Asthe fury of the storm grew, so did the screams and moans of the dead. When theyburst from the sea, Manda’s mind rebelled at the sight. Bodies that had beenwhole and firm in life were torn and ravaged. Clothes hung off them, torn intorags by the sea and wind. Eyes that had once been blue, or brown, or green, nowshown red in the night. Faces that had laughed or smiled in life howled indespair, or screamed in rage.
Mandawatched as they made their way from the beach below her to the village filledwith life. Her desire to join them vanished in the stark reality of theirpresence. There was no adventure here, no romantic tragedy, just fear and hate.There was no way she could get to the safety of the cottage where her Da and Manow sheltered. Her only hope was to hide here on the cliffs and hope they wouldpass her by.
Theyhad almost passed her by when one specter broke from the hoard and lookeddirectly at the place where she hid cowering in the sea grass. Stay away!She thought, but the ghost streamed toward her. Its passage seemed smooth andeffortless over the broken ground. When she jumped up to run, it closed thedistance between them in an instant. It only took a second for her to recognizehim . . . Sean.
Hisonce beautiful face was bloated. His smile was marred by missing teeth, andthose that remained were sharp and pointed like a shark. His eyes burned with afire neither the sea nor the storm could extinguish. Manda opened her mouth toscream, but her voice froze in her throat when the ghost invaded her body.
Hermuscles went rigid. The cold was so intense it burned. Worse than that was theattack on her mind. Sean poured all the sorrow, the regrets and the hate thathad driven him to open the door of his home to the revenants. He fed her thefear and revulsion he had felt when one of them invaded his mind andbody. No, she tried to scream, but her voice was frozen. Yes, hehissed, and took control of her body.
Shetried to fight him but it was useless. Her body was no longer her own. Hewalked her down to the shore, uncaring as she stumbled over sharp outcroppingsof stone and shale. By the time they reached the breakers she was cut andbruised, bleeding in a dozen places. He walked her into the ocean. Thesaltwater that licked at her body eagerly sucked the blood away. Sean drove heronward, past her knees, her waist, her neck. And finally, her head.
Mandatried not to breath in the cold sea, but Sean would not have it. He made herinhale the ocean as if it was a sweet summer breeze. Saltwater filled herthroat and lungs. She gagged, but only drew in more. When her heart stoppedbeating, Manda’s battered body was being drawn out to sea by the raging waves.She would be trapped within it until the fish, crabs and worms reduced it tonothing but bone.
* * *
Thenext day, William stood on the cliff overlooking the surging sea. Was Manda outthere, lost in its depths? No one, not even her Da or Ma had seen her sincebefore the storm. When the storm came, and the people of the island had tied asheep or goat to their sac-poles and retreated to the safety of their homes,Manda had not been with them. He had loved her their entire lives. He had neverstopped loving her, even when she had hardened her heart against him. If hehadn’t turned to Justine in a foolish attempt to make her jealous, they wouldbe together now. But the babe had changed everything. Once he had planted theseed in Justine’s belly, all their lives had changed.
“I’msorry,” he said, as he dropped the handful of late blooming flowers he hadgathered on his way to the top of the cliff into the sea below. Everyone in thevillage was looking for her, but he knew they wouldn’t find her. She was gone.She had finally fulfilled her dream of leaving the island. Just not the way shehad wanted.
Duringthe next year William watched his child grow. A second babe now filledJustine’s belly. He thought of Manda less with each passing day. At first, whenhe went to sea to fish with the rest of the men in the village he feared hewould find her ravaged body in the nets as he drew them in. As the monthspassed and the only things he found in the nets were struggling fish, theirmouths opening and closing in a futile effort to breath, Manda receded into thedepths of his memory.
Lifeon the island was too hard to allow time for thoughts of the past. At leastuntil the chill of October and the threat of storms rolling in from the northfilled him with dread. Had she joined the lost souls who returned to the islandwith the first storm of the season? Would he hear her voice entwined with themoans and shrieks of the dead mingled within the howls of the wind?
Thestorm, when it came, was unexpected. It blew in fast from the north. One minutethe sea was calm, and the next white caps rose up to slap at the sides of boatsracing for home. William reached the dock just as a flash of lightning torethrough the sky. He only had time to tie off a single bow line before the firstscreams of the dead reached him. He ran for his life, not even daring to lookback. When he reached his cottage, Justine had already tied a ewe to thesac-pole and was waiting for him at the door.
“Getinside,” she yelled as he reached the yard. William barely heard her over thescream of the pursuing hoard. He was hardly inside when Justine slammed thedoor closed and threw the bar in place. He was bending over, sucking wind andrubbing the pain in his side when Justine screamed, grabbed the babe and ranfor the bedroom where the shuttered windows blocked the view of the worldoutside.
