A Bargain of Salt and Choirs

Corvid's Reach sings at low tide so the marsh will sleep. Julienne Corbet inherits her mother's alto line the same week her brother disappears into the water. The lamplighter who finds her on the seawall died a century ago and still walks his rounds. The hymnbook's back pages list every voice the choir has fed to the flats, and the newest name is already inked. The choir says the salt keeps the town standing. Julienne is going to find out what the salt is being paid with, and she is going to change the arrangement — one line, sung backward, at the right tide.