across the damp bandages.
Violet shrugged. âTheyâre fineâ¦â and then she added with mock adoration, ââ¦thanks to you, of course.â And to show her gratitude, she kicked water in his direction.
He nudged her with his shoulder but didnât say anything. They stayed like that for a while, enjoying the silence of being alone and enjoying each otherâs presence. It was easyâ¦and comfortable.
Violet sighed when it started to feel like too much time had passed. âWe should get back. Iâm sure someone else is waiting for a turn.â
Jay stood up, silently agreeing with her, and Violet reluctantly followed. Without asking if he wanted to trade places, Violet again got on in front.
They took their time getting back, meandering lazily along the shoreline and staying out of the way of faster vehicles. It took Violet longer than it should have to realize that the path she was taking wasnât random at all, that she was being pulledâ¦drawn.
Something was calling to her.
Something dead .
She didnât say anything to Jay, mostly because there wasnât anything to say yet. Instead she concentrated on where it might be coming from. It was strong, whatever it was, stronger than she would have expected from something out here in the water, and she wondered if that meant it had died recently. Today, even.
She followed the pulling sensation, the tugging that had propelled her almost without her awareness, as she scanned the waters for some sign, some sensory input to guide her.She didnât taste or smell anything out of place. There were no unexplained sounds coming from any directionâ¦at least not that she could hear over the engine of the Wave Runner.
She thought she saw something in the water ahead of her. It looked like a large oil slick licking across the top of the lakeâs surface. It was near a thick stand of grasses and reeds that sprang up from the waters near the shore. It wasnât completely out of place there, a boat could have leaked the substance into the water, but she eased forward anyway, wanting to get a better look.
Jay didnât ask her what she was doing; he was just happy to be along for the ride, as usual.
But the closer Violet got to it, the less it looked like oil. It had the same greasy sheen as oil, casting a rainbow of hues across the plane of the water as it was rippled gently by the waves. But there was something different about it, something she couldnât quite put her finger on.
Until she was practically right on top of it.
She was careful not to catch the weedy plant life in the Wave Runnerâs engine, and she leaned over the edge as she slowed down to make sure she didnât take the craft into the too-shallow water.
She needed to see what was there.
âWhat are you looking at?â Jay finally asked with only a little interest. He was used to Violetâs wandering ways.
âI donât knowâ was all she answered, too caught up in her curiosity to attempt any more of an explanation than that.
Violet stood up on the watercraft as she came to a stop. Multihued light seemed to be radiating up from beneath thewater, centered among the reeds, and then diffusing outward as it reached the surface. Violet had never seen anything like it, and she knew that the spectrum of light was defying its very nature by behaving in that way.
It could only be one thing.
There was something dead down there.
Her first thought was a duck or maybe even a large fish that had drifted into the cluster of grasses. The vibrant light continued to play off the waves from below, fading into a fine, colorful mist as it broke through the surface of the water and then vanished into the air. Violet strained to see through the plant life, as it grew thicker where it reached toward the waterâs edge.
She thought she saw something bobbing in between the weedy greens, but she couldnât be sure, so she hopped off and waded
Violet shrugged. âTheyâre fineâ¦â and then she added with mock adoration, ââ¦thanks to you, of course.â And to show her gratitude, she kicked water in his direction.
He nudged her with his shoulder but didnât say anything. They stayed like that for a while, enjoying the silence of being alone and enjoying each otherâs presence. It was easyâ¦and comfortable.
Violet sighed when it started to feel like too much time had passed. âWe should get back. Iâm sure someone else is waiting for a turn.â
Jay stood up, silently agreeing with her, and Violet reluctantly followed. Without asking if he wanted to trade places, Violet again got on in front.
They took their time getting back, meandering lazily along the shoreline and staying out of the way of faster vehicles. It took Violet longer than it should have to realize that the path she was taking wasnât random at all, that she was being pulledâ¦drawn.
Something was calling to her.
Something dead .
She didnât say anything to Jay, mostly because there wasnât anything to say yet. Instead she concentrated on where it might be coming from. It was strong, whatever it was, stronger than she would have expected from something out here in the water, and she wondered if that meant it had died recently. Today, even.
She followed the pulling sensation, the tugging that had propelled her almost without her awareness, as she scanned the waters for some sign, some sensory input to guide her.She didnât taste or smell anything out of place. There were no unexplained sounds coming from any directionâ¦at least not that she could hear over the engine of the Wave Runner.
She thought she saw something in the water ahead of her. It looked like a large oil slick licking across the top of the lakeâs surface. It was near a thick stand of grasses and reeds that sprang up from the waters near the shore. It wasnât completely out of place there, a boat could have leaked the substance into the water, but she eased forward anyway, wanting to get a better look.
Jay didnât ask her what she was doing; he was just happy to be along for the ride, as usual.
But the closer Violet got to it, the less it looked like oil. It had the same greasy sheen as oil, casting a rainbow of hues across the plane of the water as it was rippled gently by the waves. But there was something different about it, something she couldnât quite put her finger on.
Until she was practically right on top of it.
She was careful not to catch the weedy plant life in the Wave Runnerâs engine, and she leaned over the edge as she slowed down to make sure she didnât take the craft into the too-shallow water.
She needed to see what was there.
âWhat are you looking at?â Jay finally asked with only a little interest. He was used to Violetâs wandering ways.
âI donât knowâ was all she answered, too caught up in her curiosity to attempt any more of an explanation than that.
Violet stood up on the watercraft as she came to a stop. Multihued light seemed to be radiating up from beneath thewater, centered among the reeds, and then diffusing outward as it reached the surface. Violet had never seen anything like it, and she knew that the spectrum of light was defying its very nature by behaving in that way.
It could only be one thing.
There was something dead down there.
Her first thought was a duck or maybe even a large fish that had drifted into the cluster of grasses. The vibrant light continued to play off the waves from below, fading into a fine, colorful mist as it broke through the surface of the water and then vanished into the air. Violet strained to see through the plant life, as it grew thicker where it reached toward the waterâs edge.
She thought she saw something bobbing in between the weedy greens, but she couldnât be sure, so she hopped off and waded
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