“Yes.”
Sunday morning, Owen waited in his room for the sounds of Luna packing up to leave. She knocked on his bedroom door.
“I’m going soon,” Luna said.
“Okay,” Owen said.
“If this is my last visit, I want to go out on the rowboat,” she said.
“It’s freezing. You don’t want to do that.”
“Come on,” Luna said. “Let’s go.”
“I’m not going anywhere, and you shouldn’t either.”
Luna and Owen went back and forth for a while. Until Owen shut the door on her. Luna kept knocking and saying that she’d leave if he went out on the boat with her. She’d never bother him again after that.
“Give me your word,” he said.
“Promise,” Luna said.
Fifteen minutes later, Luna was rowing them out into the middle of Pontoosuc Lake. Owen felt a strange energy coming off her. It made him feel unsteady and, frankly, a tad frightened. Her eyes were darting around; her mind was working on something. She wasn’t admiring the sparkling blue water or enjoying the physical effort of maneuvering the small boat. It was an unusually brisk morning. Luna shivered as she rowed.
“Okay, let’s go back,” Owen said.
“No,” Luna said, refusing eye contact. She regarded the oars. “These are clamped on?”
“Yeah. Why?” Owen said.
“I wondered what would happen if we lost the oars,” she said.
Owen already had a strange vibe from Luna. Her comment only heightened the feeling.
“That’s why they’re clamped on, so you don’t lose them,” Owen said.
“I see,” Luna said.
“I think we should go back,” Owen said.
“I’m too tired,” Luna said, releasing the oars.
Owen wasn’t sure what her angle was, but he wasn’t buying it. “Okay, I’ll row,” he said.
Luna stood up and jumped on the stern. If he didn’t know better, he would have thought she was trying to flip the boat.
“Stop it, Luna—what the fuck,” Owen shouted.
He half-stood, trying to reach the bow to rebalance the weight, all the while yelling, “What are you doing? Stop.”
While Owen’s center of gravity was elevated, Luna barreled right into him, tackling him into the water. The shock of the cold took his breath away. Once submerged, his temperature slowly dropping, it occurred to Owen that Luna might be trying to harm him, kill him perhaps. Adrenaline surging, Owen swam to shore, stumbled out of the water and up the banks to his house, not once looking back for Luna. He was colder than he’d ever been and utterly confused and somewhat frightened. Luna, not as strong a swimmer, barely made it back to shore before hypothermia set in.
Owen walked into the house, soaked to the bone, shouting for his brother.
“What the hell?” Griff said upon seeing Owen blue-lipped and drenched, shivering uncontrollably. “Where’s Luna?”
Beyond the sliding glass door, Luna lurched toward the house, in even worse condition.
“Dude,” Owen said to his brother, “she’s fucking insane. She pushed me in. I think she’s trying to kill me. I swear to fucking god.”
“What?” Griff said. He was sure he misunderstood.
“I’m taking a shower,” Owen said. “Keep her away from me.”
Griff took a stack of towels from the linen closet and met Luna at the back door.
“What happened?” Griff said.
“Show-er,” Luna said between chattering teeth.
Luna rushed into the guest room and took a hot shower. Griff ramped up the heat and started a fire. Luna was still shivering. She kept stomping her feet, like they were asleep. Griff gave her tea and blankets and told her to sit by the fire. He alternated between trying to warm up her feet and checking on his brother. Owen had followed up his shower with a hot bath. The door was locked. He wasn’t taking any chances.
“You okay, man?” Griff said through the door.
“I’m fine,” Owen said. “But get her out of here. She’s insane. She pushed me in the lake. On purpose.”
Griff returned to the living room. Luna, still feeling ice-cold, was getting dangerously close to the flames. He put an old wool cap on her head and sat next to her for warmth.
“How is he?” Luna asked.
“Fine. Owen says you capsized the boat on purpose. He thought you were—”
“What?”
“He’s afraid of you, Luna.”
Luna marveled at the inadvertent genius of her plan. “Is he really afraid?” Luna said with a smile.
Her pleasure at that news was disconcerting.
“Yes, Luna. He misunderstood, right?” Griff said.
“Fear. That was my next experiment,” Luna said, followed by a full explanation of her recent actions.
Griff took Luna upstairs to Owen’s bedroom. Owen was under an electric blanket turned up to high.
“No,” Owen yelled when he saw Luna standing next to his brother.
“Just let her explain,” Griff said. “It’s kind of sweet, in its weirdness.”
Griff left them alone. Luna went to sit on Owen’s bed, but he pointed at the floor.
“Stay back,” Owen said. “Let me see your hands.”
Luna’s fingers were still numb. She wanted to keep them in her pockets.
“You have one minute,” Owen said.
“I read somewhere that cold-water immersion can ameliorate depression. You haven’t been normal since…you know, which is totally understandable. But because that whole thing was in some ways my fault, I wanted to see if I could help. Wake you up. I think maybe it worked. You’re mad now. Before you were just in this fog. I wasn’t trying to kill you. I just wanted you to feel better.”
Owen gawked at Luna for a long moment. Then he said, “I’m not your fucking guinea pig.”
“I know. I’m sorry,” Luna said, still shivering. “I didn’t think the water would be that cold.”
Owen had clearly recovered far better than she. The self-sacrifice did not go entirely unnoticed.
Owen lifted the covers. “Get in.”