A round stone whooshed before it plunked into the ocean. The waves devoured the ripple of the splash. Nadia stared over the waves. Josh pushed at her shoulder.

“Hey, deep in thought?”

She bounced slightly where she sat, “What?”

Josh pulled another pebble from his pocket and flung it in the water.

“Pebble for your thoughts?”

“They’re not worth it.”

Josh sat closer and pulled a pebble half the size of his thumb from his pocket. He opened Nadia’s hand and placed it in her palm.

“Throw it. You’ll feel better.”

Without getting up, Nadia pitched the stone into the ocean and watched as it skipped through several waves, “My mom. She would have liked me better this way. As a girl, I mean.”

“Your mom? You never talked about her before.”

“She wanted a girl and got me instead, then found out it would be too risky to have another kid. When I was little, sometimes I would wish I could have been born the way she wanted me, but then later I grew to resent it. My mom was good to me, but we didn’t relate very well.”

“Didn’t she love you?”

“Of course she did!”

“I like your father. He seems like he has it together. I bet he never loses it.”

“He did one time,”

Josh threw another stone; it skipped the waves before sinking.

“Can I have a few more?”

Josh pulled a handful of smooth pebbles from his pocket and placed them in her palm.

“So, he beat her pretty bad then?” Josh asked.

“No, nothing like that! Why would he ever do anything like that!? What’s wrong with you?”

“Sorry, sorry. What happened?”

“Mom went ahead and got pregnant. She refused to give up the baby despite the doctor’s warning. That’s how Natalie was born. Mom was too fragile to make it through another difficult birth. The last time I saw her, she asked me to take care of my little sister. My dad stayed with her until she died, which was… only a few hours later. I knew it was all over when he came into the waiting room. He looked at me, and just walked out like he was sick. I was already sick myself when he came back and told me. We didn't leave. We sat and cried like idiots the entire night.”

“That’s not what I meant by losing it. But yeah, that sounds like a drag.”

“It was so stupid! She wanted a little girl for ten years. Then, when she finally gets what she wants, she leaves us. I bet my little sister would’ve gotten love and affection I never received. Sometimes I envy her for that, but most of the time I pity her because I had a chance to know mom.”

“Sounds awful.”

“What about you? How did your parents lose it.”

Josh laughed, “My old man lost it all the time. My first memory is him beating the old woman.”

“You mean your mother?!”

“She didn’t deserve to be called a mother. Old man was a psycho. All he ever did was beat her, and she was too much of a coward to stand up to him.”

The scar grew thicker as it and wrapped around his arm.

"He took a beer bottle and broke it over the bed,” Josh snarled as a cross shape burned onto his shirt as he stared into the waves. His fingernails scraped at the painted wood.

Nadia shifted away slowly, “Josh, snap out of it.”

“He beat us both all the time. I couldn’t take it anymore. Creatures were flying around him. One of them took my hand and made me do it. It wasn’t my fault. They made me do it! I was just a kid!”

Nadia pressed her palms against her chest and closed her eyes. Josh almost collapsed in the water, but she caught him and pulled him back to safety. She waited for his eyes to open.

“Whatever you were thinking about. It’s releasing your incubus. There’s something you have to deal with before you can let this go, but I don’t know how to go about it.”

Josh curled up into the fetal position. He bawled while Nadia sat over him, “They were both torn to shreds when I woke up. I killed them.”

“You didn’t kill them. It’s not your fault. I’m sure of it.”

“I was the only one at fault.”

“It wasn’t you.”

“I could’ve stopped it. I wanted them to all go to away. I wished so hard that it would all end. Don’t you see? It was my fault! I used the power he gave me. And I-”

“No! Stop it! I don’t believe it, not one word! You might be a selfish jerk, an ignoramus, an assassin, a moron, and a waste of space, but you’re no murderer. You’re nothing like your father. You’re nothing like Deadleaf!”

“Deadleaf was just a customer. Do you even know what you’re talking about? You’re the one who calls me murder-death-kill all the time.”

“Of course I doubted you at first. We didn’t exactly start as friends! And… I don’t know what really happened, but I think a confused boy was taken advantage of. You took control of it. You restrained it on your own and kept it from going wild. An evil person could’ve never done that. And I won’t call you that anymore, okay? Why don’t you get some rest?”

“Think I’ll do that. But Nadia, what you said the first time is true. I have so much blood on my hands. I just… it’s not innocent blood. That’s all I have. It’s not innocent blood.”

“Shut up and go sleep, we’ll figure out what to do with you later, okay?”

Josh nodded, then he rolled over to tuck himself against the boat wall and sleep using a sack as a pillow. Nadia nudged him with her foot.

“Why don’t you sleep in the cabin tonight? It’s the…" Nadia gulped, "men’s turn.”

 

---

 

Side-by-side, Awlena and Nadia laid on their backs looking at the stars on a fur blanket. Favorable winds pushed the vessel. The cool ocean wind contrasted the warmth of Awlena lying beside her. A half-moon shone among the glittering stars. Nadia felt she could pluck one from the clear sky, take it in her hand, and watch the glow pour from between her fingers. But she couldn’t find any of constellations she knew. Awlena pointed at a long formation of stars with a glowing aura.

“We call those stars the great dragon. It’s more centered in the sky during the rainy season. There are over thirty stars in the cluster. The big red star is the eye.”

“That’s right, the sky is different here,” she whispered.

“What?”

“Oh, it’s nothing. Can you point to the dragon again?”

She could see it as Awlena ran her finger along the constellation. Stars lined up in a slightly irregular pattern, like a wave. Dimmer stars formed the claws of the dragon’s three legs. The dimmer regions around the great beast made it stand out in the night sky, though the moon obscured the tail. A cluster of stars under the dragon’s front leg raised like a small hill with stars under both slopes. This constellation was much thinner, less brilliant than the dragon. Nadia pointed to it.

“What’s that then, is that a formation?”

Awlena put her head against Nadia’s as her eyes followed Nadia’s raised finger. Sweet tea scented breath tickled her nose.

“That’s the mongoose. You have a good eye! The dragon and the mongoose are locked in a struggle for supremacy. The dragon brings rain and good fortune, but if it comes too close, disasters spread. The mongoose protects us by luring the dragon, yet keeping it from getting too close.”

“That’s an incredible story. I could look at this all night. It’s so calming.”

Dew’s voice came from above, “The weather has been on our side this entire journey, favorable winds every day, clear skies, and not so much as a single storm.”

He looked down from a small post on the mast where he sat cross-legged. He jumped nearby. Arms folded around his chest as he stared at them. Moonlight reflected off their skin while being absorbed by their dark hair.

“The vessel is on a proper course. I am going to join the others and get some proper rest. I would suggest you two do the same. I will send Josh to keep watch. As calm as this ocean appears, it would prove foolhardy for everyone to be asleep at one time.”

Awlena sat up with hip nestled against Nadia’s waist, “We can keep watch, we’re out here anyhow. One can sleep and the other can watch, once one of us gets tired that is.”

Dew narrowed his eyes, “You’ve been a little too insistent on attending Nadia. I don’t trust you alone with her. In other words, I shall send a mongoose so the dragon stays at bay.”

Nadia lifted with her weight on her elbows and tilted her head, “Eh?”

“She sounds exhausted, dearest sister. Be sure to not keep her awake all night with your fawning and prattling.”

Awlena stuck out her tongue at her brother. The door creaked as he went inside the cabin with a yawn.