodies backlit by the waning sun. They were angry — they bleated furiously down at Marj and Cora as they moved along, and for an insane moment, it seemed to Marj that they might've been yelling, Stop! Stop! We're warning you! Stop!

"Fly off, assholes," she snapped up at them. "She's got a bad fever, and I'm trying to get her to the pool — you got a better idea?"

In response, one streaked down from the sky, making for Marj like a feathered bullet. She shrieked and ducked, and felt the Pokémon's feathers brush her face. Against her, Cora crumpled, and it took all of Marj's strength to keep them both from falling to the ground yet again.

Damn it! If I only I had Glass with me—

But she didn't, and she was all the way out here, a hundred and fifty feet from the pool, with two angry Wingulls circling above her, apparently baying for her blood. What did she do now?

Her phone rang, giving her the answer.

She dug it out of her pocket and took a second to squint at the screen. 'Lena. Thank Arceus. She thumbed up the answer key and kept one sharp eye on the sky. " 'Lena?"

"Marj?" her friend said. "I just looked out the window and saw you guys going into the field. What's wrong?"

"I..." Oh Arceus, how to explain this? "She... She said she needed water."

Helena sounded confused. "What? But we've got water here if she's thirsty—"

"I know! She just... It's weird. There's something wrong with her. She's got a really bad fever all of a sudden."

"A fever?" There was a pause in which Helena's voice faded—seemed she was speaking to someone else.

While she waited for the next response, Marj edged closer to the pool. The Wingulls followed, their predatory circling shifting after them.

At last, her feet touched the sidewalk, and a moment later, they were there at the pool. To her eternal amazement, it was unlocked — well, the bar was thrown down, but it was a simple matter of pulling it back up and then yanking the gate open. They stumbled inside, and behind her, the Wingulls alighted the top of the fence, still screeching: Stop! Stop! We're warning you! Stop!

The pool was still filled, and uncovered — several wind-torn leaves floated atop the surface, which was dark and foreboding in the gloom of the nearby woods. Against her, Cora seemed to come alive, and she spoke, her voice as grizzled as a woodchipper.

"Water," she begged.

Marj stared down at the pool, uncertain of what to do next. Do I just...throw her in? To call this situation weird was an understatement — she had no idea of what to do.

But Cora did — weakly, the girl tore away from her, and fell to her knees with a painful crack. Marj winced and shifted, wondering if she should help with...something. But by that time, the girl had dragged herself to the edge of the pool, and was staring down at the water with something that went beyond drunkenness. She gazed upon the water as though hypnotized, and dipped a hand in. "Water," she gasped, and this time, there was relief in her voice.

She fell in.

Sh*t. Did she know how to swim? Could she swim, in this state? She was in the deep end, and she went straight down towards the bottom like a rock. And she stayed there, almost like she didn't want to come back up...like she couldn't come back up. Oh Arceus. She can't swim. I'm going to have to save her.

There was despair, and fury, fury that Arceus was putting her through the wringer today, involving her in sh*t that had nothing to do with her, but what could she do? It was get in a drag her ass back to the surface or let her—

Suddenly, the pool began to glow. What? Marj looked up, but saw nothing that would cause the light, and her chest contracted. Is that coming from...? Yes, it was coming from within the pool. More specifically, it was coming from the bottom of the pool. Where Cora was.

She squinted. She could see through the water now, see where the girl had sunk to the bottom. She... Marj was sure she was seeing things now. She looked like she was breathing — bubbles were coming up out of her mouth in clouds, and her chest was moving. Not only that, but the glow? It was coming from her legs. Legs that were no longer legs — within the light, they appeared to fuse together and bloom at the end, forming...

Okay, now she knew she was seeing things. Is that a tai—

A screech came from above, and something slammed into Marj's back. She fell to the ground, cracking her skull against the pavement, and for a few seconds, she thought she launched out of her body, going somewhere far away, dark, and painful. But in due time, she was yanked back, and her hearing warped back into focus. She was still on the ground, seeing supernovas behind her eyes. Somewhere above her, someone was shouting, "Stop! Stop, hold on, I got it!"

A very striking thought came to Marj: My camera... Where's my f*cking camera?

***

DARWIN

Oh Arceus. Are they going to kill her?

I ran the rest of the way, throwing open the gate to the pool just as both Wingulls landed beside a collapsed Marjorie, who lay like a dead Magikarp on the pavement. Both had their wings flapping wildly, and one was pecking vigorously at her hip, its beak finding its way into the pocket of her rumpled skirt. What is he doing?

"Hey, stop!" I shouted, trying to get their attention. "Hold on, I got it!"

It worked; both spun around, hissing, and one sprang in front of me, throwing its wings out.

"Seawatcher," I said, pointing to myself. "I can...handle this—" Whatever the hell this is! — "just back off for a sec—"

The Wingull lunged at me, barreling right into my face. I belted out a wild scream and flailed my arms maniacally. The back of my hand hit something, and the Wingull squawked in pain and abruptly disappeared. When I chanced on eye open, the other one was staring up at me with undisguised rage, a high hiss rattling in the back of its throat.

"Go on, you too," I said, voice shaky. "For Arceus' sake, just let me make you two didn't kill her!"

He continued to glower at me, but when I took a hesitant step forward, he fled, launching into the air and alighting the top of the pool fence. The other one was there too, spitting incomprehensible Pokémon obscenities.

Thank Arceus. I scrambled down beside Marjorie, and felt nearly weightless with relief when I found her still breathing. I'd seen her go down from far off, and had even heard the crack, and had assumed the worst.

She was bleeding though — a lot. As I slowly turned her over, she groaned, and I discovered a hyphen-shaped tear in her upper forehead, steadily sending blood slaking down the side of her face. It looked bad — I looked worriedly back at the school building. Dammit, where the hell is Grandpa? I wondered if we needed to call somebody about this — an ambulance, or ferry her to the hospital ourselves. Grandpa would know... But what did I do about it in the meantime?

Staunch it, stupid. With what? I hooked my finger into my shoe, wondering if a sock would do... Then grunted and pulled off my shirt, snapping it taut into a wadded line. I wound it around Marjorie's head and pulled it tight over the wound. Red immediately bloomed  on the part above the lash, and spread rapidly.

"Marjorie?" I asked. "Marjorie, can you hear me?"

A different voice answered me: "Darwin?"

I spun around and saw that Cora had emerged from the surface of the pool, her hair soaked through and plastered thinly across her face. Behind her, the water splashed as a white tailfin beat the surface. Damn! A mermaid in the school pool — this was why I'd been on pins-and-needles earlier. Did Marjorie see? I looked down at her anxiously. Did we possibly have another quarantine situation on our hands? The thought made my stomach sour. It was bad enough when Thomas and I had gone through it—

"Sweet Arceus," Cora said, her eyes catching on Marjorie. "What's happened?" She swam back and forth along the edge of the pool. "Why is she...? Oh no, I've gone and done something horrible, haven't I? Stars above, I don't remember what I... I just recall a mighty thirst, and everythin' bein' so hot and terrible."  

I glanced down at Marjorie. She was rousing — her long lashes fluttered, and a groan escaped her lips. I looked back at the school building. Finally, someone was coming out the doors: someones. The first was Grandpa, hurrying down the steps leading to the field. The other was...not Thomas. F*ck. It looked like Helena, her long hair streaming out behind her.

I laid Marjorie gingerly back on the pavement — even as I struggled to remember whether or not you were supposed to keep people with head wounds upright — and turned to Cora. "Can you change back into a human?"

Her eyes shone with worry. "Nay," she said regretfully. "My Drought has expired." She shook her head. "Oh, I am such a fool! I knew it was comin' to an end yesterday, but I did so want to come see ye... See the school. I'm so sorry, Darwin."

I peered down at the pool. The waters were now close to black, and from my vantage point, it was impossible to see the bottom. "Can you dive, then?" I asked. "And stay at the bottom? Grandpa's coming, he'll know what to do next."

"Aye—"

She was interrupted by two sounds. The first was a terrible screech that came from behind.

The second was a click.

I spun around, just in time to be blinded by the flash from Marjorie's phone. When the bright lights faded from behind my eyes, one of the Wingulls had come down and knocked her back to the pavement, tearing at her hair. She screamed as she went down, and her phone was knocked from her hand, spinning to a stop a yard away.

I could clearly see the image from here: it was of me and Cora, with her tailfin halfway out of the water.

Damn. I reached for the device. Marjorie's lethal red nails seized it at the exact same moment I did, and when I looked up, I was looking into eyes boiling with venom.

"Give me that!" she screeched. The Wingull was on its back behind her, dazed.

My heart thrashed in my chest. What do I do? My conversation with Grandpa about the Era of Bloody Water rushed back full force, and I knew that if I loosened my grip on the device right now, I could — would — set in motion a series of events that might lead to Cora getting stuck in an aquarium. The idea was exaggerated and a little hysterical, but it had happened before. And right now, it had a chance of happening again, to the sweet girl who like science and had pulled the Tentacool tentacles out of my leg.

I tightened my grip on the phone.

The Wingull recovered and redoubled its efforts to pin her down by Pecking the back of her head. Marjorie screamed and flailed her other arm, trying to dislodge him. While she was distracted, I yanked the phone out of her grip. The photo was still up on the screen, with a the trash symbol glaring up at me from the far corner. Delete it, crisis averted. One at least.

Before I could press the button, Marjorie slugged me in the back of my knee. I crumpled like a tower of blocks, and the phone flew from my hand, clattering to the pavement five yards away.

She looked at it. I looked at it. Both of us spurred into action at the exact same time.

I went for the phone. Marjorie went for me, Wingull and all. We both went down again, and we both seized the phone again, and soon we were grappling on the pavement in one of the most surreal struggles of my entire life. I focused on getting the phone out of her hand, striving to avoid her viciously-long nails, and thought, Where the f*ck are you Grandpa?

At one point, I saw the second Wingull circling above, clearly agitated.

"I got it!" I called to him. "I got it, stop!" He looked like he was waiting for an excuse to attack, and Marjorie was already bleeding. Delete it, just need to f*cking delete it, dammit, if I can just—

"Piece of sh*t!" Marjorie screeched. "Let—"

Abruptly, my back hit empty air, and then we were both tumbling into the pool. Lukewarm water went down my mouth in a bolt, and I gagged — for a moment, the world slurred into runny, dark confusion. After a bad moment, I was able to right myself, and kick to the surface. Empty-handed — I'd lost the phone.

Marjorie was gone too; for a moment, I spun around in a panic, peering down into the dark water. Crap, can she swim?

I didn't know, but Cora appeared a second later, levying the coughing girl tightly under both arms. Relief, and not just because Marjorie was okay. Falling into the pool had actually been a favor: there was no way the phone hadn't shorted out. So that was one problem—

"Dear Arceus, are you two all right?"

I spun around. Grandpa! More relief... Then confusion, then disbelief, and then outright terror. Grandpa was coming through the gate, brows creased in worry... And so were Helena, Thomas, and Quentin.

"Cora, dive!" I snapped, but it was too late — by the time she was gone, they'd already gotten a good look.

"Cora?" Helena repeated. I don't think I'd ever seen her eyes so wide — like billiard balls, they threatened to free from her skull, and she took two incredulous steps towards the pool, mouth agape with amazement. "That was Cora?" Her eyes roamed the surface of the dark water, trying to pick out the girl, but it was much too dark for that now. "Am I crazy, or did she have a—"

"Tail," Marjorie rasped. She was climbing out of the pool, with the most striking look on her face — something approaching frantic hysteria, a far cry from the plate of ice she usually wore as her face. "Tail, she had a tail. She's a mermaid. She— After she fell in the pool, there was this light, she transformed and... She turned into a mermaid." She stumbled, and Thomas caught her before she could fall completely. She stared up at him and fisted the front of his polo with both hands. "Thomas, she... She turned into a mermaid. She turned into a f*cking mermaid."

Thomas's smile was thin — I think both he and I were remembering that bad moment he had in quarantine, with the fight with the door, the panic attack. Marjorie looked like she was rapidly approaching that point, or was already there. "I know," he said. "Isn't it neat?"

She stared at him in disbelief, and tried to shake him. "You aren't listening!" she screamed. "I'm serious, she's a—"

"I know, honey, I saw her, I believe you." He banded an arm around her shoulder, remarkably in control. "Want to sit down a second? You don't look so good."

I wished I could be as calm — I shook as I climbed out of the pool, and Helena said, "Darwin, maybe you'd like to explain what's happening?"

I looked fearfully at her, and then at Quentin, who'd thus far remained silent, but had sidled over the pool, looking for the mystical creature hiding in its depths. Around him, the shadows of the Wingulls circled, ready to intervene at a moment's notice in this disastrous situation. Supersonic, Grandpa had said — they could use Supersonic to knock them out, Helena, Marjorie, Quentin, and when they woke, it would be in quarantine, in another small, furnished room, with cookies on the counter and a note telling them to relax until a disciplinary team arrived to handle their situation.

Only they wouldn't have a grandfather on their disciplinary team to vouch for them. It would just be Director Munoz, Seawatcher grunts, and Berechiah, Berechiah and his dangerous voice, who would later enter the room and tell them to forget they'd ever seen Cora with a tailfin.

And maybe they would, and it would be over. But maybe they wouldn't. Maybe Berechiah would cause Marjorie to bleed on the brain. Maybe Berechiah would put Quentin in a coma he would not recover from. Maybe Berechiah would turn Helena into a vegetable, unable to eat or piss on her own, and certainly unable to become the valedictorian, and give the speech on graduation day. Maybe Berechiah would ruin their lives, as he could've ruined mine or Thomas's. Because I hadn't pushed, hadn't stressed what a bad idea this was to Grandpa and Cora.

What if their lives are ruined because of you, Darwin?

"Grandpa," I said. My voice was loud, shockingly loud, because for the first time in my sixteen years of existence, I was done being nice. "Why the f*ck are they here?"

Grandpa was wearing the face he'd worn the day Nero had beaten me and Thomas half to death: one of high anxiety. "I couldn't stop them, son," he explained. "She was worried about Majorie. And Mr. Flowers... He came to see whether or not he could help."

"The same way you couldn't 'stop' Cora from coming to this in the first place? She said she knew she was nearing the end of her 'Drought' or whatever — why the f*ck did you let her come if you knew something like this would happen?"

"I didn't, Darwin. She didn't tell me. I swear. I'm sorry, if I had known..." He shook his head. "Please. We can discuss this later. We have to handle this, first."

He was right. I hated it, but he was right.  There was no time right now to be furious about what had gone wrong. We had to deal with this... This terrible mess that this after-school club meeting had become.

Behind me, Helena gasped. "Hi," she said awkwardly.

I turned, and saw that Cora had emerged from the pool. She had a resigned look on her face, and was holding Marjorie's phone in her hands. "Ye dropped this," she said softly.

Marjorie, who'd dropped to sit with Thomas against the fence, shot to her feet, and snatched the phone out of Cora's hands. She glanced down at it. "Dead," she said, and she sounded dead. Numb, almost.

Helena, on the other hand, was alight with fascination. "You really are a mermaid," she gasped. "Your tail... Wow. It looks almost like a Dewgong's!"

"Can we take pictures?" Quentin asked.

"Please don't," Grandpa Jon said.

Quentin paused — his hand had been going into the pocket of his pants. Instead, he came over to me and muttered, "Holy hell, man. What's going on?"

"How did you change from legs to a tail?" Helena asked, kneeling down in front of a very uncomfortable Cora. "Is that why you had a fever earlier? Can you change whenever you want? Where do you live? Are you really related to Darwin?" She looked over at me, awed. "Darwin... Are you a merman?"

"No," I said sourly.

"Then what's the dynamic, here?" Helena was almost giddy. "This is so fascinating! A mermaid at our club meeting... What are the odds?"

"Boys," Grandpa suddenly hissed.

Thomas lifted to his feet. Thus far, his reaction to all this had been pretty wan—I was the one off-kilter this time. He stopped beside me, and Grandpa said, "I've sent Berechiah a text. They'll be here in an hour."

"They?" I growled.

"The disciplinary team," Grandpa said regretfully. When I opened my mouth, he raised a hand and said, "Let's just wait until they get here. We'll know more about what's to happen then." He looked up at the circling Wingulls, and said, "Plug your ears. Now."

Thomas and I stuck our fingers in our ears, and Grandpa Jon shouted something up at the flying-type Pokémon. Then, there was sound — I couldn't actually hear it, but I felt it, all the way down to the  marrow in my bones and the fibers in my teeth. Hell, I could feel it in my head—I think that was the point, a piercing blast of sound so overwhelming that the brain's neurons couldn't handle it without some kind of barrier. It was almost like Nero's firestorm of a voice, except the pressure was blunt and course, like a hammer, instead of needle-like and agonizing, like a knife.

I closed my eyes and ground my teeth. It only lasted two seconds, but when it was over, I was woozy, and my skull ached.

But at least I was still standing. Helena, Marjorie, and Quentin all lay on the ground like corpses.

--

Author's Note

I really liked writing from Marjorie's point of view here, even though it breaks the Darwin-Nero-Lior pattern: I felt that these specific events needed to be seen through her POV.

Recently, I discovered another problem I have in writing FLOOD: inconsistencies. Something is said or takes place in one Darwin chapter, but any reference or cause-and-effect induced by that something is absent in the next Darwin chapter. I think it's because there's generally a shift in POV chapter to chapter, so I forget what was in the previous chapters. (This is also happening because I haven't reread FLOOD in a while. I know — am I an amateur or what?)

In the Version 3 edit, I'm working on just cleaning up the grammar and dialogue and whatnot, but in Version 4, I think I'm going to edit by POV: edit all of Nero's chapters in one chunk, edit all of Darwin's chapters in one chunk, and Lior's chapters in one chunk. I think it's because I didn't write them by POV in the first place that these small holes are there at all.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter!