Wheeling Gull Isle paperback dreams in their deep dose,

a riot of salt and phlegm spewed from ava’s jaws, burning her nose and lips. she heaved, instructed to keep breathing — but coughing fits overwhelmed her. 

spittle frothed her lips as caracal thumped her back; he wept, but ava did not see past her own salt-streaked cheeks. 

her breathing gradually rattled off into regularity as she processed what happened. abel, gone. the water dark and deep. a fin rising in the roiling depths; and pain — enormous, unthinkable pain —

ava turned to her father’s chest and clutched him tightly, the feeling of being impossibly fragile and small overwhelming her as sobs wracked her body.