Jericho's sleep was not a pleasant one that night. He dreamt of tsunamis and riftmen, he dreamt of creatures covered in seaweed and hair and of being naked in public. When he woke up with a gasp, it took him a second in the dull light of the small hut to remember where he was.

He noticed Delgen sitting quietly in the corner and then became instantly aware again of his nudity.

"Coverin's be on dah floor." Delgen said and Jericho noticed the stiff, salty rags beside his bed.

"Uh. . . Thanks." Jericho struggled with the clothing, it wasn't like any he'd seen before. Was that a sleeve? Or did his head go there? Delgen laughed to himself as Jericho tried to figure it out.

"Mayhap Cap'n wrong 'bout dis one." Delgen smiled as he carved the white flesh out of a coconut. "Mumbo jumboin' 'nough tah special up dah place, can't e'en figger a dressy wrap."

With the grace of a man who had spent many a year dressing others, Delgen lifted Jericho's arms and tied the stiff fabric around him.

"You guys actually wear this stuff?"

"Su'jestin' we be wearin nuffin, like you be wearin'?" Delgen asked and Jericho blushed.

"Okay, you're right. It is better than nothing." Jericho stood up and pulled back the cloth which covered the only window. "What a beautiful morning."

"Full'a all things, dah day times is, dah light. Beauty be what beauty sees and not a thing more, Jericho."

"I. . ." Jericho scratched his head. "I don't really understand that."

"Comin' a time you knowed it all. Cap'n be hopin' so, any such."

"Where is Cap'n."

"Wait n' paish, Cap'n be round when Cap'n be seein' fit."

"Can. . . Can I go outside?"

Delgen shrugged and nudged open the door as Jericho smiled and exited into the light. The village he'd been taken to was tall, built up the side of a sea cliff. Delgen's hut was one of about a dozen that were actually situated on the beach.

As he walked towards the water, a girl hiding behind a large dune giggled. "Hello?" Jericho asked, "what's so funny?"

"Who you bein' an' why be comin' outa Delgen's?" The girl asked as she poked her head up over the dune. Her hair was filled with beautiful shells that all reflected the light of the early morning sun.

"I'm Jericho, and you are?"

"Jeri-cho." The girl tested the name and giggled again. "I be Tyrie."

"Tyrie, eh? Well I'm gonna call you Ty, how's that sound."

"I be knowin' you by Jeri?"

"I'm okay with that." Jericho smiled and Ty climbed up on top of the dune.

"Why be talkin' all mumboie jumboie, Jeri?" Ty put her hand over her mouth and squealed. "You be doin' mumboie at Delgen's?"

"I'm not really sure I know what 'mumboie jumboie' refers to in this context. . ." Jericho said and the girl scratched her head and skewed her face. It was clear to Jericho she was having a hard time understanding him. "Well, it was nice meeting you Ty. Maybe you should go find your mom, she's probably looking for you."

Tyrie laughed again, but this time it didn't sound nearly as playful. "Lost I's mama to a riftie-rat, I's papa too."

Jericho stopped in his tracks and took a deep breath. Although he didn't quite know what a 'riftie-rat' was, he knew what it meant to be a young orphan. "I'm sorry Ty."

"No 'pologies, sir! I be doin' fine, I say." She tumbled over the other side of the dune and rolled down to Jericho's feet, laughing the entire time. "Where a stranga man sucha you be goin' by light 'n' by day?"

"Just. . . Exploring I guess." Jericho continued on his path to the water but Ty pulled him back.

"Jeri, bein' a fool geta guy dead fasta you be blinkin'! Waterside by day? What you be thinkin'?"

"What? I don't understand. . ."

"Tyrie!" Marika's voice came booming across the beach. "Be leavin' dis poor n' banged up alone!"

The girl screeched a high pitched giggle and turned to run away, the sound of sparkling shells tinkling together trailed after her.

"We were just talking, really." Jericho nodded respectfully to Marika. "She's a sweet girl."

"Orphan girlies seem tah be. I and I see through da lie."

Her callousness stung Jericho and he turned away to keep walking.

"Jericho be listenin' witha closed up ear. Bein' waterside be a dangersome thing by light times."

"But why? What's so dangerous about it." As Jericho's toes reached the water Marika leapt out to pull him back. There was a splash from in front of him and Jericho just managed to get a glimpse of flashing white teeth before the thing sunk back under the surface. "What the heck was that?"

"Riftie-rats," Marika said, "'mutie-fish'." She mimicked Jericho's words from his story.

"I've never seen a thing like that though. . ." Jericho lost focus in his eyes for a second. He looked like a man on the verge of an epiphany and Marika caught her breath. "That was weird. . . I just had this overwhelming sense of déjà vu. Almost like I remembered that riftie-rat, but then it disappeared."

"Knowin' be blocked by dah jumbo."

"Jumbo?"

"Dark side riftie mumbo. Mumbo jumbo, feelin it here." She put her hand on Jericho's gut, then his diaphragm, "here, and here." Her hand raised to his chest, then she pointed between his eyes and at the top of his head. "Be in da core o' ya, Jericho."

Jericho sighed and fell on his butt in the sand. He lifted his knees up and wrapped his arms around his legs. "I don't understand any of this Marika! I just want to go home, but I don't even know where that is anymore."

"Be tryin' tah be 'memberin'." Marika smiled and sat next to him. "After be killin' da rifta-man, tell I so' more."

"You wanna know what happened after we killed the riftman?"

Marika smiled and Jericho sighed, rubbing his face with his hands. "Okay, well. . . After my brother killed the riftman, Grant made sure we were on the move every day."

---

After my brother killed the riftman, Grant made sure we were on the move every day. Eventually, we found a small island and set up a temporary camp. It had been a long time since we'd seen any dry land at all and my legs felt funny when I tried to maneuver around in the sand.

"We should set up on the South West side." Grant explained to us. "I don't want to see that rift every day and I definitely don't want the riftmen seeing us if they come looking."

We lived rather peacefully for a while. I don't know quite how long because none of us really kept track. Well, maybe someone did but I sure didn't. What I do know, though, is that it was night when they came looking for us. I know because I was sleeping at the time. And I know that because I was dreaming.

I dreamt that I was a riftman. I was sailing through the ocean, using those damn flaps of skin, forming a kite shape with my body, my hands held out to the side as I cut through the waves as easily as a bird through the air.

There were other riftmen with me. We were speeding towards an island. An island on which a little boy lived, a little boy who might know too much. I remember thinking, 'all this for someone who MIGHT know too much?' but it felt like the wrong message to communicate at the time.

I remember that as a riftman I felt like I needed to kill -- WE needed to kill -- this poor young boy on the tiny little island.

I woke up sweating and thought it was drops of ocean water still clinging to me from the swim. It took me a moment before I realized I wasn't actually a riftman, and then another moment to raise the alarm.

I don't remember ever moving as fast as I did that night. Caleb and I woke Grant, who didn't seem to question my mysterious knowledge of the riftmen's actions. He turned us toward the life boat that was specially for us and as we rowed out to our house boat we heard the battle cries of dozens of riftmen. It was like a flock of sea birds, if they'd mated with dolphins and created an aquatic super species. In the light of the moon I caught the silhouettes of the beasts as they rode currents of wind into the air. There were splashes all around the tiny patch of land we'd called home as the riftmen dove under the waves and back out again.

"We gotta go back!" Caleb said and I held on to him.

"Grant said stay here!"

"They're dying Hugh!" I could hear the screams of our friends as well but still I chose to listen to Grant.

"Grant said stay here!" I repeated myself, this time with anger in my voice.

"I'm going back!" I had never seen my younger brother so full of fire and rage. He turned and slashed at me with his pocket knife. I fell backwards, bleeding from my chest and tangled in a fishing net.

"What the hell Caleb?" I writhed on the deck. The pain was unbearable, I'd never been stabbed before.

"Shit! Hugh, I didn't mean to!" Caleb knelt beside me and he pressed his hands against the wound. "I just wanted you to let me go! I just wanted to scare you!"

"Caleb, why do you want to go back there so bad?"

"It's my fault they're dying, isn't it?" Caleb asked me after an awkward silence.

"What?" I stared into his eyes and shook my head. "Why do you think that?"

"I killed that riftman. . . They're mad cause of me."

I remembered the feeling I had as a riftman, I remembered knowing that I was going after a boy who knew too much, not one who had killed one of my own. All I could do was shake my head as we bobbed in the gentle waves and cried together.

Amidst the struggle on the island, I could see another life boat rowing out towards us. Grant climbed up into our boat, covered in green and red blood.

"Time to go, boys."

"But the others!" Caleb stomped his foot.

"It's too late for them, Caleb, it's time to go."

"We can't just leave them!"

"We can and we will." Grant approached the helm and Caleb tried to pull him back. Grant spun around and threw Caleb to the floor, his eyes were crazy and the pale moonlight didn't help. "Hugh, what happened to you?"

Lifting my hand I looked down at the blood, then over to Caleb. He was pleading with his eyes not to be told on. "I just. . . I cut myself climbing onto the boat."

"Here Caleb, take the wheel," Grant said. He waited until my nervous brother grabbed hold before he knelt beside me. "You're in luck Hugh, it doesn't look deep enough to kill you!"

"Uh. . . That's good." I shrugged as I caught my brother's anxious jitters in the corner of my eye.

"Might leave a scar though! That'd be bad ass." Grant sat back with me on the deck, Caleb steered the boat, and I couldn't help but wonder how long it would take Grant to wash the riftmen's green blood off of himself.

---

"Banged up by ya brutha?" Marika asked as she reached out and touched Jericho's chest under his clothes. Her fingers were gentle, but rough.

"You noticed did you?" Jericho laughed and pulled Marika's hand away. "I guess I forget you've seen me naked."

"You nevah be tellin' ya brutha?"

"Never told him what?"

"You da boy dey afta?"

Jericho chewed his lip and stared out at the rift. He smiled just a little and blushed a sad embarrassed blush. "No," he said, "I guess I never did."

Marika nodded quietly and slapped her thighs before standing up. She stared down at Jericho and he stared up at her. The silence played down Jericho's spine, from the crown of his head to the tip of his tail bone and Marika smiled.

"Be feelin' dah mumbo jumbo I betcha," she said, "I be knowin' dat face any place." Then she turned and left.

"Where's Cap'n, Marika? When will I see him again?"

"Cap'n not bein' intristed. Not 'til you be 'membrin' dat is. Come with I, I be bringin' ya to dah safety spot."