Teeth(37)

“Maybe I only told you that so you wouldn’t worry about me, did you think of that?”

I laugh. “That would be a new one.”

“Come on, Rudy. I won’t let you get cold.”

I don’t know why I listen to him. I thought I’d decided that that was a bad idea. But I’m smiling even while I’m gasping as I lower myself into the water. He’s giggling at me, so I smack the top of his head once I’m in.

“You’re all shaky!” he says.

“Yeah, it’s called shivering.”

“I do that sometimes after the fishermen get me. Come on. It’s not far.”

He swims with me instead of in front of me. He comes up for breath whenever I do, which I think at first is a weird way to be nice, until I notice the deep bruising between two of his ribs. It’s the darkest mark I’ve seen on him.

When we come up again, I pause him with my hand on his arm. “You okay?”

He’s panting hard. “What’s up with your teeth?” He moves his hand toward my mouth and I stop him.

“They’re chattering, and they’ll bite you,” I say.

“I’ll bite you.”

“You okay?”

“We’re really close to the cave, Rudy.”

I feel like I’m about to freeze to death in the water, so I nod. “Okay, come on.”

He brings me to one of the cliffs and hauls himself out of the water and through a hole. The opening is small. He grabs me by the arm and pulls me up. The ceiling is tall enough for us to sit, but we can’t stand up, which I guess is only a problem for me. The floor is the closest thing to real dirt I’ve felt since we moved here.

“This isn’t much, gotta tell you,” I say.

“No, no, wait. It gets better.” He gets down on his hands and starts to crab walk, dragging his tail behind him.

“You’re going to scrape yourself up,” I tell him.

“My tail’s tough.”

Okay. I crawl beside him. He moves more quickly than I expect.

“See?” I tell him. “You’d do fine on land.”

“Yeah, just chop my tail off.”

“That’s kind of an idea, you know?”

“I wouldn’t be a fish without my tail, Rudy.”

The farther we go into the cave, the heavier and colder the air becomes. I don’t think I’ve ever been this cold, and it’s a little scary. I feel like I’m going to need to stop and give up, but that won’t help, and the only way to get warm is to swim back to the land, and I don’t know how the hell I could do that right now. Too cold. Just too cold.

The cold is aching down to my bones, and I can’t hear anything but my teeth chattering.

Fishboy says, “You’re moving all over the place.”

“I’m shivering.”

“Don’t be scared.”

“I’m not . . . ”

“Look. Look up.”

I wrap my arms around myself, but it’s not helping. I’m just pushing my icy clothes into my skin.

“Look up,” Teeth says again. Gently.

I tilt my head up. When did the ceiling get so high?

It’s like we’ve entered some kind of natural ballroom. The ceiling, thirty feet above my head, is dripping with stalactites and bare in places, and moonlight shines down and lights up this shallow pool in the middle of the room. Fishboy crawls his way over to the water and splashes in. “Isn’t this place cool? See, you can be on the land and I’ll be here, and we’re like practically right next to each other. See, I can totally reach you.” He touches my hand.

For the first time ever, his hand feels warm. He straightens up in the water. “Damn, Rudy. You’re cold.”

I try to nod but I can’t.

Holy f*cking shit, I’m frozen solid.

No, I’m not. I’m breathing. Really slowly, but I’m breathing.

And then his voice changes, and he goes, “Oh, Rudy. You’re so cold. Are you okay?”

“I don’t know.”

“Ummm. Ummmm.” He’s looking around, his eyes darting from one blank wall to another. “Ummm, okay. Don’t worry, Rudy. Don’t worry don’t worry I’m going to make you okay!”

I close my eyes. My backbone hurts. I’m driving it into the floor with my shivers but I don’t even feel cold anymore. I don’t feel anything.

“Rudy, I’ll be right back!” And then he’s doing his stupid crawl out of the cavern and right back the way we came.

There isn’t even the seed of doubt in my brain. I know he’s coming. I keep my eyes closed, and I can see him here already, with blankets or warm clothes or a f*cking fire or something, I don’t know. Anything that will help. I know he can fix this. I know. I don’t know how I know.

Maybe I should have stayed in the mansion.

I know he’ll come back, but I’m worried it won’t be in time.

No. He’ll save me. It’s his turn. He would never ever miss his turn. I’m smiling just thinking about it. I’m smiling . . .

I hear the slippery sounds of him sliding back in, and he slurs something, but I can’t understand what he’s saying. Is that me? Am I dying?

No, it’s him. His mouth is full. I watch him come toward me, something glistening in his mouth. Then he spits an Enki onto the ground next to me. “Presents!” He smiles at me and touches my cheek. “Still with me?”