***
It took half an hour for word to spread that Edgar was planning a surprise, but finally the house began to empty and everyone began to gather on the lawn. People were beginning to talk excitedly about Edgar's plans, with everyone having their own theory about what he was planning. Some believed he would be giving away money or cars, while others felt that he was planning a less materialistic gift such as an announcement of regular garden parties or some kind of broader initiative to improve life on the island. The one thing upon which everyone seemed to agree, however, was that it would be something wonderful. With almost every inhabitant of Thaxos having gathered, there was seemingly not one person who had any skepticism at all.
Until, finally, Ephram made his way through gate.
“You came,” Kate said, heading over to him as soon as he arrived, slightly out of breath, at the edge of the crowd. “I was starting to think you might be the only one holding out.”
“Just because I don't agree with it,” he replied, “doesn't mean I don't want to see what's happening. Besides, the whole town is empty. I haven't had a customer all day, and by the looks of this place, I imagine everyone on Thaxos will be filled for a week. Where did he even get all this food from? All the things up here must have been brought in on that cursed boat of his, but I swear, I never see more than a few crates being brought up here each week.”
“You got here just in time,” she told him. “Edgar's planning a surprise.”
“And everyone's waiting with baited breath,” Ephram continued, unable to hide the scorn in his voice. “I don't know what the hell's going on here, but I can't believe people have been suckered in so easily. Have they forgotten everything? Then again, life on Thaxos is hard. Edgar Le Compte shows up and promises something better, and they all want to believe. It's shocking to see how quickly people can forget the past.”
“They don't have to forget it,” Kate replied. “They just want to move on.”
“It will come back to bite them,” Ephram told her. “This man cannot be trusted, not even for a second. There is a streak of poison that runs through his entire family, and he will destroy everything he touches, whether by accident or by design. Even my mother now admits this.”
“She wasn't well enough to come today?”
“She seems different this morning,” he continued. “It is as if something has changed in her. All her old optimism and fight has faded away. I'm worried that she has decided to simply waste away now in that bed.”
“I'm sure she's stronger than that,” Kate told him. “You can't give up so easily.”
“Something is new,” he explained. “It's in her eyes. I asked her over and over what was wrong, but she just stared at the window as if...”
Before Ephram could say anything more, there was a murmur from the crowd, and a figure appeared at the top of the steps. Edgar Le Compte had emerged from the house, flanked by some of his men and with Jacob standing a little way back. A microphone had been set up, and the crowd quietened as it became clear that Edgar was planning to make his announcement. The atmosphere of tense expectation was palpable, as people nervously awaited the news. Even before he had said a single word, Edgar had their full attention.
“God help us,” Ephram muttered, making the sign of the cross against his chest.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Edgar began, standing in front of the microphone, “first of all I want to thank you all for coming here today. I know that it was a lot to ask you to drop your daily activities and join me here at my home, but I'm so pleased to see that almost everyone has chosen to make the effort. I hope very much that you have enjoyed yourselves, and that while one single event can't possibly make up for the hurt that the Le Compte family has brought to Thaxos over the years, you will all accept today's activities as a sign of my commitment to a new era. We can all live here in harmony.”
Spontaneously, the crowd erupted into a round of applause. Even for Kate, who clapped cautiously, the mood seemed somewhat strained and forced, as if the enthusiasm of the people of Thaxos was a little extreme. She couldn't quite believe how quickly and fervently people seemed to have fallen under Edgar's spell.
“I know that the past few months have been difficult,” Edgar continued as the applause died down, “so I wanted to end today's celebrations by offering you all something more valuable, something more important than mere frivolity. Anyone can lay on some food and entertainment, but I feel that a deeper, more important offering is required. Something that will perhaps even outlive most of us here.”
As he spoke, two figures emerged from the main building, and Kate was shocked to see that Doctor Young was leading the cloth-faced figure into the light. Her face was still hidden behind fabric, and as Doctor Young led her down the steps, it seemed as if the entire crowd had begun to hold its breath. From the way she walked, with half-staggered steps, it was almost if the figure was in something of a daze, and Doctor Young had to hold her by the arm and guide her into position until they stopped a little way back from where Edgar was standing.
“What kind of monstrosity is this?” Ephram asked.
“There are some scars that cannot be healed,” Edgar continued, “and some pain that can never be fully scrubbed away. We can, however, move on and find a way to cope, and every so often we are blessed with something that might seem, at first, to be something of a miracle. I do not take full credit for what you are about to witness, but I hope you will all understand that sometimes all that is required is a change of perspective. Trust me, once you have surmounted your initial shock, you will come to understand the nature of what you are witnessing, and you will see that the future of Thaxos is assured. This is, indeed, a new era.”
As Edgar headed over to the cloth-faced figure and took her hand, Kate couldn't help but feel that he was doing a good job of building up the atmosphere. For someone who always seemed so uncomfortable in social situations, Edgar certainly seemed to have this one in the bag. The crowd was hanging on his every word, with barely a murmur.
“And now,” he continued, once the cloth-faced figure was in place before the microphone, “I will let her introduce herself.”
Silence fell, such that there seemed not to be even the slightest sound on the whole island.
“Go on,” Edgar said to the figure, “it's quite alright. These people are your friends.”
The cloth-faced figure stood at the microphone, staring out from behind the fabric that covered her features. After a moment, the microphone picked up the faintest of sounds, like a kind of brief gurgle, but the figure was seemingly unable to speak. The faint gurgle returned, rumbling on for a few seconds, as if the figure was desperately trying to speak yet could not manage to get any words out. Still the crowd waited, but finally the figure took a step back, as if suddenly overcome by fear. After a moment, Edgar whispered something to Doctor Young, who nodded in agreement. Forcing a smile, Edgar stepped behind the cloth-faced figure and began to loosen her mask, which finally fell away to reveal the bare face of a beautiful young woman, her eyes staring blankly out at the crowd.
Kate squinted to get a better view.
And then suddenly someone nearby let out a horrified scream.
The crowd erupted. Someone fainted, and someone else cried out that they couldn't believe what they were seeing. Kate turned and watched as a woman dragged her children away, as if to hurry them back down the hill toward the town. When she turned to Ephram, Kate saw fear in his eyes, but also tears, as if he sight of the girl's face was almost too horrific for him to accept. He took a step back, once again making the sign of the cross on his chest.
“What's wrong?” she asked, unable to understand what was happening. “Ephram?”
“It's not possible,” he whispered. “It can't... What kind of cruel trick is this?”
“What is it? Who is she?”
“This is the work of the devil,” he continued, his shock seemingly giving way to anger. “This is the cruelest thing anyone could ever have
done to us! In all the years of the Le Compte family, they have never, ever stooped so low before!”
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Edgar continued, his voice difficult to hear now above the cries and sobs that had begun to break out across the crowd, “I know that this must seem impossible, but I assure you that it is quite real and that it can all be explained. It is my great honor and privilege to reveal that Ms. Alice Marco has been returned alive to Thaxos!”
There were several gasps from the crowd as the revelation began to sink in. Up on the steps, still looking shocked and a little confused, the girl stood as if she was waiting for someone to tell her what to do next. Among the people gathered around her, however, there was absolutely no doubt: it was Alice Marco, back from the dead.
“It's a trick!” shouted a man standing nearby. “What kind of a sick joke are you playing on us!”
“It's not a trick,” added a woman, her vice filled with fear. “It's the work of the devil himself!”
As Kate pushed her way through the crowd, she could sense the hostility starting to rise all around her. People were angry and scared, but no-one had left yet; they all seemed frozen in place. Reaching the foot of the steps, Kate looked up at the girl, whose face still seemed curiously blank, and then at Edgar, who was clearly shocked by the reaction to his great surprise. Her mind was racing as she tried to understand exactly what was happening.
“It must be a lookalike,” reasoned a man at the front of the crowd.
“I thought Alice Marco died,” said a child, his voice filled with tears.
“She did, sweetheart,” replied a woman, taking the child's hand. “This is just... It's a joke, that's all.”
“Please,” Edgar said after a moment, “won't you all stay and celebrate this joyous moment? There are still many hours of daylight, and the party will go on well into the night!”
“Go back to hell!” shouted a woman from the back of the crowd, her call immediately being supported by cheers from everyone around her.
“Listen to me,” Edgar continued, “there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for all of this! Alice Marco is alive, she...” His voice trailed away for a moment. “Please,” he added after a moment, “won't you stay and celebrate such a joyous event?”
“You should be ashamed of yourself!” a voice called out, filled with anger.
Turning, Kate saw that Ephram was one of the few who had chosen to stay.
“I...” Edgar paused, clearly lost for words. “Is this not what you all wanted? You wanted the rats to be removed, and they were removed. You mourned the loss of Alice Marco, and now that loss has been undone.”
“What is this?” Ephram shouted as he reached the foot of the steps. “What do you hope to achieve by pulling this kind of stunt! What did you do, bring in some lookalike from the mainland and make her up to look like Alice?”
“This is Alice Marco,” Edgar replied, clearly shaken by the reaction. “I can assure you, it is the girl herself.”
“Alice Marco is dead,” Ephram sneered. “Everyone here knows that. You might be able to win people over with offers of food and wine, but there are some lines we will never cross. Do you not think that every person in this town has been to the Marco house to pay their respects? That poor girl's coffin has been in her parents' home for days now, and we have all been to see her. Every person here has viewed her lifeless face!”
“And you were all wrong,” Edgar continued. “There were -”
“Perhaps I can explain,” said Doctor Young, stepping up to the microphone. “Ladies, gentlemen... I have nothing but respect for the work of Doctor Burns, who has evidently served this community well for many years. However, after hearing upon my arrival about the sickness that was said to have struck Ms. Marco down, I was immediately moved to consider the possibility that she might in fact have merely suffered from a particularly rare and virulent form of fever that can bring death-like symptoms for several days.”
“What rubbish is this?” Ephram shouted.
“Every word is true,” Doctor Young continued. “Alice Marco was bitten by a rat, yes, but while a sickness followed, it was not fatal. It merely placed her into a type of coma that is characterized by an extremely low metabolic rate combined with suppression of almost every non-essential bodily function. In effect, her heartbeat became so slow and quiet that it was difficult to detect. She would probably have died soon, but I was able to administer a combination of adrenalin and several other drugs to bring her back to wakefulness. In order to facilitate this and avoid any superstitious resistance, I'm afraid that we had to remove Ms. Marco's body from her family home under cover of darkness last night, but I am pleased to tell you that she is absolutely fine.”
Silence fell, as the crowd stared in stunned horror.
“I'm just glad that I was able to help,” he added. “If I hadn't happened to come to Thaxos for my friend's gathering, poor Alice might have remained misdiagnosed, and then she would have been buried alive. As I have already explained, she most likely would have died, but there would still have been a chance of her waking up in her grave.”
“What the hell was Doctor Burns thinking?” asked a voice nearby. “That mad old man needs to take more care of what he's doing!”
“Perhaps Alice should say a few words herself,” Doctor Young continued, gesturing for Alice to step up to the microphone. “It's okay, Alice. I know you're probably still a little hazy, but these people are only glad to see you.”
Kate watched in shocked, disbelieving horror as the girl took a few shuffling steps forward. There was clearly something very wrong with her, and she stared out at the crowd with the horrified expression of someone who was not entirely sure of her surroundings. The crowd waited in silence, but after a few seconds it became clear that Alice might not be able to say anything at all.
“I...” she managed finally. “I have...”
“It can't be,” Ephram whispered, his eyes filled with tears. “This can't be happening.”
“I...” Alice paused. “Please... Where...”
“Let me see!” Ephram shouted suddenly, making his way up the steps and grabbing Alice by the shoulders, turning her so he could look directly into her eyes. He stared for a moment, but finally his expression seemed to soften. “Alice?” he said finally. “Is it really you? Tell me, child, is this some joke or have you really been brought back to us?”
“G...” She paused again, clearly struggling to speak. “My... My godfather?”
“It is you!” Ephram replied, before taking a step back. “Something is not right here. This is -”
“It's her!” a voice shouted from the crowd. “It's really her!”
Kate watched, stunned, as slowly people began to make their way up their steps. It seemed as if everyone wanted to see Alice Marco up close, to check for themselves that the girl had truly been returned to life. Alice herself seemed somewhat dazed still, and Doctor Young was careful to ensure that she wasn't swamped. Still, Kate felt as if something was very wrong, and after a moment she noticed that Ephram had pulled away from the crowd, as if he still couldn't quite accept what he'd seen with his own two eyes.
“Ephram!” she called out. “Are you okay?”
“This is not right,” he replied, turning to her. “I don't care what he says, this is not right! That girl is dead -”
“Ephram -”
“I saw her!” he shouted, filling with rage. “I saw her dead body at the surgery, and again several times when she was laid out at her family's home! There was no mistake! That girl has been dead for several days now! Whatever witchcraft is being practiced up here, that abomination is not Alice Marco!”
“This is sick!” shouted someone else. “He's just taunting us!”
“Taunting you?” Edgar replied. “Of course not! Why aren't you happy? You wanted Alice Marco back, and I've given her to you!”
“Mummy, you said Alice was dead,” cried a little girl nearby.
“She is, sweetheart,” replied th
e girl's mother, holding her tight. “This is just... I don't know what this is...”
With more and more people expressing their horror, the crowd began to disperse. People were heading back down to the town, apparently disgusted by what they considered to be a cruel joke. Edgar, for his part, was standing on the steps with a stunned look on his face, as if he genuinely didn't understand what was happening.
“Why aren't you grateful?” he called after them. “I did this for you! For all of you!”
“Go back to hell!” shouted one of the last villagers to leave. “And take your sick jokes with you! Alice Marco is dead! Everyone here saw her body, so whatever you've got up there, it's a sick joke!”
“Stop!” Edgar shouted, as his anger began to boil over. “I command that you all stop and listen to me!”
Kate stood and watched as the last of the villagers made their way through the gate, leaving behind the garden party with its stalls still piled high.
“Get back here!” Edgar screamed. “I command every one of you to get back here! I did this all for you!”
Next to him, Alice Marco stood with a look of utter shock in her eyes, and finally she took a step back before dropping down to the steps. Doctor Young caught her just in time, but as he laid her out on the grass, it was clear that she had fainted.
“She's not well,” the doctor said as he examined her. “I need to -”
“Don't bother me with that now,” Edgar replied, making his way across the lawn, as if he intended to go and physically drag every last villager back.
“Maybe you should wait,” Kate said, intercepting him. “There's just -”
“Ungrateful fools,” he muttered, storming past her. “I did all of this for them, and now they act like idiots. If they don't come back and show their gratitude, I swear I'll make them pay.” As he reached the gate, he stopped and stared at the swarm of frightened villagers heading back to town. “Get back here!” he shouted, his voice carrying across the entire island. “This is an order! Get back here and see all the things I've done for you!”
VII
“Are you still there?” Fernando asked, with his mobile phone pressed against the side of his face as he made his way along a corridor deep in the bowels of the boat. “Cavaleri, say something!”
He stopped at a junction and waited for a reply, but all he heard was static.
“Hey!” he hissed. “Are you there or not?”
Again, nothing but static.
Figuring that a combination of the metal walls all around him and his position below the water line must be interfering with the signal, he told himself that there was no need to panic. He knew that Cavaleri would ridicule him if he headed back up without anything useful, so he turned left and made his way past a few more doors until he finally reached the entrance to the boat's main storage room. Pushing the door open, he peered into the darkness and listened.
Silence.
It was as if the air itself was completely still, having been undisturbed for many years.
With no lights in this part of the boat, he was forced to use the torch on his phone as he stepped forward. There were large crates secured to the walls, but when he went over and inspected one, he found that the labels were faded and illegible, while the lids were screwed into place. After a few minutes he found one with a partially loose lid, and when he prized it open he found that there was nothing inside other than a pile of dust. After a moment he noticed a foul stench, and he realized that whatever had been in the crate once, it had now rotted away.
“Cavaleri,” he continued, speaking into the phone, “this place is abandoned. It's like no-one has been here for years. I'm not saying I get what's going on, but I can tell you one thing for sure: no-one's transporting anything in this pile of junk. The whole place is covered in dust and grime. It's more like an antique than a working boat.”
All he heard back was static.
“You'd better be keeping an eye out,” he muttered, while forcing himself to focus on the fact that if Edgar's men had left the boat unmanned at all, they would probably be staying away until the garden party was over many hours later.
He wandered to the far end, where he found some kind of joist system that appeared to be set up to haul items up to the upper level. The boat certainly had a decent-sized cargo area, and he could well imagine it being used to transport goods from all over the world, but every surface and every piece of equipment was covered by a thick layer of dust. He spotted a safety document pinned to the wall, but when he checked the date he found that it was more than forty years old. At that moment, as if to underline the decrepitude of the place, a small black spider crawled across the face of the document.
“Great,” he sighed. “At least there's something else alive down here.”
Finding another door on the other side of the room, he pushed it open and saw another set of steps leading even further down, which he figured must be the way to the engine room. He paused for a moment, but all he could hear was a very faint, very distant rumbling noise; it was something he recognized, from his years on various commercial vessels, as simply the auxiliary power units in power-saving mode while surrounded by thick metal bulkheads, but it still added a discomforting sense to the atmosphere, as if the noise itself implied some kind of presence.
“There's nothing here,” he said, raising the phone to his mouth again. “Do you hear me? I'm not going to find anything.”
He waited for a reply.
“Cavaleri? Are you even there?”
Again, nothing. The signal was unable to connect while he was so far down in the boat, and he was starting to think that it would soon be time to turn around and leave. He took a couple of steps down the stairs, before stopping and telling himself that there was no chance of him finding anything down there other than the engine room and a load of tools.
Sighing, he turned and looked back across the darkness. Although he'd never been someone who was easily spooked, he had to admit that there was something about the boat that seemed very wrong, and he couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched. He held his phone up for a moment, casting light across the room, just to make sure that there was no-one nearby.
A moment later, there was a slow, loud creak from above, as if the frame of the boat itself was pitching slightly.
“That's nothing,” he whispered to himself. “Just the -”
Suddenly there was a second, louder creak.
“Okay,” Fernando muttered, “screw this, I'm -”
Before he could finish, the creak was suddenly joined by a loud banging noise, and then what seemed to be the sound of thick metal chains being run though a harness. Turning, Fernando cast the phone's light toward the engine room door, but there was still no sign of anyone. Still, the metal deck beneath his feet was starting to shudder a little now, and a moment later he watched in horror as a valve handle on the wall suddenly flicked upward, as if it had a life of his own. Seconds later, he heard the unmistakeable sound of a steam compressor being evacuated, and the juddering beneath his feet become stronger and more sustained.
Looking down in horror, he realized what it sounded like: the engines being started.
Turning, he ran back the way he came, but as he reached the door there was a sudden jolt to the entire vessel; he tripped against something and slammed down against the foot of the stairs, dropping his phone in the process and sending it sliding across the floor. The boat shifted again, and as he tried to get up Fernando was thrown against the wall, slamming his head into the metal and then dropping back down. In the darkness, he blinked a couple of times, vaguely aware that he'd blacked out for a few seconds.
Although the fall had hurt his shoulder, he immediately hauled himself up and ran back to grab his phone, before turning to scramble up the stairs. As he did so, the entire boat seemed to shift a little, leaning to the starboard side as the rumbling sound from below became even louder. The electric lights in the stairwell flickered off and on a few times, and by th
e time he got up to the bridge Fernando was starting to realize what was happening.
To his shock, the bridge was empty, even as the wheel was somehow turning of its own accord. He turns to look over at the navigation equipment, and he couldn't be certain, but he was convinced that the charts had been moved aside, and that one of them in particular had been opened and propped against the top of the monitor.
“Cavaleri!” he shouted into his phone as he hurried across the room, which was tilting heavily to one side now. “Where the hell are you?”
Pushing the door open, he ran out onto the deck and hurried over to the side of the boat, and that's when he saw something impossible. He stared for a moment, unable to quite process what was happening, and then he turned back to look at the bridge. There was still no sign of anyone else on the boat, and he knew with absolute certainty that a vessel of this size would need a crew of at least a dozen men to set sail. Even with the most complex navigational equipment in the world – which this boat clearly didn't have – an unmanned journey would be impossible.
Hearing a loud, heavy rattling sound nearby, he turned just in time to see the boat's huge anchor being lifted high above the deck, carried aloft by a crane rig attached to a pulley that, in turn, appeared to be operating without any human intervention.
“No way,” he muttered, taking a step back. “No goddamn way.”
And yet, as he turned back to look over the side of the boat, he couldn't deny what he saw. The island of Thaxos was receding rapidly into the distance and was already at least a couple of miles away, as the huge, hulking black boat had already set sail, heading to some unknown destination. Turning to look back toward the bridge, Fernando realized with horror that somehow he was the only man onboard, yet the boat itself was under full power, almost as if some hidden crew was hard at work out of sight.
“Cavaleri!” he shouted into the phone. “Cavaleri, for God's sake, answer me!”