Chapter Thirty-Seven

Pater Familias

"Hold on, I got you."

A masculine voice, rough and reassuring and fearless. Warm hands on her arms, shoulders, legs.

There was a hand pressing against my ribcage, just a light touch before water rushed up my esophagus - stop, stop, make it stop, hurts too much – then suddenly there was air again and I was swallowing it by the lungful.

"Hang in there, kiddo."

I didn't recognize the voice. My eyes opened. Dark sky, the moon, a faint light. I saw a head over mine. Short blond hair, graying a little. Crinkling at the eyes. A quick smile, some stubble.

"There you go. Just take deep breaths."

Every take of oxygen burned in my throat, and I writhed, trying to fight it off. I didn't know what. I just wanted it gone.

Those same warm hands caught my arms, forced them down. "Hey, easy now. Don't hurt yourself. That was a pretty long fall you took. You're lucky you even made it out of there alive. And that I was here to pick you up."

It took me a moment to gather my thoughts. The sun blinded me, and I couldn't really get a good look at his face. The man moved away. I tried to get up, my body refused to move. I was too tired. I was still on Rosebud. My eyelids were heavy, and sleep begged me to return.

But the questions buzzed in my mind, too active to rest. I would not rest.

And I could speak. Just barely. "Who…who are you?"

My throat rattled with water and I coughed up some more. By the time I was done, I was in so much pain I forgot I even asked a question at all. That's why I didn't really understand when the man spoke again.

"No one you need to know."

He sounded far away, like he moved, and I felt the ground shift beneath me. Oh, not ground. Wood. Rubber. An engine buzzing. I was on a boat. He was taking me back to land. At least I hoped.

That answer was good enough for me. Well, not really, but my attempt to speak again failed and I just slumped where I lied, just trying to remember how to breath. I was freezing, barely even aware of the towel draped over me. My fingers, numb, clung loosely at it, wanting comfort but finding little.

Mayor Waters. The gun. Kane. The watch.

The watch.

"You still have it." The man said. I didn't even realize I said it out loud. "It's still in your hand. Well, it doesn't work now, but that's what you get for taking a swim in the Hudson."

I clenched my hands, felt the metal bite into my skin, and I relaxed. I needed this. I already knew what I wanted to do with it.

"How…" I had to choke back on a sob, pushing away the memory of the gun against my head, of the click when my life almost vanished. "How did you…find me?"

"A very helpful man told me where."

"W-who?"

"Well, not really a friend. My knife did most of the convincing."

I licked my lips, barely registering the real meaning behind the man's answers. But I understood them nonetheless. I clung onto them, not daring to forget. "…Why?"

The man didn't answer. I thought he hadn't heard me, so I said again, louder, "Why…why did you come?"

The boat rocked as we traveled over waves. I could smell gasoline and heard distant honking as we drew closer to the city.

"Because," the man said eventually. "You're very important, Amy. And someone cares very much about you and what you've been doing lately."

I nodded, appeased, letting my head fall back against the seat of the boat. I couldn't really feel it. The world was a haze around me. I couldn't see the man, or my hands, or my feet — just night sky above me, the moon a welcoming face, greeting me back to the world of the living.

As I closed my eyes and felt myself drift, it occurred to me I never told the man my name.