She showed me a milky pink stone with veins of blue and purple.
“Gorgeous!”
We made our way along the beach, just below the line of seaweed marking high tide because the traction was better on wet sand than dry. Just beyond a particularly large sea stack, we spotted the craggy opening of a cave, and my heart lurched. I doubted there’d be stalagmites and stalactites, but I still couldn’t wait to get inside.
I wondered if Travis had ever been here. Surely, he had sincehe grew up on the island. He and his friends probably got into all sorts of trouble exploring the caves.
“How much more time do we have?” I asked, recalling the warning signs at the bottom of the stairs, telling visitors to be mindful of the tides.
Sarah looked at her watch. “About an hour. Plenty of time to find a treasure chest or two.”
We scrambled over a few boulders and then we were inside. I was grateful my new friend had told me to dress warmly, because it was frigid in here. The cave opening was about twenty feet tall and curved around into the inky darkness.
Sarah brought us both a head lamp, so I fastened mine like a headband, clicked it on, and illuminated the craggy walls around us. The cavern was fairly narrow, its damp walls covered in slippery moss. Not a stalagmite or stalactite in sight—but that didn’t make it any less amazing. There were a few rocky ledges on both sides and the remnants of a few campfires. Guess the cave didn’t go completely underwater at high tide.
“Is the whole coast dotted with these sea caves?” I picked my way carefully over the rocks embedded in the sand. I liked the way our voices sounded in here. Muffled and echo-y at the same time.
Sarah nodded, her headlamp bobbing up and down. “The dragon cliffs are still several miles up the coast, but they’re very territorial. Non-dragons venturing too far will get singed. Not that we’ll go that far, but hopefully they’ve got it well marked.”
Spotting a piece of trash on a nearby ledge, I climbed over a large boulder to retrieve it. I hated when people didn’t pick up after themselves. “I haven’t seen a dragon yet,” I told her. “Do you know if they come into town much?”
“I’ll bet you have seen one just didn’t know it. They’re shifters too.”
I gave a low whistle. “Amazing to think I could’ve walked byan actual dragon and not realized it. I hope that’s not being rude or obtuse,” I added quickly.
“Don’t worry. It’s not.” Although she was slightly in front of me and I couldn’t see her smile, I could hear it in her voice. “I keep forgetting this is all new to you. Full moon is coming, so I’ll probably see if I can join one of the local packs when they go for a moon run. Although I don’t necessarily like being with a group of people I don’t know, I’m not comfortable lone-wolfing it in a place that’s not familiar to me, either.”
Being in the contest must be challenging for her given that she was so introverted, which made me all the madder at her family for forcing her into this. “Can you ask Jada? Or Travis? Maybe you can go with their pack.”
“Nah.”
My head snapped up in surprise. “Why not? I’m sure they’d be happy to have you.”
“It might be a conflict of interest.”
Then it was a good thing I couldn’t tell her about the book and being in Wickedville with Travis the other day. “I’m really glad I met you. I just wish...” I swallowed, searching for the right words. “...that all of this wasn’t temporary.”
“Yeah, me too,” she replied softly.
We hadn’t gone too far—there were so many things to look at—when the alarm on Sarah’s watch went off. “Time to turn around and head back,” she said.
“You set an alarm?” To say that woman was prepared was an understatement. She’d ordered our lunches, arranged for the rental car, and checked out our gear from the hotel.
My headlamp illuminated her face, and I saw her big grin. She was loving this as much as I was. It was fun to see her so happy for once. “I didn’t want us to get too distracted and get caught in here at high tide.”
“Good thinking.”
But when we made our way back to the entrance and rounded the last corner, we both gasped. The water had risen so much that it almost completely covered the entrance.
“Oh, my gods! How could this happen?” Sarah grabbed the tide book from her cargo shorts. “It says right here...” Her voice trailed off, then she got all choked up. “I must’ve read it wrong. I’m such anidiot!”
“Let me see.” Trying not to panic, I took it from her and could totally tell how she had confused the high and low tide times. One was light blue and the other was dark blue. “You’re definitely not an idiot.”
“Let me see if I can get out and go for help,” she said, ignoring my protests and removing her backpack. But as she scrambled over the rocks, she slipped and came down hard.
“Are you okay?” I asked, rushing over and helping her up.
“Yes.” She vigorously rubbed her elbow. “I’ll be fine.”
