Ghost Island (12 page)

CHAPTER 23

The relentless wind and our nervous conversation kept us awake at first. Johnny seemed to struggle more than the rest of us. Each time he yawned, I gave him a gentle nudge. Whatever alcohol survival kit he’d had in that flask was lost to the sea now.

He and I sat on the gray sofa. Grace and Charles held hands on the striped one facing us. I remembered how my brother Drew and I used to travel by train with our parents, how we sat across from them at a table in the dining car. That’s how it felt, as if we were on a train.

“Looks like I’m going to win our bet,” Johnny whispered in my ear.

I gave him a small smile, happy he was sober, but regretting what I had agreed to.

The four of us, who had been strangers less than a week ago now, talked about our families, our friends, where we attended school. An hour passed, maybe more. The sailboat settled into a familiar rhythm, and I remembered what Daniel had said about falling asleep in a rocking chair. I wasn’t going to let it happen to us.

Grace stretched and looked over at Charles. “How are we going to stay awake?”

“For now, just talking.
I found some instant coffee in the galley, and if we have to, we can take it without water.”

“You mean chew up instant coffee?” Johnny asked. “That’s too weird for me even. I’d rather sleep.” When no one replied, he added, “That was a joke.”

“Nothing about this is funny.” Charles glanced at me, his glasses crooked, his hair a mess, his face ruddy and chapped. Yet he had somehow taken charge of our small group. “They’re trying to take us through our dreams.
Liv
, you were right about that. I told Grace and Johnny about my family, about how my dad’s business failed and we lost everything.”

“And we couldn’t care less.” Grace scooted closer to him. “Money can be a pain. It’s never helped us find my sister. I can’t tell you how much I wanted to believe she was in the casino.”

“They’re bait,” I said, and then realized the truth of it. “Those people we see. That’s all they are.”

Grace straightened. “I thought they wanted to take us over.”

“I think they do, but whatever force is behind them seems to tune into our needs and uses these ghost images we see to
lu
re us. Benjamin told Charles he could have the money if he would spend the night in the casino. Didn’t Caitlin tell you the same thing?”

“She said she was Felicia. Besides, she looked like her.”

“To you, maybe, not to me.
And she asked you to spend the night, didn’t she?”

Grace nodded and looked as if she was about to cry. “I can’t tell you how close I came to doing that. I tried to sneak back even after you warned me.”

“Thank god you didn’t. If you had, you would be like Emily now. So would you, Charles, if you had spent the night in the casino with Benjamin.”

“What about you?” Grace leaned forward, more alert now, thank goodness. “Did that guy you saw ask you to spend the night too?”

“What guy?” Johnny perked up at once.

“Another one of the spirits,” I said. “That’s all. In the last dream I had, he told me he was afraid to let me come back here, that he wanted to protect me.”

There. I had now betrayed Aaron. I had betrayed emotions I’d never allowed myself to feel for any guy. That’s because Aaron wasn’t real. He was bait. That was the only way I could think of him from now on.

As much as I hated the way I felt, I was helping the others and myself keep our eyes open.

“So,” Charles said. “Did that guy tell you he’d help you find out what happened to your mom?”

“No, but I did think about her sometimes when I was with him. He wasn’t like other spirits I’ve seen, though. He seemed real.”

“What do you mean
other
spirits?” Grace shot up and gave Charles a questioning look.

I was ready for her skepticism, and I would rather deal with it than continue to hide the truth.

“Something I probably should have told you sooner, Grace. I’ve seen what you would call ghosts all my life, since my grandmother died, actually. It terrified my mom, and once I figured that out at an early age, I never talked to her about it. If she really is dead, I should be able to see her too, shouldn’t I?”

“All your life?”
Grace demanded. “I’ve never seen a ghost, and my dad’s a mortician.”

“A mortician?
And you’re only just mentioning that now?”

“Well, it’s not usually the first thing out of my mouth when I’m introduced to someone.” She shrugged.
“Big deal.
Your dad’s in prison. Mine’s a mortician. Wealthy family but definitely not good enough at my school, where everyone has trust funds or doctor-lawyer money to pave their privileged paths.”

“And you never saw a ghost?”

“No. I never stepped on what my dad calls
the property
either.”

“Did your sister?”

“Never.
She hated it.” Grace blinked. “No wonder she ran away.”

“Because of your father’s business?
She left because of that?”

“Not really. She was always in trouble and then she started dating this typical bad boy my mom didn’t approve of.” She grinned. “Interesting how much we know about each other, and how little. “What about you, Johnny?”

“I’ve never seen anything resembling a ghost.” He stretched out beside me. “And to tell you the truth, I’m ready to crash.”

“You can’t,” I said.

“Why not?
Maybe I’ll be able to find out something you guys haven’t. Besides, I can’t keep my eyes open.”

“Don’t even think about it,” I said.

“They aren’t going to harm me on my maiden voyage, so to speak.”

“How can you be so sure? You saw the catamaran.”

He sat up straighter. “Do you really think the people in your dreams tore it up like that?”

“It’s not just torn up. It’s rotted, and, yes, they must have had something to do with it.”

“And they can just invade us too?” he asked. “Are you trying to say it’s like that old horror movie where if they fell asleep, they got taken over by the pod people from another planet?”

“These things are from our planet, Johnny. From here.” I wasn’t sure how I knew that. “They want what we have.”

“They want our lives,” Charles said. “I was so out of it that I didn’t even realize Benjamin had to be from another time. With those clothes and the way he talked, he could have been waiting a hundred years.”

“And we just happened to come along?” Johnny acted unconvinced.

“Maybe,” I told him. “And then the storm kept us from leaving. Imagine. All these young
lives
just here for the taking if we remain in the dream for one night.”

“You have quite the imagination.” He smiled, and I wondered how many girls he must have charmed and how easy his life must have been until now.

“Just don’t take any chances, okay? Stay awake.”

“For you, I will.” He reached out and ran a finger along the sleeve of my sweater. “Just remember our deal,
Livia
. I’m not drinking a drop tonight.”

Only because he couldn’t.
Just then, I wished I had encouraged him to hang onto his booze. It might have protected us.

“Anyone aboard?”
A voice boomed from somewhere outside our boat.
“If you’re in there, please get where I can see you.”

“We’re down here.” Charles jumped up and ran onto the deck.

“Wait,” Grace said and reached out for him.

But he was already gone.

“We need help.” From where I sat, his voice sounded like an echo.

“Hang on. I’ll get you kids back to your hotel.”

I recognized the husky voice, jumped up, and joined Charles on the drenched deck, Grace behind me.

“It’s Daniel,” Charles said. “He found us.”

As his boat moved closer, I could make out his face. In the pea coat, he looked bigger than I remembered, and his features were distorted in the light from his boat.

“Come on.” Charles told me, impatient now. “Let’s get aboard.”

“Not so fast.” I lowered my voice. “What’s he doing out here in the middle of the night anyway?”

Charles pulled his jacket tighter. “Who cares? Once we’re back at the hotel, we’ll find a way to stay awake. We’ll be okay.”

“If we get back to the hotel.”

“Don’t go paranoid on me,
Liv
.” He gripped my shoulders with both hands and made me face him. “The guy brought us to shore and back out to get this boat. If he was going to do anything to us, he would have done it one of those times.”

I pulled away from him and went as close as I could to Daniel, peering through the rain. Please let his features look normal again. Please let him get us back.

“Why did you come out here?” I asked.

“I had kids once.” He pulled his cap down to his thick eyebrows.
“Couldn’t sleep worrying about you guys.
Just get on the boat.”

“Let’s go.” Charles said. “Come on, Grace.”

She stepped up beside him, hair flying.

I looked around, and then realized we were the only ones on deck.

“Where’s Johnny?” I shouted. Before they could answer, I shot back in the direction I had come, dripping and wet, terrified of what I would find. “Johnny? Where are you? We’ve got to hurry.”

He was right where I’d left him on the sofa. I watched his easy breaths and his closed eyes. He had fallen asleep.

“Johnny, no.”
I shook his shoulder so hard I nearly knocked him off the sofa.

His eyes blinked open. “Matt?”

“
Livia
.
It’s
Livia
. Wake up.”

“I am awake.” He stumbled to his feet. “Where are we? Where’s Matt?”

“Daniel’s here. He came back for us.” I gripped his arm and dug my fingers in. “We’ve got to get on his boat. He’s leaving.”

“I can’t. Not now.”

“Yes, you can. And you have to hurry.”

“You don’t understand.” He squeezed my hand as if trying to communicate with someone who didn’t speak his language. “He finally found me.”

His dark eyes reminded me of the expression Charles had when he talked about all the money he was winning with his friend Benjamin.

“You had a dream,” I said. “Didn’t you?”

“I’m okay now.” He glanced around the boat as if waking up. “You’re right,
Livia
. We need to get back.”

We boarded the shore boat. The four of us huddled together as the waves crashed over the sides.

“Thank you,” I told Daniel.

He glanced over his shoulder at me, unsmiling. “Like I said, I had kids once.”

Johnny put his arms around me. “Thank
you
,
Livia
,” he said. His face was close, but his expression was far away. “It will be okay now, once we get back to the casino.”

I tried to hide the tremor that shot through me. Tried to smile and speak into the storm, my voice even and calm. “Okay, how?” I asked. “Why will it be okay?”

“Because Matt’s still alive.”

“Who’s Matt, and why wouldn’t he be?” I stared into his blank eyes, and he stared back at me, as if I had to understand.

“Because I thought I killed him,” he said.

CHAPTER 24

Daniel steered us skillfully through the sea. Maybe he was telling the truth. Maybe he’d only come for us because he had children of his own and couldn’t just do
nothing
. At the moment, I didn’t want to think about any other reasons he might have.

Under the canopy, Grace and Charles held onto each other, and Johnny kept his arms around me. I was still wondering who Matt was and why Johnny thought he had killed him. The real story didn’t matter, though. I already knew what would happen. Matt—whoever he was or had been—would ask Johnny to spend the night at the casino. If Johnny agreed, he would end up like Emily. I had to make him understand that. Most of all, I had to keep him from the dream I was sure waited for him the moment we got back to the hotel.

The ocean settled down, and I could actually move. I let go of Johnny and
lu
mbered on heavy sea legs toward Daniel. Earlier, Johnny would have been teasing me that I didn’t want to go through with our deal of a kiss for a booze-free night. Now he didn’t appear to notice I was gone. He stared out at something, lounging against the boat’s rail like a man leaning on a bar, his expression fixed ahead, as if willing the land to appear.

“Not a smart move, coming out here,” Daniel said. “The rain didn’t stop. It’s just getting started.”

“I need your help,” I told him. “We all do.”

He glanced over at me with those expressionless eyes. “What’s the problem?”

“You mentioned that you don’t dream. Well, we don’t want to dream tonight either.”

“You want me to give you alcohol? Is that it? Sorry, but you’re barking up the wrong tree.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

A wave smashed into the boat and I lost my balance. Daniel’s arm shot out and steadied me. Then, as I c
lu
ng to the rail, he steered us away from the wall of water.

“
Livia
, get back here.”
Johnny sounded like himself again. I glanced back at him but couldn’t see his eyes. The once bright hood of his sweatshirt covered his head like a shadow in the muted sea light.

“I’m fine,” I said.

“It’s safer for her with me,” Daniel shouted, without taking his eyes from the path we cut in the water. “You others stay put. It’ll probably be this rough or worse the rest of the way.” Lowering his voice, he told me, “You’d better hang on, and you shouldn’t have come up here in the first place. You’re going to get hammered.”

“I can handle it,” I said just about the time another wave hit us head on.

“You sure about that?”
He picked up a dirt-colored blanket and handed it to me. “Not too pretty, but it’ll keep you warm.”

I draped it around myself like a cloak. The rough texture raked my skin, but he was right. I felt as if the sun had just come out, which it clearly hadn’t.

“Thank you,” I said.

“Army blanket.
That’s what they used to call them. It was my old man’s.”

“I’m so glad you came out here tonight,” I told him. “You must know something about what’s going on.”

“All I know is—” He turned his pale hazel eyes on me again. “You kids were in danger. Probably still are.”

“You know more than that.”

“Not much.” He directed his squint at me, as if daring me to turn away. “Only that since this storm kicked up, I see people on this boat, and I don’t always know when they got on. That’s never happened to me before.”

“And they’re going to the casino, aren’t they?”

“Well, yeah. A lot of them are. How’d you know?”

I shrugged and pulled the blanket tighter.
“Because we’re in trouble.
You’re right about that.”

“Just don’t go there then,” he said. “Nothing can hurt you on the water.”

I decided not to mention the kids on the catamaran
who
seemed to have vanished. “You said Peggy gives you tea sometimes?”

“There’s nothing special about it, just a bunch of herbs.” He concentrated on the waves.

“But it helps you sleep,” I said. “That’s all we want.”

“There’s only a little bit left. Why don’t you just ask her for some? She’s a nice old lady.”

“I’m not going to bother
her this
late, but if we don’t have the tea, we could end up at the casino again.”

“That’s crazy.”

“Crazy but true. You’ve helped us so much, Daniel. Please do us one more favor.”

“I don’t know.” He steered into the storm, and another wave washed over us. This time the cold penetrated the rough blanket. “I’ll give you what I have if you promise me you won’t go back to the casino.”

“We don’t want to,” I said. “We just want to get off the island for good.”

“Once the storm passes, I can help you with that. I think we’re about there.”

Ahead of us, a b
lu
r of lights bled through the gray curtain of sky.

“Avalon,” Grace shouted. “We made it back.”

We all cheered, even Daniel. Our shouts exploded like sparklers into the rain-streaked night.

Suddenly, the others c
lu
stered around us. Grace hugged me, and I saw tears in her eyes. “Avalon,” she said again.

We glided into the harbor.

“Thanks, man.” Charles clapped Daniel on the back. “I’ve got to confess I wasn’t sure I’d ever see this place again.”

“Happy to help,” he said. “Just stay away from the casino.”

“What do you mean stay away?” Johnny looked animated now, the way he did after he’d been drinking. “That’s the first place I’m heading when we get off this boat.”

“You can’t risk it.” I took his arm. “If you want to go there, we’ll go tomorrow.”

“Besides, it’s closed.” Charles grabbed his other arm.

“Peggy will let me in.”

“No guarantees she’ll be there,” Daniel said. “I told her to stay away from the place.”

“She’ll be there tonight.”

“Not anymore. It’s not safe, and she hasn’t been herself lately. Not since Norm passed last spring.”

“Norm’s dead?” I b
lu
rted.

He scrunched up his face, and his forehead deepened into a mass of wrinkles. “Not that she really understands it. Really old people, you know, they get that close to the other side, and they can’t really tell who’s over there, and who’s still here. Hell, she talks to him all the time just the way she did when he was alive.”

“But we’ve seen him,” I said. “Didn’t we see him, Grace?”

“I saw
her
.” She stepped away from me, and I could hear the doubt in her voice.

“But that first night, at the show in the theater.
Remember? He was ahead of her when we went inside.”

“All I saw was the old lady.”

“Norm was there,” I said.

She shook her head. “As far as I know,
Livia
, none of us saw him. Except you, that is.”

***

“
Livia
.”
I hear Aaron’s voice the moment I close my eyes.

“Go away,” I say.

The weak tea tries to push me into safe sleep. His voice tries to pull me out.

“
Livia
, I can keep you safe.”

“No you can’t. You didn’t keep me safe tonight.”

“If you won’t come to me, I’ll come to you.”

“You can’t leave that place.”

“I can leave for you.”

I sit up in bed and try to drain the single drop or two from the cup I had shared with Grace after Daniel left it with us. Then I close my eyes again.

The wind whips up, and I shudder. The purple comforter feels like a layer of ice pressing me into even colder sheets. I wish I had Daniel’s army blanket.

I turn onto my side and see Aaron. Not really him, of course, just this image of his face in my mind. Everything about him is warm. Yes, warm and sort of golden and tempting. A thread of music hums into my brain and I remember dancing with him, his hands on my bare back. I want to dance again.

He’s not real.

I must fight the image and concentrate on what I know.

He’s not real.

“Talk to me,
Livia
. Say something.”

“Where do you really live?”

“Long Beach. I told you.”

He’s not real.

“Where in Long Beach?”

“Why? Do you want to come visit me? Will you?”

“I might.
Once this is over.”

“What’s happening with us isn’t going to be over, ever. Stay with me now. Don’t ever leave.”

His voice
lu
lls me. The tea forces me awake. I am in a tug of war between their side and mine. And
their
side is
his
side. I have to remember that.

He’s not real.

“Where in Long Beach?”
I repeat. “Where do you live? I have to know.”

“Aberdeen.”

“Aberdeen what?
Avenue? Drive?”

“Aberdeen.”

His face b
lu
rs even more.

“Aaron.” A female voice whispers like a breeze through the room. “Come back. You’re only dreaming.”

“Leave me alone, Caitlin.” I can feel him trying to escape wherever they are. “I love her, not you.”

He’s talking about me. I know it.

I try to shout back through the dream that I love him too, but I have lost my voice. I cannot move my lips.

“I’m coming there,” he says.
“Tonight.”

I reach out my arms, I hear high-pitched laughter, and I’m not sure if I’m awake or dreaming. All I know is that the blond ghost known as Caitlin walks toward me, her smile mocking.

“Tonight,” she says, then spins as if on a model’s catwalk.

Only then do I realize she’s wearing a soft jacket of white eyelet. The jacket Grace threw overboard.