44: Book Three (15 page)

I was out of time. This would be my last dawn.

As much as I hated the idea, I felt there was nothing left to do. The final test and death were just a few hours away.

It was time to accept the inevitable.

I would never get off this island. I would die here, with Nathaniel and his brooding scientists analyzing and testing me during my final breaths. And wondering why the serum hadn’t worked.

I made the bed, folded clothes. The strange peace that had settled around me was strong. It was an odd feeling, but maybe it was all normal.

Normal to accept what was coming.

I wrote a note to Kate and left it on the desk. I told her how much I loved her and how much she meant to me. And how sorry I was for causing her such heartache these past few years.

I called out to Jesse in vain. Maybe he knew something. Maybe he was staying away because it would be too painful.

I would never see Kate or Ty or my home again.

There was nothing to do. Nothing to think about anymore.

I lay there on the soft bed.

In my final hours of life, all I could think about was death.

CHAPTER 42

As I stood by the window, watching the shadows grow on the water, something stirred inside me. Battered by disappointment and now hopelessness, the will to live was almost extinguished, but still there, ever so faint. It nagged at me with its dying breath, prodding my mind to somehow find a way. Even at this late stage, long past any point of no return. There had to be a way out.

“Leave me alone,” I said out loud.

And then I heard the lock.

It was Jack and Phil, dressed again in scrubs.

“Let’s go,” Jack said.

We were quiet going down the hall and then the stairs.

When we got to the kitchen I thought of Simon. It had been nice getting to know him, even though I knew how stupid that sounded. But I liked him and hoped that someday he would find a better path.

We walked outside, over to the guest house. Phil opened the door.

We headed down the hallway, past the rooms where I was a few days ago, all the way down to the end of the hall and through another door.

To the small pool.

I stared at it, the last of the peace inside me evaporating like a puddle in the summer sun. I had entered my own heart of darkness, but that Barcelona fearlessness I needed so badly was nowhere in sight.

A metal lift was at the edge of the water, holding a gurney. I couldn’t take my eyes off of it.

Jack moved closer to me. A small group huddled together at the edge of the pool, near the lift. I looked for Simon and found his eyes behind a mask. He nodded at me and I tried to smile. 

Nathaniel stepped toward me. He was wearing his white coat with a stethoscope hanging around his neck.

“Here we are, Abby. The last test.”

His eyes were dark and serious, focused only on the procedure.

“I want to assure you that once this test is completed, you will have a long, long break. You can do whatever you like. Cook, play soccer, long walks on the beach. Phone calls home. You have my word.”

I looked up, my eyes dancing wildly with the reflection of the water on the ceiling.

“You worry for no reason,” he said. “I have the serum right here. And all of my doctors are trained in advanced resuscitation. You need to have faith. I will be able to bring you back.”

“I’m dying today. I won’t survive this,” I shouted. “If you really love me, you won’t do this, Nathaniel.”

“I want to thank you again, Abby,” he said, undeterred and nodding at his men. “I know none of this has been easy. But you will soon see that the risk and sacrifice will have been worth it.”

Suddenly, Jack lifted me up while Phil grabbed my legs. I kicked at them, tried to get away, but it was useless. Within a minute, they had me secured to the gurney. I had straps on my arms and legs. Then they tied a thick strap across my chest and shoulders. When they were finished I could only move my head.

My screams bounced off the walls, again useless.

“Shhh,” Nathaniel said, stepping up to me and stroking my hair. “It’s all going to be fine. Just let go. Let go and trust me, Abby.”

I looked up, pleading with my eyes. A moment later Jack pushed a switch and the sound of metal machinery echoed off the walls. I lay there helpless as my deathbed moved over the water.

The lift then stopped, hovering just a few inches above the pool. I looked back over at them all once more, tears streaming down my face.

And that’s when I saw her. Standing right next to him.

“Wait,” I screamed. “Wait. Please. Nathaniel, I have something to tell you.”

He looked at me.

“There’s no point in delaying this, Abby. Best just to get it over with.”

I heard the switch again and felt myself slowly being lowered. The water was cold on my back, colder than pool water should have been. It confused me for an instant but then the realization hit. He was trying to recreate the conditions at the lake.

“Wait! It’s for your research. You were right about Jesse,” I said, trying to hold my head up. “Nathaniel, you were right about the ghosts! I see them.”

He stared at me.

“Stop for a moment, Jack,” he said.

“Abby, I knew that already,” he said, smiling. “But I’m glad you’ve confessed. Now it’s official and I will add your comments to the record. Let’s proceed.”

I heard the low hum of the motor, the shock of the water over my legs and torso.

“Emma, Emma, help me!” I screamed.

“That’s a cheap parlor trick, Abby,” Nathaniel said.

A moment later, I was pulled under the water.

CHAPTER 43

I was lowered into the pool, completely submerged in the water, feverishly flailing in vain to pull my shoulders out of the strap and raise my head. I held my breath, probably my last. I stared up at the surface, where I saw Nathaniel leaning over, watching me. There was nothing more to do.

It was time to surrender.

But then I heard it. The motor.

And I was lifted up out of my watery grave, back to the surface.

I looked up and I saw it in his face.

A flash of fear, a flash of horror.

CHAPTER 44

I coughed, gasping for air as the gurney was brought back over to the edge of the pool.

Nathaniel stood above me, eyes fierce, his entire body enveloped in dark energy.

“What are you talking about?” he said. “Tell me exactly what you meant by that last remark. Right now!”

“It’s Emma,” I said, still fighting to get my breath. “She’s standing right next to you.”

He suddenly jerked around, his arms reaching for air.

“Lies!” he yelled, his voice bouncing angrily off the tiles.

I looked right past him, over his shoulder where she was standing with a sad, heavy expression on her face.

“No. She’s right there, Nathaniel. Emma. She wants to talk to you. But if you kill me, you also kill any possible chance to ever talk to her again. This is your only chance. Are you willing to risk losing one last conversation with the woman you’ve loved all these years because you have to do this test right now?”

He stood straight up, looking over his shoulder. Then he sighed and looked around at the others. They had all taken off their masks. No one said anything.

“You’re lying, Abby,” he finally said. “You’re just stalling.”

I looked at Emma as she stared back at me, holding up the chain from around her neck. I remembered it from the first night she came into my room. It was a small, shiny cross.  

“She’s pointing to a necklace she’s wearing,” I said. “It’s a cross, with a circle.”

His face went pale as his eyes grew wide.

“Celtic. She says it’s a Celtic cross that you gave her.”

“It’s just a trick, Dr. Mortimer,” Phil said. “Don’t be fooled. Let’s stay focused and on schedule.”

Nathaniel stood frozen in fear.

“Bring her up,” he said quietly. “Now!”

Jack and Phil started untying the straps.

“The test is cancelled for the day. Take her to her room. Lock her in.”

Nathaniel turned, leaving abruptly, walking quickly out the door.

I took some deep breaths, grateful for each particle of air that I inhaled greedily through my nostrils and into my lungs.

CHAPTER 45

Jack walked me back upstairs to the bedroom. As he locked the door, I staggered over to the window and looked out.

I couldn’t believe I was still alive, couldn’t believe that I had been able to stop the test.

I stared at the island across the strait. It didn’t seem so far anymore. It felt like I might even be able to make it there now, somehow.

I had put off Nathaniel’s insanity, but I didn’t know for how long. Maybe he’d try again later. All I really knew was that when he left, he seemed shaken. To the core.

Still, I couldn’t be sure that it was over.

But I was betting he wanted to talk to Emma. And that he believed me.

I took a quick shower. When I walked back out into the room, Simon was by the fireplace, matches in his hand.

“Hello,” he said. His eyes were large.

I didn’t say anything.

He leaned over and finished lighting the fire. Then he came over and hugged me.

“He wants to see you tonight in the library,” he said. “Jack will come and get you then. Just wanted to let you know.”

I nodded.

“So, do you really see ghosts, Abby?” he asked.

“Sometimes,” I said.

“That’s hard to believe,” he said. “Not that I don’t believe you, but I’m a man of science.”

He closed the screen and guided me in front of the blaze.

“You’re also a chef,” I said. “Sometimes the whole is greater than the sum of the ingredients.”

He stared at me and then nodded slowly.

“Are you okay?” he whispered.

“No, not really,” I said.

“Abby,” he said, suddenly taking my hands and looking at me with intense eyes. “I’m making you a special breakfast in the morning. I want you to eat it, right away. You’ll need your strength. I’ll bring it up early. Promise me you’ll eat it, even if you’re not hungry.”

“Sure, Simon,” I said, pulling back.

I wondered if he knew something, if the test had been rescheduled.

“Good,” he said.

He stared at me one more time and then left.

CHAPTER 46

At first, I thought I was dreaming.

It was a buzzing noise, faint, far away. I opened my eyes and I still heard it. I had been taking a nap. A boat, I thought as I wandered over to the window.

But it wasn’t a boat. I saw it in the air, shiny, flying right over us, low, the last of the sun hitting its wings.

A plane.

I had heard and seen a few others during my time here, but never one this close.

I pounded my hands on the glass, not caring if anyone in the house heard.

But it flew out of view, as quickly as it had come. Maybe I should have written that SOS message on the sand after all.

I stayed at the window for a long time, watching the empty sky.

CHAPTER 47

He was in the corner of the library, sitting in a different chair, holding a glass in his hands.

“Hello, Abby,” he said, just above a whisper.

I walked over and sat down.

I didn’t know if Emma would show up, but figured there probably wasn’t anything she could say to stop him. It was all too much. The serum, the experiments, all the money and people that were involved. There was a fatal momentum that had built up. Some rule of inertia had been set into motion and it was like trying to stop the Titanic from hitting that iceberg. I doubted that one ghost could change the course of all that, that her words could stop it in its tracks and save me.

I’d probably be back in the pool tomorrow.

But I had already decided that I wouldn’t go back. Tomorrow morning as we walked over to the guest house, I would make a run for it, hide in the wilderness, throw myself in the salty water and swim as fast and hard as I could. 

I decided that if I had to die, it was going to be on my own terms.

“Is she here, now?” he asked without looking at me.

He sat low in the chair, slouching. His hair, usually pulled back neatly in a tight ponytail, was loose and unraveling with stray strands floating around his head.

I glanced around the library, but didn’t see her.

“Not yet,” I said.

We sat quietly for a few minutes.

He looked like a different man. His arrogance was gone. He was troubled, confused, lost in his thoughts. Just lost.

“Can you tell me about the necklace?” I asked.

“It was my grandmother’s. I gave it to Emma as a wedding present. She never took it off. I buried her with it.”

He looked over at me as he took a long sip from his glass.

“I suppose Benjamin could have told you about it,” he said, eyeing me strangely. “Or, perhaps you’ve seen a picture.”

“I didn’t even know you had been married,” I said.

I sat back in the chair and tried to relax, but it was impossible. I didn’t know what to say. I could feel his pain, but I also knew that I couldn’t trust him.

“I loved her…” he said, his watery eyes reflecting the light of the fire.

“I know,” I said.

“I would like to… talk with her, if that’s possible.”

I looked around again. She was in the corner now, watching him.

I nodded and she smiled.

“She says she will always love you,” I said, repeating her words.

He didn’t look at me, but stood up and walked over to the fireplace.

I followed him, Emma close by.

“She says her dying was not your fault. And that you took it too hard.”

“Took it too hard?” he repeated loudly. He slammed the glass down on the mantle, the liquid spilling out the sides.

“She has no right to say that!”

He turned toward me, staring with black eyes.

“Wait a minute, Abby! These are lies,” he said. “What was I thinking, believing you? Of course you would tell me these things to stop my experiment! What a fool I’ve been. Anybody could say those things, that my dead wife loved me very much, that her death wasn’t my fault. That I took it too hard. You’ve made all this up to delay your test and I fell for it.”