by Sara Clancy
“Just rest. It’ll only be a little longer,” Jezebel cooed, lovingly brushing loose strands of hair off of Annabel’s forehead. “We’ll be off this island by nightfall. I promise.”
All Annabel wanted to do was sleep. To escape the aches of her body and the constant pounding within her head. The promise of a reprieve covered her like a warm blanket. A gentle breeze touched her skin, carrying the scent of hay and the sea. Everything was quiet. Peaceful. Just rest for a little while.
“Do you think they’ll follow us?” Annabel asked, barely able to work her lips.
“I’ve always heard ghosts are stuck where they died,” Jezebel replied meekly. “How so many got there in the first place...”
Her words trailed off, lost under Henry’s ready reply.
“Quarantine.”
“What?” Jezebel asked.
The gravel crunched as Henry shifted his weight. “When the plague was at its height, some of these islands were set aside to house the sick. Basically, isolated places for them to be left to die. In some cases, they didn’t even bother to come and bury the dead. They just sealed the places up. I think that’s why the Wilhelmina was here.”
Annabel’s brow furrowed. “Who?”
“The ghost ship,” Jezebel explained quickly. “The one that sunk us.”
“I’ve just been thinking that it was one of the shipments destined for the town. But everyone died before they made it,” Henry said.
“How do you know this stuff?” Jezebel said.
Henry looked befuddled. “How do you not? Seriously, visiting these sights is the only reason I signed up for this tour.”
The sisters looked at each other.
It fell to Jezebel to answer. “We were going to that private beach they advertised.”
Henry chuckled slightly, the sound abrupt and strange and drawing the sisters in. Sitting in the warmth of the sun, it was hard to believe everything that had just happened. So easy to write it off as a nightmare and never think of it again. Sleep rose up to take Annabel and she was running out of reasons not to go. The Plague Doctors will remain where they are. We’ll go home. Everything will be alright. Her eyelids began to drop. A second before they sealed closed, she caught the dark expression that crossed Henry’s face.
Reaching out blindly to swat his arm, she asked, “What is it?”
“I just can’t shake the feeling that they let us go.”
“We were lucky,” Jezebel cut in. “And we were strong. And we survived.”
“It was too easy.”
“What part of that was easy, Henry?”
Annabel’s wince had Jezebel lowering her voice and whispering apologies.
“We got out,” Jezebel whispered. “We’re safe.”
“To do what? What are we supposed to do now? What are we supposed to tell people?” he asked.
“That there was a storm and we got shipwrecked. I’m not insane. We’ll keep the rest to ourselves.”
Henry’s voice dropped into a harsh whisper, one he only wanted the sisters to hear. “What if that’s what they want? Why they let us go when they knew we were on this road?”
“What are you talking about?” Jezebel asked.
Ice water replaced Annabel’s blood as she pried her eyes open again. “Search parties. People will go to look for other survivors.”
“They’ll head right into that town,” Jezebel muttered, rattled by the realization shattering her carefully constructed hope.
“So, what are we going to say to stop them?” Henry asked.
He looked at both of the sisters in turn. Jezebel’s reply surprised them both.
“Maybe they already know.”
“The town folk? They know about the ghost town?” Henry asked.
“Someone locked those gates originally,” she argued. “No one came looking for us when the boat sank. Hell, they only live a few miles away. Maybe they know.”
A creeping sense of dread polluted the peace Annabel had been wallowing in. It settled over them while their small group continued to chat excitedly. The dust continued to rise, signally the approaching aid.
“It doesn’t matter,” Jezebel said at last. “We keep our mouths shut. We keep our heads down. And we go home.”
Annabel clung to the conviction in those words as sleep finally succeeded in dragging her down. The last noise she head was from the low, mournful cry of the crows flying overhead.
* * *
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