Ghost Island (10 page)

CHAPTER 19

As we scrambled up the path back to the hotel, Charles and I tried to come up with a plan. I was relieved that he finally believed me, and he was relieved he’d shaken off whatever spell he’d been in. We agreed that we needed to get ourselves and everybody else off the island, but neither one of us knew how.

“Even if our phones stayed on long enough to call or text for help, no one would believe us,” I said. “Besides, it’s not safe to travel anywhere. Look at those clouds.”

He glanced up at the dark gray sky. “Staying here isn’t exactly safe either, you know. Let’s go find Grace.”

“Then we’ve got to look for the others.” I pointed at the boats dotting the harbor below us. “Didn’t you say you know how to sail?”

“My dad taught me back when we still lived in the house on the lake.”

“Could you get us back to Long Beach?”

“It’s twenty-two miles. We’d never make it.”

“What about the Two Harbors?” I asked. “Daniel said the catamaran is probably there, and it’s only on the other side of the island.”

“If it’s there, then how did Mr. Freeman get to the casino?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “Maybe Daniel picked him up. But the kids weren’t with him. They’re probably still in Two Harbors.”

“It wouldn’t take long to get over there.” He grabbed my arm. “I could do it if I had a boat.”

“Then let’s find one.”

“We’re going to have to steal it,” he said. “Is that okay with you?”

“As long as we steal it in the next five minutes.”

“Well, that’s going to depend on how long it takes us to find Grace.”

The look on his face made me want to cry. I had seen it just once—not on Chris, but on the face of a guy who appeared only in my dreams.

“We need to leave now,” I said. “We can come back for her.
Ms. Gates and Johnny too.”

“No, I’m not going anywhere without her. Freeman might make his way back there. I don’t want him anywhere near her.”

“To the hotel?
Why would he?”

“Emily did, didn’t she?”

“But she was with us from the beginning.” I shivered. “If he does go back to the boat, he won’t be Freeman any more. Whatever Benjamin almost did to you, he did to him instead. You know that, don’t you?”

“It’s as if he was in a spell.” His voice was soft, and I knew he was reliving the spell he had been in not long before. “Come on, let’s find a golf cart. I don’t feel like walking up that hill.”

“Grace might not want to risk coming with us.”

“Let’s ask her.” He pointed at a golf cart moving toward us. Johnny was driving, and Grace sat beside him.

Charles grinned, but Grace didn’t seem to notice. She was gesturing with her phone, maybe even crying. Over her jeans, she wore a white eyelet jacket, totally wrong for the weather. I hadn’t ever seen it before, and that gave me a creepy feeling. I had seen everything she’d taken from her suitcase.

“Grace,” I called out.

Johnny stopped the cart, and Charles helped me climb in. It offered some protection from the rain, although I doubted that we could get much wetter.

I could tell by her expression that Grace wasn’t as relieved to see us as we were to see her.

“Oh, there you are,” Grace said. “I thought we were friends,
Livia
.”

Charles was still holding onto my arm but quickly dropped it. He grabbed her shoulder, but she shook his hand away. Wet curls escaped her knit cap, and she glared at me.

“We are,” I said. “Once you hear where we’ve been though, you’ll understand.”

“This should be good.” She exchanged knowing looks with Johnny. “Emily told us what’s going on with you two, and hey, if that’s what you want, it’s fine with me.” She couldn’t hide the pain in her voice.

“Yeah, go for it.” Johnny’s expression was accusing. Why was he mad? Did he like me?

“Grace,” I said. “Emily is a liar, okay? You know that.”

“She didn’t lie about your parents.”

“I can assure you that whatever she said about Charles and me is not true.”

“That’s for sure.” He squeezed her shoulder again, and this time, she didn’t pull away.

“Let me guess,” she said. “
Livia
has convinced you that our dreams are haunted.”

“I saw it for myself,” he told her. “I’ll explain everything on the way to the other side of the island. That’s probably where the catamaran is, and we need to get to the other kids.”

“Why? Besides, there’s no way we can get over there.” She took off her cap, and her hair blew across her eyes in an auburn tangle. “Look at this. We’d get lost in the storm, or worse.”

“Worse is guaranteed if we stay here.” He gazed at her with such adoration that I couldn’t help thinking of Aaron. “No one wants you to be safe more than I do, Grace.”

“I’m just not sure about anything.” She sounded shaky and less certain than I’d ever heard her.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Tell them,” Johnny said.

“My sister.”
She lifted her phone again. “I keep getting messages I can barely hear.
Disjointed voices and pieces of conversations.
Music.”
She put her hand over Charles’s and seemed to collapse against the seat.

“On your cell?”
I asked.

“Yeah.
That’s all that comes through.”

“Come with us,” I told her. “He’s right. Staying here is just as dangerous as what we’re going to do.”

“Less dangerous,” he said, “as long as the weather holds.”

“What about my sister?”

“Those messages aren’t from her. Someone is trying to manipulate and control us. Can you really tell me that Emily is the same girl who started this trip with us last Friday?”

Grace looked up at Charles then at me. “She’s a lot more aggressive. That’s for sure.”

“And she doesn’t remember she lost her cell phone. I’ll bet she doesn’t remember anything about her life, simply because it isn’t hers.”

“Are you saying she’s possessed or something?”

“Call it what you want, but I’m pretty sure you’re going to end up like her if you let the dreams and phone messages convince you they have anything to do with your sister.”

She c
lu
ng tighter to Charles’s hand. “I don’t want to be like Emily.”

“Then tell me where you got that jacket.”

She ran her fingers along one eyelet arm, as if seeing it for the first time. “What does my jacket have to do with anything?”

“Charles had Benjamin’s coat,” I said. “The clothing we’re taking in and out of these dreams has something to do with their control over us.”

She continued staring at the arm of her jacket, then back at me. “So what’s really going on here?”

“You know the answer to that,” I said. “I wanted to leave before the weather got worse, but Charles said he wouldn’t go without you. He likes you,” I insisted. “Now, are you coming or not?”

“But we don’t have a boat.”

“Only a harbor full of deserted ones,” Charles said.

“You’re going to steal a boat?”

“We’ll bring it back. Come on.”

She beamed at him. “Okay, then. I guess I’m in.”

“What about you, Johnny?” I asked.

“I think I’ll stay here.”

“So you can get black-out drunk again tonight?”

“I don’t drink that much.”

“Prove it. Come with us. Can you do that?”

He gave me a wicked smile. “If it means hanging out with you, I might just try it.” Then he started the cart again.

Charles continued holding hands with Grace over the seat. “Let’s go find ourselves a boat,” he said.

CHAPTER 20

Daniel was trolling around the dock on the shore boat. His head was covered by a black watch cap, and his navy pea coat looked as if someone had thrown a pail of water on it.

“Do I look like a drowned rat?” Grace whispered, as we boarded. Her soft auburn hair was now brassy and slicked to her face.

“We all do,” I told her.

Johnny’s hair and most of his face was hidden by his hoodie. Only Charles looked almost flawless with his cool glasses and whatever hair gel he used that could stand up to any storm.

“Okay, kids, we need to hurry,” Daniel said in his gruff voice. “You’ve got two hours, max, before the weather goes really nuts.”

“We’ll be back before then.” I tried to sound sane and informed. “We’re just going to Two Harbors.”

“You’re still taking a chance.” He stared up at the sky and squinted. “I’ve lived on this island almost twenty years.
Never seen weather as bad as this one in all that time.”

“What about weird dreams?” I asked. “You must have had some.”

“
Livia
, please.”
Grace let go of Charles long enough to poke me.

His expression turned suspicious again.
“Dreams?”

“Well, after all this time, you must know something about what’s happening.”

“
Livia
.”
Grace poked me harder. “Come on. We need to get moving.”

“Aren’t you the kids from the catamaran?” He turned the squint on us. “Where are you going anyway?”

“To my dad’s boat.”
Charles played the privileged role so well that I almost believed him. “It’s that one right there.”

Daniel nodded and seemed to relax. “You kids stay safe, you hear? And just for the record, I never dream.”

“You must,” I said. “Everyone does.”

“Not out here on this water.” He grinned at me. “Sleeping out here’s like nodding off in a rocking chair. It’s even better than when I worked on the cruise ship.”

“Is that where you learned French?” Grace asked.

“That and Spanish, Italian, and a little of some others. It makes people comfortable when you speak their language. Working on that ship was like being in a fancy hotel every day. This is more real.”

“And you never dream?” I asked again. “The ocean must get rough sometimes. Do you take pills or anything to help you sleep?”

“Well, I drink some of Peggy’s tea when she brings it by.” He shrugged. “And I drink a little whiskey now and then.”

“Too much information.”
Grace tried to shield her face from the mist of water that sprayed up as the boat cut through the sea. We would have our pick of vessels today. Everything from tiny sloops to a cruise ship sat in the bay as if hunkered down to wait out the storm.

“We’re island people,” he said. “Not many secrets out here.”

“And no one’s talked to you about weird dreams lately?” I c
lu
tched the cold rail and ignored Grace’s glare.

“No one.”
He glanced over at me. “You know, there was one guy in that last group I brought in.
Couldn’t shut up.
There was something off about him.”

“Off how?”
I asked.

“I don’t know how to put it. After a while you know the types, and he didn’t fit. Here it was storming like a mother, and all he wanted to talk about was driving his Corvette somewhere.”

“Freeman,” Charles whispered, and Grace c
lu
tched his arm, her eyes wide.

“What did he say about the car?” My voice cracked, and I realized I was trembling.

“Something about how this time he was going to stop.
That’s why I’m telling you this. He dreamed up some guy who was going to help him take this road trip or whatever it was. I told him that wasn’t going to happen in this weather, and it definitely wasn’t going to happen in the casino, but he wouldn’t listen.”

A chill cut through me deeper and colder than the sea wind. “He was going to the casino?”

“That’s what he said.”

The mist grew thicker, and I realized it was raining again. “Have you seen him since?”

“Not yet, but I’m sure I will once he sees what’s going on with this storm.” He glanced at Charles. “So, which boat is your old man’s?”

“That one.”
If I hadn’t known, I wouldn’t have had a c
lu
e that he was trying to decide.

“The speedboat?”

“No, that one right there.”
He pointed at a small sailboat. “We almost passed it.”

Daniel stopped the shore boat, and water splashed onboard. “You’re going in that?”

“He’s sailed it a hundred times,” I said.

“Yeah.”
Grace counted out some bills and handed them to Daniel. “Thanks very much for your help.”

“No problem. Let me know if you need me again. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Do you drink whiskey every night?” I asked.

Grace sighed. “You don’t have to answer that,” she told him. “My friend here can get a little obsessive sometimes.”

“I just asked him a question.” Maybe I was getting obsessive.

“Most nights,” he replied. “Take care, kids.”

“See you later,” I said. “By the way, where did you pick up Mr. Freeman, the guy who talked about driving his Corvette?
Two Harbors?”

“Good question.” He scratched his scalp through his watch cap. “Come to think of it, I don’t know when that guy got on.”