We Both Go Down Together

**We Both Go Down Together** is a an InCryptid short story. It is ninth in the Jonathan and Frances Shorts.

## Synopsis

With their second child due to arrive any day, it would be reasonable for Jonathan and Frances Healy to stay safe at home. Unfortunately, the world has other ideas. A postcard from the mysterious coastal town of Gentling, Maine has Jonathan packing his bags and preparing for an adventure—and when did Fran ever pass up an adventure?

But the people of Gentling aren't just ordinary fishermen and sailors: they're the descendants of finfolk who fell in love with the humans who pulled them from the sea, and they have long since settled into a gentle rhythm of a life lived between the wet and the dry. Only now, someone or something is stealing their babies from the shore, endangering the next generation.

Old obligations and new obligations will collide, and the newest member of the Healy family will join the fight...or will she? Because it's not just the babies of the finfolk who are in danger, and unless they're careful, Johnny and Fran might find themselves losing their daughter...

## Plot

Jonathan and a very pregnant Fran take a train to Portland, Maine, where they rent a car and drive the rest of the way to Gentling. Jonathan explains the history of the town and finfolk biology to Fran. They arrive at the house of Angus Gentling, the current mayor, and he and his sister Lynn explain that someone has been collecting finfolk babies from the shore.

Fran and Jonathan investigate, going down to the seashore to speak with mature finfolk including Angus and Lynn's aunt Marie. They visit Elaine Lindsay's house and ask her about the disappearances, but find no leads. Jonathan plans to wake up before dawn and stake out the beach to find the culprit.

In the middle of the night, Fran's water breaks and Jonathan rushes her to the hospital. To their surprise, they have a daughter, and name her Alice Enid Healy. They realize something is wrong when Fran asks Jonathan if they let him hold Alice, but he never saw her. Rushing to find their child, the two pull guns on Elaine and interrogate her. She realizes it was Angus who's been abducting the children and selling them to an adoption agency. Jonathan drives them to the building where they're keeping the babies and they demand Alice back at gunpoint. Angus claims he doesn't know which one is theirs, but the Aeslin mice, which were present at the birth, are able to correctly identify her.

Jonathan orders Angus to tell the men from the adoption agency that there will be no more babies sent to them, and to then give up the mayorship to his sister and enter the sea, hastening his return into a mature finfolk. Nathaniel Lindsay, his accomplice, is ordered to leave town. Elaine decides to stay and keep working at the hospital.

## Characters

* Jonathan Healy
* Frances Healy
* Alice Healy
* Lynn Gentling
* Angus Gentling
* Marie Gentling
* Chastity Gentling
* Jane
* Elaine Lindsay
* Nathaniel Lindsay

**Mentioned**

* Daniel Healy
* Alexander Healy
* Enid Healy

## Field Guide

* Aeslin Mice
* Finfolk

**Mentioned**

* Bloodworm
* Harpy
* Gorgon
* Michigan Lake Monster (called "dinosaur")
* Jackalope
* Kraken

## Locations

* Buckley Township, Michigan
* Gentling, Maine

**Mentioned**

* Tempe, Arizona
* Ann Arbor, Michigan
* Grand Central Station, New York
* Boston, Massachusetts
* Portland, Maine

## Organizations

**Mentioned**

* Covenant of St. George

## Continuity

* Here we see Alice get her name and her first Aeslin title.

## Quotes

“It doesn’t matter, because family is everything, Fran—family is all that we have in this world, and that means that family’s sins are ours to carry, just as surely as family’s blessings are ours to enjoy. My family killed these people in cold blood for the crime of being different, and I will repay our debt to them before our son is born. He deserves a world with less blood on its hands.” – Jonathan Healy