Chapter 4

The lighthouse had been closed since before Sophie was born.

Tourists ignored the chain across the road, but local children knew the footpath that curved through beach grass and rose behind the keeper's cottage.

I knew because Sophie had drawn it twelve times.

She drew buildings when she was frightened. Doors first, then windows, then every possible way out.

The wind shoved at me as I climbed. Rain had begun over the water, a thin gray curtain moving toward land.

"Sophie!"

Nothing.

The lighthouse door was padlocked. The keeper's cottage had no roof.

Then I saw one red boot beneath…