Chapter Nine
The Shadow Man
The morning of the beach outing dawned clear, bright, and hot. The heat had grown from warm to unbearable by ten o’clock that morning. I dressed in a modest one-piece bathing suit and cut-off denim shorts. The suit was short lived, however, when I sat down on the bed to put my sneakers on. I had chosen the suit for its coverage, but I was quickly reminded why I had never worn a one-piece bathing suit. Most of them rode up and created massive wedgies if you did anything but stand in one spot and look pretty.
I was not, and have never been, the type of girl to stand in one spot and look pretty. Off came the one-piece, to be replaced with a bright purple bikini instead. A quick glance in the mirror assured me that I was still adequately covered. I buttoned the shorts, slipped into a soft cotton tank, and was down the stairs before I had a chance to feel nervous about my upcoming date. Not that it was a date, per se, because you did not date your cousin. You just didn’t do it.
Although to be fair, he was not my cousin. I cast a fleeting glance to the heavens and sighed. That was the problem. I was all too aware of the fact that Mark was not my cousin, and I knew I had to stop thinking about him. I was not the type of woman to indulge in a fling or any other type of casual affair. And there was certainly no future for Mark and me. It was against the laws of nature and science that I had even met Mark in the first place.
“Don’t you look lovely this morning?”
“Good morning, Uncle Bob.” I grinned and leaned over to deliver what had become my customary kiss on his cheek. “You look pretty handsome yourself. Business or pleasure?”
“Business and lots of it. Harold and I will be away for the next few days.”
“Away?” I stamped down the urge to panic.
“I hate to leave, but I’ll only be a couple of hours away.”
“Protected areas?”
“Bellridge. And yes, it’s protected, as is the route there.”
“Good.” I exhaled.
“Don’t worry. Mark will look out for you while we are away.”
I had come to accept that Bob was set in his ways, so I didn’t bother to point out that the last thing I needed was someone to look after me. I was an adult, for goodness sake.
“Yes, he is very capable.”
“That he is, my dear. He mentioned something about the beach?”
“Yes, he’s taking me to the beach this morning.”
As if on cue, Mark came down the stairs in swim shorts…nothing else.
“Oh, hell.”
“What?”
“Oh, well. I was thinking that I don’t have any sunscreen,” I lied and began to methodically butter a slice of toast.
“You look nice, Annabelle.”
“Thank you.” I piled more butter onto the toast and tried not to stare at the wonderful sight that was Mark in glorified underpants.
“Will you be ready to leave after we eat, then, or do you need more time?”
“No, I’m ready now. We can leave after breakfast.” I took a big bite of the toast and almost gagged over the quarter inch thick layer of butter. Chewing the bite was not an option. I did what I considered to be the most embarrassing thing I had done in recent memory and spit the toast into my napkin. I gulped the orange juice that Marta quickly passed my way and hoped that I wasn’t too red.
Mark stared at the table and his shoulders shook with laughter, damn him.
“Ah…well then, I’m off, children. See you both in a few days.”
I waved and Mark continued to find humor at my expense.
“You know,” I informed him when the door shut behind Bob, “It’s very rude to laugh at someone else’s misfortune.”
“Of course, I am sorry. Where are my manners? Are you ready to go?”
“Yes.” I all but ran out the door.
The drive to the beach was considerably more pleasant than breakfast had been. Mark told me about his years of schooling, and the plans he had been making to start his own design company. It was actually very interesting conversation. I admired his ambition and drive, not only because I recognized those same qualities in myself, but also because I had lost sight of them as of late. Drive, ambition, and planning had become an afterthought for me. I gazed out the window and vowed to jot down a wish list—no, a ‘will do’ list—for when I got back home, assuming that I make it back home alive, I silently added.
“What do you want to do?” Mark was asking me.
I pulled my attention back to him and considered his question.
“We’re going to the beach, aren’t we?”
“Not right this minute. I meant, what do you want to do with your life?”
I wished that I could tell him about my own life and work, and was more disappointed than I cared to admit that I could not.
“You know I have just been traveling for a long time.”
“I know, but what do you want to do now?”
I shrugged and tried to be as honest with him as I could safely manage. “To tell you the truth, I’m not sure. I love science…”
“But?”
“But a lot of things, I guess. It’s become…more of a routine than a passion now.”
“A routine?”
“I can’t explain it. Lately, well, let’s just say that sometimes you…go through things—experience things—that make you question every belief you have ever had. Everything that you know to be reality shifts somehow, and logic flies out the window.”
“Maybe it’s not the absence of logic, but a different brand of it.”
“Maybe.”
“Have you ever thought about going to school?”
I smiled ruefully. “Sometimes. You know, I meant what I said yesterday about history. I love history.”
“What else?”
“Flowers.” I laughed. “I love flowers. And beyond that, I don’t know. I feel like I am just now starting to get to know myself.”
“Hmm.”
“That sounds idiotic, doesn’t it?”
“Not at all.”
“I want to help people, whatever I do next. That much I know for certain.”
“That doesn’t surprise me one bit.”
I turned my head to look at him. “Why’s that?”
“You seem like the type.”
I nodded, satisfied with the answer. “Thank you.”
“You know, you don’t have to keep thanking me, Annabelle,” he said quietly.
“Of course not; after all, you only saved my life yesterday.”
He smiled but didn’t press the matter further.
“Are you nervous?” he asked a second later.
“About the beach?”
“Yes.”
“Some,” I admitted. “Yesterday was horrifying. I have the feeling it’s going to be difficult to forget.”
“You might be surprised.”
“I doubt it.” I snorted. “I couldn’t even take a bath last night.”
He reached out and gave my shoulder a quick squeeze. “It’s going to be okay. Look, we’re here.”
I peered through the windshield of the car but all I could see was a thick cluster of trees.
“Mark? That’s not a beach.”
“I’m well aware of that,” he said dryly. “We have to park here and walk the rest of the way. It’s about a mile up ahead, through that path there.” He pointed. “Can you make it that far?”
“Can I walk a mile? You’re joking, right?”
“You’ve taken a lot of hard hits lately.”
“True enough. But a mile will be okay.” I smiled.
The path and the forest surrounding it were so ordinary looking that my mouth literally hung open in shock when we reached the actual beach. It was like nothing I had ever seen before. It was pure fairytale come to life before my eyes.
“What is this place?” I whispered reverently to Mark.
He stood beside me, looking not at the nature that surrounded us, but in
stead at me and my reaction.
“It’s the beach. I’ve always thought of this as my beach.”
I took a step forward and tried to look everywhere at once. I’d never seen a ‘beach’ that looked so ethereal. There was nothing of the forest in the space at all. I dropped to my knees in sand so light it shone in the sunlight. I ran my hands through it and was delighted to find it was as soft and fine as I imagined it to be. The sand stretched for what felt like miles on either side of us.
The water was beautiful too. It was a gentle aqua in color and so clear I could see to the white sand bottom. Late-morning sunlight sparkled off the surface like millions of tiny diamonds.
“Why aren’t there more people here? This is amazing.”
Mark only shrugged. “It’s a little out of the way, for one thing. Most towns have public swimming pools anyway.”
I spun around, then back to the water again. “They are seriously missing out.”
“Yes, they are.”
“How did you find out about this place?”
“I like to travel. I love to explore. I just got lucky, I guess.”
“I guess.” I laughed and gaped at the scenery some more. Nothing I had ever seen back home could compare. Juliette’s words came back to me in a rush. There is magic here, I thought with a sense of wonder. You could see it. You could feel it. I kicked off my shoes and approached the water as if it were a bomb. A very beautiful bomb, but a bomb just the same.
“Do you want to give swimming a try?”
The thought of being submerged in any sort of water brought a chill to my spine.
“I don’t know yet.” I sat down next to him in the warm sand. “Where does this lead?”
“Excuse me?”
I stared at him in confusion before I turned pink and averted my eyes. “The water. Where does the water lead?”
“Ah. This is technically a lagoon, and it leads to the Cerlien Ocean.”
“Ocean? You mean sharks and beasts of all shapes and sizes? No, I think I’ll just worship from afar today, if it’s all the same to you.”
“Sharks?”
“You don’t know what a shark is?”
“No.”
“You’re kidding.”
“No, I am not. What’s a shark?”
“Ah, I’ll tell you later, okay?”
“Okay,” he said slowly, dragging the word out and eyeing me with skepticism.
“What about beasts like the…the…the one from yesterday?”
“The naule,” he supplied.
“Yes, like the naule.”
“Those are land/lake beasts.”
I sighed in frustration. “Well what about ocean beasts?” I couldn’t be sure, of course, but ocean beasts sounded much worse than lake beasts. Still, it was hard to imagine anything more deadly than the naule. Its sheer size alone put it into a whole other category as far as I was concerned.
“Relax, Annabelle. You will not find any ocean beasts out here. I promise.”
“And what a fine promise that is, Mark.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means that if you break your promise we will be dead. Hence, your promise means very little to me.” I crossed my arms and waited for his comeback to my flawless logic.
“Now what would it profit me to lie to you if I honestly thought that we would both be dead because of it?”
I frowned and racked my brain for an argument, any argument; anything that would succeed in wiping the smug look from his face would do just fine, I thought defiantly.
“Maybe you don’t plan to be dead by supper time.”
“What?”
“That’s right. Maybe you’re just trying to trick me into the water to…” I stopped in mid-sentence, struck by the ridiculousness of what I had been about to say. After all, he had not left me to die the day before when I had been a complete stranger to him. I pointed a finger at him in warning anyway. “You know what I mean.”
“Not really.” He grinned and shook his head. “But here, how is this?”
He bent to unlace his own sneakers, tossed them to me for safekeeping, and waded into the lagoon.
He stayed in the shallows, the water forming seamlessly around his calves.
“See? I’ll go first. You have absolutely nothing to worry about, Annabelle. You’re safe here, I promise.”
I watched him for a moment. This gorgeous man holding his hand out to me in the ocean…I thought about all that I had overcome and everything that had brought me to this place. Then I thought about all of the promises I had made to myself and every dream I had ever been fortunate enough to have. I made the decision then and there to take the first step and join him in the water. “No regrets,” I whispered to myself as I took his hand.
We splashed in the water so long that my skin began to tingle from the scorching sun, and I realized I hadn’t been lying earlier that morning. I really didn’t have any sunscreen. Oh, well, I reasoned. It had literally been years since I had been sunburned. It didn’t really matter all that much, anyway. Nothing short of a naule would have gotten me out of the water at that moment. I felt both relaxed and exhilarated at the same time. I didn’t try to delude myself into thinking Mark had nothing to do with that.
“Want to go farther out?”
“Hmm. You know what?”
“What?” His smile was warm honey.
“I think I do. Let’s go.”
I dove into the deeper water and kicked off from the bottom. I stayed low and glided forward, reveling in the feel of the sand brushing the tops of my thighs and the water on my face.
I felt something brush against my arm and glanced over to find Mark swimming next to me. He motioned me to the surface.
“What’s wrong?” I was immediately scanning the area for oncoming danger.
“Nothing. But there’s an island up ahead. It gets pretty deep between here and there, but last time I checked, it was full of seashells—if you like that sort of thing.”
“Are you kidding? I love seashells! Lead the way.”
Mark neglected to mention that ‘deep’ was a bit of an understatement. Halfway to the island, the bottom of the lagoon floor literally dropped away. Even with the high clarity of the water, I was unable to see all the way to the bottom. I squeezed my eyes shut and swam blindly ahead, willing myself not to imagine water demons spewing forth from the darkness to claim me.
I crawled onto the island exactly 356 seconds later—I counted—and hugged the sand like a shipwreck survivor.
“Hey, are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” I ran my fingers through my wet hair and tried rather unsuccessfully to steady my voice.
Mark was beside me in an instant. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. At least, I will be in a minute. I couldn’t see the floor back there.”
He nodded and slipped an arm around my shoulders for a quick embrace.
“That’s what I figured. You did it though,” he pointed out quietly.
“Yes, I did.”
“How do you feel now?”
“Strong?”
“That’s my girl.”
I forced a smile and surveyed the island. It was small, no more than twenty feet in diameter, but it was sunny and there were seashells everywhere. The largest of the shells were scattered further up the sand toward the center of the island. I picked up a few and examined them before discarding them in favor of the small to medium sized shells clustered around the island’s shore.
Mark and I each took a side and knelt down to hunt for the prettiest shells. By the time we bumped shoulders in the middle, the sun had set and the island was bathed in moonlight.
“It’s dark,” I announced dumbly.
I could see Mark’s lips curve in the moonlight. “Yes, it is. I can’t believe we’ve been out here for so long. I don’t suppose you have a watch?”
I looked down at myself and laughed. “Where would I possibly be hiding a watch?” br />
“Interesting question…” he murmured.
I backed up several feet and tried not to look at him.
“You don’t have a watch either?” I asked.
“Not on me, no.”
“Unless you stashed one up your rear end, that is.” I looked at him with mock suspicion.
His laughter echoed long and loud through the warm night air.
“Annabelle…” he finally sputtered weakly.
I smiled slyly and gathered my collection of seashells in my arms.
“I don’t have to be up early tomorrow, do you?”
“Not really.”
“Well then, I guess it doesn’t really matter what time it is, does it?”
I grinned. “Not really, no. But how are we going to carry all of these back to the shore?”
He studied the collection and shook his head.
“Now there’s the real interesting question. Any ideas?”
“Well…” I chewed a fingernail and thought hard.
“Forget it, Annabelle. I am not stashing them in my butt.”
I rolled my eyes toward the sky and tried not to giggle.
“Well, if you aren’t willing to sacrifice yourself.” I eyed the shells with a wistful longing that went bone deep. I did not want to leave my shells behind. For one thing, I would never be able to replace them, and Mark and I had just spent hours painstakingly collecting them. The question was, how far was I willing to go in order to keep them? Pretty darn far, I admitted after a little soul searching.
“Turn around.”
“What?”
“I said turn around, please.”
“Oh, no, what are you doing?”
“Nothing, just turn around.”
“You’re taking off your underpants, aren’t you?” he accused.
“Who are you, the panty police?” I scoffed. “Besides, it’s the only way to get all of these back there. It’s that or the top.”
“No, the top will never hold all of these.”
I turned around to glare at him. “That was the wrong thing to say; you know that, right?”
“Sorry.” He had the decency to look sheepish. “How about I put them in mine instead?” He offered like a gentleman.
“No,” I shook my head. “They would never fit.”
“Ouch.”
“Really, though, mine has these strings on the side. I don’t see any other way.”
We both looked around the island for a better solution to our dilemma but found none.
“Damn. All right, I’m turning around.”
“Thank you.” Ten minutes later, I was the one swearing.
“What’s wrong?”
I sat back and regarded my makeshift sling in disgust.
“The sides are too open. The shells keep falling out.”
“Oh. Can you downsize?”
I shook my head before I realized that it was dark and he was still facing the other way.
“No, I tried that already.”
I sighed and reached up behind my neck to loosen the ties on my bikini top. Five minutes later, I stood up and tied the functional sling around my neck. The shells were nestled securely in the bathing suit and the makeshift pack rested between my shoulder blades on my back. With any luck, they would make it to the shore in one piece.
“Okay, I fixed it; let’s go.”
“Great, let’s…Annabelle! What the hell?”
“What?”
“You’re completely naked, that’s what!”
“Oh, sorry.”
“I’m just saying, a little warning would have been appreciated.”
“Mark?”
“What?”
“I’m completely naked.”
He sighed and hung his head. “Why doesn’t this seem odd to me?”
I lifted one shoulder for an answer and dipped my toes into the dark water. To be honest, it was not totally dark. The moonlight cast a gentle glow over the entire beach and illuminated most of the lagoon. But it was still dark enough to look foreboding. I turned to Mark, ready to suggest a sleepover on the island, but he was already diving into the water.
“Damn you,” I muttered as I leaped in after him. Swimming back to shore was terrifying enough. Doing it alone didn’t bear thinking about.
Between my fear and his desperation to get far away from my nakedness, we made it to shore in record time.
He turned around again so that I could wrap the shells in my tank top and restore at least some level of decency. I did a quick survey of my shells before we started back to the car and was relieved to find that none appeared to be broken.
“Ready?”
“Almost.” I stood at the water’s edge and let my gaze take everything in, one last time. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.
“What are you doing?”
I opened my eyes to find Mark staring at me. “Making sure I don’t forget this place,” I told him in a solemn tone.
He wrapped his arms around me in a hug that took me by surprise.
“We can come back anytime you want,” he promised.
“Sure.” I nodded but looked away, because I knew that we would not be coming back to this place. At least, I wouldn’t be.
“See? Nothing to worry about.” Mark’s breath was warm against my ear. I shivered a little and told myself to move. I stayed put and so did he.
I leaned back to look at him and found him staring steadily back at me. His lips were so close to mine that I could feel the warmth emanating from them. His eyes seemed to darken and I was dimly aware of the sounds of the beach fading away from us as we stood there. A bird screeched in the distance and the moment was gone.
“We should go.”
“Yes, we should.”
“Thank you—for taking me here. I had a lot of fun.”
“So did I.”