standing on the front step, cell phone in hand. ?Ivy!
Thank God you?re back!? ?Is something wrong??
?We?ve got to get to Kelsey before she does something stupid. Stupider,? Beth corrected herself, grimacing. ?Get your car keys. I?ve got the address, sort of.?
?Where?s Dhanya??
?With Kelsey. And only a little more sober than she is.?
?Where?s Aunt Cindy?? Ivy asked. ?Out still.?
Beth?s cell phone rang. ?Here we go again.? After a moment of listening, she said, ?Dhanya, I told you before. Take the keys away from her. Throw them in the ocean if you have to. No, no! If s not a good idea for you to drive!?
?Back in a sec,? Ivy said. ?Should I get Will?? Beth called after her.
?No, he?s painting, and it?ll take too long for him to clean up.?
Ivy returned with her keys and wallet, and they sprinted to the car. ?Where are we going?? Ivy asked, starting the engine. ?To a road somewhere off Route Twenty?eight.?
?Beth, three?quarters of Cape Cod is off Twenty?eight!?
?She said Marsala Road. But I?ve never heard of it.? Ivy entered it into the GPS, with Orleans as the town, then Brewster, then Harwich. ?Nothing?s coming up.?
?She said they passed a lighthouse. Try Eastham and Chatham — they have lighthouses. Chatham first My cousin always goes where the money is.?
?Marsala Road, come on, Marsala Road,? Ivy said
?Morris Island Road!? Beth exclaimed suddenly. ?I bet that was it. She was slurring her words. I think there?s a place in Chatham named Morris Island.?
Ivy typed it in.
?I have an idea for a new app,? Beth added, ?one that interprets directions from drunken party girls.? She pointed to the highlighted route on the screen. ?There it is, south of the lighthouse.?
Ivy pulled out of the crushed stone driveway and onto Cockle Shell Road. ?I know the way as far as the lighthouse. Will and I walked that beach tonight.?
Ivy wound her way through the community. Once they got to Route 28, she pushed the speed limit, glad it was 11:50 p.m. and the weekend crowd had departed.
?I could strangle Kelsey,? Beth said. ?I could just strangle her.?
?Try to get her on her cell.?
?I did — I couldn?t.?
?Then try Dhanya again. We need an address.?
As Ivy drove, she thought about Will. He?d be upset with them for not asking for his help. But Ivy couldn?t ask one more favor, knowing all that he had already done for her, knowing that while she was kissing him, all she could think of?She?s not picking up,? Beth said. ?Keep trying.? They drove through the commercial edge of Chatham and passed the lighthouse. Beach houses lined both sides of the road, most of their windows dark. ?Stage Harbor should be coming up on the right,? Beth said, looking at the GPS screen. ?There it is. The road we?re on goes directly to Morris Island. ?
A minute later they entered the island?s wooded community. Ivy?s headlights showed a narrow, winding road and stripes of trees. ?Want me to keep going?
It?s not that big of a place, just a few streets,? she said, glancing at the map.
?Maybe we can go slowly and listen for the party.?
They rolled down their windows. Ivy slowed to a crawl whenever they saw lights through the trees, and listened intently. The road ended with a pair of driveways. As Ivy turned the car around, Beth tried to call Dhanya again.
“I’ve got her! Dhanya, listen to me. We?re close. What?s the address?.. Well, ask somebody! Who the heck is giving the party — they must know where they live!?
Beth turned to Ivy. ?Unbelievable! She?s trying to find the person whose booze they?ve been drinking.? Ivy shook her head, and drove slowly down the road they had just scouted. It wasn?t going to be a fun ride back to the inn, she thought.
?Ivy, look out!?
Headlights came out of nowhere. The person was driving crazily, as if no one else was on the road. Ivy stepped on the brake, then saw that stopping wouldn?t help. She had to evade, but the road was too narrow. She accelerated, trying to get to a driveway and pull in.
?Oh my God!? Beth screamed. Ivy yanked the wheel hard to the right. One moment she could feel the road under her car, the next, it was gone. Two wheels rose in the air as the car rolled, the world of night and trees turning around her and Beth.
?Beth? Beth?? Dhanya?s voice sounded small and far away as the cell phone bounced around the car.
The driver?s side slammed into something solid. Steel crumpled inward. Before she could cry out, Ivy?s world collapsed into a black hole.
FOR A MOMENT, IVY WAS AWARE OF NOTHING BUT darkness. It felt as if all of the night?s weight bore down on her, then, unexpectedly, the pressure eased.
?Beth? Beth, are you okay?? Her friend?s eyes fluttered open. ?Beth. Thank God,?
Ivy said with relief. ?We?ve got to get out of this car. My side is smashed in. We?ll have to use yours, okay?? Beth gazed at her wordlessly. ?You with me?? Ivy asked, uncertainly. Beth continued to stare at Ivy. ?I?ll help you,? Ivy said, trying to pull herself up, but she couldn?t move. ?On second thought, you may need to help me. I?m caught somehow.?
Beth looked at Ivy as if she couldn?t comprehend what she was seeing. ?What is it?? Ivy asked. Beth began to shake. ?Bern? Answer me.?
But it was as if her friend couldn?t hear or understand what she was saying.
?Answer me! Beth, please!?
Beth opened her mouth. She screamed and screamed.
?If s okay, it?s okay,? Ivy told her, trying to calm her. But Beth started to sob.
?We?re going to be okay. Oh, angels, help. Tristan, help. Tristan, we need you,?
Ivy called out.
At last she was free of the thing that restrained her. ?All right, now.? She touched Beth, then pulled back, surprised. She couldn?t feel Beth?s shoulder. She reached out again and gazed in disbelief as her own hand passed through her friend?s.
Then Ivy began to understand why Beth had screamed, why she was sobbing.
Free of her body, Ivy was light, as weightless as a moonbeam and floating steadily upward. Looking down, she saw her body in the mangled car, the airbag deployed, and the metal frame of the windshield bent inward. She saw her head against the crushed frame, blood darkening it.
The only pain Ivy felt was an intense yearning for those she loved. Below her, a night mist enveloped Beth and the twisted car. Along the narrow strip of road, another car raced away. The land and sea merged in darkness.
The longing to say good?bye was all that tethered Ivy to the night below. She spoke the names of those she loved, asking the angels to watch over them: ?Philip, Mom, Andrew, Beth, Will, Suzanne..
Tristan. Tristan.?
?My love.?
Ivy held still, suspended within a cathedral of starlight. The old world that turned beneath her grew still, as if time had stopped.
?Tristan??
?My love.?
?Tristan!? Ivy closed her eyes, so that his voice would become stronger in her.
?Can I really hear you? Is it possible? Oh, Tristan, even in death, I want you near me.?
?Even in death, my love.?
