Page 25 of Clutching Cthulhu's Pearls

I don’t know what else to do.

Thomas, not one for conversation, swishes at the side of my raft. We’ve been on the water for three days, and he hasn’t stopped to rest or sleep. He may be more fish than man, but who cares? He will abandon us as soon as the river widens…and we clear the rapids.

Somehow, I envisioned escaping on a large party barge. Dozens of hybrids would pitch in to travel to our new life, far from Leopold’s laboratory of horrors. Ruth would assist me in birthing the hatchlings, Thomas would help steer the raft as he does now, and the twins would scout out for danger. The silent siblings would open up to me and become my friends who would help with Phin’s medical care and hatchling sitting. Once we reached the bayou down south, all of us together would build a homestead on the riverbank to sustain ourselves.

The reality is a river raft the size of my two-person bed in my former rooms. The back half hasseven-foot walls to accommodate Phin’s height and a thatched roof of reeds and green vegetation. One strong storm, the craft will crumble like a cookie. If I had help, I could fortify the structure with the more substantial trees we pass, but then who would steer? Who would care for Phin?

“Hairy, don’t hurt my Hairy! You don’t get to touch her—” Phin’s nightmares are back. Sweat glistens along his forehead and above his barbels. While his silence worries me, his feverish screams from the terrors in his mind are worse.

“Shush, shush, my darling,” I whisper, patting his forehead with a damp rag. “Hairy is alone with you. We are home in our swamp. The danger is gone.”

Along with everyone and everything I’ve ever known. There’s not a soul for miles—a comfort and a worry. While I don’t want someone associated with Leopold finding us, I’d love a friend. I gaze down at Phin to find his green eyes smiling at me. “Are you awake? I mean, really awake?”

“I’m awake. Are you real?” An exploratory tentacle slithers up my arm, planting little kisses with his peach-colored suckers. With each kiss, they flush darker, from peach to rose to scarlet with delight. Before I can blink, half a dozen tentacles slither over me with loving caresses and tiny nips.

“I’m here, Phin,” I say, throwingmy arms around him. I kiss every inch of his face not covered in bandages. His barbels dance on my cheeks as if verifying I’m corporal. “We’re free!”

“Does Leopold chase us?” Leopold—not Papa—Phin’s change of moniker for the monster who was my husband doesn’t escape my notice.

“No, Thomas swims beside us,” I reply, pointing to the lazy waving of Thomas’s tail fin over the raft’s bow.

“The others?”

“They wouldn’t come,” I say in defeat.

“I suspected as much. Many of the others are too scared of the unknown, and we can’t blame them when all they know is fear, pain, and Leopold’s labs. They suspect what’s around the river’s bend is worse than the evil they know. Not all hatchlings learned to read the fairytales and hope for a better life.”

“I feel the worst for Thomas,” I reply, pointing to the gentle undulation of his tail fin. “He will watch us break away but must return to Leopold’s horrible estate because he promised the others. He’s swam for three days without rest…without the benefit of a lifetime of freedom in his future.”

“I must help him—”

“Oh no you don’t,” I scold, pushing him into a reclining position. “You’ve been dead to the world for three days. Take it slow to conserve your strength, forwe reach the Ohio River in a few hours. Can you hear the rapids? Will this raft survive those? Once we are through them, Thomas will leave us to return to the siblings. I will depend on you for everything.”

“As you should.” He groans as he rolls onto his side to face me.

One hand cups my belly while the other rubs it in slow sweeps. My toes curl as he nuzzles the eggs in my womb and his tentacles sneak beneath my ragged dress. I tore the hem to knee-length to make bandages and hung my pants in the shelter to conserve them for land-dwelling, leaving my legs bare to his exploration.

“They’re moving,” he whispers in awe. His widened, round eyes dart to mine.

“Is that bad? Are they in trouble? Was the stress of our escape too much on them?”

“It’s good. It’s very good,” he says, sitting up abruptly to press me against his muscular chest. “They hatched!”

“That is good? I mean, my body was made to birth live young, so I guess—”

“The others died delivering eggs. Leopold’s words explaining why never made sense to me,” he replies with a blush that paints the tops of his cheeks a muddy, olive green. “Our hatchlings swim, so you will live! Hairy, we will have a family!”

Just like that, the sun shines on my world again. Phin’s magic isn’t his tentacles; it’s his optimism.Buzzing flies transform into musicians, churning waters rock us like cradle runners, and the movement under my skin is our hatchlings swimming in Phin’s heart…a place I want to call home.

“Thank you,” I say, kissing him with all the love in my heart as tears roll down my cheeks.

“For what? You kept our eggs safe and gave them enough comfort to hatch.”

“For reminding me what life is worth living for…love.”

“I will always love you, Hairy.”

“Phin, thank goodness you are with us,” Thomas says from behind me. He nearly capsizes us by boosting himself onto the raft’s edge without warning.

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