Jimmy brought a second round of Cristals for Teddy and Bones and a couple of cokes for the boys. They were sitting around a mess of fried chicken and empanadas discussing the day's wonders. Joshua and Caleb stuffed some food into their gobs, slurped down their cokes and headed down the beach for a little body surfing. Teddy and Bones looked on, envious of all that energy.
"I really thought we might lose you out there today." Bones stared into Teddy's eyes.
"I know. I know. I got overexcited. It was a simple mistake." Teddy shifted his gaze to avoid Bone's stare.
"No. You do not know. You are those boys only parent now. Claire is gone. While she would definitely support all you are doing following your dream, seeking the truth and bringing the boys along for as much of it as you can—she would not want overexcitement to leave her children alone in the world." Bones grabbed Teddy by the arm, hard. He had a point to make and he was going to make it.
"I got it." Teddy's voice had an edge. He wanted to change the subject. Talk about all they had found. Anything other than death—his or his late wife's.
"I am not going back out with you." Bones looked down the beach to see the boys playing in the surf.
"Okay, Bones. Okay. I screwed up. I lost focus and touched the altar. I should have been more careful. Is that good enough?" Teddy's attitude changed in an instant, almost too fast. He was no longer resisting.
"No." Bones was having none of it. He continued to stare at the cresting waves. Caleb was dropping over the falls with that strange two-handed body surfing style of his. Growing up on Maui hadn't hurt these boys one bit when it came to love of the sea.
"Bones. I get it. I'll be much more careful next time." Teddy was almost pleading.
"I do not like what just happened." Bone's voice was dead pan.
"I know. Caleb was at risk. Maybe I shouldn't take the boys down as safety divers…"
"That is not what I am talking about." Matter of fact.
"What are you talking about?" Teddy was exasperated, but he had to be careful because Bones was irreplaceable and a caring friend.
"There is a big difference between seeking the truth and obsessing over an idol." Bones was looking directly at him again.
"I'm not obsessing."
"Teddy. She is gone. Finding the Nephilim will not bring her back. It is not the destination—it is the journey. It is the life adventure you are on with your sons. Are you changing your tune because you really understand my point or are you just worried about losing your dive coordinator?" Bones reached out and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Something strange happened to me in the temple." Teddy was looking toward the ocean, eyes unfocused as he recalled the darkness.
"I know. You almost died!" Bones wasn't laughing.
"No. Not that. Something different. I've been entangled on wreck dives before, I've completely lost my face mask…" Teddy paused before continuing.
"Once in Palau, I was enveloped in a cloud of sediment inside the WWII wreck of the Iro. I watched as my dive buddy kept going down the companionway. I was so tangled, I couldn't get my dive knife out to signal him. I had gotten hung up on a rusted railing and had to remove my tanks completely to get untangled, I lost my mask in the process…" Teddy was staring into the distance.
"And?"
"I didn't lose my cool: took my vest off, untangled, put it back on, found my mask, cleared it and flutter kicked my way down the companionway. My buddy never knew he'd left me…"
"So what happened in the temple?" Bones looked toward the beach where Teddy was staring and then back at him.
"There was something in the temple with me… when I touched the altar… a dark force that wouldn't let go of me… I felt it trying to… to… inhabit me…" Teddy stood up abruptly upsetting the table as a woman on the beach screamed, a shrill, high-pitched scream of terror and disgust.
Teddy took off running toward a small crowd forming on the beach. He had just seen the boys body surfing nearby before the scream. Bones grabbed the basket of chicken wings and ran after him calling the boy's names. Teddy's heart was sinking again—that same feeling of loss and helplessness.
Jimmy had taken a liking to the boys and ran after them to see if the boys needed any help. Running up to the crowd, everybody was talking at once. Teddy was rudely shoving several onlookers aside as he shouldered his way through the growing crowd. Bones tried to make apologies to some of the offended persons as he pushed in behind Teddy.
Jimmy arrived and started to make apologies for the gringos. Teddy was just beginning to make out some of the Spanish: "Que es? Asqueroso! Muy feo." What is it? Disgusting! How ugly.
Breaking through the crowd, Teddy saw Joshua and Caleb bending over something and poking it with a stick. He grabbed Caleb from behind and bear-hugged him.
"I am so glad you are alright!" He was feeling overprotective since the diving incident.
"Dad! Dad, it grabbed onto my leg. I'm telling you, Dad, it grabbed onto my leg!"
Bones jostled up behind them cradling the basket of chicken wings and clapped Joshua on the back. "What the?"
"I've never seen anything like it. Caleb get your phone!" Joshua was trying to flip the creature over onto its back for Caleb to get a photo with his I-phone.
Teddy grabbed Joshua's arm and pulled him back when he saw the thing. He took the stick from him and pushed at it, but it didn't move. Its entire body was covered in dark brown or black fur, except for its tail which had the shape and texture of a beaver tail—from the back, the whole thing looked like a beaver, which made no sense on the beach in Cuba.
"Caleb, are you getting this?"
"On video, Dad!"
Wedging the stick underneath the creature, Teddy pulled up suddenly and flipped it over. The crowd let out a collective gasp. "Feo!" Yelled one woman, others covered their eyes or turned away. The fur on the back of its head gave way to fish scales around the forehead area and its face continued on into the pointy face of a fish. But that wasn't what had made the crowd recoil.
It had hands: human hands.
Tiny, the size of a beaver's paws, but distinctly human hands, flesh colored, complete with fingernails and tiny swirls on the fingertips and fingernails.
"Atras! Atras!" Somebody was shouting with authority from the back of the crowd. "Back! Back!"
"Sigue adelante! Adelante!" The crowd began to disburse as the locals who knew what was good for them left quickly. "Move along!" Jimmy was pulling on Teddy's arm and motioned for the boys and Bones to leave, but they couldn't pull their eyes away from the creature.
"You!" It was the heavyset cop that had been spying on them around town and came out to their dive boat to check their papers. Several muscle-bound goons wearing dark sunglasses and black leather jackets accompanied him. They immediately set to work roughing up the locals and pushing them away, but just as quickly lined up behind their boss when they heard him shout in English. "What are you doing here?"
"We were just leaving." Teddy raised his hands and dropped the stick. Caleb quickly shoved his phone into his pocket and followed Bones who was pushing Joshua along.
"Stop!" The chubby cop put his hand forcefully on Teddy's chest. "You see nothing here. Nothing! Understand?" The plump policeman turned and spoke sharply in Spanish to a couple of the goons who were using Teddy's stick to roll the critter into a black woolen sack.
Bones started to come back but Teddy waved him off as more of the goons moved up, spoiling for a fight.
"I understand. Entiendo." Teddy locked eyes with the man.
"This Cuban animal. No have in US. Understand?"
"Yeah. I understand." Teddy backed away dragging the boys and Bones with him.
***
Chief Norberto jumped out of his chair as a wet sandy black sack was plopped unceremoniously on top of his desk. His rolling chair slammed into the wall and the paper he had been reading floated to the floor.
"We found another one." Jose Luis' face glowed with pride.
"Where? And get that thing off my desk!" Norberto screamed.
"Washed up on the beach by Jimmy's."
"Did anyone else see it?" Norberto was disgusted by the creatures, but he had a fairly good idea where they were coming from and he wanted nothing to do with it. This job had too much responsibility.
"Some of the folks from the town and the gringos." Jose Luis took his time removing the creature. He was tempted to let the sack fall open to annoy the Capitan, but thought better of it.
"Too bad for them." Chief Norberto bent down to retrieve the paper he had been reading. He read through it slowly once more before handing it to Jose Luis.
It read: "Take them into custody and deliver them to regional headquarters."