Waveborn

13

A dozen or so harbor seals had hauled out on the wet rocks. Hauled out: it was a weird expression, until you saw a seal drag its thick body onto land. Their heads lifted and swiveled to watch the dinghy's approach. When it drew too close, they slid soundlessly into the water.

Cass hadn't seen this side of the island when they motored in. A curve of pebbled beach sloped gently from the water on the channel side. Dried strings of kelp outlined the high water mark in long lines of green; above them, sunbleached logs criss-crossed the stones like gigantic pickup sticks. The island jutted upward in the steep hill she'd seen from the harbor, rock and patches of earth spotted with wind-twisted trees. The sun barely touched the hilltop, crowning it with gold while leaving the rest of the island in shadow.

At one end of the beach, a flat platform was built against the cliff. "It's a stage, for the Solstice celebration," Jason said when he saw her looking at it. "We have a bonfire and cookout here every year. It's an island tradition, with music, dancing, everything. This is the gig we were telling you about."

He kicked one of the supports. A few boards had rotted through and one was missing altogether. "Looks like we'll have to repair this before the party."

Beyond the platform, she found a fire ring, its center black with ash. "Do these look fresh?"

Jason poked a finger in the wet sand and cinders. "I have no idea. It wouldn't mean anything if they were, though. People camp over here sometimes."

"In the rain?"

He shrugged.

Above, a bird called, high and piercing and unfamiliar. Cass craned her neck to catch sight of it, but the hill rose in jagged stairsteps of rocks with bunches of grass clinging between them. A bird could hide in any of a hundred tiny bushes or indentations.

She was about to give up-Jason had already moved away, down the beach-when she glimpsed movement high on the hill, where the slope leveled and a lone, twisted tree hunched against the wind. She stared at the grass shivering at the top. It moved as if touched by a breeze she couldn't feel-or as if someone had just brushed past them.

She leapt for the hillside. If someone was there, there was no place for them to hide. The hilltop was bare but for the tree and a few straggly bushes. On the far side, a cliff dropped sheer to the water.

"Where you going?" Jason yelled.

Clinging to the slope with one hand, she motioned with the other, trying to communicate "keep quiet," "stay there," and "I saw something!" without actually yelling down to him. She wasn't sure he got all of it, but he didn't immediately follow.

The hill was only a hundred or so feet high, but steep enough that she was puffing for breath by the time she neared the top. She was climbing more than hiking, grabbing at rocks and bushes to haul herself upward. The smell of sage clouded the air, rising from the plants that bent and broke in her grip.

Just below the ridge line, she stopped to listen. The crash of waves filled her ears, pierced occasionally by the wind's whistle when it hit the rocks at just the right angle. Her hands burned, scraped raw by the climb, and her skin prickled. Suddenly, she wished she'd told Jason to come.

One more breath-and she launched herself over the lip onto the hilltop. Rose and gold sunlight flooded over her, sending her long shadow skimming across earth and bushes.

No one was there.

Her adrenaline was pumped for a confrontation, making her jittery enough that she had to circle the tiny area twice before she believed it was really deserted.