by Ilana Waters
The muscles in Dym’s face went slack.
“Now, I know this is going to sound silly,” I continued, “but when he said ‘creature,’ I thought of you. I mean, I know you’re a person, not a creature, but maybe he was just using a figure of speech? Anyway, you’re male, you’re dark . . .” I rubbed my temples. “I don’t know. It seems crazy when I say it out loud. But if you’re the person they spotted, and they think you’re this creature, you might want to lie low for a while.”
Dym grimaced. “I’m afraid I can’t do that, Seluna.”
“What do you mean? Why not?”
“It’s hard to explain.”
“I don’t see how. Can’t you take your midnight swims some other place? Some other time? It might do you a world of good to go swimming in warmer weather. You know, like normal people. Or is it just a bizarre thrill, sneaking in here?”
Dym gave a weak smile. “Something like that.”
I shook my head and looked at him in disbelief. “Do your feelings of excitement increase or decrease, knowing you might get killed?”
“Both. Neither. I . . . I don’t know.” Dym put his hands to the sides of his head and looked at me with pained eyes. “It’s not thrilling for the reason you think it is. What worries me more is this goddess you said they were looking for.”
“Really? Why would that worry you?”
“I don’t know. Again, it’s hard to explain. But don’t you agree it’s a strange thing to be looking for?”
“I guess. If goddesses even exist.”
Dym’s smile was wider, stronger now as he looked at me. “Oh, I know they exist.”
I blushed again. And they say girls are the moody ones. One minute, Dym is all mysterious, the next, he’s flirting like crazy. At least, I think that’s what he’s doing.
“Did Catron and Flack say anything else?” he asked.
“They said that they had to find the goddess, that they couldn’t let her mission in this world come to pass. Whatever that means. Catron seems to think it’s one of the girls at Silver Hill.”
“Meaning you?”
“I don’t know. You’d think if he were looking for me, he’d have found me by now. I mean, I’ve been at the asylum for weeks. Yet I can’t help but feel he’s waiting for proof of something. Proof that the person he’s found is the person he’s looking for.”
Dym ran his long fingers through his hair. “This reasoning is more circular than the inside of a seashell. Regardless, Seluna, you have to get out of there.”
“I know, I know. But how?”
“Try page one thirty-six.” Dym coughed.
“What?”
“Page one thirty-six. Of the book you found.”
“Why one thirty-six?”
“Oh, I don’t know.” Dym scratched his head. “I mean, it’s just a random number. Something I pulled out of the air. You know, page ninety-seven. Page two eighty-five. Page . . . one thirty-six.” He looked at the dead trees that surrounded the pond, and wouldn’t meet my gaze.
I narrowed my eyes at Dym. Had he seen the Book before? It was waterlogged when I found it. Still, I decided to give him an out.
“Is this more of your intuition at work?”
Dym snapped his fingers, flinging several droplets of water onto the front of my dress. “Yes, intuition! That’s it exactly.”
“Okay, Dym, this fish will bite. I’ll look at page one thirty-six. But maybe there’s something you can do for me in the meantime.” I decided I had to ask Dym for help. Although I was hesitant before, the situation was clearly becoming dire. I’d have to trust him, because obviously, I couldn’t trust anyone in authority at Silver Hill.
I took a deep breath. “If there’s any way possible, can you hide me and a few other girls? Maybe just the ones I mentioned: Rose and Laura.” I saw Dym’s face fall. “Or if not,” I said quickly, “can you get a message to Laura’s aunt Mae? She might be able to help us.”
Dym bit his lip. “Seluna, I am so, so sorry. But I’m afraid I can’t do either of those things.”My heart turned to ice. “Can’t . . . do them?” I sat back so that my face wasn’t quite so close to Dym’s. “Why on earth not? Or do you just mean you won’t do them?”
“It’s definitely ‘can’t.’ I don’t have a place I can hide you—”
“You have a home, presumably?” Now, my voice was ice as well. Why would you act all charming with a girl, seemingly to win her affections, then refuse to help?
“I do, but it’s not exactly one you can visit.”
“Fine. Your home situation’s a mess. I get it; my family’s not exactly normal either. But why can’t you get a message to Laura’s aunt Mae?”
“Because there would be . . . questions. People—like Aunt Mae—would wonder how I got here, what I was doing at Silver Hill.”
“Funny, those are the same questions I have.” I glared at him.
“And how would I explain it to Aunt Mae, or anyone else who asks? Those are the types of inquiries that lead to trouble. Believe me, the trouble would be greater for you.”
“Would you mind telling me precisely how?” It was taking all my self-control not to reach out and strangle Dym around his wet, ropy neck.
Dym shook his head. “All I can tell you is that I wouldn’t mind if the harm only involved me. I wouldn’t mind dying even, Seluna. Not for you. But to have my death cause you harm? That I don’t think I could bear.”
He wouldn’t mind dying for me? We barely know each other. And yet, I agreed it didn’t seem that way. Something about Dym felt familiar, like coming home. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t explain himself.
“You know, Endymion, for a person who cares so deeply, you sure know how to play it cool,” I said through gritted teeth.
Dym smiled weakly. “It’s part of my charm.”
I collected my candle and stood up. “This is the furthest thing from charming that there is. In fact, it’s ridiculous. You’re just a selfish, lazy coward. A coward who can go to hell.” I started walking away without looking back.
So much for the prince who fights his way through evil vines to rescue the damsel, I thought. Monster.
“Wait!” I heard the sound of sloshing water, coupled with near panic in Dym’s voice. The latter was so sharp and pleading I almost turned around.
“Please, Seluna!” he begged. “Please believe me when I say that if I could help you, I would. I care more about you than anything. Truly.”
I stopped and looked down at him over my shoulder. “I find that very hard to believe,” I said. “Why would you care so much about a crazy girl like me? And if you cared about me, you’d help me. You’d at least come out of the water after me.”
“I, ah . . .” Dym sighed. “All right, this is rather embarrassing. But about coming out of the water, there’s a reason I can’t. It’s because I’m not fully dressed under here.”
My jaw dropped. “Wait a minute. You’re telling me not only do you go swimming in frigid water in the middle of winter, but you do it completely naked?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“That’s the most senseless thing I ever heard.” I rolled my eyes and was about to head back towards the asylum. “You just don’t give a damn about me.”
“Wait—I’ll prove it,” Dym said. “Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.” He lifted himself a few inches up on the shore of the pond. The moonlight shone down on his biceps and forearms, highlighting every muscle and sinew. As he began pulling himself out, I could see the hairline of his stomach traveling down his abdomen, lower . . . lower . . .
“All right!” I turned away and covered my eyes.” Is he really going to come out of the water without anything on? “I believe you! Stay where you are. I have no desire to see more.”
Which was a lie. I desperately wanted to see more. But this really wasn’t the time or the place. I turned around, and just before Dym sank back down, I thought I spotted something green and
shimmery at the bottom of his stomach. But it could have just been moonlight on the water, or a piece of moss. We looked at each other in silence for a few moments.
“I don’t blame you for being angry, Seluna,” Dym said. “Really, I don’t. I want nothing more than to tell you the whole truth right now. But until the day comes when I can, you’ll just have to trust me.”
I set my jaw, but said nothing.
“I do hope you’ll come back,” he continued. “I’d love to see you again.”
“If you think I’m coming back here for a boy who won’t lift a finger to help me, you’ve got another think coming. I’ll return if and when I choose.” But probably when. Because no matter how much I want to hate you right now, I want to be close to you just a little bit more.
“Very well.” Dym’s green eyes locked on mine. “I hope it’s soon.”
I walked away again without saying good-bye. That bloke has a lot of nerve. I was muttering angrily, going almost too fast for the vines to part. I wondered if I would survive captivity long enough to come back, or if the inauspicious Event that Catron mentioned—
The Event! I stopped in my tracks. I should have asked Dym about that cataclysmic occurrence or whatever it was Catron was so afraid of. Maybe it wasn’t too late. I picked up my skirts and hurried back to the pond.
Of course, it’s going to be awkward asking him for a favor, seeing as how I left so abruptly. Still, it’s the least he can do. Maybe I can make him feel guilty for not helping me more. Then, if he knows anything about the Event, he’ll have to tell me.
But when I got back to the pond, Dym wasn’t there. I looked all around, even in the dead trees along the shore. Still no sign of him.
“Dym. Dym! Where in blazes are you?” I hissed. I called for several minutes, but he didn’t reappear. He couldn’t have swum out of the pond that fast without my hearing him. I began to worry. Not that I ought to be worried, because I shouldn’t care what happens to him. And yet, I did.
Suddenly, there was a gigantic splash, and Dym’s head and torso popped back up out of the water. I gasped and put my hand to my heart, nearly dropping my candle.
“Dammit, Dym, you frightened me! I thought you disappeared. Or drowned.”
Dym burst out laughing. How can he be so callous? “Me, drown? That’s too funny.”
“You shouldn’t laugh. It happens to strong swimmers all the time.”
“Well, it won’t happen to me.”
“I’m sure that’s what the other swimmers thought directly before they drowned. Just be careful, all right? I’d hate it if something happened to you.” Uh-oh. I said that last part out loud.
I half-expected Dym to start teasing me. Instead, he stopped laughing, and his whole face softened. “And you know I’d hate it if something happened to you as well.”
Although I had good reason to doubt that, I didn’t want to argue the point anymore tonight. “Right. So you say.” I cleared my throat. “Look, the reason I came back is that I forgot to ask if your intuition said anything about the Event that’s supposed to happen soon. According to Catron’s psychic, it’s going to be bad, and I’d really love not to be at Silver Hill when it happens.” If that’s even possible.
“So Catron has a psychic that saw it as well? Can’t say I’m surprised. My gift is rarely wrong.” Dym closed his eyes in concentration. “Sorry, but I’m not getting anything more on the Event. My intuition doesn’t often work on command like that.”
I couldn’t tell if he was being truthful or not. It was exasperating not to be able to get anything out of Dym. “Kind of a useless gift, then, isn’t it?” I snarled.
“It tells me what I need to know.”
“I wish it would tell you to get out of here. Why do you keep coming back to Silver Hill if it’s so dangerous for you? Tell me the whole story this time.”
“I can only tell you part of it. It’s that the moon has its own gravitational pull on the tides, just as you pull me towards you. You are like a magnet, a form of gravity.” I waited, but Dym said nothing more.
“That’s it? You keep returning because I’m your gravity magnet?” I narrowed my eyes at him. “You know, one minute, you act like you don’t care, and the next, you’re practically swearing eternal devotion. That’s kind of crazy.”
“Humph,” Dym snorted, and looked up at the asylum. “Pretty sure I’m in the right place for crazy.”
“Good night, then,” I said curtly. “I’ll go back to being crazy, and you can enjoy the rest of your midnight swim.”
“Good night, Seluna,” Dym said, his eyes never leaving mine. Then he sank down into the water like he did before. It was almost as if he were being tugged by an invisible string beneath the waves. Why doesn’t he kick off like other swimmers? I’ll bet he just enjoyed giving me the shivers, pretending to be mysterious.
I walked back through the garden and up the narrow stairs to the garret. Maybe I really am insane, and Dym’s just a figment of my imagination. A beautiful, hair-tearing figment, to be sure. I sighed.
He was almost worth the price of madness.
Chapter 9
In the nights after I met with Dym for the second time, I had more strange dreams. These dreams were so realistic, it was almost as if I were still awake. In one of them, I was floating in outer space, far above the earth. I remember not wanting to leave Earth, reaching with outstretched fingers as it grew smaller and smaller in my sight. Then I was spinning, but not quickly. More like rotating, turning over and over towards the moon, where I landed safely.
I sat there, looking at Earth, which I no longer missed because I could still see it. I waved to the stars that sparkled above, and to the planets orbiting all around. I fit nicely into a particularly shallow crater, and so I used it as a seat. Beside me was a second crater of similar size. There were no others like them on the moon. I kept thinking, Is someone else supposed to be here? I searched the entire moon, but didn’t see another soul. Then I woke up.
My daytime endeavors were no less confusing. For one thing, I was having a lot of trouble with page 136 of the Book. Although it looked intriguing (it seemed to be for a hypnosis or sleeping spell), much of it was in Old Hartlandian. To make matters worse, it was written in a regional dialect, my knowledge of which was scarce. I wonder if Dym or his intuition had known that. In any event, the translation process was becoming long and tedious.
I needed more time. But time was running out; there was only a little over a week left before the Event. And I was no closer to finding what it was, why Catron feared it, or how to avoid it. Rose and Laura had all but stopped discussing the matter. I guessed that with the daily atrocities happening at the asylum, they had more pressing things on their minds. Like Dr. Catron’s electrodes. Animal.
But I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I usually didn’t hold with soothsayers, but I did believe Dym was somewhat psychic. Since both he and Catron’s fortune-teller said the same thing without either knowing about the other, it had to be more than a coincidence. I’d kept my eyes open for a creature with dark skin, or a girl who might resemble a goddess. But so far, I hadn’t seen anyone who fit either description. It wasn’t until a few evenings later that fate gave me another chance to learn about the spell Dym suggested.
One or two girls were admitted to Silver Hill each day, as Mr. Flack had said. But sometimes, it seemed like more than one or two went missing each day, so the patient population was actually dwindling. There were fervid whispers amongst the remaining girls about what was happening, who might be next. Catron seemed more frantic than ever to find whatever—or whomever—he was looking for, and it was taking its toll on the staff. Like the new nurse who was supposed to bring me back to the garret after ten minutes of socialization with Rose and Laura. That one looked especially nervous.
“What’s your name again?” she asked as she locked my friends into their room for the night. “Mabel? Margaret?”
“Er, something like that,”
I replied.
“They told me to keep special watch on this one girl, Selena or Sekuna or whatever it was.” She fumbled with the keys, trying to determine which would imprison Rose and Laura for the next eight hours. “I can never tell you nutcases apart nohow.” Suddenly, there was a terrific smashing sound in the next hall, and noises like metal hitting the floors.
“Bonnie! BONNIE!” I heard Nurse Cutter scream. “Get over ’ere, s! This thunderin’ loony is tryin’ to overturn the equipment cart.”
The nurse I was with turned white as a sheet. I guessed this was Bonnie. Hurriedly, she found the correct key and locked Rose and Laura in. Then she turned and pointed to me.
“You stay put now, you ’ear?” she said. “I ’ave to go ’elp Nurse Cutter. Don’t know what I was thinkin’, takin’ a job in this blighted place.” She gathered her skirts in her hands and scuttled off down the hall.
I could hardly believe my luck. I’d been left alone in the asylum, and for once, I wasn’t handcuffed to a bench. This is my chance. I’d sneak away, maybe to the secret staircase. I could gather a few supplies and hide there for a while with the Book, translating and seeing if it held anything useful.
The Book. Which I left in the locked garret. I groaned and put my forehead in my hand. Maybe I could get a hairpin or something to unlock it with before they found me—
“Psst. Psst! Hey, you!”
Is someone calling me?
“Yeah, you with the long black hair!”
Blast it—a nurse. I’d been caught. Should I stay where I was or try to run? And where’s that voice coming from, anyway?
“Psst—come on. Get over here! Haven’t got all night; who knows when that Bonnie twit will be back.”
I turned around. The voice was coming from the other end of the hall, opposite where Nurse Bonnie had gone. I tiptoed over to the last door. Peeking through the window was a girl with messy brown hair and big, brown eyes. I looked at the sign above the window. It said “Reserved.” I swallowed hard.
