Gray's Domain: Purgatorium Series, Book Two (5 page)

“What’s wrong?” Brock called.

“Nothing,” she lied. “Why don’t we go have a picnic?”

On their way to the bluff, they ran into Daphne’s parents sunbathing on loungers by the pool. Her mother had a book in her hand and her father was watching the gulls soaring overhead.

“Hey, you two,” her father said when they approached. “Where are you off to?”

“We’re going for a picnic,” Daphne said.

“Sounds fun, honey,” her mother said with a smile. “This turned out to be a nice retreat after all, didn’t it?”

Daphne couldn’t prevent the grin from crossing her face. “It sure did.”

“Have fun, sweetheart,” her father said. “We’ll catch
ya later.”

With the blanket draped over one shoulder, Brock led Daphne up the wooden steps to the boardwalk, but instead of descending the steps to the beach, they took the bridge to the bluff. She noticed another couple picnicking in the opposite direction—on the hill of yellow poppies on the other end of the bridge. She didn’t recognize them, though.

Brock started to spread the blanket on a flat spot.

“Over here,” she said, pointing near the large boulder. Her heart was racing, and she hoped Brock couldn’t see her fingers twitching with excitement.

“The view is better from over here,” Brock said.

“But I want to lean on this rock,” she said. “I’m still worn out from all I’ve been put through on this island.”

The guilt card was well-played, and Brock yielded to her will. She smiled as she unloaded the snacks and sodas in her arms and helped him smooth out the blanket. Then they made themselves comfortable. She leaned her back against the boulder, trying to hide her nervous excitement. He lay with his head in her lap and started on his sandwiches. Her Diet Coke can fizzled to life when she popped the tab. The sound made her jump.

“What?” he asked, looking up at
her.

She leaned over and pecked his lips with her own. “I’m just excited to be here with you.”

They talked of trivial things for a while as they gazed out to sea, Daphne wondering the whole time when the snakes would appear. Brock finished both sandwiches. Her soda can was nearly empty.

“There’s a sunset cruise this evening,” she said. “My parents and I are going. Come with?”

“I wouldn’t miss it,” he said.

She searched her mind for more small talk, wishing Cam would just get on with it.

“Did you know that Stan and Bridget and even Cam jump into the sea from up here?” she asked, hoping to hint to her friends to hurry up and do something.

“You’ve done it, too. That was my grisly introduction to this place: the love of my life diving from the highest rock into the crashing waves below. My heart nearly stopped beating.”

The love of his life.

Tears brimmed in her eyes. “I only did it because I was scared out of my mind.”

“I know that, now,” he said. “But at the time, Dr. Gray hadn’t yet explained everything to me.”

“What did she say to you, anyway?” Now she was curious.

“She told me that sometimes it takes something really dramatic and painful to help you let go of your mistakes and move on with your life.”

Cam had once told her the same thing. “What else did she say?”

“She said it’s not why, but what.”

“What do you think that means, anyway?”

“She said we shouldn’t get hung up on why this or that happens or why we do this or that. We should instead focus on what we choose to do with our lives.”

“Do you agree with her?” Daphne uncrossed and re-crossed her legs.

“I think so. I mean, I’m not sure that there’s really a single meaning or purpose that’s our destiny. I think we have to make our own meaning.”

“So what else did she say?”

Brock stiffened. She could feel him against her legs. Had Dr. Gray said something upsetting to him?

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Don’t move,” he whispered.

Adrenaline surged through her as she realized the moment had come. Without moving her head, she glanced as far as her eyes could reach and that’s when she saw them: Two thick black snakes coiled around Brock’s foot.

“Oh, crap,” she said. “What do we do?”

“Don’t move. Just hold still.” He spoke quickly, like he was on the edge of panic as the two snakes slithered up his leg.

“Do you know if they’re poisonous?”

“No.
Oh, God.”

The snakes had reached his thigh.

“We’ve got to do something, Brock. What if they bite?”

“Grab them behind the head.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“Grab them behind the head and fling them away. Do you think you can do that?”

“What if they bite me? I’m scared, Brock.” She was enjoying his fear a bit too much, she thought. She felt like a participant in one of those set-up reality shows, like
Fear Factor
and
The Jamie Kennedy Experiment.

He sat up, and, in one quick move, he reached with both hands and grabbed the snakes as he jumped to his feet. Then he flung the poor creatures out to sea.

Daphne climbed to her feet, her heart going wild in her chest. What a rush!

“God, Brock! You were amazing! I can’t believe you just threw them off of you like that!” Especially when, unlike she, he didn’t know they weren’t deadly.

He took her in his arms. “Are you okay?”

She nodded as he caressed her cheek and consoled her.
Consoled
her
. She felt a little bad about that, but not
that
bad. It had been thrilling. “Are you?”

He nodded. “Let’s get out of here.

She glanced at the boulder as they packed up their things, but saw no sign of her fellow conspirators.

As they gathered up the blanket and strolled across the wooden bridge toward the resort, Daphne gazed out at the far-reaching sea, soaked in its brilliance, and smiled. She felt lighter, happier, and more excited than she had ever felt in the two years since Kara’s death.

Chapter Five: Shark Attack

Later that evening after dinner, Roger and Vince shuttled those taking the sunset cruise out to Willows Anchorage to the resort’s private pier. Daphne and her parents rode with Roger, who then returned for Brock, Cam, and Bridget. Vince drove another jeep with Emma, Gregory, and the older woman, Mary Ellen—the woman who’d reminded Daphne of a Mrs. Santa Claus. Vince parked the jeep at Willows Anchorage and joined the cruise, but Roger returned to the resort. The captain welcomed everyone aboard and introductions were made. After life vests were distributed to those who wanted one—namely, Mary Ellen and Vince—the boat departed from the pier as the passengers lined up along the railing and gazed out to sea.

The sun was a large dark-orange globe nestled in thinly stretched pink clouds. The sea, relatively calm, reflected stripes in a color somewhere in between. Gulls flew low overhead, as though expecting to be fed. Other boats sailed farther out in the distance, but not close enough for Daphne and her group to see their passengers. Although the wind blew more swiftly here on the water, it wasn’t the all-out accost Daphne had experienced on the ride from the mainland.

Daphne was giddy. The bit of guilt she had felt over the earlier exercise with the snakes had vanished, and in its
place was the thrill of anticipation. She never did learn who had pretended to be the sharks during the supposed attack on her a week ago, but after what Pete had told her of his faked death using Stan’s deep-sea diving gear, she suspected Stan and Pete were two of the three. The fact that Dave was almost always with Vince, and wasn’t today, led her to believe he would be playing a third shark.

As the boat rounded the harbor, Cam leaned close to Daphne’s ear and whispered, “The headlamp on the captain’s cap is really a live-stream camera. Take a look.”

Captain Jim wore a baseball cap with what looked like a headlamp attached to the bill.  He’d worn the same thing the day Daphne had taken her cruise. She gaped as she realized her shark attack had been broadcasted. Why and to whom? Was Prospero watching from inside her office? Her memory of what Larry had once said about the watchers made her crinkle her forehead in wonder.
Were
there others watching the exercises? Dr. Reynolds, maybe? Arturo Gomez?

Brock, who stood on the other side of her, leaned in and murmured, “What was that about?”

She planted a quick kiss on his lips. “Nothing. He just said something funny about the captain.”

“What?”

Daphne’s mind reeled as she nervously turned the silver bracelet on her wrist. “Um, that he looks like he has a wooden leg.” Daphne inwardly groaned and scolded herself for not thinking fast on her feet. She’d have to do better if she was going to be any help with the therapeutic games.

Brock glanced over at Jim. “Come on, what did Cam really say?”

Daphne squared herself to Brock. “Ssh. You have to swear not to tell.”

He nodded. “I swear.”

“Cam likes Bridget, but don’t let on you know.” Daphne felt a little good and a little bad about the lie. Hadn’t
Brock
lied to
her
? Besides, she had a feeling Cam
did
like Bridget.

Brock grinned and turned back to the sea, apparently satisfied.

Just then, Gregory pointed out at least a half dozen sea lions sunning on a rock near the edge of the harbor. Jim turned the boat toward them. Daphne’s dad took photos as they stopped and idled twenty yards from the sea lions, until Bridget lifted her sundress over her head and dived into the sea.

Like last time, Cam slapped his thighs and said, “I can’t believe she’s actually doing it!”

“Are you sure that’s safe?” Mary Ellen asked.

“Absolutely,” Jim said.

Cam turned to Daphne and, with his eyes, motioned toward the water.

What? She lifted her brows at him.

He held a finger discreetly near his chest and pointed toward the water. His lips mouthed, “Jump in.”

Cam said, “It’s pretty safe, Mary Ellen. Just ask Daphne. She went swimming with Bridget the last time we took the cruise and had a close encounter with the sea lions, isn’t that right, Daph?”

He wanted her to go in again? Why should she go in? Shouldn’t Brock be encouraged to swim after Bridget? That seemed the most logical thing to her. Daphne narrowed her eyes with uncertainty. What if her scarf came off?

Daphne looked from one face to another, all eyes one her.
“Right. It was…awesome.” Was she really meant to jump in again?

Mary Ellen said, “Oh, I’d love to see that, dear. If I were younger, I’d go, too.”

“If you’re sure it’s safe, I’d like to get a picture,” Joe added.

Both Cam and Mary Ellen were silently urging Daphne to jump. As she glanced over at Emma, Gregory, and Vince, she could feel all of them willing her to dive into the sea. She wasn’t about to remove her shorts and t-shirt and strip to her underwear in front of her parents, so she jumped in, clothes and all, careful to keep her head above water so her scarf stayed secure, and swam out past Bridget
toward the sea lions, all the while wondering why it was she who was being forced to play the victim again.

The water was cold and exhilarating but added to her trembling. Even though she knew the sharks that were coming for her weren’t real, she was nevertheless nervous about how the game would go down. Then Daphne had her Aha moment: Hortense wanted Daphne in the water with the sharks because losing Daphne was her parents and Brock’s greatest fear.

She used to fantasize about how her parents might react if she were dying. That night she had taken the bottles of Prozac and Tylenol, she had fantasized about what her parents would say over her dead body—how they would hold her and kiss her and say lovely things to her. They would feel terrible for anything bad they had ever said to her. They would finally love her as much as they had loved Kara.

She blinked a few tears from her eyes and glanced back at the boat just as Bridget was being helped back onto the deck by Cam and Gregory. Daphne eased out toward the sea lions, taking the opportunity to get another good look at them. They really were amazing creatures—golden in color with dog-like faces, little flaps for ears, and long whiskers.

“Hello,” she said to one of them, who had turned to study her.

Then the screams began.

Daphne pretended not to see the three dorsal fins approaching from her left. She waved at the boat, offering a repeat of her thumbs up. She saw her mother leaning over the rail, with one hand at her mouth and another pointing.

Before Daphne could catch her breath, she was suddenly dragged beneath the surface. She reached for her scarf as the water swept it from her head, and she kicked and pulled, but a hand caught her wrist. It was Stan behind a diver’s mask. He fit the mouthpiece from his oxygen to her mouth. She gagged at first, needing to force water out. She scrambled to the surface, coughing and gagging. The screams from the boat startled her. She took a breath and went under, anxious to conceal her bald head. Then, after emptying the air in her lungs, she returned the mouthpiece to her lips and sucked in, relaxing her limbs in the water. Stan held one hand on her shoulder to prevent her from floating to the surface and, with the other, gave her the same thumbs up she had just given the passengers on the boat. He said something, but she couldn’t make out his words as the bubbles floated from his lips. Then Pete came up beside her with a knife, and Dave came up behind, and before she knew what was happening, Pete cut a gash into her calf just below her knee.