The Secrets Below (The Whispering Sea Mysteries #1)

Prologue

It was still calm when the small sailboat moved away from the dock, but clouds were looming low on the horizon. It was the first time the couple had taken their baby daughter out in the bay.

“Are you sure you want to do this today?”

The man looked at his wife with uncertainty, but she nodded to reassure him. She knew the sea, and her daughter should too.

The little girl was asleep, nestled in her mother’s arms. The water was shining and still.

Soon the dock disappeared behind them. The first breath of wind was barely noticeable, but with it came a feeling of dusk, even though it was only three in the afternoon.

The waves began to grow, beating against the hull.

Foam from the waves’ crests spilled into the cockpit, and the sail was stretched to its limit.

The mother held her baby close. She could smell the cold rain now. The little one woke up and looked around with large gray eyes.

The sky darkened quickly.

“We have to turn back!” The father had to shout to be heard over the wind.

This time the mother nodded, her lips pressed tightly together. Then she held her daughter even closer.

The girl was wrapped in a blanket and lying very still. As if she could sense the danger.

The man tried to turn the vessel, but the storm was already upon them. Sails thrashed and rain poured. The little girl whimpered and whined, squirming in her mother’s arms.

They couldn’t turn back. It was too late.

The mother sang to her baby, but the driving wind drowned out the sound. The sea rose up, much too high, and each new wave threatened to crash over the railing.

“I can’t control it!” cried the father, but his voice was swallowed by the roaring storm.

The mother craned her neck while still trying to protect the child.

She pressed the little one against her chest as she scanned the horizon.

The islands she had known since childhood had been visible only moments ago.

Now nothing was familiar. Everything was alien and threatening.

The islands merged in the half light, turning the horizon into a gray blur of sky and sea.

Terror settled on her chest like a heavy rock.

“We’ll have to wait it out,” she shouted. “Try to find shelter.”

The baby screamed.

Time seemed to stop. The next wave took on a life of its own as it surged over the railing like some wild malevolent being. The world turned upside down, and the boat disappeared beneath the mother’s feet.

Never had she seen something happen so quickly and so slowly at the same time.

There was only water, chaos, the roaring sea.

It took a few seconds for her to resurface. An involuntary cry escaped her mouth.

“Where is she?”

Then she screamed, over and over again, until she could scream no more.

The man dived underwater to search. She did the same, fighting her way down, forcing her eyes to penetrate the cold, dense blackness beneath the surface.

She refused to accept what had happened, even as the realization began to sink in.

The sea had taken her daughter.