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When Cassie got to the place where the boy had turned, she walked up the dunes between the pitiful little clurass At the top she looked around, but there was nothing to be seen but pitch pines and scrub oak trees No boy No dog Silence

She was hot

All right; fine She turned back toward the sea, ignoring the twinge of disappointet wet and cool off Portia’s probleuy - well, she’d probably never see hiain, and he wasn’t her business either

A little inside shiver went through her; not the kind that shows, but the kind that makes you wonder if you’re sick I h that it starts to feel cold I need a dip in the water

The water was cool, because this was the open-Atlantic side of the Cape She waded in up to her knees and then continued walking down the beach

When she reached a dock, she splashed out of the water and climbed up to it Only three boats were tied there: tboats and a powerboat It was deserted

It was just what Cassie needed

She unhooked the thick, frayed rope meant to keep people like her off the dock and walked onto it She walked far out, the weather-beaten wood creaking beneath her feet, the water stretching out on either side of her When she looked back at the beach, she saw she’d left the other sunbathers far behind A little breeze blew in her face, stirring her hair and le Suddenly she felt - she couldn’t explain it Like a balloon being caught by the wind and lifted She felt light, she felt expanded She felt free

She wanted to hold her arms out to the breeze and the ocean, but she didn’t quite dare She wasn’t as free as all that But she sot to the end of the dock

The sky and the ocean were exactly the sahtened down at the horizon where they ht that she could see the curve of the earth, but it ulls wheeled above

I should write a poeht She had a notebook full of scribbled poems at home under her bed She hardly ever showed theh, she couldn’t think of any words

Still, it was lovely just to be here, s the war of the water against the wooden piers

It was a hypnotic sound, rhyth of the planet, and strangely faazed and listened, and as she did she felt her own breathing slow For the first tied She was a part of the vastness of sky and earth and sea; a tiny part in all the immensity, but a part just the saht not be so small She had been immersed in the rhythm of the earth, but now it seemed to her almost as if she controlled that rhythm As if the elements were one with her, and under her command She could feel the pulse of life in the planet, in herself, strong and deep and vibrant

The beat slowly rising in tension and expectancy, as if waiting for so out to sea, she felt words co you’d teach a child, but a poem nonetheless

Sky and sea, keep har was that it didn’t feel like so she’d read - or heard - a long ti held in soh and hearing words

Sky and sea, keep har

No

Cassie’s entire skin was tingling She could sense, in a way she never had before, the arch of the sky and the granite solidity of the earth and the immeasurable span of the ocean, wave after wave after wave, to the horizon and beyond And it was as if they were all waiting, watching, listening to her

Don’t finish it, she thought Don’t say any more A sudden irrational conviction had taken hold of her As long as she didn’t find the last words of the poe would be as it always had been; she would go ho as she could keep froht

But the poe of icy music far away, and the last words fell into place She couldn’t stop them

Sky and sea, keep har my desire

Yes

Oh, what have I done ?

It was like a string snapping Cassie found herself on her feet, staring wildly out at the ocean So had happened; she had felt it, and now she could feel the ele froer felt light and free, but jangled and out of tune and full of static electricity Suddenly the ocean lookedsharply, she headed back toward the shore

Idiot, she thought as she neared the white sand of the beach again and the frightened feeling slipped away What were you afraid of? That the sky and the sea were really listening to you? That those words were actually going to do soh at it now, and she was embarrassed and annoyed with herself Talk about an overactive iination She was still safe, and the world was still ordinary Words were only words

But when a ht her eye then, she would always remember that deep down she had not been surprised

So There was uy He’d burst out between the pitch pines and was running down the slope of a dune Suddenly inexplicably calm, Cassie hurried the rest of the way down the dock, tobeside hiuy’s face as if to say this was a great game, and what next? But fro, Cassie could tell it wasn’t a game

He looked up and down the deserted beach A hundred yards to the left a headland jutted out, so you couldn’t see as beyond He glanced at Cassie and their eyesabruptly, he started toward the headland

Cassie’s heart was beating hard

"Wait!" she called urgently

He turned back, scanning her quickly with his blue-gray eyes

"Who’s after you?" she said, though she thought she knew

His voice was crisp, his words concise "Two guys who look like linebackers for the New York Giants"

Cassie nodded, feeling the thump of her heart accelerate But her voice was still cale"

"It figures"

"You’ve heard of theures they’d be nahed She liked the way he looked, so windblown and alert, scarcely out of breath even though he’d been running hard And she liked the daredevil sparkle in his eyes and the way he joked even though he was in trouble

"Raj and I could take theot a couple of friends with the backward, he added, "You’d better go the other way - you don’t want to run into them And it would be nice if you could pretend you hadn’t seen me"

"Wait!" cried Cassie

Whatever was going on wasn’t her business but she found herself speaking without hesitation There was so that made her want to help him

"That way’s a dead end - around the headland you’ll run into rocks You’ll be trapped"

"But the other way’s too straight I’d still be in sight when they got here They weren’t far behind , and then suddenly she knew "Hide in the boat"

"What?"

"In the boat In the powerboat On the dock" She gestured at it "You can get in the cabin and they won’t see you"

His eyes followed hers, but he shook his head "I’d really be trapped if they found me there And Raj doesn’t like to swim"

"They won’t find you," Cassie said "They won’t go near it I’ll tell them you went down the beach that way"

He stared at her, the s out of his eyes "You don’t understand," he said quietly "Those guys are trouble"

"I don’t care," Cassie said, and she almost pushed hi in her brain was urging Her shyness had vanished All thatto do to me, beat me up? I’m an innocent bystander," she said

"But - "

"Oh, please Don’t argue Just do it!"

He stared at her one last instant, then turned, slapping his thigh for the dog "C’mon, boy!" He ran down the dock and ju as he ducked into the cabin The dog followed hiht Cassie The two in the boat were hidden now, but if anyone went up the dock, they would be plainly visible She hooked the loop of frayed rope over the top of the last pier, screening off the dock

Then she cast a frantic glance around and headed for the water, splashing in Bending down, she dug up a handful of wet sand and shells She let the water wash the sand out of the loose cage of her fingers and held on to the two or three small shells that remained She reached for another handful

She heard shouting fro shells, I’ht I don’t need to look up yet I’m not concerned

"Hey!"