Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
L uke was having a hard time understanding what was going on. All he knew was that Lewis was so desperate to get away from the island – from him – that he had stolen a boat and taken it out in what was fast becoming a storm.
Esme had run into The Rising Moon, where she had found Luke, Bee and Hammer. Seren was in the kitchen, but otherwise the place was empty.
‘I’m so sorry,’ she said to Luke. ‘I tried to stop him.’
‘He took my boat?’ Hammer asked for the second time. He glared at Luke as if he was personally responsible.
‘There was nothing I could do,’ Esme said, wringing her hands.
‘It’s all right,’ Luke said, putting an arm around her shoulders. ‘It’s not your fault. He’s a bloody idiot.’
‘I think, in this instance, it might not have been your brother’s fault.’ Bee was speaking gently and it made Esme feel more afraid than ever. ‘You said he was looking at àite Marbh?’
Esme bit her lip, trying to remember exactly what had happened. She had been distracted, thinking about the ward she had just checked and wondering about the next one. The harbour ward had felt fine. She knew she had renewed it when she was supposed to and hadn’t found anything untoward. Lewis was looking out to sea, one hand shading his eyes, and then something had shifted. ‘He was looking out at the view. We weren’t talking or anything. Then he suddenly went running for the boat. I asked him what he was doing. I told him to stop, but he didn’t reply. He didn’t even look at me.’
‘That’s not like him,’ Luke said, thinking that Lewis tended to be overly charming. Without Luke around to torture, he might not bother to turn the flirting up to eleven, but he would still expect him to be pleasant to Esme.
Bee was listening intently, her eyes boring into Esme’s. ‘He didn’t seem himself?’
Esme pictured Lewis again. The way he dragged the boat as if being chased by a monster. The jerking, panicked movements as he climbed inside and pulled the cord on the motor. ‘He was frenzied. Out of nowhere.’
Bee nodded, as if this confirmed her suspicions. ‘It called to him.’ She gave Hammer a sharp look. ‘You know how that feels.’
Hammer’s expression went blank, but he gave the smallest of shrugs.
‘He might not have been thinking about the islet,’ Luke said. ‘He might be planning to go around it and on to the mainland. He was going to leave when we found the causeway was flooded… Oh God. What if he doesn’t make it? I don’t think he’s ever even been in a boat before.’
‘I’ll go,’ Hammer said. He got up.
‘Should we call for help?’ Luke asked.
‘There’s a lifeboat station at Seahouses,’ Bee replied, ‘but we’ve never tried to call them before.’
Hammer was moving toward the door, but he stopped. ‘Let me assess the situation first.’
‘We’ll all go,’ Bee said.
Outside, the rain was still steady. Bee turned around and began walking in the direction of her house. ‘I’ve got a searchlight. I’ll go and get it.’
Luke and Esme pulled up their hoods and followed Hammer back toward the bay.
‘What did she mean?’ he asked Esme. ‘How could it call Lewis?’
‘Bee said the islet is a thin place. A doorway between realities.’
He pushed his wet hair away from his face, frowning in thought. ‘Like the multiverse theory?’
Esme looked at him, surprised. ‘I think so. Part of our job is to keep that doorway protected and secret and shut. Apparently, the wards help with that. I’m not sure I really believe it.’ Esme laughed self-consciously. ‘That’s not true. I know it’s real. I’m just trying not to panic. I knew I had to keep the island safe and secret, and that was to protect us. The islanders. Tobias and Bee and Fiona and Seren and Hammer. My friends. My family. But now Bee says I’m also protecting the rest of the world from whatever is on àite Marbh.’
‘That’s a lot.’ He reached for her hand.
‘It really is.’
Luke kept holding Esme’s hand as they walked down to the harbour. Hammer had fetched a pair of binoculars and was scanning the sea.
‘Can you see him?’ Luke asked as soon as they were close enough.
‘He’ll be all right,’ Esme said, squeezing his hand. ‘It doesn’t look too rough.’
‘I haven’t got another boat,’ Hammer said. Clearly not happy.
Luke felt irritated at his lack of care for Lewis. He opened his mouth to say something cutting, but Hammer hadn’t finished.
He lowered his binoculars and looked Luke dead in the eye. ‘Stupid bastard has taken my only means of helping him.’
‘It’s okay,’ Luke said, even though it wasn’t. ‘He’ll come back. Or he’s already reached Berwick and is on his way to the pub. Lewis will land on his feet. He always does.’
‘What about my boat?’
‘I’ll buy you a new one,’ Luke snapped. He had no idea how he would pay for that, but that was a problem for future him. In a time when he knew his brother wasn’t at the bottom of the ocean and could think about things other than losing the only family he had left.
‘No,’ Hammer said patiently. ‘I forgot about the anti-theft tracker. It’s on my boat. We can see where it is.’ He swiped his phone and tapped until he had brought up an app. ‘It’s moving.’
As he spoke, Luke heard the faint sound of a motor. Squinting and shading his eyes with his hand, he could see a shape in the water break away from the small island. It rapidly became clear as a boat with a seated figure.
‘Holy shit,’ Hammer said. ‘He’s coming back.’
‘Oh thank goddess,’ Esme said. She put her arm around Luke’s waist and squeezed.
‘I’m going to kill him,’ Luke said.
They stood together, staring out as the boat got closer, waves breaking across its prow. Esme spotted Bee walking across the sand, carrying a serious-looking lamp encased in black weatherproof rubber, and went to meet her.
‘It’s all right! He’s coming back.’
Bee’s face relaxed and she patted Esme’s raincoat-clad shoulder. ‘I’ll go back and let everyone know. Word has probably spread by now.’
Once Lewis was close enough to the shore, Hammer and Luke waded out to help him pull the boat in.
Esme could hear Luke shouting and she realised that she wasn’t afraid. Her reaction to an angry man was hard-wired and she usually panicked, the reminder of Ryan and, before him, coldly furious adults in her group home and foster placements. Right now, standing on the harbour beach with Hammer and Luke and Lewis all yelling at each other – she felt fine.
She could sense they all just needed to expend a bit of energy, to let off the pressure that had built through their fear for Lewis and, in the case of Hammer, his boat. It was like watching Hamish when he was over-excited or in need of a nap. She waited patiently for them to wind down a little and then joined the group. ‘When you’ve all calmed down, you can come to mine for tea. I’ll make pancakes.’
Esme had a theory that people couldn’t stay properly angry when they were drinking a nice cup of tea and eating a fresh crepe with lemon and sugar. She used golden caster sugar, as it had a slight caramel flavour and had cut fresh lemons. Hammer, Lewis and Luke were sitting at her small kitchen table looking like bears at a tea party. The Vikings and the enforcer docilely sprinkling sugar onto their crepes and rolling them up. A warmth spread through Esme’s body. She understood why Fiona didn’t mind all the work of caring for Hamish and Euan, and why Seren was happy cooking for the island. There was something deeply satisfying about looking after those you loved.
‘I don’t know what happened,’ Lewis said after inhaling three crepes and draining a mug of tea. ‘I’m sorry.’ He directed this to Hammer, but then looked to his brother. ‘I can’t explain it. I felt like I had to go there.’ He shook his head. ‘It was weird. This place is weird.’
Luke and Esme exchanged a look.
‘It’s just quiet, mate,’ Hammer said. ‘Makes city people go a bit crazy.’
‘I don’t think so,’ Lewis said. ‘It’s something else.’
‘What did you do there?’ Luke asked.
‘I didn’t even get out of the boat. I don’t know how I got there. You know when you drive a familiar route and then you can’t remember the journey? I was looking out at the sea and then I was at the island.’ He frowned. ‘I really don’t remember the bit before.’
Luke glanced at Esme.
‘What?’ Lewis asked. ‘What was that look?’
‘Nothing,’ Esme said. ‘You didn’t seem yourself when you left, that’s all.’
‘Did you see anything?’ Luke asked.
Lewis shrugged. ‘There was a beach. Tiny one. And the boat started scraping on the ground. Then it was like I had woken up. I had no idea why I was there, so I just got out and turned the boat around. Came back.’
‘I thought you were trying to leave. Get to the mainland.’
‘I wasn’t thinking anything,’ Lewis said, running a finger around his plate to collect the last remnants of the lemony-sugar.
‘Well you don’t need to worry,’ Hammer said. ‘I’ll check the weather, but I will be able to take you across to the mainland. If not tonight, then first thing tomorrow.’ Jet had climbed up his back and was now settled across his shoulders, tail curled around his neck. It softened his hard man image a little, especially when Jet’s tail flicked up and tickled his nose. ‘Bloody cat,’ he grumbled, but Esme could tell he didn’t mind.
‘What are we going to do about the causeway?’ Luke asked. ‘Will it just open again?’
‘I hope so. It’s got to open at some point.’ Esme had hoped to sound calm and in control, but knew the desperation evident in her voice. She didn’t know what it would mean if it didn’t and they remained cut off permanently. Even a few days would be a logistical nightmare. And what was the strange tide doing in other parts of the world?
Lewis ignored them both and fixed his gaze on Luke. ‘I might stay a bit longer. Sleep at yours.’
‘It’s not up to me,’ Luke said.
Lewis scowled. ‘Course it is.’
‘No,’ Esme said. ‘We’ll have to have a meeting. Decide as a community.’
Lewis leaned back in his chair and regarded them all. ‘You know you sound like a cult, right?’
‘Cults want new members,’ Esme said. ‘We’re more picky than that.’