NB: Thank you for those who've sent me comments and suggestions. It really makes my day. Hope you all enjoy this next installation of the story. Don't forget to vote! -- M.C.
*
When Tristan awoke, Dahut was still curled beside him, her raven hair covering half her body like a soft blanket. Easing himself away, he got up to take a cold shower. It was already Thursday and he would have to return to New York the next morning.
Something had happened to him, but he was unsure what. All he knew was that he didn't want to leave Lake of the Woods.
He felt her stirring awake even while he was in the shower. He could feel the distinct vibrations in on the floor, telling him that she was now sitting up and searching for him.
"I'm in the shower!" he shouted, for her benefit.
He felt her footsteps walking towards the bathroom and wasn't surprised to see her standing at the door. He was surprised however to find that she was still naked. She didn't say a word but simply got into the shower with him and hugged him tight as the hot water cascaded over them both.
He knew that she wasn't asking for another round of sex but she just wanted some comfort. She had been whimpering and struggling in her sleep the whole night that he wished he could have entered her dream and save her.
***
Undine was sitting in her lodge office thinking about what had happened the day before. When she had knelt beside Jack's body, she had noticed that although he had a small hole in his chest, it was not caused by a bullet. Even in that instance, she had sensed that no lead had passed through his blood.
Unable to put the thought out of her head, she went back to her daughter's bookshop to find more answers.
The police from the fire squad were already there when she arrived. Not wanting to appear suspicious, Undine focused on the best form of water she could be; invisible, yet fluid enough to move... and that was water vapour.
She soon confirmed her earlier hunch when she overheard the men talking about a lack of accelerant and point of origin. It seemed almost impossible, they had said, but the path of the fire was similar to that of a bomb; meaning that it was from an external source. It was no accident, they concluded but a possible arson case.
Undine was wondering if Dahut's old classmates had decided to burn her daughter's bookshop out of spite but then again, there were no traces of explosives.
Deciding that she's had enough, Undine materialized at the edge of the water bank then dived.
It was then she saw a long spear at the base of the lake. Undine had found it odd that it was there as she had never seen it before.
Swimming closer, she noticed, to her horror that it had pierced through the body of a fish that held a note in its mouth!
Trying to control her temper, she gently pulled the spear from the dead fish and removed the piece of note from its mouth. She motioned the scavenging cichlids waiting nearby to take the dead fish away. It was the cycle of life, she understood. One dies to be the food of another.
Taking the note, she resurfaced the shore.
"And eye for an eye. Feel my pain."
For a moment Undine was transfixed at the words on the parchment... and then understanding registered.
"Connor" she whispered. Undine closed her eyes and tried to remember ...
She had been pregnant and they had had sex less and less. But Undine had always suspected that it wasn't so much because he feared for the baby but that he considered her bloated and undesirable. But she tried to stay happy and they lived happily until that fateful day when she saw him with another woman...
that
woman.
She had been ripped apart. She could not remember her past, where she came from or who her parents were. But she had remembered being happy and contented when he asked her to marry him. He had sworn faithfulness to her, for every waking breath and she had accepted his oath.
Undine looked at her hands, saw the wrinkling skin and understood what had happened. Connor had finally died... and she was no longer immortal. She had cursed him with her immortality, such that when he was awake, he would still have his breath, but when he slept, his breath would be taken away from him.
Fear suddenly struck her deep in her heart... She was going to die... eventually... she would finally age... and she would begin to remember...
She was Undine, guardian of the sea and she was going to protect her daughter at all cost. That woman had probably came to look for her; saw her talking to Jack the other day when she came to tell him that Dahut would not be coming to work, and mistaken him as her new lover and killed him- no... more like burn a hole through his heart. Poetic.
Undine had to act fast. With her immortality gone, it meant that Dahut would have gained hers and would now be getting more powerful. That woman need not know that Dahut existed. Undine knew that she would hunt her out and Undine resigned herself to the fact that she would eventually have to fight that woman.
Her instincts told her that this woman could wield fire and that, at least would put her at a disadvantage against Undine. This was furthermore a community built in the middle of a lake. But... should she die... she could not bear the thought of that woman hunting for Dahut.
Determined, Undine returned back to the lodge.
***
When she entered the family room at the lodge, she saw that Lissy was already fussing over Dahut; pouring her a cup of malt drink as well as insisting that she ate the muffins placed in front of her. She was leaning on Tristan, her face pallid and her stance weak. She didn't even resist Lissy when the woman shove a spoonful of honey into her mouth.
Undine became more worried.
Approaching the trio, she called out to Tristan and brought him into her office.
"Sit," she said kindly.
"Ma'am, you haven't slept well either last night." Undine simple smiled at him before speaking.
"Tristan... I hope this does not sound rude of me... but, has your mother passed on?"
