Chapter 64
As Anna curled around her, Harper fell into a sleep apart from anything she had ever known.
Meg’s trials were at rest, the images of her childhood all still.
Instead she saw herself in the garden at Bell.
The sky was clear and blue. The tidy garden beds spread around her.
She walked to the edge where the retaining wall separated the manor from the cliffs, her body in a perfect rhythm with the rain that started to gently patter from the perfect sky.
Harper looked up to see the flawless white clouds turning black on the edges, the rot of the storm seeping in.
The rain started to fall harder until it became crystalline balls of ice.
Harper ran through the gate to the cliff overlooking the Atlantic.
Out to sea, the storm clouds rolled and fought each other, the waves crashing on the rocks below.
Far out a shape was moving, a mountain that grew closer with every breath.
Harper strained to see; the hail was beating the ground around her, slicing her skin.
The mountain was inching forward, one hundred feet tall, maybe more.
With a gripping horror, Harper saw it was not earth but water.
The massive wave was sucking the water back from the shore and pulling it into the crashing wave, it grew and grew, threatening to topple the cliffs, but she was safe on the edge.
In slow motion it reared and started its downward motion, the wall of sea water threatening to drown everything that lay below the manor.
She felt Thalassa’s tentacle wrapping around her, pulling her back from the edge of the cliff, back through the gate and the safety of the manor.
In her ear, a voice, not like anything she had ever heard, not human, the words not spoken but pure consciousness.
Save Them.
Harper jolted awake. Anna stirred behind her where they slept on the couch. Harper grabbed her phone and looked for alerts, nothing fresh. There were the things she knew about—the heavy rain advisory, high winds, no sign of imminent danger. Harper texted Murphy:
Everyone okay down there?
The three little dots hovered and flashed.
So far so good—no sign of this letting up.
Harper lay back, letting the earthy scent of Anna’s skin fill her head.
Her heart was still racing, the voiceless words in her head.
Save Them. She closed her eyes and tried to see the vision again.
All of a sudden the image of the one-hundred-foot wave overwhelmed her senses.
She was standing on the East Dock, the wind threatening to pull her into the water, the salt spray like a thousand daggers.
Overhead the wave hovered, waiting to fall.
Harper stared in horror. A shape moved through the surf, translucent and alien, the words in her consciousness rising and falling as it ducked through the frozen wave.
Save Them.
Harper’s eyes shot open. Her body was electrified. She stumbled to her feet, Anna sleepily looking up at her from the sofa.
“You okay?” she asked groggily.
“We’ve got to move. We have to evacuate the village. Now,” Harper said in an urgent whisper, the reality of it too terrible to say out loud.
“Alright. Let’s go.” Anna pulled up. “Let’s wake Lady Bell.”
The wind had picked up and the rain fell in a solid sheet. By the time they reached the kitchen door, both were soaked through their parkas.
The house was dark, its occupants already asleep or trying to.
Harper let Anna through the kitchen down the hallway to the library.
She knew where to find Lady Bell, especially on this night.
Sure enough, she was sitting at Nora Grey’s table, laptop open, her phone buzzing with alerts. She looked up as they entered.
“I had a feeling you might be coming to see me,” she said. A crease of concentration or worry had formed between her eyes.
“We have to evacuate the village. Now. A tsunami is on the way, they’ll drown.” Harper’s voice shook, as though saying the words was speaking them into action.
“There’s no warning of it, just more rain and wind.” Lady Bell looked at her computer screen. “Been on the line with the Coast Guard all night, they’re saying to sit tight till morning.”
“There’s no time. We have to move everyone to higher ground.” Harper crossed to the table and took Lady Bell’s hands. “I don’t know how I know, but I do.”
Lady Bell let the words settle, her eyes locked on Harper’s. “Okay, weird psychic, let’s get on it.”