Chapter 1: The Creature Beneath His Skin 027

Need lower release engaged first.
The marshal called for his men.
Two deputies entered.
Gideon directed them through gestures.
Together, they lifted the counterweight assembly.
I pulled the lower release lever.
The chain moved.
The spillway gate shuddered.
For a terrible moment, nothing else happened.
Then the gate began descending.
The rushing water gradually diminished.
The reservoir level stabilized.
Gideon rested both hands against the wheel.
His shoulders sagged.
Outside, the morning sun broke through the clouds.
Far below, Coldwater remained untouched.
We had stopped the flood.
When the marshal led my father away, Silas turned toward me.
“Rosalie.”
I looked at him.
He seemed to expect something.
A plea.
An apology.
Perhaps the old obedient daughter who had spent years trying to earn his approval.
Instead, I said:
“You sold me for fifty dollars.”
His expression changed.
“I was trying to save our family.”
“No.”
I took a step closer.
“You were trying to save yourself, and you were willing to sacrifice every member of our family to do it.”
He looked toward Gideon.
“That man will never give you a proper life.”
I glanced at my husband.
His coat was wet.
His face was pale.
His bandaged ear showed a faint stain.
He stood beside the control wheel, exhausted, watching us.
Then I looked back at my father.
“He gave me something you never did.”
Silas sneered.
“What?”
I answered quietly.
“The right to decide what happens to me.”
The marshal led him away.
I did not follow.
The weeks afterward changed Coldwater.
Harlan Vane and Silas Ashford were formally charged in connection with the criminal schemes surrounding Saint Agnes, including the recent attempts to incapacitate Gideon and destroy the drainage works.
The investigation into the original explosion was reopened.
The old accusation against Daniel Rook was publicly withdrawn after the recovered records showed he had warned about the dangerous alterations.
Dr.