THE EDGE OF DARK WATER
Status: complete
According to local legends, a monster lives in the swamps outside Leviathan. Some say the creature is a demon, others an alien. Most people don’t believe either story. But eighteen-year-old Danny knows the monster is real. He’s seen its victims trapped in watery sacks beneath the trees, sustaining the monster through a vast network of root-like tentacles. Danny and his family have rescued people from those tentacles for generations, but Danny isn’t sure the people in Leviathan deserve saving. And when one of the monster’s servants kills his parents, he decides to abandon the family tradition.
The arrival of seventeen-year-old Maggie Jacobs disrupts Danny's plans. Maggie belongs to the monster, even though she doesn't know it. She may even be the Empress at the End of the World--a woman capable of freeing the monster from the swamp and triggering the apocalypse. Danny must find a way to stop her, but the more he learns about Maggie, the more she confounds his expectations. And when he discovers the key to destroying the monster, he must decide-- is he willing to risk his life to eliminate it once and for all? And can he trust Maggie to help him?
“I dig a grave for the mummy in the churchyard at Living Waters, far back against the fence line where folks won’t notice the freshly turned earth. As I lay her in the hole, I wonder how long it took to suck all the sin out of her. Could she feel it the whole time? Skin tightening, sinews melting, brain cells going dark? And when it was done, he spit her out like a stripped chicken bone. My jaw tightens. That’s the ‘Dark Lord’ Elias Lavender wants to worship.
As I stand up, something cold and metallic brushes against my arm: a locket. I crouch beside the body and click it open, releasing a foul-smelling dust. I shake it out and aim my flashlight inside. Angry scratches obliterate the writing on the left, but the initials on the right are clear: A.H. Just like I thought—Amity Harlow. The woman who tried to sacrifice the first Deacon Daniel to the swamp. The reason I’m cursed with dark blood. I feel a tugging at my gut. My daddy would have given his eyeteeth to find Amity. He could have read Dismal’s secrets in her clothing, her jewelry, her sealed-shut eyes. He could have conjured up her spirit, like the witch of Endor conjured up the prophet Samuel, and chatted with her like a long-lost friend. He wouldn’t be afraid. He would see an opportunity to flaunt his mercy, a disciple in waiting, just like Rick Tilman and Sallie-Mae. I snap the locket shut and let it fall. It hits her chest with a dry pop, causing a trickle of air to escape from her nose. The hairs on my arms bristle. I hear a rustle and a creak just before her hand closes around my wrist.
With a shout, I pull my arm away. Her fingers snap like twigs, but the broken tips continue to move, searching for something to caress.
“Daniel, my cousin, my promised.”
”