Castle of Water by Dane Huckelbridge

Author:Dane Huckelbridge
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

26

Barry awoke half an hour later to a throbbing pain in his left cheek, an incessant whacking, and the sound, if he was not mistaken, of singing. A few tentative pokes revealed that his face was thoroughly bandaged, stirring a few hazy recollections of Sophie tending to his wounds and helping him put in a fresh pair of contacts. A dizzying emergence from the shelter showed that the source of the whacking was Sophie beating severed tentacles against the nearby rocks, a trick for tenderizing octopus that she had learned from Corsican fishermen during a high school trip to the island. And as for the singing, she was belting out the tune to “Alouette” as she worked, but with slightly altered lyrics—she had changed the refrain to “Pieuvrette, gentille pieuvrette,” and the familiar “je te plumerai la tête” to “je t’enleverai les bras.” Of course, Barry didn’t pick up on the clever alteration, but he smiled wincingly at the girlish sweetness of her song.

“You have the voice of a meadowlark, Sophie. You should join the Vienna Boys Choir.”

“For that, I think I would need a pair of testicles.”

“Well, you have plenty of tentacles at your disposal.” Barry prodded one of the severed, sucker-covered limbs before sitting down beside her. “How’s the octopus coming?”

“Almost ready to be cooked.” Sophie pushed the hair from her face with the back of her tentacle-smeared hand. “And you’re crazy, by the way. You could have been killed.”

“Well, we might have died of starvation if I hadn’t. This should last us for at least a week. And besides”—he cleared his throat and poked her playfully—“Portuguese octopus salad isn’t exactly easy to come by around here.”

“It’s going to be grilled Polynesian octopus salad, but still, thank you.”

“Well, there’s more. That’s not your only present.”

“It isn’t?”

“Nope.”

Barry finally revealed the hand he had been conveniently hiding behind his back, presenting to Sophie the clamshell earrings and cake of pure white soap.

“Wait, is that—”

And then Sophie screamed, perhaps even louder than she had when he was being attacked by the octopus, but with joyful disbelief rather than fear. “C’est du savon? C’est vraiment du savon?”

“Oui, oui, it’s soap. I made it out of coconut oil and ash lye. And if you want, you can use the other rainwater pool for a bath. I think one drinking pool is enough.”

Octopus slime and all, Sophie threw her arms around Barry and laid a smarting kiss on his bandaged cheek.

“Ouch, be careful!”

“Sorry.” She grinned with contrition. “How does it feel?”

“It hurts pretty bad. How did it look?”

“Pfff. The octopus took a big chunk out of your cheek. The wound isn’t very long, but it’s deep. And you’re very lucky, he just missed your eye.”

“Well, shoot. To think I could have had an eye patch.”

“I think the scar will give you character enough.”

“God knows I need it.” And he winked at her, although with the bandage covering most of his right eye, Sophie didn’t notice.

“What you really need are stitches. I cleaned the cut

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