house.
The fog was beginning to lift. Somewhere beyond the gray scudding clouds, a faint glow of sun was burning off the last few hours of morning, and Carolyn scanned the horizon with hopeful eyes. Mist clung to her cheeks and lashes, wetting her hair to her face. The sound of the sea echoed like thunder all around her, and she could taste salt in the air.
â She keeps watch for him ⦠and he searches for her â¦â
â Itâs a house for the dead ⦠not the living â¦â
Carolyn stumbled, catching herself before she fell. Just ahead she could see a break in the fog, and she hurried toward it.
And then without warning, the voice came.
â Maaaatthewwwww â¦â
Carolyn froze, her heart lurching into her throat.
A voice?
Or only the wind?
It came once, but did not come again. It floated from nowhere, from fog and from shadowsâa deep voice, choked thick with water, a voice that held both rage and unmistakable terror.
It was the most horrible, most unearthly sound she had ever heard.
âWhoâs there!â she screamed.
The wind whipped her words away, almost before they were spoken. I will not listen to Noraâs stories â I will not listen â
She pushed her way through the fog, when suddenly her foot began to slide. Scrambling for balance, Carolyn teetered forward and saw the edge of the cliff beneath her shoes.
The earth shifted and crumbled.
In desperation Carolyn flung herself backward onto solid ground and lay there, gasping for breath.
One more step â¦
One more step and she would have walked off into nothingness.
Shaking violently, Carolyn craned her neck forward to get a better view. Far below, jagged rocks gleamed black and wet with foam, rising up from crashing waves and shadowy pockets of sand. Gulls shrieked and circled overhead, and like silent sentinels, more outcroppings of deadly rocks camouflaged themselves beneath the tumbling rush of the sea.
It took several minutes to calm herself down ⦠several more before she remembered the voice.
â They call out their own names when they want the help of the living â¦â
Carolyn got to her feet and gazed at the scenery around her. She could see the hazy sky and the endless cliffs and the ocean going on and on forever.â¦
âI imagined it,â she said fiercely. âIt was just the wind ⦠just the birds.â
The gulls screamed in reply, mimicking her, going round and round in slow, maddening circles.
Carolyn stood there, gazing down, down on the wide, curving beach. Her heart had slowed to its normal rhythm again, and she slowly unclenched her hands.
There was a way downâshe could see it now, just barelyâa crude sort of path carved into the adjacent cliff wall. She followed it with her eyes all the way to the bottom, where it finally gave out onto a little cove.
I canât keep being afraid of this place if Iâm going to have to live here .
Everything could be easily explained, if she just took time to think it all through. She still had Noraâs ghost stories on the brain. She hadnât been watching where she was going, even though Nora had warned her about the cliffs.
Again Carolyn forced herself to look down at the cove. Is that where Nora found Hazel? Is that where Captain Glanton and his whole crew drowned?
â It was a knife he took ⦠and chopped off the captainâs hand.⦠â
Carolyn closed her eyes, and for one moment she actually thought she could see itâjust how it had happened that horrible night. The handsome young captain half drowned, clinging desperately to the slippery rocks, one arm wounded, and the other armâhis stronger armâstretched out to the one person he believed would help him. Of course he couldnât have known. Of course he couldnât have suspected that the one man who could save him wanted him dead. And so Matthew Glanton had reached out to a
The fog was beginning to lift. Somewhere beyond the gray scudding clouds, a faint glow of sun was burning off the last few hours of morning, and Carolyn scanned the horizon with hopeful eyes. Mist clung to her cheeks and lashes, wetting her hair to her face. The sound of the sea echoed like thunder all around her, and she could taste salt in the air.
â She keeps watch for him ⦠and he searches for her â¦â
â Itâs a house for the dead ⦠not the living â¦â
Carolyn stumbled, catching herself before she fell. Just ahead she could see a break in the fog, and she hurried toward it.
And then without warning, the voice came.
â Maaaatthewwwww â¦â
Carolyn froze, her heart lurching into her throat.
A voice?
Or only the wind?
It came once, but did not come again. It floated from nowhere, from fog and from shadowsâa deep voice, choked thick with water, a voice that held both rage and unmistakable terror.
It was the most horrible, most unearthly sound she had ever heard.
âWhoâs there!â she screamed.
The wind whipped her words away, almost before they were spoken. I will not listen to Noraâs stories â I will not listen â
She pushed her way through the fog, when suddenly her foot began to slide. Scrambling for balance, Carolyn teetered forward and saw the edge of the cliff beneath her shoes.
The earth shifted and crumbled.
In desperation Carolyn flung herself backward onto solid ground and lay there, gasping for breath.
One more step â¦
One more step and she would have walked off into nothingness.
Shaking violently, Carolyn craned her neck forward to get a better view. Far below, jagged rocks gleamed black and wet with foam, rising up from crashing waves and shadowy pockets of sand. Gulls shrieked and circled overhead, and like silent sentinels, more outcroppings of deadly rocks camouflaged themselves beneath the tumbling rush of the sea.
It took several minutes to calm herself down ⦠several more before she remembered the voice.
â They call out their own names when they want the help of the living â¦â
Carolyn got to her feet and gazed at the scenery around her. She could see the hazy sky and the endless cliffs and the ocean going on and on forever.â¦
âI imagined it,â she said fiercely. âIt was just the wind ⦠just the birds.â
The gulls screamed in reply, mimicking her, going round and round in slow, maddening circles.
Carolyn stood there, gazing down, down on the wide, curving beach. Her heart had slowed to its normal rhythm again, and she slowly unclenched her hands.
There was a way downâshe could see it now, just barelyâa crude sort of path carved into the adjacent cliff wall. She followed it with her eyes all the way to the bottom, where it finally gave out onto a little cove.
I canât keep being afraid of this place if Iâm going to have to live here .
Everything could be easily explained, if she just took time to think it all through. She still had Noraâs ghost stories on the brain. She hadnât been watching where she was going, even though Nora had warned her about the cliffs.
Again Carolyn forced herself to look down at the cove. Is that where Nora found Hazel? Is that where Captain Glanton and his whole crew drowned?
â It was a knife he took ⦠and chopped off the captainâs hand.⦠â
Carolyn closed her eyes, and for one moment she actually thought she could see itâjust how it had happened that horrible night. The handsome young captain half drowned, clinging desperately to the slippery rocks, one arm wounded, and the other armâhis stronger armâstretched out to the one person he believed would help him. Of course he couldnât have known. Of course he couldnât have suspected that the one man who could save him wanted him dead. And so Matthew Glanton had reached out to a
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