The sky stayed clear as the sun dipped behind the cliffs, and the mad palette of evening darkened to knight. The twilight colors sank beneath the waves, turned the surface a smooth, glassy black. In their place, the full moon glowed, its image tattooed upon the water in silver-white light. 

Fishing had been an ordeal. Fine until Quinn’s line tugged, and they reeled it in to reveal that the hook was, in fact, not for show, and had pierced the fish’s mouth. She was…less than enthused, begging for help freeing the poor thing, which she got, before frantically throwing it back into the water. 

After that they let her throw the lines out, but did the reeling in themselves. Dahlia sympathized—she tended to throw all of her catches back as well.

Eventually Daz was left to fish alone. Dahlia and Safie spread towels on the deck and laid out, setting a phone up against the bench to watch videos. They made space for Quinn. One of Lucis’s songs came on, and Safie stood up to dance, proudly stating how she’d helped him choreograph the whole thing. She offered to teach Quinn a few moves, but the girl’s natural clumsiness, combined with her lack of sea legs, made it more of an exercise in not falling overboard. 

Distantly, the music from Hovvi’s shore quieted down. 

“[color=green]Oh! Oh! Bet the fireworks are about to start![/color]” Safie said. 

Dahlia set her phone away. “[color=skyblue]Dad! C’mon![/color]”

Daz hummed. The line on his pole tugged, and he reeled it in slow. 

Safie hopped up on the railing, looking back at Quinn. “[color=green]Come on up! I’ll hold on to ya.[/color]” she said, patting the spot beside her. “[color=green]Gosh this is gonna be [i]so[/i] pretty! You only ever see fireworks in the cities these days, and it’s always so mucky.[/color]” 

“[color=skyblue]It’s not so bad from the Aerie though,[/color]” Dahlia said. “[color=skyblue]If there’s no clouds you can still see’em. Colorful lil’ spots. It’s neat.[/color]”

“[color=green]Well buckle up ‘cause you’re about to see [i]way[/i] more than spots. I bet we’ll feel the booms from out here![/color]”

Behind them, Daz finally pulled in his fish. A big thing, it came flailing out of the water, slapping against the hull with the force of a stone. As he made to pull it off the hook he suddenly hissed, yanked his hand back, and the fish went flopping onto the deck. It slid to Quinn’s feet, wet and absolutely hemorrhaging as if it had been pulled by a dozens different hooks. Though it was too dark to make out much detail, through the torn flesh and gouts of blood, the moonlight did catch something. 

Poking out from its body were dozens of tiny, glinting bits of metal. 

“[color=skyblue]Dad you okay—?[/color]”

A sound from Hovvi cut her off. Not the promised booms of fireworks, but rather, a low, electric whining. In moments it grew to a wail, and louder, and louder, beyond even what the music was. It filled the air, it reached across the lake.

Within the boat there came another sound: beeping, loud and sharp. Dahlia and Safie both pulled their phones from their pockets, eyes wide. 

“[color=green]Shore,[/color]” Safie said, almost too quietly to hear. Then, louder, back to Daz: “[color=green]Shore! We gotta get back to shore![/color]”