The Shadow Box(58)

“You’ll rescue him,” Gwen said. “Just like you rescued me.”

“Gwen, I wish I could, more than anything,” he said.

“You will,” she said. “He’s alive.”

Okay, Tom thought. It was a fantasy, and she needed it to keep getting better. It was a survival mechanism. Her psyche was playing a trick to cajole her into recovery.

“You don’t believe me?” she asked.

“I didn’t say that,” Tom said.

“The boat picked him up.”

“What boat?”

“A merman was driving it. Like a mermaid but a man. Part fish, with black scales. He took Charlie to a sea castle, to be safe with King Neptune and the Sea Queen.”

“When did the merman take him?” Tom asked, playing along with the imaginary scenario she had created.

“In the dark of the night and the dawn of the day,” she said. She pushed her journal toward Tom. “See? I drew it. My mom always said to draw things you never want to forget.”

Tom studied the open book. There were eight panels of intricate and surprisingly sophisticated drawings laid out like a comic book.

“You’re talented,” he said.

“My mom taught me. She was a designer, and she liked to draw.”

Tom examined the panels. They depicted a cabin cruiser like the Sallie B at the dock, a family of four having a meal down below—a dog like Maggie sitting under the table. Then panels of the boat on fire, a girl in the yellow raft, a small boat with two people in it, a boy floundering in the water, and the boy in the stern of a motorboat, waving at the yellow raft. The final frame showed an opulent castle with the boy standing on a balcony and a blackbird perched on the peak of the castle’s turret.

“That’s Charlie,” Gwen said, pointing at the boy. “I wish the merman took me to the sea castle too.”

“Why do you say it’s a sea castle?” Tom asked.

“Because I saw some pictures of it,” she said dreamily. “There were big stone bird statues at the gate and on the roof.”

“Okay,” Tom said, realizing how fragile she must be to have created such an elaborate rescue scenario for Charlie.

“I called for Charlie to swim to me, so I could get him back in,” Gwen said. “He and I were in the little yellow boat together when the explosion came. All of a sudden—fire everywhere and wind began to blow. It blew our yellow raft off the deck—we flew like a plane and landed in the water. We both fell overboard, but I was holding on to the yellow boat. Charlie was farther away.”

“You saw him in the water?” Tom asked.

“Oh yes.”

Tom tried to find the words to ask if he had been burned or otherwise injured, but Gwen continued.

“He was trying to swim to me, but the raft was drifting, moving over the waves out to sea.” Her chin wobbled. “The water was moving so fast. I kept trying to get into the raft, so I could paddle back to him.”

“I’m sure you tried hard,” Tom said.

“Yes,” she said. “I was kicking hard. My arms were tired. That’s when I saw Charlie get rescued. The merman was calling my name. He was looking for me, but he couldn’t see me because I was in the water. I yelled to him, but he didn’t hear. And when I got back onto the raft, I looked for Charlie again. He was in that boat, and it was driving away.”

“What boat?” Tom asked.

“The blackbird boat.”

“Why do you call it that?” he asked.

“Because that’s what it is.”

Tom took a deep breath. Her story was getting wilder. Did she need to invent a boat that could fly?

“It’s the one that was following us,” she said.

“When was it following you?” he asked.

“The whole way from the marina,” she said.

“Did anyone else see it?” Tom asked.

“Just Charlie.”

Tom was silent for a moment. She seemed to really believe what she was saying.

“Why did you say a merman was driving the boat?” he asked.

“Don’t you know what a merman is?” she asked, sounding surprised. “Like a mermaid, only a man. He has magic. He saves people that fall into the sea. He follows boats that might be in trouble.” She looked straight at Tom. “Like ours was. He has powers that told him we would need him. Only a magical merman would know it.”

“I see,” Tom said, and now he was sure: she was escaping into a fantasy world to avoid knowing her brother had drowned, inventing mermen and a flying blackbird boat.

“I want Charlie to come home,” she said, two big tears running down her cheeks. “Even if he’s happy in the sea castle, he would miss me as much as I miss him. I want my brother. I want my brother. I want him home.” She lowered her head and began to weep.

As the sound of her sobs got louder, Tom stepped to the door, called down the hall for Mariana. She and another nurse came running.

“Gwen,” he said, taking her hand. “Get well, okay? Maggie needs you.”

“And Charlie,” she said, sobbing. “He needs me too. Now it’s time for you to find Charlie in the castle, like you found me in the raft, and bring him home. He needs to come home.”