The House in the Cerulean Sea(103)

Helen scoffed. “Permanently injured, my arse.”

“Look at his neck brace!” the postmaster cried. “No one wears a neck brace unless they’ve been seriously hurt!”

“Really,” Helen said. “Because that neck brace seems to be the exact one I had in my closet at home that I was given after a car accident years ago.”

“It’s not!” Marty exclaimed. “I went to the doctor, and he gave it to me after telling me that my spine was mostly powder and I was lucky to be alive!”

“That I believe,” Linus muttered. “You would be spineless.”

Helen rolled her eyes. “Martin, there’s a tag on the back. It has my initials on it. You forgot to tear it off. We can all see it.”

“Oh,” Martin said. “Well, that’s … merely a coincidence?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Norman said hotly. “We have all decided the children are a menace. They represent a danger to us all. We’ve abided long enough with their wickedness. What happens if they come for the rest of us, just as they did Marty?”

“Did he tell you that he tried to take a small child into a locked room by himself in an attempt to exorcise him?” Linus asked. “Because I’m positive there are laws against kidnapping and attempted assault, regardless of who the child may be.”

The crowd turned slowly to look at Marty.

Marty found something awfully curious at the ground beneath his feet.

Norman shook his head. “His actions were misguided, but the point remains the same. Are we not allowed to protect ourselves? You say they’re children. Fine. But we have our own children to worry about.”

“Strange,” Helen said, coming to stand next to Linus. “Because not a single one of you is a parent.”

Norman was getting worked up again. “That’s because they were too afraid to be here!”

“Name one,” Helen said.

Norman said, “I won’t have you trying to trick me. I know you don’t see it, Helen, and that’s on you. But we won’t allow our lives to be threatened when—”

Linus laughed bitterly. “Threatened? By whom? Who in the world has threatened you aside from me?”

“They have!” a woman cried in the back of the crowed. “By simply existing, they’re a threat!”

“I don’t believe you,” Linus said. “I have been by their side for a month, and I have heard nary a whisper of a threat. In fact, the only time I’ve ever thought there was danger, aside from Marty’s ill-advised attempt against a child, was from you lot here. Say you crossed to the island. What would you do? Would you lay your hands upon them? Would you strike them? Hurt them? Kill them?”

Norman paled. “That’s not what we—”

“Then what are you doing? Because surely you have some idea. You have gathered yourselves in a crowd, working yourselves up in a tizzy. Your groupthink has poisoned you, and I hate to wonder what would have happened had you gained access to the island. I never thought I’d say this, but thank Christ Merle was here to refuse you passage on his ferry.”

“Yeah,” Merle said. “I told you payment was required, but you refused!”

“Honestly, Merle,” Helen said. “Learn to keep your mouth shut when you’re receiving soft praise, why don’t you?”

“Disperse,” Linus said. “Or I will do everything in my power to make sure—”

He couldn’t see who it came from. Someone in the middle of the crowd. He didn’t think it was Marty, but it happened quickly. A hand raised, and clutched in its fingers was a large rock. The hand pulled back before jerking forward, the rock flying toward them. Linus didn’t have time to consider who it had been aimed for, but Helen was in its path. He moved in front of her, his back to the crowd, shielding her. He closed his eyes and waited for impact.

It never came.

Instead, it was as if the sun had crashed to the Earth. The air grew warmer and warmer until it felt like it was on fire. He opened his eyes, his face inches from Helen’s. But she wasn’t looking at him. She was staring up above him in wonder, her eyes reflecting waves of fire.

He turned slowly.

Standing between them and the crowd was Arthur Parnassus, though not as he’d been.

The phoenix had risen.

His arms were spread wide away from him. The wings Linus had glimpsed briefly in the darkened cellar were stretched at least ten feet on either side of Arthur. Fire crawled up and down his arms and shoulders. Above him, the head of the phoenix pulled back, the rock held in its beak. It bit down, shattering the rock into tiny pieces that rained down in front of Arthur.

There was fear in the people before them, yes, fear that wouldn’t be cured by such a display, even one as magnificent as this. But it was tempered by the same wonder he’d seen in Helen, the same wonder he was sure was on his own face.

The wings fluttered, fire crackling.

The phoenix tilted its head back and cried out, a piercing shriek that warmed Linus to his core.

Linus left Helen standing on the dock.

He circled Arthur slowly, ducking under one of the wings, feeling the heat of them on his back.

Arthur was staring straight ahead, his eyes burning. The phoenix flapped its wings, little tendrils of fire spinning off. It cocked its head as it stared down at Linus, eyes blinking slowly.