Page 43

He looked at the water. The lake was deep, reaching down into the spring system, and then farther still. Deep down there were crevices that no man could ever reach.

This was the place.

His hands tightened on the keys, feeling the metal prick at his skin. Then he wound his arm back and whipped the keys as hard as he could toward the middle of the lake.

He watched them glimmer in the air and then plunge straight down into the water.

Their entry upset the glass surface of the water. Ripples spiraled out in every direction. Will stood and waited for the waves to reach the shore and kiss the toes of his shoes.

Then he turned around and went home.

###

Will yawned as he stepped outside his trailer the next morning. He and Itori had done several exchanges last night, and he was feeling it in his legs this morning. The muscles ached like he’d been more active than just sitting on Itori’s lap.

He skipped down the front steps anyway. It was hard to regret minor pains and the exhaustion of staying up late after the night he’d had. Last night they’d kissed and touched until Will could barely keep his eyes open.

It had been wonderful. Revelatory.

He’d stumbled home somewhere in the small hours of the night; the walk a haze he couldn’t even remember now.

Will shielded his eyes against the morning sun as he started toward the orange grove. The sky was bright blue, and the cicadas were singing somewhere in the distance.

It was going to be hotter than seven hells today, he could already tell.

Flood water met him before he even reached the grove. Will spotted it as he got to the main road. It hadn’t risen far enough to flood the sidewalk yet, but all the grass was waterlogged. If yesterday the grove had been soggy, today it was completely flooded.

Halfway down, he spotted a bright yellow ladder among the leaves.

“Morning,” Will called to Raymond, the owner of the orange grove.

The man pulled his head out of a bush, turning toward Will. He was wearing a gray long-sleeved shirt and blue overalls worn to threadbare. Raymond had pockmarked cheeks and, despite the hat he always wore, dark, leathered skin from his time outdoors.

“Mornin’,” Raymond said. “Like my nice new swamp?” He gestured sarcastically at the ground.

There were dozens of rotting oranges now. Some were floating in the three inches of water, but the majority were browning in the muck. Will looked up and down the rows of trees, but nearly all of them were bare now. It was too early for harvest, for this many oranges to be dropping.

“What’s going on?” Will asked.

“Whole crop’s wastin’,” Raymond said with anger. “Was hoping it was a pest, but there’s not a damn bug on any of my trees. It’s the fucking water.” Raymond turned his head and spit at the ground.

“But your fields flood all the time?” Even as he said it, Will knew this wasn’t the same. He could smell the rot, the way the water left an almost metallic tang in the air.

“Sure,” Raymond said as he adjusted his hat. “But I can smell it. Somethin’ bad about the water. I’ve called some guys to come out to test for ground contaminants.”

Ground contaminants?

“You think the water is contaminated?” Will asked. Will had suspected there was probably oil from the machines leaking into the spring, but contaminates sounded more serious.

Raymond chuckled, but it was a mean one. He looked angry. “Suits came by last week, put in an offer for my land. I told them where they could shove their fancy leather boots. Four days later, there’s this water. Water that’s killing all my fuckin’ oranges.”

Despite the heat, Will felt ice in his veins. He thought immediately of Itori. If it was killing fruit, what was the water doing to him?

“You think they did this on purpose?” Will considered telling Raymond about the orange he had bitten into last week. About the way it had tasted like blood in his mouth. He wondered if Raymond knew already. If he’d tried one recently.

“Yeah,” Raymond said with a bitter edge. “I reckon they’re pissed their land bid became a lake. Now they think they can get a better deal on nearby land by squeezing us out. Poisoning the crops. Think they can take our town from us.”

Now that Raymond said it, it seemed not only plausible, but obvious.