The City of the Dead

Chapter 1

I instantly knew something was amiss. From the moment I stepped onto the boat I could sense the danger as if the water was trying to warn me of the peril that lay ahead.

On normal days, when the sun's beams pierced through the clouds, the sky's blue colour reflected off the water, and I could see ten feet in front of me, I felt at peace on the water. Not today, something was different. I could feel the abnormality of the day, as if it was pulsing within me, warning me of what lay ahead. The boat seemed to vibrate, as if the water was trembling in fear.

I squinted and gazed ahead, but it was impossible to see anything. The fog which billowed in the light breeze like a sheet, blocked the view that I was used to. It blocked the new cottages that had just been built next to ours. It also intercepted the sight of the green bulrushes that grew next to the few docks that had been built.

Slowly I sat down and put my head in my hands, trying to determine how I had become subject to peer pressure-again. Typically it wasn't like me to be stupid enough to go boating when visibility was so low, but my mind had been clouded, eager for a little fun and adventure. That eagerness had disappeared long ago.

My green eyes darted over the small boat my family owned. I shook my head. How was it possible that the other side of the boat seemed to have disappeared? 

I was sitting in the front, right in front of the controls. The cool plastic of the windshield pressed against my back. I squinted, trying to see the rear of the boat, but it was merely a faint silhouette. 

A warm breeze passed across the deck, but despite the warmth, a shudder racked my body.  When the fog touched my skin, tingles rushed to the surface, trying to push their way out of me while the fog seemed to search for a way in. It wasn't normal fog: it seemed to be alive.

I got up and walked to the back of the boat, lowering myself so my head was just above the sick looking water. Squeezing my eyes shut, I tried to picture what the lake was supposed to look like: sparkling in the hot sun, reflecting the empty sky, and showing off its plentiful supply of fish and cleanliness by allowing anyone who stepped near it to see to the dirt at the bottom.

When they fluttered open, the sight was nothing like what I had envisioned. It was the exact opposite; murky, polluted, and gray. My knuckles whitened around the railing.

"Em, are you still there?" my sister Sapphire called snapping me out of my daze.

"Yeah. Are you sure this is a good idea?" I looked over at Sapphire and even her dark blue eyes were almost invisible in the fog.

My parents had a thing for gem names. My full name was Emerald, but I preferred to go by Em. They had named Sapphire and I because of our odd coloured eyes. Mine shone a brilliant green, and Sapphire's a midnight blue.

"Of course it is. Mom and Dad will never know. They're gone all day golfing and Jasper won't tell them a thing."

I wasn't so sure that Mom and Dad would be gone all day. It was hardly ideal golfing weather, considering no one would be able to see a golf ball flying towards them or where the hole was.

Then there was our brother Jasper. At nineteen, he was two years older than us and also named after a gemstone. 

Sapphire, Jasper, and I had an understanding as a result of past events. We all had wanted a little more freedom in our house, due to Mom and Dad's strict rules. We made a truce, willing to turn a blind eye whenever one of us did something against Mom and Dad's wishes, or when one of us was gone for long periods of time.

Most of the time I enjoyed doing a few "forbidden" things here and there, but I was definitely regretting the agreement. It didn't matter much anymore, as  Jasper was so rarely home. He was gone more than he was at home, especially within the last five years. He had changed when Mom and Dad had separated for one year. That was when he was fourteen; five years ago.