Listen to the Water | FULL SERIES | Wattys 2022 Shortlist | ✔

(24) Ande: Twin Teeth

For a long moment, nobody moves. Then Taiki lifts his hands.

"What's it doing?" he signs warily.

"Pulling."

"Did it start with the song?" signs Yaz. She's watching my dagger with a look a shark might give another one: not fear, but certainly not trust, either.

"I think..." my hand falters. "I think it started when I joined? But not right away. When I could sing the whole thing. Or at least try to."

"And it's still going?"

I nod. The tug on my hand has weakened already, but it's not gone yet. I convey this to Yaz, who signs, "Wait for it to fade. Then we'll try the song again."

It takes another hundred heartbeats for the tug to return to intangibility. Yaz nods to the others and starts the song again, and I join in as best I can. My concentration isn't what it was a moment ago. It takes another loop through the song before I can follow properly. Only then does the vibration in my dagger return.

"It's the song," I sign.

"Follow it," returns Yaz.

She's not asking for a vote on that course of action. That says enough on its own. Yaz loops her hand again to the others, who continue singing until another gesture lowers the song to a hum. I can't follow anymore. The dagger keeps shaking, but I'm pretty sure that's just my hand now. I touch the handle to my arm to test. Sure enough, the weapon itself has settled back to a steady tug with the song's decrease to humming—but that tug, this time, doesn't fade. It's definitely the song. But that's only half the story.

Yaz swims close beside me now. The sharpness of her movements only makes me more tense, so I have to tune her out to even focus on the dagger. We reach an intersection at the city's edge, and I look to her for guidance. She just nods for me to keep going. I don't miss the glance she sends over her shoulder as we move again. I'm holding a tooth from Andalua. Until we know what it's responding to, we can't know if we're in danger here—or what kind of danger if we are. Yaz has clearly run that calculation and decided in favor of taking this risk. The urge to dive into a city den still grips me. I know hiding would do nothing. Not against a goddess who razed this whole city to the ocean floor. But fear is never a rational thing.

The signal leads us straight back towards the city center. I begin to pray to Rashi that we won't have to re-enter those tunnels. I don't want to be here anymore. It doesn't feel safe. If Andalua attacks, I'm sure we could dive to safety deep in the city core, but there are other people down there. People we don't know.

When we reach the wall of the city's center, though, my dagger tugs sideways. We circle several bubbles before that tug's direction switches abruptly, heading back the way I came. I stop. There's nothing on the wall behind me. I gesture for the others to strengthen their humming. After a lag, the signal strengthens with it. It leads me downward a short distance, then switches directions again. I turn around. Pass by pass, I hone in on whatever it's responding to until I've stopped over a severely roughed-up stretch of wall. There's something here. There must be. I move my dagger hand in circles until I've tracked the signal all the way down to a crusted knob of coral-block. I lift my dagger handle to strike it. There's a strangled buzz of a cry behind me. Taiki darts in and catches my hand.

"Don't hurt it," he signs one-handed. His face has twisted in a grimace midway between desperation and pain.

Nobody else says anything. I contemplate Taiki for a long moment, then ask, "Why?"

"The city needs respect. We can't... you can't just damage it. Not without a prayer."

"Then give it a prayer."