“Phin? What happened to Phin?” I play dumb so I can inch closer to the back door. Leopold doesn’t exercise. I can outrun him. I must distract him long enough for a head start.
“Last I saw Phin, he was no more than a puddle of flesh—shaped like the stain on this table. Tell me, Harriett, did you sneak into the dungeons? Did your sinful ways lure your corrupted soul into the bowels of this house? Were you jealous that I never took youdown there?”
“There’s no dungeon in my home,” I say with more bravado than I feel. Leopold rears back as if I’ve slapped him. “Everything in this house is half mine, and I’d never allow a dungeon to be built inside it. That is inhumane.”
“Your home? Your home! This home is mine. The estate is mine. The labs and observations are mine! Humane? Humane! You want to talk about humane. I am the human in this house now that you are full of eggs. You’re an animal, an incubator, a cunt for me to fill and empty as I see fit. Nothing is yours. You! Are! Mine!”
Silence descends over the house as Leopold remembers we have visitors.
Soft, leather shoes of gentlemen squeak as they leave the parlor. I imagine their wingtips flashing as they race down the hallway and into the kitchen.
“You’ve ruined everything!”
Leopold’s hair waving is the flag to wake me from my musings as he lunges for my throat. I duck at the last moment, falling onto my hands and knees. Ruth explodes from the pantry, yielding the large ceramic bowl as a weapon. Leopold collides with her, but she’s much taller than me. His fingers bury into the muscles around her ribs instead of aroundmy neck. Clang! She wacks the back of his head with the bowl.
“What the devil?” Dr. Alexander Breakfield, the coroner, exclaims from the doorway. Behind him peeks Dr. Herman Moldenman and Dr. Jacob Ledernoskoff from the University of Louisville.
“Run, Harriett, run!” Ruth screams as she throws Leopold’s motionless body to the floor. She bats a path to the door with her bowl using forehand and backhand strokes.
The scientists retreat to the hallway, screaming like children.
My dress glides over the dry patches of blood as I shuffle under the kitchen table and across the room. One last glance over my shoulder… Leopold is out cold, but for how long? Part of me hopes Ruth killed him, but I guess that’s the wicked part he and Mr. Breyers saw in me.
“Come on, Harriett, Phin’s waiting for you,” Ruth says, swinging me into her arms.
She tips the bowl upside down to fit over my belly as we cross the threshold. I shield my eyes from the burning rays of the sun, hoping they burn the sins from me before I reach Phin. Phin, who doesn’t have a mean or callous bone in his body, deserves a better mother for his hatchlings, but I’ll do my damndest to love him the best I can.
Visions of hatchlings, rafts, and Phin swim through my head, along with the black dots of the vapors. As the adrenaline drains from my body, theterror of all I’ve been through this day seeps into my bones. My eyes roll as if the energy to focus them is more than I can handle. I’m in no way out of danger, but the respite of allowing Ruth to care for me is intoxicating. My body has no more resources. I’ve done everything to ensure our survival. My consciousness gives up its grip on my mind as I nod off to the gentle swaying of Ruth’s footsteps.
Harriett
“She’s fine,” Ruth barks as I’m jostled awake.
I clutch her arms in terror.
“Leopold? Ruth? Phin? Don’t let them have me! I won’t let them take my babies!” I yell before scanning my surroundings. The hybrids’ facial expressions range from horror to pity to amusement at my outburst. “Sorry, I was dreaming.”
“We know, dear, we have those nightmares too,” Ruth says as she sets me onto a raft next to Phin’s wrapped body. If it weren’t for his smile peeking throughthe fresh bandages on his face, I’d think he was dead.
“Not for long,” I reply, recovering my strength. “Come with us. If the aquatic hybrids take turns swimming, we can all…”
“No,” Raymond says, handing me a pole taller than myself. “You must live the raft life.”
“I’ll swim alongside and help you navigate the tributaries to the big river, but then I must turn back. My brothers and sisters of the swamp need me,” Thomas says before he slips into the murky water.
“They can come too. I’ll need help when the Ohio River reaches the Mississippi. Will this raft withstand the current or be blown apart? I’ll have my hatchlings…and Phin may still be injured…we need you as much as you need to come with us,” I plead.
“Do it for us so that we can dream of your happiness,” Roy finishes as he pushes us from the shore and towards the tributaries of the Ohio River.
I sob openly as we drift away from their forlorn faces. All I wanted was companionship, and now I’m more scared and alone than ever…
Chapter 13
What’s in the reeds? Was that him?I’ve waited for Leopold to jump out from behind a cypress tree for days. Every shadow has the potential to be our doom.Why can’t we go faster?My heart raced for the first day, but now, my body tires of constant panic. I’ve never been so dirty in my entire life…or as free. My time is my own. And what do I do with it? Sit in fear of shadows lurking over my shoulder. I don’t have the strength to jump with each noise because I haven’t eaten since I left the house.
Thomas suggested gulping the swamp water to ingest the tiny critters for sustenance. No thanks was my knee-jerk reaction, but I’m drowsy from hunger and tempted…
The incessant chirping of the bugs grates on my nerves. I’m wound tighter than a clockspring with too much mental energy and not enough physical. Phin’s fever broke the first night, leaving him silent. At least his moans and whimpers reminded me he was by my side, but now... I truly believe that together, we can withstand anything—amended, togetherand conscious, we can withstand anything. We can raise these hatchlings shifting in my belly. I use the swamp water to mop his brow, hydrate his skin between bandaging, and feed him.
