The Dark by Marianne Curley Read Free Book Online

something?’
    ‘Or something is right.’
    ‘What did you see?’
    Suddenly ringing Ethan feels like a really bad idea. ‘I don’t know how to tell you. It probably wasn’t a vision at all. It was probably just a dream, really.’
    ‘Stop babbling, Isabel. Just tell me.’
    I take a deep breath, releasing it slowly. ‘I saw your mother.’
    ‘And?’
    ‘I think she was … Ethan, she was killing herself.’
    Silence. Except for his breathing, strongly, in and out.
    ‘Ethan? Are you OK?’
    ‘Tell me everything you saw,’ he says with words carefully spaced.
    I tell him about the lake and the timber decking. I tell him about the family of ducks and the water lilies. He remains silent as I explain, just listening. But whenI mention the boat, and particularly the part about it being red in colour, he jumps at me. ‘Did you see a name on the boat?’
    I think hard, my eyes squinting at the memory. Then I see the words painted in blue script, obviously done by a fluent and artistic hand. ‘It was called the Lillie-Arie , or something like that.’
    He moans. My hand grips the phone tightly. ‘What is it, Ethan?’
    ‘You’ve just described perfectly the sanatorium Mum goes to sometimes. There’s a boat there they take out on to the lake. It’s called the Lillie-Marie .’ He sucks in an audible breath, as if his body needs an added burst of oxygen to verbalise his next thoughts. ‘So it had to be a vision, Isabel. It wasn’t a dream. You see, Mum’s booked into this place.’
    ‘Oh no, when?’
    He pauses and I can almost hear him thinking, working it out. ‘A week from Friday she’ll be going there for a five-day stay.’
    ‘What are we going to do, Ethan?’
    ‘The first step will be to stop her from going.’ He sighs, a weary sound. ‘After that, I’m not so sure.’
    My heart goes out to him. How hard must it be to cope with a mother who is continually on the edge? And Ethan’s done so for thirteen years. ‘You sound exhausted.’
    It’s the cue he needs to unload some of what he’s going through. ‘If only there were something I could do that would make a difference. She’s not getting any better, and well, sometimes I get tired, you know?’
    I make a small acknowledging sound and he goes on, ‘Isabel, this is going to sound terrible, but sometimesI think Mum’s being selfish. I understand that she can’t help how she is. She tries, you know. She goes to the sanatorium, and she’s right into meditation and group counselling. You name it, she’s given it a go. It’s just, inside sometimes, I get this frantic, desperate feeling that I’m going to lose her. It scares me. It scares me to know how fragile she is. And that’s when I get mad. Why can’t she be like other mothers? Why can’t she be the supportive one for a change?’
    ‘I wish I could help.’
    Ethan takes a deep breath. ‘It’s not that bad, really. I don’t mind being strong for her, especially when she’s going through a rough patch – like Sera’s birthday, the anniversary of her death, Mother’s Day. They’re the worst. Lately there’s been a string of days like that, one after another. It feels like there’s a crisis every day. That’s why I’m tired. And now your vision.’
    ‘Yeah, and we’ve got so little time to think of a solution.’ I don’t want to scare Ethan any more than he is already, but I can’t see how his idea to simply stop Laura from going to the sanatorium is going to work. ‘If we stop your mother from going, who’s to say that will be enough to stop her from doing this somewhere else?’
    He’s silent for a long moment. ‘I don’t know, Isabel. All I know is that we have exactly ten days to figure out a way to save my mother’s life.’

Chapter Four
    Arkarian
    Isabel is late. Something is keeping her. I hope Marcus Carter hasn’t run into any problems co-ordinating this mission. Even though he’s worked in the Citadel for a long time (as well as teaching at the local