Find Me (Immersed Book 1)

by Francesca Riley

“You’ve been so busy, Skye,” Amber purred.

  “Yeah!” Ethan agreed, “All those flyers! Must have taken hours, they’re all over!”

  “Not exactly all over,” Amber said. The others looked surprised at the correction. “Oh. Sorry,” Amber explained, her expression earnest. “I just meant, Mum said someone who looked exactly like Skye was in her shop the other day, and – it sounded kind of weird to me, but – Mum said she was just about to serve her when the girl, pretty sure it was you Skye, right? Well, Mum said Skye just kind of flipped out – threw a bunch of café fliers on the floor and like, ran.”

  Everyone at the table stared at Skye.

  “Mum felt just terrible,” Amber continued in the same seemingly sincere voice. “She said they’d been talking about one of those two dead guys? So she figured Skye knew them. That the shock of hearing about it like that upset her. And I had to tell her, yeah, Skye definitely knew them. But Mum put the flyers on the counter for you anyway, Skye.”

  Dead? Skye swallowed. “Two guys?” Her voice came out croaky but Amber seemed to have no trouble hearing her.

  “Yes. I’m so sorry Skye. Those two guys you were with at Ciarlan Cove the night of the beach party. They were friends of yours, right? Or was it more like just a fling? Palling around in the water like that – and here we were thinking you couldn’t swim.”

  Skye’s heart pounded, the room receding as though viewed through the wrong end of a telescope. They were dead?

  27. Confrontations

  Skye’s would-be attackers, Mark and Stevie – dead. Café noise around her was drowned out by internal static, Hunter’s voice echoing in her head. They won’t ever try to hurt you again.

  Amber’s smile was honeyed. “Can’t be too grief-stricken I guess, Skye. You looked even cosier swimming with your new playmate a couple of days ago.”

  Skye stared at her, struggling to register this additional revelation. She couldn’t mean Hunter? He was unseeable, beyond memory.

  “What are you on about, Amber? She doesn’t swim.” Ethan frowned.

  “Skye doesn’t know anyone here except us.” Morgan sounded angry. “And I can promise you she isn’t into ‘palling around’ with strange guys in the water.” Then she hesitated and looked at Skye. “I mean, you do know one other guy, but...” Skye’s heart sank as suspicion of her deception began to dawn on Morgan’s face.

  Amber didn’t give Skye a chance to respond. “I’m not kidding. The beach party? Well, some of us walked to Ocean Beach, checked out Ciarlan Cove on the way. Skye was with two guys, looking like they might need some...privacy.” Amber’s eyes slid to Ethan, gauging his reaction. Morgan and Ethan were unmoving, except for their heads which turned from Amber to Skye.

  “Sure enough,” Amber continued, “I looked back seconds later and saw them all jump into the water together. I was so shocked. I just, like, left. But soon after I had to go back for something…and sure enough, they were all in the water together, looking pretty cosy. Quite the surprise after that drama in practically ankle-deep water before. Had us well fooled with your whole ‘ohh, I’m afraid of the water’ thing.”

  The honeyed look vanished, Amber’s eyes venomous. “So poor you, Skye,” she sneered, “You must be devastated losing two…close…friends like that. Although, like I said, you didn’t look too distressed with your new friend. Kudos by the way – he was gorgeous.”

  “Skye?” Morgan’s voice sounded odd.

  Skye looked at Morgan, her mind spinning. With difficulty she managed to get her voice to work. “I... I was with a friend in the Bay. He was...helping me get good with water.”

  “It didn’t look like you needed much help,” Amber said, “And you were swimming like a fish with your other two friends, the ones who’re...the ones you – lost.”

  “They weren’t friends!” Skye snapped. “I didn’t even know them.” Ethan’s face lightened at her denial.

  “So, you weren’t with them on the rocks?” Amber’s face was pink with feeling.

  “I was, but – “

  “And you didn’t jump into the water with them?”

  “No! I jumped, but not with them!” Skye couldn’t believe this. After what she’d been through, to be accused of something so false, by Amber of all people. “I was escaping.”

  Silence fell. Then, “What do you mean, ‘escaping’?” Ethan frowned.

  “I had nowhere to go except the water. So…I jumped into the sea.”

  They stared uncomprehendingly at her.

  “But how could you? Literally I mean.” Morgan squinted as she tried to make sense of what she was hearing. “I mean, Skye – you just…freak out in the sea.”

  She saw that the idea of her and water just did not compute. Drawing a shaky breath, she faced Morgan. “When I was waiting for you, some other guys joined the beach party.”

  Morgan nodded slowly, her eyes widening.

  Skye found her breath disappearing and had to concentrate to make words come out of her tight throat. “Two of them followed me to Ciarlan Cove.”

  “Skye…” Morgan’s voice was low, horrified. “Did… Skye, are you saying they…”

  “They tried to…but – I got away, sort of, and then…”

  “Sort of. What do you mean you sort of got away? Morgan sounded like she wanted to comfort Skye, punch someone, and be sick at the same time. “Are you all right?”

  Skye nearly smiled. “Yeah, I’m okay.”

  Hey baby…miss me? Revulsion billowed at the memories. Mark and Stevie’s sick grins, that look in their eyes. Her leap into space. She swallowed. “Lesser of two evils,” she said quietly. “It was jump or be jumped.” She attempted a weak smile but her effort at bravado fell flat, Morgan just staring at her, aghast.

  Skye forced a shrug. “Not really such a hard choice if you think about it. I was terrified, so focused on getting away from them that one fear basically overrode the other. Or was stronger at least.”

  “Then what happened?” Morgan pressed.

  Skye took a deep breath, “They followed me in.”

  “Skye.” Morgan’s voice was a whisper. “How did you get away?”

  “Well…” but this was where Hunter came in. Skye hesitated, weighing her words. How did she tell this and leave Hunter out?

  “Skye, what?”

  There was no avoiding it. “And then...this guy – my friend, Hunter – stopped them.” The power, the intensity of the warmth that flooded her then astounded her. Saying it out loud made it real, made him real all over again, and the depth of her gratitude, the fresh realisation of what he’d saved her from almost hurt as it raced through every part of her. The people around her seemed pale, inconsequential, in the potent brilliance of Hunter’s memory.

  “Thank God,” Morgan breathed. “But why didn’t you say anything? Why didn’t you tell me?”

  Skye knew she didn’t just mean about the attack. “I just – with the café and everything – I mean, nothing actually happened. And the sports team had left. So I thought I’d just wait, tell you later. But I guess I sort of…didn’t.”

  Morgan turned slowly to Amber, her eyes disdainful. “What was it you said, Amber? Getting ‘cosy’? And you would have just let it happen…”

  Amber reddened while Jasmine focused intently on her soda. Then Amber spoke, her face tight. “I’m so sorry Skye. I mean, clearly, I completely misread that whole swimming-together-romance thing. I can’t tell you how bad I feel about that.” Her tone was sarcastic but she suddenly hesitated, looking momentarily disconcerted.

  Then she glanced at Ethan, still watching Skye, and her face hardened. “But one thing seems kind of weird to me. If I got this bit right – you were in the water with them, right? And now…they’re dead. The day they died was the day they swam with you...”

  The silence that followed was profound, despite the loud murmur of the café. It was the restaurant, the bookseller, all over again. The Sebastian’s ancient history was still village fodder. Seeing the other
s exchange glances, she wished she didn’t understand why.

  But she was bewildered: how could the two guys be dead? They’d been part of that sports team. Everyone had seen them leave, hadn’t they? Had waved the bus off. Once again she heard Hunter’s words in her head. That they wouldn’t try to hurt her again. Ever.

  “That’s bullshit, Amber,” Ethan suddenly said. His tone was mild, his face calm, like this was any old discussion. “As if Skye had anything to do with whatever happened to them.” Some of Skye’s tension eased.

  “I didn’t say she had anything to do with it!” Amber squeaked, embarrassed.

  “I don’t see why every single bad thing that happens around here has to get connected to stupid old stories,” Morgan said. “Besides, it’s not like they drowned, is it?” Skye’s heart thudded. There was an awkward pause, and Morgan said weakly “Kidding, right…? Wouldn’t we have heard about it?”

  Amber shook her head slowly, looking as if she would give anything to say otherwise, and regretted bringing it up at all. “It’s been going ‘round the village. I guess you’ve been so busy with the café you’ve missed the talk. I couldn’t see who they were that day, but as soon as Mum told me I realised they’d been the guys that Skye swam with.” Morgan glared and Amber looked even more remorseful. “I mean, got away from,” she amended awkwardly.

  “I heard about the drownings.” Ethan looked serious. “Skye, did you get their names?”

  “Mark…” She had to clear her throat to get their names out. “And…and Stevie.”

  “Yeah, that was them. They weren’t part of that sports team. They were from around here – the Mulligan boys,” Ethan said. Amber nodded in confirmation.

  Mulligan boys. Skye had heard that name before. In Fallsmouth? When she’d missed the ferry, the man Tank had said she wouldn’t want to get in with – the Mulligan boys. He’d been right.

  “They were found washed up on Ocean Beach,” Ethan continued, “The day after the beach party. They found Mark first and Stevie later that evening.”

  Skye saw again the body on the stretcher, dark hair peeping from beneath the sheet. She’d thought it was Hunter. She felt sick.

  “Yeah, they were local,” Ethan said quietly. “I’d heard stuff about them but…”

  “Stuff?” Morgan queried. Skye’s stomach knotted tighter.

  Ethan looked embarrassed. “Yeah. Like what Skye was just saying.”

  “Are you for real?” Morgan sounded incredulous. “You knew, and you thought it was cool to unleash them at the party? On Skye?” Her voice rose.

  “Hey, back off, Morgan. It’s hardly Ethan’s fault!” Amber jumped to his defence.

  “No, it’s fine, Amber,” Ethan responded, “I get it.” He glanced at Skye. Then he directed a challenging look at Morgan. “But I didn’t know. It was just something I’d heard. And some of us choose not to listen to talk,” he glanced at Skye again before looking pointedly at Morgan. “It can do more harm than good, yeah?” Skye knew that they weren’t talking about the two guys and their shoddy reputations anymore. Somehow it had become about her, her past again.

  “Maybe they did drown,” Ethan mused, “but that’s nothing for anyone to get excited about. After your friend stepped in, they must have taken the saddle path to Ocean Beach.”

  An inexplicable image of the two boys disappearing abruptly under the water with cries of terror flashed into her mind. Where did that come from? Her skin crawled, and nausea unlike her revulsion at the topic of conversation weakened her for a moment.

  “They were okay last time you saw them?” Ethan clarified. Skye recalled the slackness in Mark and Stevie’s faces as they’d turned away, walking until it got too deep, then swimming. She’d stopped watching them then… She nodded, hoping he couldn’t see the fear in her heart. It couldn’t have been Hunter – he’d been with her.

  “Maybe we missed them coming back to Bascath Beach, and they went ‘round to Ocean Beach some time that night. It could have been anything.”

  “Oh!” Jasmine offered, looking pleased to have a more positive role in the drama. “I saw something, remember? I saw this big shadow go by me that day, earlier, just past the waves. Actually, more than one, so maybe it was sharks?”

  Skye remembered the movement she’d seen herself in the dark water before leaving the beach that evening. Could it have been sharks she’d seen?

  “Not likely, Jaz,” Amber shook her head. “Not a mark on them from what Mum heard. I told you that already.”

  “Oh, yeah. Now I think about it, it looked like people. Hey – maybe it was Mark and Stevie? Oh, but it couldn’t have been. It was earlier, when Skye couldn’t swim in the shallows...” Jasmine said, then bit her lip at the faux pas. Receiving withering looks she raised defensive hands, “I’m not saying it was people, just, like, shadows, okay? No need to look at me like I’m crazy. It was scary. Geez, just trying to help.”

  “Yeah, thanks, that was a great help, Jasmine.” Morgan’s voice was droll, and Jasmine giggled. Suddenly the atmosphere was lighter, the relief at the broken tension palpable.

  “So yeah, it was probably a rip.” Amber’s glance at Skye was almost apologetic.

  “Hey Amber, you like this one,” Ethan said as a new song began. “Dance?” He stood, offering his hand to her. She hesitated, looking at Skye again, then went with Ethan to the small crowded dance space between tables. Jasmine excused herself saying she’d spotted someone she knew on the other side of the room.

  Left alone, Morgan and Skye contemplated each other. Skye knew she’d hurt her.

  “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me,” Morgan’s voice was low. “What if...” then perhaps remembering the attackers were dead, she broke off. After a pause, she said “You said you’d take me with you next time you went to meet…Hunter?”

  “I know. I’m sorry, Mags,” she said softly. “I was trying to get better in the water – you know. Hunter’s been helping me. Surprise,” she added weakly, trying a smile.

  Morgan stared past the other tables, out towards the Bay, just a glimmer of darkness now beyond the bright glass. “Remember the strange things that have been happening around here?” She looked at Skye again. “There’ve been disappearances, girls with big gaps in their memories, girls being assaulted...” She paused, then said quietly, “The last girl who disappeared? She turned up. Amber’s mum did the flowers for her funeral.”

  Skye remembered the hushed conversation she’d overheard in the florist. She felt sickened again. As if staged, the café doors opened and Skye turned to see the blond woman from the florist enter: Amber’s mother. The resemblance was obvious now. Spotting Morgan, she made a beeline for their table, smiling delightedly.

  Skye tensed, embarrassed. The last time she’d seen her, a few overheard words had sent Skye tearing out of the store and over the sands, scattering flyers in her wake. She could only imagine what Amber had said about her. Morgan stood and returned the woman’s embrace, then made introductions. “Skye, this is Mrs Robertson, Amber’s mum.”

  “Lord, you make me feel old with that ‘Mrs’ business. Angie, please, I insist.”

  Skye managed a small smile.

  “Oh, I remember you from my store the other day. Skye, did you say? So you’re Daniel’s little girl, all grown up. Lovely to properly meet you. I see your mother in you, Skye. A real beauty, she was. Daniel turned all our heads, truth be told, but no one stood a chance once the lovely Elise turned up.” Her smile was genuine, if a little wistful, and her elegantly made-up face was kind. Skye’s tight stomach eased a little.

  “I can see a little of Daniel in you too. He was a real heart-breaker, that one, ‘til he got his own heart broken, poor lamb.” She looked suddenly uncomfortable, and adroitly turned the conversation to the café opening. As she congratulated Morgan, she also surveyed the room, waving at people she knew, with a wink for Amber, still dancing with Ethan.

  Skye found Angie a little overwhelming, but was warming to her. Angie excus
ed herself. “I mustn’t monopolise you two ladies, I’ll be scaring the lads away.” She hesitated before saying, “Skye, I understand you were friends with the Mulligan boys who drowned? I just wanted to say…I’m sorry for your loss – and sorrier than I can say that you had to find out like that, in my store.”

  Amber, joining them, caught the last of her mother’s speech and looked mortified. Under Angie’s sympathetic gaze Skye felt her cheeks burn. She shook her head, “Thanks, but that was – a misunderstanding. I thought…I’d thought you were talking about someone else – someone different, not them.”

  “Mum, just drop it – I made a mistake. She didn’t know them, okay?” Amber hissed.

  Angie’s eyebrows rose. “Sorry, Amber, I’m sure.” After an awkward pause, Angie turned to Skye and with good grace said “Well, Skye, I’m sorry if anything you overheard distressed you. But I have to say, I’m not sorry to hear that they weren’t friends of yours.”

  “Why?” Skye asked.

  “Well…” Angie looked around at the pensive faces. “Not to speak ill of the dead, but… Some of the things that have been happening around here lately…well, they might not be the great loss to the village as first thought.” She glanced at Amber who looked uncomfortable. “It’s odd, though,” she added. “No rips, and both such experienced swimmers. But I must stop talking or Amber’ll never speak to me again.” She smiled at Amber’s obvious discomfort. “Enough with the long face. Come and buy your mother something delicious.”

  “Well, that was...different,” Morgan said quietly after Amber and Angie had left her and Skye alone together. Skye nodded, biting her lip.

  “Hey, Morgan, what you were saying before about girls disappearing, and losing their memories... What Angie said – do you think it was the...Mulligans behind it all?”

  “I didn’t. But, maybe it was.” Morgan frowned. Then she shook her head. “You know what I think? Hunter might be my new favourite person. When I think what he saved you from.”

  “Me too,” Skye said softly.

  “But I still want to meet him. Deal? I don’t know when. This place’ll have me chained by the ankle. But maybe next time you see him –” Morgan’s attention became riveted on the door. “I don’t believe it.”