Page 23

Amelia was walking up the path from the dock, braced for what came next. She turned to Tara, who followed with slightly less enthusiasm. Behind them, Tom busied himself securing the boat, looking like he was trying not to watch what was about to happen.

It wasn’t long before Harriet appeared, striding down the path from the village. Her sharp eyes fixed immediately on Tara. Even from a distance, Amelia could see the change in her expression as she took in the unfamiliar figure. Harriet’s initial curiosity quickly hardened into something closer to alarm.

‘That’s Harriet,’ Amelia warned Tara.

‘I see,’ she said simply.

‘Amelia,’ Harriet called, reaching them, her voice tight. ‘Who is this?!’

Amelia squared her shoulders, meeting Harriet halfway down the dock. ‘This is Tara,’ she said, keeping her tone calm but firm. ‘She’s here to help us.’

Harriet’s eyes narrowed as she glanced between Amelia and Tara. ‘Help us?’ she repeated, her voice dripping with scepticism. ‘You brought a stranger to Solhaven? Without consulting The Elders?’

‘I had to. There wasn’t the time to come ahead by myself,’ Amelia said quickly. ‘And that’s why I need to meet with The Elders right away. So I can explain everything. Why she’s here.’

Harriet’s lips thinned, and she crossed her arms. She turned her attention to Tom. ‘You’ll need to take this person back shortly,’ she called.

Tom raised an eyebrow but didn’t argue, leaning back against the boat’s railing with a bemused expression. Tara, for her part, stood silently, her eyes darting between Amelia and Harriet, clearly assessing the tension. She had the good sense to keep her mouth closed.

‘She’s not going anywhere,’ Amelia said firmly, surprising even herself with the conviction in her voice. ‘Not until I’ve at least explained to The Elders why she’s here.’

Harriet stared at her for a long moment, then gave a curt nod. ‘Fine. But she stays on the boat until the council has decided.’

Amelia glanced back at Tara. ‘I won’t be long. Just stay here with Tom for a bit. I’ll handle this.’

She smiled and nodded, but Anelia noticed she was massaging her wrist as turned back toward the dock.

Amelia turned and started up the path toward the village, Harriet falling into step beside her. The silence between them was heavy, broken only by the sound of their boots crunching against the gravel. Amelia’s mind raced, rehearsing what she would say to the council.

They reached the village and headed straight for the Long Hall. Harriet opened the door without a word. Amelia followed, her stomach churning again. The other Elders were already gathered, huddled, and murmuring to one another, their faces a mixture of curiosity and concern as they turned to her.

‘Amelia,’ Esther exclaimed, ‘what’s going on? I heard the strangest thing from Molly. She said she saw a stranger with you?’

Before Amelia could respond, Harriet stepped in front of her.

‘Everyone sit down. We’ll do this with some decorum,’ Harriet instructed. The other Elders nodded and sat behind their table.

Gregory cleared his throat. ‘Right, well, we’re assembled. Can someone explain what’s happening? Is there really a stranger here?’

Amelia took a deep breath, steadying herself. ‘I’ve brought someone to Solhaven. Her name is Tara, and she’s here to help us.’

The murmurs started immediately, but Amelia held up a hand. ‘I know this is unconventional,’ she said. ‘But you need to understand that the lease… I met with the mainland authorities. The agreement was not simple.’

‘What do you mean?’ Harriet demanded, putting her spectacles on.

Amelia didn’t want to frighten anyone, but she had to. Because if she didn’t, they wouldn’t understand how serious the threat was. And they needed to. They had to understand why they needed Tara.

‘It wasn’t a formality,’ Amelia said. ‘I met with the government’s representative, Geraldine Cooke, and she doesn’t care about Solhaven’s history or traditions. She’s asking that we justify our place here.’

‘Justify?’ Gregory repeated, incredulous. ‘We’ve been living on this island for generations. It’s ours.’

‘That’s not enough,’ Amelia said, her tone urgent. ‘They want us to write an application for our continued residency. They need to see our worth through their eyes, not ours.’

Harriet shook her head, her expression a mix of disbelief and frustration. ‘Mabel never had this kind of trouble.’

‘Perhaps not. But things have changed.’

‘Things have changed?’ Esther asked cynically.

‘Yes, it’s rather strange timing, isn’t it?’ Harriet asked. ‘That it becomes more complicated when we send Amelia?’

‘I knew it. I knew this would be our end!’ Peter cried.

Amelia felt her blood boiling. The Elders had never been to the mainland. And they had the gall to be angry at her when she’d been through things they couldn’t even understand.

She couldn’t say anything, though. It was The Elders. You didn’t argue with The Elders. You appealed to them, and you hoped for their grace. Even when they were utterly in the wrong.

Gregory leant forward. ‘And you think bringing an outsider here—someone who can’t possibly understand who we are—is the answer?’

‘Yes,’ Amelia said firmly, surprising herself with the strength in her voice. ‘Because Tara can bridge that gap. She’s spent her life looking at the world the way people like Geraldine do. She can see what we can’t and help us present ourselves in a way they’ll understand.’

The room fell quiet, the weight of her words sinking in. Amelia scanned their faces, searching for a hint of agreement, but all she found were furrowed brows and sceptical frowns.

‘And what happens,’ Harriet said slowly, her voice cold, ‘if this Tara decides our ways are not to her liking?’

Amelia’s stomach clenched, but she held Harriet’s gaze. ‘I trust her,’ she said simply.

A bitter laugh escaped Harriet’s lips. ‘How did you even find this person?’

‘I met her not long after I got off the boat. After I was robbed, actually.’

There was a serious of gasps, the largest from Peter, of course.

‘She chased the robber off. And ever since then, she’s helped me more than you could know,’ Amelia shot back, her frustration bubbling to the surface. ‘And if we don’t try, if we don’t at least show her who we are and what we’re fighting for, then we’ve already lost.’

Harriet’s eyes narrowed, but before she could respond, Gregory spoke up again.

‘Mabel trusted you,’ he said, frowning.

Amelia’s head dipped.

‘So we must too,’ Gregory finished.

Amelia looked at him in surprise. It was only then she realised how little she’d expected The Elders to listen to her.

The Elders leant into each other, and the muttering started again, but the tone of it was different. Lighter. Harriet looked angry. She knew which way the wind was blowing. The muttering changed to nods, and The Elders turned back to Amelia.

‘This is reckless,’ Harriet said, her voice rising to fill the Long Hall, but her voice lacked its earlier venom. ‘But if we’re going to entertain this madness, we need to set rules. She doesn’t go anywhere without one of you. You are in charge of her whereabouts at all times. She doesn’t interact with the children. I don’t want her telling them… unsavoury things.’

Amelia decided not to ask what she meant by that.

‘And if I so much as suspect she’s here for the wrong reasons, she will be banished to the shack to wait for the boat back,’ Harriet said.

The shack was a large ramshackle building near the dock, originally a boatshed back when the village had enough boats to require such a thing. Now it was mainly a place to store the seaweed until it was time for Tom to take it to the mainland.

It would be a terrible place to have to wait for transportation home. Cold and barren. Amelia would hate for that to happen when Tara was here to help for no reason other than the goodness of her heart.

But this was going better than expected, and Amelia knew she had to choose her battles carefully. She nodded, relieved despite the conditions. ‘Agreed.’

Harriet sighed heavily, rubbing her temples. ‘Fine. Bring her up. The bell will be rung.’

‘The bell?’ Amelia asked.

‘Of course. We must let island have its chance to speak on it,’ Harriet said. The other Elders mumbled their agreement.

Amelia sighed, nodded, and ran out.

She rushed back to the dock where Tara waited. Tom was lounging on the boat, his hat tipped over his eyes, but Tara was sitting bolt upright, her arms crossed tightly. She stood at Amelia’s approach.

‘Well?’ Tara asked without hope.

‘They’ll allow it,’ Amelia said, breathless from the run. ‘But there are rules.’

Tara raised an eyebrow. ‘Rules? Like what? Do I need to wear a tracking bracelet?’

‘What’s that?’

Tara shook her head. ‘Never mind. What are the rules?’

Amelia ran down them.

‘They think I’m going to corrupt the children?’ Tara asked when she was finished.

‘No, no, no…’ Amelia said, shaking her head vehemently. ‘They just think you’ll tell them something that will damage them forever.’

Tara’s eyebrow shot up.

‘I mean… Umm…’ Amelia stuttered.

‘You know what? Forget it. I won’t talk to the children,’ Tara said. But she looked deeply offended.

Amelia could only attribute her poor wording to the stress of the situation. She wished she didn’t have more to say. ‘Oh, and if anything goes… wrong, you’ll finish your stay in there,’ she said with a nod to the shack.

‘Is that your prison?’ Tara asked, frowning.

‘We don’t have one. We’ve never needed one. That’s just storage. You’ll simply be… stored.’

‘I see,’ Tara said, regarding the small building with mild worry.

Amelia let out a breathless laugh. ‘Don’t worry about that. You won’t end up there. They’ll soon come to like you. They just need to spend some time with you. Just… be yourself.’ She paused. ‘Well, maybe not too much yourself.’

That caused Tara to laugh. ‘Don’t worry. I’ll keep the lesbian thing my little secret.’

Amelia laughed nervously. ‘I didn’t mean that.’

Tara shrugged. ‘Yeah, but I should. Right?’

Amelia didn’t know how to answer that.

Tom tipped his hat back, watching the exchange with mild amusement. ‘I guess that means I’m released,’ he drawled. ‘When am I to come back?’

Amelia was thrilled to be rescued from that question. ‘I was on the mainland for about three days in total, so I think that’s the least you’d need. Do you think you could stay that long?’ she asked Tara.

Tara nodded. But Amelia could see the apprehension and understood it intimately. Amelia had just been the outsider; she knew the overwhelm of it. A new world was a big place. Even when it was as small as Solhaven.

‘Come on, then,’ Amelia said, holding out a hand to Tara. ‘Let’s go.’

Tara took her hand and stepped off the boat, onto the shore. Though it was practically a miracle that Amelia had gotten her this far, she knew that wasn’t the hardest thing that would happen in the next three days. The challenge was only just beginning.