Heidi didn’t see it yet. She was too busy trying to memorize the way the sunlight broke over the water, the thrill of the fish on the line, the feeling of Zach’s hand curving around her waist like an anchor.
“Another cast?” Zach asked.
She nodded. “Yeah. I think I’m hooked.”
Joe groaned at the pun. Tosh applauded. Cass snorted. Candy didn’t smile at all.
Harmony wrote a single line in her notebook.
Bright things make the best bait.
When they finally headed back toward Avalon, the cooler held two fish and a tangle of jealousies. The sun dropped lower, turning the water molten gold. Heidi leaned at the bow, hair whipping around her like a blessing.
Zach watched her.
Then he watched Harmony.
Then he looked away.
Cass whispered. “You know this ends badly for someone.”
Harmony nodded. “It always does.”
Heidi laughed at something Joe said, tossing her head back without a care in the world.
Zach would show Heidi the stars. Heidi would say yes.
She had no idea that the island had already written her into the story . . . She had no idea she’d been chosen.
When they got off the boat, Harmony left the group. She was feeling restless. Too many things weren’t going as planned. There was too much uncertainty in the air. She didn’t like it.
As the stars grew brighter, she replayed the day. More than anything, she thought of Heidi’s hand on Zach’s arm, the way he hadn’t moved away.
She wasn’t sure why it lingered. It didn’t feel like jealousy. That emotion had rules, and this didn’t follow any of them. It felt like a disruption. A misalignment. She disliked inefficiencies.
There was a killer on the island and all of them were acting as if nothing was wrong. How could their lives keep moving forward when someone was trying to hold them in place?
She didn’t have the answer which was unacceptable.
Chapter Fourteen
Hidden in the Clouds
Catalina was full of mystery, secrets . . . and magic. But Zach had one place he never shared.
The kind people daydreamed about seeing once.
Or the kind no one would ever know you’d been.
The place he was taking Heidi wasn’t a secret. It was a rule. Because she was new to the island, and she was putting her trust in him, hoping he wouldn’t lead her astray.
That was soon to be determined.
He’d organized the night down to the very last detail, just as he planned everything he did in life. Details meant order. Order meant safety—or the illusion of it. He’d learned a long time ago what happened when things were left to chance on this island.
People slipped through the cracks. People ended up at the bottom of cliffs. People like Lisa.
He tried to ignore the quick flash of Harmony’s face in his mind when he thought of that name, the way she watched all of them like she already knew their endings.
