Kat's Arc

Chapter 4 of 4

The salted trail ran straight to the shore and stopped. Kat stood at the edge of the water. Ahead lay only open sea, flat and gray to the horizon. The wet track led into the waves and vanished. Kat waded in to their knees. The salt smell broke apart in the current and washed away. Whoever dragged the turtle had crossed water Kat could not cross. The path had gone cold. Kat searched the shallows for any sign. Bones did not swim. They could not follow a scent that the sea had swallowed. Kat pressed a hand to their ribs, where the flower still sat, and stared at the empty water. The witness was out there, and the family with it, past a wall of waves. Something bumped Kat's shin. A blue shape bobbed in the shallows. It was round and soft, with bright green eyes and a small crown of scales along its head. The creature rose to the surface and blinked up at Kat. It opened its mouth, then dove and surfaced a few feet out, waiting. Kat did not move. The blue thing dove again and came up farther out. It circled back, nudged Kat's leg, and swam off once more. It wanted Kat to follow. "I can't swim," Kat said. Their voice scraped. "I sink." The creature slid close and pushed its broad back against Kat's hip. It was firm under the softness, buoyant as a cork. It ducked low and pressed up beneath Kat's arm, lifting. The meaning was plain. Hold on. Kat hesitated. Trust had led them right before, when a cat chose the true path and an octopus showed the real trail. Kat gripped the creature's slick sides and let their feet leave the sand. The blue back held. Kat floated. The creature pulled forward into deeper water. Waves slapped Kat's skull and drained through their eye sockets. Kat clung tight. Land shrank behind them. The blue shape swam with steady kicks, its crown of scales cutting the surface, green eyes fixed ahead. Then a scent returned. Salt on salt, but sharper now, a thread running across the open water. Kat breathed it in through the gaps in their skull. The trail had not ended at the shore. It continued over the sea, and the creature was following it. Ahead, a dark shape broke the horizon. An island, low and rocky. The salt-scent led straight toward it. Kat's grip tightened. The turtle had been carried there. So had whatever hands had carried it. The blue creature slowed as the rocks drew near. Kat could see a strip of black sand and, above it, the round shell of the vine turtle, propped against a stone. The witness. Kat had crossed the water. But between Kat and the turtle, dark shapes moved along the shore, watching the sea. They had seen Kat coming.