holding two corners and letting the wind spread it out in the air like a magic carpet above the sand. “If you think it’s safe.”
“I’ll take the chance.” He grinned and dropped his bag to the beach.
They sat cross-legged on the towel and Cindy nodded to the foamy water a few feet away.
“Doesn’t look so horrible from here, does it?”
Joe shrugged. “It’s all perspective, I suppose. Things seem a lot different depending on where you stand. Kinda like how people look at that cliff up there.” He leaned back to stare at the rock face that jutted out over the bay. “Some people think all those people are just depressed suicides. Others think there’s some monster in the cliff that draws people to their deaths. And then others, like me, think there are some people behind this whole death spree. All depends on how you look at it, I guess.”
Cindy’s eyes took on a faraway look as she followed his gaze. But she remained silent. Shit , he thought. Diving in too fast. Let the girl warm up to you a minute before dunking her!
“Um, hey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring that stuff up right away like that,” he apologized.
She shook her head and looked puzzled for a second.
“Oh…no, Joe, it wasn’t that. Don’t worry about it. Believeme, I know about things looking different from where you stand. A couple years ago I came out here and thought I knew everything about this town, this beach. And then I went away to school, and everything here just kinda shrunk, ya know? Like it wasn’t important at all anymore, like it never was? But then James…you know.”
She bit her lip and Joe stifled the urge to reach out and hug her. He hardly knew the girl, after all. But the way she always seemed to put that little question mark at the end of her sentences…well, he could just die for that!
But before he decided whether to reach out and pat her shoulder, she started talking again.
“Well, now I see that I didn’t know everything there was to know about Terrel. And I can’t look at it as just a sleepy small town anymore, either. I know you’ve heard some of the rumors about this cliff, and you probably think everyone’s stupid for believing them. I know I did until this summer. I thought people were crazy as cornflakes for thinking some evil spirit or whatnot lived in that rock. But now I know better.”
“Maybe that’s where I need to start,” Joe interrupted. “Tell me what the rumors actually say about the cliff. All I’ve heard is that I should stay away from it. You know, someone actually stuck a note under my door warning me if I didn’t leave the place alone, ‘death would find me.’”
Cindy’s eyes widened for a moment, and she looked up at the top of the cliff again, as if expecting an answer.
“That’s silly,” she said slowly, not really sounding like she believed it. “There’s a Covenant….”
Joe’s eyebrow lifted. “A Covenant?”
“Um…yeah. I don’t know. One story goes that old man Terrel, when he used to run his lighthouse up there on the cliff, well, he got lonely. So he used to read to himself a lot. Thing is, the guy had some pretty weird tastes in reading, which only got stranger the longer he sat up there on the hill. They say the ships that docked here used to bring him inbooks from all over the world, magic and occult kinds of books. Supposedly, he used these books to summon up a demon to keep him company through the long nights.”
She looked at Joe and grinned. “Some company, huh?”
“Yeah, I think I would have worked on conjuring up a woman, myself,” Joe said, feeling his face redden slightly at admitting such a thing to a relative stranger. And he couldn’t help but see her as the woman he’d conjure, which didn’t help his conscience. She only laughed, a delicate, easy sound that put Joe at ease once more.
“Well, supposedly, once old man Terrel died—and there’s one story that says the demon killed him during an argument—
“I’ll take the chance.” He grinned and dropped his bag to the beach.
They sat cross-legged on the towel and Cindy nodded to the foamy water a few feet away.
“Doesn’t look so horrible from here, does it?”
Joe shrugged. “It’s all perspective, I suppose. Things seem a lot different depending on where you stand. Kinda like how people look at that cliff up there.” He leaned back to stare at the rock face that jutted out over the bay. “Some people think all those people are just depressed suicides. Others think there’s some monster in the cliff that draws people to their deaths. And then others, like me, think there are some people behind this whole death spree. All depends on how you look at it, I guess.”
Cindy’s eyes took on a faraway look as she followed his gaze. But she remained silent. Shit , he thought. Diving in too fast. Let the girl warm up to you a minute before dunking her!
“Um, hey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring that stuff up right away like that,” he apologized.
She shook her head and looked puzzled for a second.
“Oh…no, Joe, it wasn’t that. Don’t worry about it. Believeme, I know about things looking different from where you stand. A couple years ago I came out here and thought I knew everything about this town, this beach. And then I went away to school, and everything here just kinda shrunk, ya know? Like it wasn’t important at all anymore, like it never was? But then James…you know.”
She bit her lip and Joe stifled the urge to reach out and hug her. He hardly knew the girl, after all. But the way she always seemed to put that little question mark at the end of her sentences…well, he could just die for that!
But before he decided whether to reach out and pat her shoulder, she started talking again.
“Well, now I see that I didn’t know everything there was to know about Terrel. And I can’t look at it as just a sleepy small town anymore, either. I know you’ve heard some of the rumors about this cliff, and you probably think everyone’s stupid for believing them. I know I did until this summer. I thought people were crazy as cornflakes for thinking some evil spirit or whatnot lived in that rock. But now I know better.”
“Maybe that’s where I need to start,” Joe interrupted. “Tell me what the rumors actually say about the cliff. All I’ve heard is that I should stay away from it. You know, someone actually stuck a note under my door warning me if I didn’t leave the place alone, ‘death would find me.’”
Cindy’s eyes widened for a moment, and she looked up at the top of the cliff again, as if expecting an answer.
“That’s silly,” she said slowly, not really sounding like she believed it. “There’s a Covenant….”
Joe’s eyebrow lifted. “A Covenant?”
“Um…yeah. I don’t know. One story goes that old man Terrel, when he used to run his lighthouse up there on the cliff, well, he got lonely. So he used to read to himself a lot. Thing is, the guy had some pretty weird tastes in reading, which only got stranger the longer he sat up there on the hill. They say the ships that docked here used to bring him inbooks from all over the world, magic and occult kinds of books. Supposedly, he used these books to summon up a demon to keep him company through the long nights.”
She looked at Joe and grinned. “Some company, huh?”
“Yeah, I think I would have worked on conjuring up a woman, myself,” Joe said, feeling his face redden slightly at admitting such a thing to a relative stranger. And he couldn’t help but see her as the woman he’d conjure, which didn’t help his conscience. She only laughed, a delicate, easy sound that put Joe at ease once more.
“Well, supposedly, once old man Terrel died—and there’s one story that says the demon killed him during an argument—
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