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Loki called to her, his small body shivering as he stood up to his belly in the cold water. Sarah could tell that the tide was coming in. The water was slowly rising, and for a moment, she felt uncertain which way to go. Then, however, Loki turned and headed out toward the small island.
Huffing out a deep breath against the shivering cold that seized her, Sarah followed him. It truly was an odd sensation, to bewalking on water, with nothing but water around her. She was a good distance from shore now, and it felt eerie to be out here by herself. She felt as though she was trapped in an old legend, wondering what lay to the right and left of this underwater bridge. How had it come to be here? Was this what had inspired the legend of the sea serpent? If so, it had to be ancient.
“Loki!” Sarah called again when she lost sight of the little feline. A few more steps carried her forward, and squinting her eyes, Sarah could finally spot him upon the bank of the small island ahead of her. He shook his little legs, trying to rid himself of the icy water, and then moved onward, disappearing into a shadowy thicket.
Sarah felt a deep sense of relief when she reached the small island, and she hurried farther up the small beach. Water sloshed inside her boots, and she quickly dumped it out. Her whole body shivered from the cold, and she knew she could not stay long. She was about to follow Loki when she paused, quickly collected a few pebbles and piled them about two feet from the water’s edge.
“Loki!” Sarah called into the dark, her eyes glimpsing nothing but shadows, some large and looming and others small and shifting. There was some sort of rock formation near the center of the infinitesimal speck of land, surrounded by trees and brambles of some sort. It seemed impenetrable. “Loki!”
For a long moment, everything remained quiet, and Sarah feared she had lost the little feline. Yet why would he disappear if he had gone to such lengths to lead her here?
Then, a soft sound suddenly drifted to Sarah’s ears, and she stilled, listening.
For a moment, everything within her tensed. She recalled Mrs. Murray’s ghost stories, all the legends the old housekeeper had only been too happy to share. Indeed, in the dark, alone by herself, nothing seemed impossible.
“Aunt Sarah?”
Sarah flinched at the soft voice, and for a moment, she thought she might have imagined it. Then, however, it came again, more urgent and almost pleading.
“Augusta?” Sarah exclaimed, hurrying onward, her eyes running over the shadowy thicket, unable to catch sight of anything.
And then, out of nowhere, out of the blackness of the night, three little girls appeared, Faerie by their side and Loki trailing behind them. Their faces were pale and their eyes wide, and Sarah knew they were frightened.
The three girls almost threw themselves at her, hugging her tightly, words rushing from their lips as they voiced their relief and delight in seeing her. “We’re so happy you’re here, Auntie Sarah,” Augusta exclaimed, clinging to her arm. “We couldn’t find our way back. Suddenly it was dark, and we couldn’t find the path anymore.”
“How did you come to be here?” Sarah inquired, hugging them tightly as Dorothea buried her face against her shoulder, silent sobs escaping her lips. “This morning, you said you wanted to head down to the beach. Besides, you were supposed to stay in the gardens.”
Bonnie straightened, a bit of a guilty expression upon her face. “I thought ‘twould be fun to explore. Mrs. Murray always tells us these amazing stories about the cliffs, and when we got here, Faerie found a way through the thicket and disappeared. Of course, we couldna leave him behind,” she stated matter-of-factly. “So, we followed him and—”
“We walked on water,” Dorothea piped up, lifting her face to look up at Sarah. “Truly!”
Sarah nodded, hugging the girl close. “I believe you, Thea.” She looked back at Bonnie and then at Augusta. “Why did you not come back, though?”
Augusta heaved a deep sigh and exchanged a look with Bonnie. “We forgot where the path was,” she murmured, clearly disappointed with herself. “It got dark, and then we couldn’t see much. We couldn’t find it anymore.” She shivered. “We were frightened.”
Sarah nodded, then threw a look over her shoulder toward the small pile of pebbles she had stacked near the water’s edge. It was almost completely submerged. “We need to go,” Sarah exclaimed, grasping the girls’ hands and pulling them along toward the water’s edge. She stepped closer, the water once more sloshing into her boots, her eyes peering through the churning waters. Carefully, she moved in deeper, one foot ahead to test the ground. For a moment, Sarah feared that she, too, had lost the path. Then, though, her boot brushed across something smooth and solid. “Here. It is here.” Moving onward, Sarah found that she now stood in the water up to her knees. She glanced back at the beach where the girl stood, her eyes moving to Faerie and Loki.
Even Dorothea looked too short to find her own way across. She might be swept into the deep by the waves. Still, they could not stay. The cold was already seeping into every fiber of Sarah’s being, and the girls, too, had gotten wet. They stood with their little arms wrapped around themselves, shivering silently. No, they would never make it through the night. They had to get back.
Now.
“The way is not long,” Sarah said as she waved the girls onward, “but we have to go now before the tide rises even more.” She looked at Augusta and Bonnie, both girls a head taller than Dorothea. “Can you carry Faerie and Loki?”
The two girls nodded, and while Bonnie picked up Faerie, Augusta settled Loki into her arms. Sarah grasped Dorothea’s hand, pulling her forward before picking her up and settling her on her hip. “Follow right behind me,” she told the girls with a glance over her shoulder. “Stay on the path. We don’t quite know how wide it is. Do you hear?”
Both girls nodded solemnly.
Then they waded out into the water. Sarah could almost hear the girls’ teeth chattering as they moved onward. “It’s all right,” she murmured, willing her own shivers away. “It is not far. Do you see over there? That’s where the tunnel is.” Everyone squinted through the dark, and she saw the girls’ heads bob up and down. “As you came here,” Sarah asked, choosing her words carefully, “did you see anyone? Did someone speak to you? Or did you perhaps see a ship?”
Settled upon her hip, Dorothea frowned at her. “No, there was no one. People rarely come up to the cliff. They don’t like ghosts.” The hint of a smile dashed across the girl’s face in the dim light of the moon. “I like ghosts. At least, I think I do.”
Sarah smiled at the girl, then glanced over her shoulder. “So, you encountered no one?”
Augusta and Bonnie shook their heads. “Should we have?”
“No, of course not.” Sarah exhaled a deep breath, realizing in that moment, perhaps a bit belatedly, that Lord Birchwell had nothing to do with the girls’ disappearance. They had truly just lost their way. No one had come onto the island. No one was after them or Kate. They were all still safe.
All they needed to do now was get back to the castle.
