Eliza wasn’t sure about all of the details. But her daddy got angry at Mama. And something must’ve happened. An accident maybe. Because one morning Eliza woke up in the room at the Palace where she was staying with Mama and Daniel. But she was alone.
“Mama?” she had cried out. Her heart pounded loud and she felt sick. “Daniel? Where are you?”
And then Aunt Betsy had come into the room. The woman stood there, her hands on her hips. Her eyes looked different than before. Meaner. “It’s a tragedy, Eliza.”
Who was Eliza? She had blinked a few times. “I’m Lizzie.”
“You’re Eliza now. Your father wants you to be Eliza. That’s your given name.” Her aunt didn’t say anything for a long time. Then the woman sat on the edge of the bed and shrugged. “There’s no easy way to say this, Eliza. Your mama and brother are gone.”
Her daddy had come into the bedroom then. “They’re in the ocean, Eliza. They didn’t make it. You’re going to live with me, now. Here at the beach.”
Lizzie didn’t understand, not then or now. Her mama and brother were in the ocean? What did that mean?
At first, Lizzie would stand at the water’s edge and call them. “Mama? Daniel!” But they never called back and they never came out of the ocean. So Lizzie lived at the Palace with her daddy and her aunt.
And eventually Lizzie became Eliza.
The other girls moved into the Palace a few at a time. Some of them were older teenagers and some were young. They wore fancy dresses and every night the men came to their rooms. That’s what the girls told Eliza at lunch and dinner.
But Daddy didn’t like Eliza talking to the other girls. “You’re different, Eliza,” he would tell her. “I’m saving you for something special.”
A tear slid down Eliza’s cheek. “You restore my soul…” Her whisper faded. For a long time she believed God had died in the sea with her mother and brother. But here at the ocean she believed she could see Him. Far off in the horizon.
There at the water’s edge.
“Eliza! Go!” Her aunt was on her feet, her full face redder than usual. “You’re wasting time.”
Fear sent chills down Eliza’s arms and legs. She ran down the wet sand and splashed her way through the surf. This was where she belonged. Here in the soft blue waves she was free. All afternoon, as long as Eliza played in the water and swam beneath the sunshine, she wished she might stay all day.
Aunt Betsy and the two guards stationed up the path from the beach wouldn’t bother her.
But when Eliza couldn’t take another hour of sunshine and surf, when she was so tired all she wanted was to curl up and fall asleep on the sand, that’s when her aunt would turn her over to the guards. And they would take her back to the Palace.
Eliza dove into the clear gray water just beyond the surf. I would swim to the other side of the sea if I could. She dropped below the surface and pulled at the water. The waves were rough today. The gray sky getting darker. One stroke, two. Three. She lifted her head above the waves and cried out, the way she did every day at this time. “Daniel!” She scanned the watery horizon for her brother. Her best friend. “Daniel, where are you?”
She was too far out for Aunt Betsy to hear her. “Mama! Come back!” Her tears mixed with the salt water on her soft cheeks. “Daniel?”
A few more strokes and Eliza stopped swimming. She was farther out than usual, bobbing about in the salty water. Before her life changed, she and her family would come to the beach four times a year. At the start of each season. A holiday, her parents had called it.
But this was no holiday now.
Clouds grew darker in the distance. A storm was on its way, which meant her time at the beach was about to be cut short. She swam out a little farther. Not yet. She didn’t want to go back. Again she looked out across the ocean. If God had her mother and brother, then maybe He would give them back to her. Out here on the waves.
If only she could yell loud enough.
“Daniel?” Eliza caught a mouthful of seawater and she started to cough. “Mama, where are you?”
Suddenly beneath the water something grabbed her legs. Not a fish or a shark, because it didn’t have teeth. It was strong and warm and it had a terrible hold on her.
“Stop!” she yelled but her voice got lost on the wind. What is it? What’s happening? She put her face underwater and opened her eyes. And that’s when she saw the terrible truth.
A monster didn’t have hold of her legs.
The current did.
Watch out for the undertow, Eliza. That’s what Aunt Betsy always told her. Don’t swim out too far or the water will take you away forever.
“No!” Eliza screamed. “Let me go!” She could kick her way out of this current. She was a strong swimmer. She moved her feet in frantic bursts, and made big grabs at the water.
But the ocean wouldn’t let her go.
The fight was too much for her so she stopped. Stopped kicking and pulling at the sea and she turned on her back. Suddenly the scared feeling inside her melted away. “You guide me in paths of righteousness”—her words were quieter now—“for Your name’s sake.”
Storm clouds moved overhead.
