Page 40 of Light of Day (Sea Smoke Island #1)

Heather could still remember the first time she ever swam in the Atlantic Ocean—before she even knew how to swim.

She’d been playing on an abandoned fishing dock and fallen through a rotting plank.

The sheer shock of the cold had obliterated every thought in her head.

She hadn’t even had time for panic and had actually forgotten the fact that she didn’t know how to swim.

She’d flailed her arms around until she’d found a rhythm that kept her head above water, and willed herself to shore.

Since then, she’d learned proper swimming techniques, but the terror of that first experience had never left her. She never enjoyed swimming, even in heated pools.

There was something else, too, she realized now as she stared at the waves surging into the cave. Those stories from her great-grandfather, they’d planted a seed in her mind.

The house moving toward the ocean. Everything about to change. Nothing to hold onto. A terrifying force chasing people away.

Was that why she avoided the ocean at all costs? Even on the very hottest days of summer?

Today was not one of those days. The air temperature was barely above seventy, and as for the water…her bare feet told her it was pretty freaking cold.

But she had no choice. The more time passed, the weaker she’d become without food or water. If she didn’t leave now, it would get too dark for a passing rescuer to spot her in the water. If she was afraid of the ocean during the day, just imagine what the night would be like.

She’d leave at peak tide, she decided. That would allow her some time to swim before the tidal currents really kicked in.

She hoped the currents would help her, but she wasn’t sure about the tide—it would be pulling straight out to the ocean.

That was the biggest risk of this plan—that and the rocks lurking under the surface, hidden by the high tide.

If she was lucky, she wouldn’t have to swim far, only to the closest cove or beach. From there, she’d climb rocks or ledges or barnacles or whatever it took to reach civilization.

One thing she wasn’t sure about was the flash drive. Saltwater was bound to ruin it, it if wasn’t already destroyed. In the end, she decided to leave it in the cave. She could come back for it later. She tucked it into the highest, driest crevice she could find, and pulled on her socks and boots.

Figuring it was best to get the shock over with, she crab-walked into the water like a Marine doing boot camp.

The cold hit her like a sonic boom—this water came straight from the deep ocean, with no time in the shallows to heat up.

Her heart rate sped up and panic overwhelmed her.

You could die. This water wants you dead.

Breathe , she ordered herself. The ocean isn’t trying to kill you. It’s just being an ocean. Work with it.

She plunged her head into the water. Experience told her that her body would adjust to the temperature more quickly if her head was also immersed.

She pushed herself off the gravel and stroked through the water.

The tide was so high now that she had to hold her breath and dive under the rocky arch of the mouth, one hand reaching above her to make sure she cleared it.

When she surfaced outside the cave, gasping for breath, she took a moment to tread water and get oriented. The current tugged at her body like a sea monster trying to take her back to its lair.

Don’t fight it. Work with it.

She’d heard that exact advice about getting caught in a current. Instead of exhausting yourself by fighting against it head-on, go sideways, along the shoreline. If only she could find the current that swirled around the island, the one on Luke’s map…

The thought of Luke brought so many images and sensations to mind.

Naked ones, the feel of him inside her, laughter in his deep blue eyes…

they all spun around like a kaleidoscope before they crystallized in one overwhelming impression.

Luke was a man who knew his own mind. He thought about things deeply, he made his own choices, and he stuck with them.

He stood by the people he cared about. He blocked out the noise and focused on what mattered.

And she mattered to him. He hadn’t said it in so many words, but it was true. She was so used to fighting the world that she hadn’t been able to see it. Now she did, and if the ocean had mercy on her, she’d see Luke again and tell him that she could easily fall for him. Maybe already was.

Gabby had said something to her once…what was it? “When you finally fall, it’s going to be fast and hard, and I love that for you.”

Yeah, no reason not to face the truth. She was already falling for him. Fast and hard.

If she was really lucky, he might even be looking for her by now.

To keep from tiring out all her muscles, she switched between breast stroke and freestyle, her two strongest strokes.

She tracked her progress against a twisted pine tree a hundred feet up the cliffs.

Gaining on it…gaining…passing it…yes! As she rounded the cliff, a small cove came into view, just what she was looking for.

She took a break, treading water, wondering if she should have ditched her boots. But the extra layer of insulation was probably worth the added weight. Her body had adjusted to the water, but she felt the cold all the way down to her bones. She had to keep moving.

When she’d caught her breath again, she struck out for the cove.

The only downside was that this land was still Lightkeeper property.

She was sure that a Carmichael or someone who worked for them had put her in that cave.

But the Carmichaels couldn’t control every inch of it, and she didn’t see anyone in the tiny cove.

Swimming toward land took much more strength, as she was now fighting the tide. She took a diagonal path that would land her at the far end of the cove, on a rocky point of heavily forested land. Hopefully she’d still have enough strength to haul herself onto the rocks.

She lost herself in the strokes, one after another, one kick after another. Sometimes she misjudged the motion of the waves and got a face full of shockingly cold saltwater. She used it as motivation, like a slap in the face. Keep going. Just keep going.

The first bump of her hand against a submerged rock nearly made her cry. The waves pushed her against it and she felt the scrape of barnacles against her belly. Her knees banged on the rocks. That was going to hurt tomorrow, if she saw tomorrow.

She scrabbled at the barnacle-covered surface and found a huge clump of seaweed latched onto the rock.

Wrapping her hands into the slippery fronds, she hung on for dear life as the waves pounded her body against the rocks.

Blood seeped into the water. No dangerous sharks around here, thank God.

Besides, she was nearly out of the water now, the wind was already chilling her exposed skin, and her teeth were chattering against each other.

Those people who had been forced to move their houses off the island…had they survived? How many had crashed on the rocks in the night? If they’d made it to another shore, what had happened to them there?

Whatever their story, it deserved to be told, and if she made it out of here alive, that was what she’d do. I promise you , she silently vowed. You will not be forgotten.

A surge of an ocean swell pushed her from behind, as if those ghostly souls from the past were giving her a boost. She used the momentum to claw herself out of the water and crawl across the slippery rocks until she was safely above the waterline.

Beyond the rocks, a dense and daunting stretch of forest stretched upwards, the trees marching up a slope like soldiers in lockstep.

It would be no easy climb, even if she wasn’t exhausted by that swim.

Panting, shivering, she wrapped her arms around her knees and rested her head on them.

Her mind drifted, exhaustion darkening the edges of her vision. Reality seemed to shift between now and then, this cove and the moving house in her dreams.

A voice drifted toward her across the water. At first it seemed obvious that it was the girl in the pinafore calling to her, tugging at her hand. She started to reach out, then her head cleared and she heard the words the girl was saying.

“Where’s the flash drive?”

She lifted her head and found herself eye to eye with a woman in a kayak nearly identical to the one probably-Carson had been paddling.

Although she looked very different from the last time she’d seen her, Heather would know those blue Carmichael eyes anywhere. A sick sensation roiled her stomach. Had she just swum out of the frying pan into the fire?

After swallowing so much saltwater, it took a moment for her tired throat to produce words.

“Hi Fiona,” she croaked.

“Where’s the fucking flash drive?”