Whenever he slept in Russ's bed, Will liked to get up now and then to go and see that Quincy was all right. Usually he found him awake and quietly playing with his toys and their shadows that danced on the walls. This time when Will went to the main room, he saw something very different. His eyes went wide as he choked back a cry of alarm.
He stayed silent, not wishing to upset Quincy. The boy was sitting up and looking at the same terrible thing Will saw. Quincy's hands were gone. He still had arms but there was nothing where his hands should have been. Quincy's toys were left abandoned in his lap because he could not hold them.
Rushing over to the little boy, Will held his breath and looked further down. He saw that Quincy's feet were gone as well. But now Will noticed something else. There was silvery water where Quincy's hands and feet should have been.
As Will watched, the water started to move up as if it would swallow up more of him. Will held back an anguished cry as he saw that Quincy's legs were starting to disappear, the water taking them over.
"Oh, please come back to me," Will pleaded, the words no louder than the sound of his breath.
Quincy looked up at Will with frightened eyes. To Will's amazement and relief his feet and his hands reformed once again, becoming small hands and feet. Will clutched at them to make sure they were real. They were, but when Will touched them they felt much colder than before.
"Papa," Quincy said plaintively. He reached his arms out for him, but Will was already taking him into a tight embrace and stroking his hair to soothe him.
"Were you scared?" Will asked.
Quincy nodded against his shoulder. "I go away."
"No. You're right here. You're with me," Will told him then noticed that Russ had come over.
"What's the matter here?" he asked and sat down next to them.
"There was some water here. I think it tried to take Quincy," Will said. He did not know how to properly explain what he had seen and that left Russ confused.
"Take him?"
"Water eat me, make me go away," Quincy said.
Russ still didn't understand, but he took both Will and Quincy in his arms and held them. "I won't let anything bad happen to you," he promised.
It wasn't long before Quincy took up his toys, happy to be able to hold them and play with them once again. Russ and Will went to sit by the fire, close together on the cot. Will was glad to feel Russ solid and steady by his side while he told him what he had seen happening to their little boy, how he had seemed to be disappearing before his very eyes.
As he held both of Will's hands in his own, Russ asked him, "Have you seen this happen to him before?"
"No. It could be that I slept through it," Will said.
"Could be," Russ agreed with a deep frown. It was clear how very worried he was. "From now on, we'll take turns watching over him in the night."
Will nodded. He had already decided on that. Then he thought of what might be the cause of this. "Is this the river's curse, or might this be my grandmother's doing?" he wondered. She spoke so hatefully of Quincy. Rather than him being cursed by the river, like she said, maybe she cursed the poor little one.
Russ shook his head, not sure what to think. But then he turned to Will and spoke resolutely. "We might not be blood kin, but in our hearts, we are," he said. He held Will's hands tightly in his own and looked into his eyes with steely determination. "We will let nothing take away our little boy."
Tearful and touched on hearing his words, Will did not speak his gratitude, merely threw himself into Russ's arms and kissed him. They spent the rest of the night like that, sitting up, held in one another's arms, watching over their boy until the morning.
The next night they nearly did the same. They both sat on Quincy's bed while he curled up between them and played with his two favorite toys. As Russ and Will watched, he had the turtle and the horse dance together.
Will realized that another sleepless night would leave them too tired the next day. There was work to be done and Quincy to look after. Though nothing odd or frightening had happened to him since last night, Quincy needed watching over in the daytime as well. That's why Will tried to send Russ to his bed, urging him to get some sleep.
Russ did not argue with him but said, "I will take the first watch and wake you when it's your turn."
Will sighed. Instead of sending Russ off to bed, Will got sent to bedchamber. He agreed to go to sleep but not in Russ's bed. That was too far. After a kiss from Russ, Will kissed Quincy on the cheek and went to the cot.
"I'll wake you if anything should happen," Russ promised him.
Will slept fitfully, waking often to check on Quincy though Russ watched over him. When it was Will's turn to watch over Quincy, Russ left him to it only after Will started pushing him toward the cot. If it was left to him, Russ would have stayed up all night.
As it was, he didn't close his eyes but lay on his side and watched Will and Quincy playing. Will had made a wall with his hands between the turtle and the horse to see what Quincy would do. Quincy made the toys jump up for a glimpse of each other over the wall. Finally the horse took a running leap over the wall, and he was reunited with the turtle.
Will was smiling at their happy reunion when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Russ sit up suddenly. Will looked from him to Quincy and saw why Russ was now rushing to his side.
It was only his feet this time, but as Will watched, Quincy's legs melted into silvery water. With haste, Will grabbed hold of Quincy's little shoulders. "You're my Quincy and no one will take you from me," he said to the boy urgently.
Russ was already by his side, wrapping his arms around both Will and Quincy to support them in this terrifying moment.
Quincy stared at his feet in alarm, but he was not silent this time. "Feet, feet, come back! Quincy need feet," he said while looking down mournfully and clenching his tiny fists.
Will held his breath, but then he saw Quincy's feet regain their former shape. At the sight of them, Will almost cried with relief.
"Feet come back," Quincy said, visibly relieved but sad as well.
Now Will hugged him even tighter and Russ hugged both of them.
"Quincy not Quincy. Disappear," Quincy said, looking ready to cry, but without a sign of a single tear.
"No," Will denied it outright, clutching the boy to him. He couldn't face losing him. "I won't let you go. Not ever. You're my own."
"Son?" Quincy said.
"Yes. You are my son. Russ's too," Will told him.
"That's right, my boy," Russ told him and kissed the top of his little head.
Quincy smiled at them both. "Papa and Papa protect me."
All three of them stayed close together until they saw dawn breaking. Neither Will nor Russ dared to sleep. Will wondered what either of them could do if the silvery water were to try and take their boy entirely and not just his little feet.
Will thought back to when he found Quincy and he did not seem to have any feet at all for a moment. Could it be that this was only some unfortunate malady returning? If so, what was the cure?
In the morning, Quincy played outside, showing his toys to the chicken, but every now and then he looked at his hands and feet as if to make sure they were still there. The whole time, Will could do little else but watch him and hope he would be all right.
"What kind of help do you need, my little one," Will asked in a whisper that Quincy could not hear. Will remembered how his mother gave him warm, honeyed milk when he was little and he was sick. He could do no such thing for Quincy.
When Russ came to join him and they both sat on the bench, Will confessed to him his gloomy thoughts. "I fear that keeping hold of our Quincy might be like holding water in my cupped hands. Too soon the water runs out between my fingers no matter how hard I try to hold on."
"Things are not so bleak. We'll find him help," Russ said. Taking hold of Will's hand, he threaded their fingers together.
"Where can we find help for this?" Will said. "What's ailing our boy that waters seem to be reaching for him in the unlikeliest of places, trying to take him away?"
"If I knew of a witch, I'd say we should take Quincy to be seen," Russ said. "There was a witch in Finsbury, but she died a few years back."
"I know of a witch. She resided outside our village for a time. I remember how my grandmother harbored a great hatred for her," Will said.
Russ's eyes brightened. "She might be of help. I hope you don't mind me saying, but I hold your grandmother's bad opinion in favor of this witch."
"I was thinking the same. Any witch my grandmother disapproved of might be just the one we want to see," Will said.
"Still, we should be cautious. We must know we can trust her with our Quincy's fate," Russ said.
"First we must worry about finding her," Will said. "She used to live well out of the village, on the far edge of the wood. But it won't surprise you to learn that she was driven away from there. We'll have to ask around and find where she has gone."
"The whereabouts of a witch that makes a living by her craft are usually well known," Russ said. "The witch of Finsbury had visitors come to her from far and wide."
"I don't know about this one. The way she has been harassed, she might have good reason to hide," Will said worried that finding her might not be an easy task. There was a glimmer of hope at least. "We have to do whatever we can to help our Quincy. I can't bear to lose him," Will said and leaned against Russ's shoulder.
"Neither can I. He named me his papa also," Russ said as he looked over at Quincy with love and pride.
"He did and he made a very good choice." Will straightened and started to think how they should go about finding this witch. "The witch's name was Ula. I don't know where she came from or where she went. She was old, but far from frail. She should still be alive."
"We'll start the search in your village, but only I will go there to ask about her," Russ decided, and Will knew that's how it had to be. "I'll go to Finsbury too. Over there they are not so inclined to dislike witches. And they do more trade than Talisbury, so word reaches them from farther afield." Russ stood up ready to head out that very instant.
"All right, but hurry back," Will said and threw himself into his arms. He kissed Russ with such feeling and desperation that one would think he feared losing him too.