Meredith
Present Day
Gina whisked Alice from the table, disappearing her into the bowels of the house, claiming Alice needed a nap. “Delicate girls need their rest.”
Alice was anything but delicate; still, she looked exhausted. Meredith doubted Alice had slept at all while under Gina’s thumb. She hoped that in knowing Meredith was here, Alice might get some sleep. If their escape came down to a run or a swim (Alice was just as good as Meredith), she’d need it.
“She won’t hurt her,” Calamity said once Gina had gone. “She loves Alice.”
“She threatened to kill me,” Meredith said.
“Yeah,” Tempest added, “she’d kill you. Didn’t say anything about hurting the brat.”
Calamity flinched. “She’s not a brat. I like her.” She looked at Meredith. “I really do.”
Meredith lifted her legs, one then the other, testing herself. How long would these drugs last? “If you like her, then you need to bring her to me and help us get out of here.” She turned to Tempest, who was fingering the knife. “It’s clear you’re not happy about me or Alice being here, so why go along with it? Why do something you know deep down is wrong?”
“Mama needs us,” Calamity said weakly. “She needs Marina back.”
Tempest remained silent.
Gina returned, wiping her hands on her skirt. She paused at the threshold, taking in the scene. “Don’t stop talking on my account.”
Meredith tried to stand. Her legs seemed to comply, but her head spun, forcing her back down. “Where’s Alice?”
“Sleeping,” Gina said. “Finally.”
“I won’t give you what you want.”
Gina seemed nonplussed. “Of course you will.”
“She’s my child, not a thing to be given away.”
Tell that to Kristin, a small voice goaded. Tell that to the mirror.
How many nights did she stare into it and wish she hadn’t agreed to become a mom? How many booze-fueled escape plans did she hatch only to bury them under playdates and chocolate chip pancakes in the sober light of day?
“Trust me. It’ll be better for the both of you.” She smiled sadly. “I could just…keep her. Pump you full of that sedative and dump you out in the middle of the ocean.”
Meredith’s breath caught.
“But that’s not the way I want our relationship to start. Alice has to trust me. To do that, she has to hate you.” She paused a beat. “If you give her up, Alice lives a perfectly happy life here with me, you move on, and everyone gets what they want.” She smirked. “Almost everyone.”
“You have your own children,” Meredith said. “You can’t—”
Gina brushed her off with a wave. “Not relevant.”
Tempest didn’t look away from the table, her back ramrod straight.
“Doesn’t seem like the thing you ought to say in front of your children.”
“Sweetheart.” Gina strode toward Meredith, taking her hand. Gina’s was cold and papery. An old woman’s hand. “Considering our situation, I don’t think you’re in a position to dole out parental advice. After all, you’re the one who was fucking some woman on the beach when you should have been protecting your child.”
Meredith stiffened.
“So you see, in a way, I’ve done you a favor, showing you your faults. A good mother does that, you know.” She paused. “Judith…” Stroking Meredith’s arm, she sighed. “Judith wasn’t made for motherhood. I saw that from the beginning. Too selfish. Too much going on in that head of hers. And her obsession with that poor dead girl… It was sad to witness. Truly.”
Who was she to say anything about Meredith’s mother? How did she know her? “Mom did the best she could.”
Gina helped Meredith to her feet. The room spun but slowly settled. She wobbled a little to give the impression the sedatives were still in full force, but she must have not ingested as much as they’d thought. A little longer, she thought. Arm in arm, Gina escorted Meredith to the living room. “Sit,” she ordered.
The knife flashed in the corner of her eye. Meredith sat.
How long before Gina stopped trying to convince her to give up Alice and decided to kill her instead?
“As I was saying,” Gina continued. “Motherhood. Judith wasn’t meant to be a mother, but that didn’t stop her from stealing a child.” She leaned over Meredith’s shoulder and grinned. “That’s you, dear.”
Meredith shook her head. “No.”
“She was impulsive, so it shouldn’t have surprised me. It was the betrayal that hurt most.”
“Are you trying to say I’m your—”
Gina laughed. “Oh goodness, no. Absolutely not. I mean, look at you. Those eyes.” She mimed a shudder. “But Judith and I had an…understanding. She betrayed me.”
“I don’t get it. My mom—”
“You are blood of her blood. Yes. But technically, you belonged to the both of us.”
“What does that even mean?”
“Judith and I made a deal. Once she gave birth, you would save us from Liza once and for all.” Gina crossed her legs. Leaned forward. “But as I said, she betrayed our deal. Stole you away, leaving me here. Alone.”
“She didn’t even like me,” Meredith murmured.
“Of course she didn’t like you. Saving you meant putting her own life at risk. Others’ lives.” Gina ran her fingers through Meredith’s hair, scraping her nails along Meredith’s scalp. “I can’t imagine how she felt at the end. How she must have resented you.”
“She died,” Meredith shot back, almost believing it, “because she cared. Because she wanted Alice to be safe.”
“But she wasn’t safe, was she? Not until now. You never were.”
How many nights had she lain awake, the ocean in her head whispering to her? How many times had she toed the surf and felt a pull on her heart? She remembered the night after Alice was born, a night she’d pushed to the depths of her memory. Alice still in her plastic bassinet and fresh stitches between Meredith’s legs, she climbed to the roof, like she could hear the sound of the waves all the way from Arlington. It was the only time she ever seriously considered leaving Alice behind. If she dove into the deepest, darkest parts of herself, Meredith knew Gina was right. In that deepest, darkest part, she’d always known. There was no escape.
But that didn’t mean she was going to give Alice up. Alice was hers, goddamn it.
“You can’t have her. I don’t care what comes after you or me.”
Fingers still in Meredith’s hair, Gina tugged Meredith’s head back, making her neck pop. “Judith gave up. I won’t.”
“Why even ask? Why not just kill me now?”
“Because Alice and I need time to get back to the mainland. Liza is out there somewhere, looking. Waiting. She’ll find her way here eventually, and when she does, she can have you, and then Alice and I will live happily ever after.”
“And your other daughters?”
Gina’s lips set in a tight line. “Insurance.”
“Mama?” Calamity stood in front of Meredith, head bowed. “Graybeard needs to get milked.”
“So milk him,” Gina snapped.
“Last time I did it alone, he kicked me.”
“So take Tempest with you.”
“She’ll just let him do it.” Sheepishly, her eyes found Meredith’s. “Can Meredith come with me?”
Sighing, Gina released her hold on Meredith’s hair. Meredith’s head throbbed, and she felt her heartbeat in her throat.
“Fine,” Gina said, rounding the couch to look Meredith in the eye. “I suggest you use this time to pray to whatever god you believe in. From what I understand, drowning is very unpleasant.”
She didn’t blink, matching Gina stare for stare. As far as Meredith was concerned, the only people walking away from anything would be herself and Alice.
***
While Calamity milked the goat—spraying her shoes more than the bucket—Meredith leaned against a gate post. She could hold herself up now, and when she turned her head, the nausea wasn’t totally overwhelming. She watched Tempest closely, looking for any sign that she could tell the effects were starting to wear off, but Tempest looked almost bored, peeling the skin off an overripe orange. Meredith wondered if the sedative was a tool Gina had used before. If she’d used it on Tempest.
“I take it you’re not going to help,” Meredith said.
“Tempest never helps,” Calamity said.
“Shut up, Cally,” Tempest said half-heartedly. She peered briefly up at Meredith. “You too.” She flashed the kitchen knife to make her point.
The more Tempest brandished the knife, the more convinced Meredith became she’d never use it. She couldn’t risk it, though. Not while they were keeping Alice away from her. Still, it was clear the relationship between Tempest and Gina was on shaky ground. Maybe she could play that to her advantage. “Must feel like shit knowing your mother doesn’t care about you.”
Tempest didn’t look at her. “Shut up.”
“What do you think she’ll do after she gets rid of me? Think she wants you sticking around, ruining her happily ever after?”
“Stop,” Calamity whimpered.
Meredith ignored her. “Well? What do you think? How long before it’s your bodies she’s dumping in the water?”
Tempest threw the orange, missing Meredith by a mile. She stood, shaking. “I heard her say she was thinking of burying Alice in a box in the garden to weaken her lungs. To make her more like Marina.” Tempest smirked. “I bet it’d hurt.”
“I’m sure you’d love that,” Meredith said, despite the image Tempest’s words conjured. She swallowed it back. “You don’t want Alice here any more than I do.”
“You don’t know anything.”
“Mama would never do that,” Calamity said, wrapping her arms around her middle. “She wouldn’t hurt her.”
“Stop defending her, Cally!”
Being with them only a few hours, Meredith knew Calamity would never stop defending her mother, just as Tempest would never stop doing what her mother wanted, regardless of how she felt. Meredith recognized herself in both of them. She’d spent her entire childhood behaving like Calamity, loving regardless of how much love she got in return. Meredith had been lucky; she’d had her stepdad to fill in the gaps. But he couldn’t always be around, a buffer between Meredith and her mother, and that was when the Tempest inside her came to the forefront.
“You shouldn’t say things like that about Mama,” Calamity said. “It’s not right.”
“Not right?” Tempest laughed. “Please. Honestly, Cally, you can be so stupid sometimes.”
“I’m not stupid.”
Face red and mouth stretched into a maniacal kind of grin, Tempest turned to Meredith. “She wasn’t always like this, you know. Cally. She was smart. She could read the ocean better than even Mom could. But the more time me and Cally spent on the water, the more the shadows came around, the harder it was to stay away. We had each other, though, so the days when we had no choice because we needed food or supplies, we went together, to keep an eye on each other. One day, Mom was double-checking everything we’d traded. Sometimes we got stiffed, and by the time we got back to the island, it was too late, too much of a waste of gas to turn around and try to make it right. I looked away for one second, and when I looked back, I saw Cally wobble in the boat, her face all slack like she’d been hit. Mom stood there by the dock, stone-faced and ugly.” Tempest’s voice cracked. “Didn’t move when Cally walked herself right off the boat. She’d heard a voice like Mom’s telling her to drown herself. I know. I’ve heard it.
“Mom didn’t bother trying to save her. She said once Liza was done with Cally, there’d be quiet for a while. She was going to let Cally die.” Tempest shook her head. “I went in after her, but it took so long to find her, she was half-drowned. I got her breathing, but she didn’t wake up for two days. When she did, she was like this.” She pointed to Calamity, on the ground now, rocking with her knees in her chest. “So, yeah, you’re right. I don’t want you here. But it’s not because of Alice. It’s because every time I look at you, I remember that thing is out there somewhere just itching to pick us off. And if getting Marina back, in one form or another, means Mom will leave us be so I can take Cally and run away, I’m willing to do whatever it takes to make it happen.”
“Is that why you come to the cape?” Meredith asked. “To get away from her?”
Tempest looked away. “I don’t have a choice. It’s the Thalias. She needs them. They don’t grow good here. Too much sand.”
“Why not just let her die? Refuse to go?”
“She’s my mother.”
Meredith reached out to her, tried to touch her. “I get it. I do.”
“Don’t,” Tempest said, flinching. “You’re not me, and I’m not you. I should’ve killed you the second I saw you. Tossed you over the side of the boat.”
“You didn’t, though.”
Tempest sneered. “Want to try again?”
Meredith shook her head. Turning her back on Tempest—the memory of the knife tracing chills up her back—Meredith crouched next to Calamity, swallowing the nausea and the bile, and gently stroked her hair, shushing her. It was thin and brittle but a beautiful chestnut color that reminded her of Alice’s when she was first born. It had darkened as she got older.
“Don’t touch her,” Tempest said, but didn’t move to try to stop her.
“It’s okay,” Meredith murmured in Calamity’s ear. Her own eyes burned and her heart ached. Whether it was for Calamity, Tempest, or herself and Alice, she didn’t know. As she and Calamity rocked in unison, Meredith struggled to reconcile the impossibility of everything she’d learned with all that she felt. With all that she knew, deep down, to be true. She wouldn’t leave Alice no matter what Gina said. But how was she supposed to get them off this island and safely across the water, back to the cape? Three generations of women, all trapped together on the same small island. Three daughters, exposed and vulnerable. By being here, they were drawing Liza to them.
On Calamity’s other side, Tempest kissed her sister’s cheek before prying Meredith’s arms away. “She’s fine now. Leave her alone.”
They weren’t far from the beach; even if she couldn’t see the water, she still heard a boat’s engine getting louder.
Calamity’s eyes brightened. She sniffed and wiped the tears off her cheeks. “Dad’s home!”
***
Despite Tempest’s protests, Calamity dragged Meredith to the dock to meet the boat, which was still quite a ways out. The boat’s engine roared like a hurricane, spewing smoke from the exhaust.
“Something happened,” Tempest said, frowning. She carried her worry in her fingers, twisting and pinching them while she waited at the edge of the dock.
Clouds had gathered while they worked, threatening a storm. Meredith could smell it on the wind, the damp of the impending rain and static. She worried about the little house—would it be safe? Would Alice be scared? Fear prickled the skin on the back of her neck. What if it was more than a storm? What if Liza had already found them?
Calamity pulled her toward the end of the dock, whimpering under her breath. The stench of the exhaust was getting worse, laced with something rotten underneath. The water was eerily still and gray. But seeing it pulled at something in the back of her throat. The taste of salt filled her mouth. She tried to swallow, gagging. She shot a look at Tempest. Her lips were pursed, and her hands were fists at her sides. Did she feel it too?
Another step and Meredith reeled back from whatever sharp thing she stepped on. Calamity didn’t notice, too worried about the approaching boat. Meredith looked down and her breath caught. It was Alice’s shell.
She snatched it up before the other two looked back and stuffed it in her pocket where it practically vibrated. She’d had it with her when she chased Tempest off the cape, but lost it somewhere between getting in the boat and being towed here. It was impossible for the shell to just happen to be on Regina’s dock, waiting for her. Someone had put it there. A message? A threat? She eyed the water warily, heart skipping with each splash and bubble.
The boat finally reached the dock, and at first, she thought it was the drugs, that she was hallucinating or something. But a part of her felt vindicated. And worried. And very, very angry.
“Daddy!” Calamity said.
Vik.
The realization trickled through her body like ice water in her veins. It wasn’t Calamity and Tempest who had assaulted Art and abducted Alice. It was Vik.
He wore a self-satisfied smirk, as unsurprised to see Meredith as she was to see him. He yelled something over his shoulder she didn’t hear, and before she could process the implication—someone else was in the boat with him—a mop of brown hair came into view. Her heart sank as she realized it was Bobby tying the rope that would anchor them to the dock. Bobby, who’d spent so much time with Art, with Alice. The world seemed to close in around her. All she could see was red.
All that bullshit about helping her mother, wanting to help her. The fucking lasagna. How long had they been planning this? How many times had he looked at Alice with hunger behind his eyes? She blinked away angry tears thinking of how her mother had scolded her, insisting Vik was a good man.
Vik only broke eye contact to help Bobby tie up the boat before looking back at Meredith. He winked. A pulse of adrenaline ripped through her. Her whole body hummed with the desire to wrap her hands around his throat.
Calamity hopped over the side and into Vik’s arms. He lifted her into an embrace, kissing the top of her head. Even Tempest seemed pleased to see him. She waved enthusiastically; her grip loosened on Meredith’s arm.
It was just enough.
Wincing against the pain in her legs and pushing through the tilt of the earth as she moved, Meredith slipped out of Tempest’s grip as easily as a fish through wet hands and bounded over the side of the boat. It sent the whole thing rocking; Bobby had to steady himself on the chair. Calamity squealed while Vik slipped, falling backward. Just before he could right himself, Meredith swung, grazing his cheekbone. White-hot pain flew up her arm—she’d never thrown a punch before—even as she wound back for a second. Vik was big, but he was fast too. He snatched her arm out of the air and twisted it behind her back, forcing her up on her toes. She screamed, clawing over her shoulder with the other hand, snagging beard and nostril and lip.
“Jesus Christ, calm down!” Vik ordered.
She snarled, seeing red. “You almost killed Art! You took my child!”
“Bobby!” Vik barked. “Get that rope over here.”
Sheepishly, Bobby circled behind, stepping around Calamity, who’d frozen in place. When Bobby struggled to get the rope around Meredith’s legs, which she kicked high enough to make contact with his head twice, Tempest climbed aboard and finished the job, knotting the rope around Meredith’s ankles. Her skin burned as she struggled to pry her legs free. Vik had her other arm around her back now too; if he let go, she’d fall face-first into the console. Clamping her wrists together with one hand, he used the other arm to heave her over his shoulder. Tempest stepped around and tied Meredith’s hands with the other end of the rope as seamlessly as if the whole thing had been choreographed. Vik’s shoulder dug into Meredith’s stomach, making it hard to breathe, let alone yell. She wheezed against his back. It was damp with sweat and stank of old garlic.
He grunted as he shifted her weight. “Heavier than you look.”
She managed a weak “fuck you” before he drove a fist into her side. Breath rushed out of her body, and she gagged trying to inhale.
“Quiet,” he said. “You’re upsetting Cally.”
Eyes bleary and nose dripping, she writhed on his shoulder while he carried her across the dock, depleting the last of her adrenaline-fueled burst of energy but stopping only when another carefully directed punch knocked the breath from her lungs for several seconds. She tried to catch Bobby’s eye, walking well behind the others, his expression downcast, but he refused to look at her.
Regina waited in the doorway, hands perched on sharp hips. She planted a kiss on Vik’s cheek as he crossed the threshold.
“Look what I caught.” He barked a laugh. “Where should I put it?”
“End of the hall,” Regina said.
With each second, Meredith got a fraction of her breath back, and she used whatever she had to yell Alice’s name. Regina slapped her, making her bite her tongue. She tasted coppery blood and spat down Vik’s neck.
At the end of the short hallway, Vik slid Meredith down, gripping her just under her ass. The feel of his thumb caressing her backside sent waves of revulsion through her. She leaned over to bite him, but Tempest caught her jaw and pulled up, making something pop. Vik heaved Meredith into Tempest’s arms, who held on tight while Vik struggled with the lock.
Meredith tried to twist out of Tempest’s grip, but the girl was angry and strong and dug her nails into Meredith’s wrists each time she fought. Her skin burned and her throat throbbed, the ghost of Tempest’s hand still hovering there. The rank stench of mold and decay washed over Meredith, and she tasted vomit.
“Don’t you dare,” Tempest said through clenched teeth.
The room was dark, and as Tempest shoved her inside, she felt the dampness of the walls, the floor, like she was breathing water. Once her eyes adjusted, she took in the room, from the chipped and stained tile floor to the water-bloated yellow wallpaper and a claw-footed porcelain bathtub at the center. Covering every other inch of floor were buckets with large, half-dead Thalias in them looking like creatures crawling from the water. In the tub, chains extended from the clawed feet and over the side. A scream locked in her throat, Meredith dead-legged, dragging Tempest down with her. Her knee hit the tile with a sickening crunch, but she kicked out, aiming for Tempest’s stomach. Tempest still had Meredith’s arms in a death grip and twisted up. Meredith cried out as Tempest and Vik yanked her back to standing only to dump her over the side, into the tub where a foot of icy water pricked her skin like a thousand needles. There were handcuffs attached to the chains, and Tempest made quick work of snapping them onto Meredith’s wrists. Her legs they kept bound with the rope, even after they clamped shackles around her ankles.
When it was all done, Meredith fell back against the cold porcelain. Tempest staggered toward the door. Meredith struggled to pull her hands through the cuffs, but they were too tight and scraped at her already raw skin. She heard Bobby consoling Calamity just outside the door and considered yelling, but the thought of Alice hearing, of scaring her, forced her mouth shut. How long were they going to keep her here? What if she died here? Would they lock Alice in these chains next?
“You’re bleeding,” Regina said.
Vik’s cheek wept blood from where Meredith had scratched him. She could still feel his skin beneath her nails.
Vik forced a jovial chuckle. “You always said you liked a man with battle scars.”
He cast a menacing look in Meredith’s direction before ushering Regina and Tempest from the room.
“Tempest,” Meredith pleaded. “You can’t—”
The door slammed, cutting her off.
Alone now, she finally let the tears fall, salty and hot, down her face and neck.
This is the end, she thought. This is where I die.