Evercrossed

by Elizabeth Chandler

  "STRAWBERRY DAYS!" IVY SAID SEVERAL HOURS LATER, happily slipping her hand in Guy's and gazing up at a banner that stretched between two antique fire trucks. The annual week long carnival, which raised money for the Cape's fire departments, was a colorful jumble of booths and rides spread beneath strings of lights.

  "Where do you want to start?" she asked.

  "Games," said Guy, smiling down at her. "I feel lucky tonight. How about darts? Over there."

  The booth, tended by a woman wearing a fire hat, had rows of red, white, and blue balloons. Guy plunked down two dollars.

  "Here's your darts," the woman said with a strong Massachusetts accent. "Good luck."

  Guy picked up a dart and turned it in his hands, examining it. "I can't remember . . . which way does it go?" he asked Ivy, then laughed at her reaction.

  "I'm kidding." Raising his arm, he aimed and threw. Pop!

  "One!" said the woman. He missed with the next dart. "One for two." Guy set his jaw and threw—Pop!—and threw again. Pop! "Three for four," the woman announced. Guy threw the final dart. Pop! "Four for five! Pick a prize, any row, sir!"

  Guy turned to Ivy. "What would you like?"

  "You choose," Ivy told him, curious to see what he would select. Guy studied the rainbow of stuffed animals. "Top row, third from the left." The woman handed him a plush white horse with wings. "It's either an angel horse or Pegasus," Guy told Ivy as he laid the stuffed toy in her hands.

  "Pegasus," she repeated. "You know your mythology."

  Guy gave her a crooked smile. "More proof that I'm a classy guy."

  "I always knew it! Thank you," Ivy said, tucking the toy under her arm. "Peg is very sweet."

  They moved on to another booth and took turns tossing hoops over bottles, then caught a ride on the Ferris wheel, rising and falling through the twinkling lights of the carnival.

  "Want another ride or dinner?" Guy asked her when they got off.

  "Dessert for me," Ivy said. "And then another ride. And then another dessert."

  He laughed and they walked with arms around each other, following the signs to the food concessions. On the way, Ivy was flagged down by Max.

  "Ivy, over here!" he called. He and Beth were sitting on a bench near the bumper cars. "Who's that?" Guy asked.

  "Max. And Beth."

  "Is Will here tonight?" Guy's voice held a tinge of uneasiness.

  "I think they all came together," she replied, and saw the guarded way Guy glanced around.

  "Why don't you get in line at the burger stand while I say hello," Ivy suggested.

  She joined Max and Beth, squeezing onto the bench. "Hey, where are the others?"

  Max pointed. "In the Dodg'ems. Beth didn't want to drive one. And I know how Bryan and Kelsey get into slamming cars, so I didn't want to either." Ivy smiled, then stood for a moment to watch. The bumper cars were the old fashioned kind, with tall black poles ending in snakelike tongues that licked and sparked across a metal ceiling. Will and Dhanya drove smoothly around the polished floor; Bryan, Kelsey, and someone else, spun their cars like lunatics, causing multiple crashes.

  "Is that Chase?" Ivy asked, surprised.

  "Yes," Max replied, when Beth didn't.

  "The smell," Beth murmured. "Ivy, that terrible smell."

  "Kind of like burnt hair?" Max asked. "Bumper cars always smell that way."

  Ivy sat down. "I didn't think Chase was coming tonight."

  "Neither did we," Max replied. "He was waiting in the parking lot and followed us in."

  "Be careful!" Beth said. "It's dangerous!" Ivy frowned. Was it Chase who was scaring Beth?

  "It's electric, but it's safe," Max assured her. Beth shook her head, twisting the chain of her pendant. They were carrying on two different conversations. Ivy realized, neither seeming aware that the other didn't understand.

  The cars stopped, and Kelsey, Bryan, and Chase kept up their boisterous shoving and laughing as they came down the exit ramp. Will and Dhanya followed quietly.

  "Hey, Ivy! You should have been out there with us, you and Guy," Kelsey said, then stopped to look around. "Where is Mystery Man?" Ivy pointed over her shoulder toward the burger stand.

  "Getting something to eat."

  "Mystery Man," Bryan said. "You mean our friendly local amnesiac?"

  "Where?" Chase asked, his gray eyes shining with curiosity.

  "The gorgeous guy, third in line," Kelsey told them.

  They craned their necks to see. When Ivy saw Will's eyes narrow, she turned to look as well. Guy was talking to a dark haired girl, shaking his head and gesturing forcefully, as if making a point.

  He walked away from the girl, but a moment later, after she said something to his back, he turned toward her again and continued the conversation, more heatedly than before. "Excuse me," Ivy said as she moved toward them.

  "Catfight!" Kelsey announced hopefully. Before Ivy reached Guy, the girl walked away. She was digging in her purse and Ivy caught a snatch of the ringtone from the girl's phone.

  The girl pressed the phone to her ear, then gazed back one more time at Guy.

  Ivy barely caught the sound of her light voice as the girl hurried away. "Did she say 'Bye, Luke'?" Ivy asked.

  Guy spun around. "What?"

  "I thought she called you 'Luke," Ivy said.

  "She didn't," he replied, but he wouldn't meet Ivy's eyes.

  "Do you know her, Guy?"

  "I've never seen her in my life. She was asking directions." He had gotten awfully riled up over a set of directions.

  "To where?" His eyes sparked.

  "Is this an interrogation?" Tilting her head to one side, Ivy studied him.

  "No."

  "Sorry," Guy apologized, his voice softening. "I shouldn't have snapped."

  After a moment. Ivy nodded. "And I shouldn't have pressed you."

  Guy looked past her, glancing around anxiously. "I'm really tired, Ivy. Do you mind taking me home?"

  "Don't you want to eat something?"

  "I have stuff in my cooler." She gave in with a sigh. Perhaps Luke was the name of the person who called the girl on her phone, Ivy thought, as they walked silently to her car. Even so, she knew that something had upset Guy and he was covering it up.

  When they arrived back at Willow Pond, Guy didn't want her to stay. "I'm going straight to bed," he said, climbing quickly out of the Beetle.

  Ivy opened her door and met him halfway around the car. "What if I just sit by the pond and check on you in a little while to make sure you're okay?"

  "No." The swiftness of his response made her blink. "I need some sleep, Ivy. I need ... some time to myself—some space."

  The same thing that she had asked of Will. Ivy's throat tightened. "I'll be better tomorrow. Don't forget to feed Pegasus," he added with a forced smile.

  "Call me," she said.

  Without replying, Guy brushed her cheek with the backs of his fingers and walked away.

  IVY PACED THE FIRST FLOOR OF THE COTTAGE, mentally replaying the scene between Guy and the girl at the carnival, trying to interpret it. Guy's gestures suggested strong emotions, but whether she had seen anger, frustration, or disbelief, Ivy couldn't say.

  If the girl had claimed she knew Guy, why hadn't he told Ivy, so they could pursue whatever clues he now had? Maybe he wanted to check things out without her looking over his shoulder. Maybe he didn't like what he had heard about himself; maybe it was something terrible.

  No, Ivy told herself. Your mind has been poisoned by Beth and Will.

  Still, once suspicion had taken root, she couldn't get rid of it. Each time she passed through the kitchen, she saw Beth's laptop lying open on the table. Was it a desire to help or a failure to trust that tempted her?

  She wasn't sure, but at eleven fifteen, with the others still out, she sat down to Google the name "Luke."

  "Luke" and what? Ivy drummed her fingers. "Luke" and "missing person," she typed, then laughed at herself. Only 51,800 results. She tried "Luke" and
"missing person" and "Massachusetts." 8,310 results. As she scanned them she found entries for hospitals named St Luke and people named Luke who were not from Massachusetts but had a relative there or had passed through there.

  She could eliminate "St." and "hospital" from the search, but did it really make sense to restrict her search to Massachusetts? Why not Rhode Island or any other state, she thought; Cape Cod was crawling with tourists—the girl at the carnival could have been one.

  Perhaps if she searched by date. But when did Guy go missing? The day he was left for dead on the beach, or could it have been some time before? The articles and postings always mentioned age, but she didn't know exactly how old he was.

  Ivy continued scanning, clicking on entries, reading description after description of people who had disappeared into thin air. She'd had no idea there were so many.

  Had something terrible happened to them, she wondered, or had they "escaped" and lied to start new lives? Engrossed in what she was reading, she didn't hear the footsteps. She wasn't aware of Will until he leaned on the back of her chair.

  "Ivy, what are you doing?" She slammed down the computer lid and whirled around.

  "Will! You scared me," she said, knowing that was a flimsy excuse for her overreaction. Will remained unruffled.

  "Who's Luke?" When he reached as if he was going to open the laptop, she laid her hand on it. "I don't know."

  "Is that Guy's real name?"

  "If it is," she replied, "I'm sure you would have discovered that by now with your thorough investigation."

  Will grimaced. "I'm not your enemy. Ivy."

  "And you think that Guy is?"

  He folded his arms. "I think you can't tell the difference between a guy caring about you and a guy using you."

  Ivy felt the heat rise in her cheeks. "Get out of here! Get out now!"

  Before Will could slam the door behind him. Ivy closed down her search and turned off the computer. If only she could turn off the growing fear in her mind.

  Twenty four

  FROM THE MOMENT SHE AWOKE TUESDAY MORNING, Ivy checked her cell phone, but Guy didn't call. It was hard not to phone him, but he'd said he wanted space, so she forced herself to be patient.

  Late in the afternoon, finding the phone's silence unbearable, she drove to St. Peter's to practice piano, hoping to fill her head with Chopin, Schubert, and Beethoven. At six thirty, she picked up a sandwich at a cafe near the church, then returned to practice.

  What if something has happened to Guy? she thought, and almost used that as an excuse to call him. But she knew that Kip had her phone number "in case of emergency" and would have contacted her if there had been a problem. At eight twenty, she drove home, setting her phone on the car seat so she could quickly pick it up.

  Arriving at the Seabright, Ivy saw that both Kelsey's and Will's cars were gone.

  The cottage's windows were dark, and inside it was silent. Ivy walked quietly, reluctant to disturb the building's twilight In the kitchen only the night light burned, shining on a note from Aunt Cindy that said she would be out for the evening.

  Hoping to take her mind off Guy, Ivy headed upstairs to fetch her paperback mystery. Halfway up the steps she stopped. Candlelight flickered against the bedroom's low ceiling. She tiptoed to the top of the stairs and stared with amazement at Beth, who was sitting on the floor by Dhanya's bed, focusing on the Ouija board.

  Above the circle of tea lights, Beth's profile was ghostly white, a streak of crimson staining her cheek. She gave no sign of knowing that Ivy was moving toward her.

  With her fingers resting on the planchette, Beth closed her eyes and chanted softly. Ivy leaned forward, trying to hear the words. "Answer, answer, give me your answer" Beth murmured.

  Seconds ticked by. Beth's hands, shoulders, and head were still. The only movement was that of her eyes beneath pale, closed lids. She was like a person dreaming, her eyes darting behind the lids, seeing things that Ivy could not.

  " Answer, answer, give me your answer."

  The planchette started to move, its motion erratic at first.

  " Answer, answer!" Beth chanted, her voice more insistent. The triangular piece moved in a slow circle around the board—counterclockwise.

  Ivy counted six circles. Then six more, and six more again.

  " Answer, answer, give me your answer, Is it you?"

  The planchette moved to the letter G.

  Ivy held her breath. Guy or Gregory?

  The plastic slid sideways and down to the letter R.

  Ivy watched, nerves tingling.

  E...G...O...R...Y...

  "Gregory," Ivy mouthed.

  I...S...

  "Is," she said softly, but Beth, deep in a trance, didn't hear.

  H...

  "Stop it!" Ivy cried out.

  E...

  "Stop it, Beth!"

  R...

  "Stop it now!''

  Before the planchette touched the final E, Ivy leaned down and swept it toward GOOD BYE, then off the board.

  Beth's head jerked back as if Ivy had slapped her. "Beth, what are you doing?"

  Ivy demanded. "I can't believe you'd try to—"

  "He's here" Beth said in a faraway voice. 'There's no stopping him now."

  A loud knock made Ivy jump. She glanced toward the stairway—someone was at the cottage door. Beth leaned forward and calmly blew out each candle. Before she reached the last Ivy ran down the steps. Taking a deep breath, she opened the front door.

  "Oh, thank God!" she said.

  "Ivy, are you okay?" Guy asked and quickly stepped inside. "You're trembling. What's wrong?"

  "I'm just—just spooked." It was too dark to see his eyes, but Ivy could feel Guy studying her.

  "Spooked by me?" he asked.

  She laughed shakily. "No. Beth—" How could she explain? "It's a long story."

  "So let's take a long walk," he said.

  "THE THING I LOVE MOST ABOUT BEING ON A BEACH IS that one half of the world is the sky," Ivy told Guy as they stood at the top of the steps that led down the bluff.

  "One half of the world is the stars," he replied. Ivy turned to him. Tristan, she thought, do you remember? Do you remember kissing me in a cathedral of stars?

  Guy gazed upward, his head back, taking in the stars. "They're so bright when you're away from town lights. They look closer."

  "Close enough to touch," Ivy said.

  "There's Orion, the hunter." Guy pointed. "I recognize his sword." They walked down the steps together, removed their shoes, and followed the path through the dunes. "Want to walk by the water's edge?" Guy asked. "Now that I know how to float," he added with a smile, "I'm not afraid of drowning in an inch of ocean."

  Ivy reached for Guy's hand and they walked toward the water. The tide was receding, leaving behind a cache of silver pebbles and shells. After they had walked a distance, Ivy turned to look at their footprints, his close to hers, matching strides. Guy turned too, then smiled and put his arm around her as they continued to walk.

  "So tell me what spooked you,". Guy said, "Something about Beth?" Ivy nodded.

  "Beth is psychic." Guy slowed midstride. "She is?"

  "Yes, she truly has the gift. But it's a curse, too. What Beth sees, what she senses, often frightens her."

  "You said she helped you last year. Did she figure out that Gregory was the killer?"

  "She figured out an important part of it."

  "What did Beth see tonight?" he asked.

  Ivy shrugged off his question. "It doesn't matter. I overreacted. Sometimes I think that Beth mixes up what she sees and what she imagines. She's got a very fertile imagination."

  With one hand, Guy turned Ivy's face toward him and gazed at her steadily. "I think it does matter, because it upset you. But you'll tell me when you're ready."

  Then he dropped his arm from her shoulder, and said, "Watch this!"

  He dashed into the water, up to his thighs, then turned to grin at her, letting a wave race past him.
"Are you impressed?" he asked. "Tell me you're impressed."

  "Very!"

  She ran toward him, kicking up the frothy surf. They held hands facing each other, as wave after wave rushed at them. Each time a wave receded, she felt him gripping her hand harder. "You don't like the undertow."

  "It scares me more than a breaking wave," he admitted. "It feels like the ocean wants to pull me back into the darkness."

  "I won't let the ocean have you," she said. "Nothing can make me let go."

  "How did I ever get this lucky? I must have done something really good in my life."

  "You did many good things." He laughed.

  "No, I know it!" she insisted.

  Laughing still, he lifted her left hand and kissed her on the knuckle.

  "And I believe in something much more than luck," she said.

  "Your angels," he guessed. "You've nearly made a believer out of me... Nearly."

  They waded back to shore and followed their own footprints, returning to the path through the dimes. Halfway up the wooden steps, at the landing with the facing benches, Guy reached up and caught Ivy by the elbow. "Can we stop? I want to take a look," he said.

  Together they gazed out at the sea and sky, a black and silver eternity.

  "I feel like we're floating in midair," he said.

  "Halfway between heaven and earth," Ivy replied.

  Guy turned to her. Holding her face with both hands, he tilted it up to him, then bent down to kiss her low, in the tender notch of her collarbone. His mouth moved up to her throat, softly pressing against it. "I love you. Ivy."

  She rested against him. "And I love you." Always have, she said silently.

  "I thought I'd lost all that a person can," Guy said. "But I told myself that things couldn't get worse—without an identity, there was nothing left to lose. I was wrong. I'm terrified now that I will lose you. If I lose you, Ivy—"

  "Hush!" She stroked his cheek with her hand.

  "If I lose you, it would have been better to drown."

  "You're not going to lose me." He shook his head. "But if something should come between us—"

  "Nothing can," she said. "I promise you, nothing in heaven or earth can come between us." They turned to climb the rest of the steps and walked slowly around the inn, his arm around her waist, her arm around his. There was no need to speak, no desire to.