Chapter One

APPROXIMATELY TWO WEEKS PRIOR…

 

It felt so real.

“Just stand right there, I need a good shot for my intro and the sunset will look nice on my skin,” Queenie chirped, her fingers raking pieces of her hair into a sloppy ponytail. Her freckles stood out brighter against the pitch black of her hair. The hint of a rainbow peaked out from the back of her scalp, vibrant and neon. Unfortunately, a tangled mess most days.

She was there.

“I know how to record a stupid video, chill!” Tonya huffed from behind the camera. Tonya, Queenie’s friend, steadied her feet, camera pointed forward at the cliffside. She motioned with a free hand for Queenie to back up more into the setting sun. Tonya’s rectangular face pinched in fury.

Queenie stood in a silk robe, tied loosely around her waist to shield her from the soft breeze. Winter lingered in Harperville. The long coastline that practically surrounded their tourist destination town stayed chilly half of the year. Trees surrounded the backside to the cliff, a shifted hue of orange and yellow. The wooden rail framed the cliffside except for the one gate door at the tip.

It was such a pretty place.

Rainbow Cove was the biggest tourist attraction for Harperville. They said the dive from the top at sunrise and moonrise was magical, as the light just hit the stones. The cliffside that framed the rocky shores was made of compact gemstones; smokey swirls gave each section of stone a beautiful effect. Someone would dive from the top and observe the cliff as they descended. When the light hit it, it appeared to be like falling down a rainbow and into a pot of gold.

“You ready, Queenie?” Tonya adjusted her grip on the camera equipment.

The rain clouds rumbled, miles out of view.

“Yup! Give me a countdown.” Queenie cocked her hip. Her GoPro strapped to her throat like some high-tech choker. She planted her stance as Tonya put up a hand, her fingers tucked down steadily. At one, Queenie beamed and twirled her robe sash. “Good evening, fellow Queens! How is everyone? I’m freezing my tush off out here at Rainbow Cove. Why? Well, Today’s-the-Day’s Joshua tagged me in the ice-bucket challenge. All AdSense from this video is going to charity! But come on, y’all know your girl is extra! So, who needs a bucket when I have a whole damn ocean! Yup! Your Queenie is about to dive into Rainbow Cove, and I’m about to give you a front row seat. So, before I jump, let me just go ahead and tag my girl Victoria from Stranger Tides and Twitch’s EeviePeevie. All right! Time to nut up or shut up!”

Danger bit into the horizon, no time to stop!

Queenie ripped the sash open and goosebumps climbed up her flesh. She shivered as she tossed the robe off her shoulders toward Tonya. She kicked off her flip-flops and rushed toward the gate latch. GoPro on and recording, she pushed open the simple wooden door. As she flung the latch open, Queenie had mere seconds to see the bottom before gravity snatched her from the cliff.

They were still, like they were already dead.

No one would call Queenie Louise Lowe a daredevil, but she was not afraid of doing something publicly. Plus, it helped to have dived from Rainbow Cove several times in her life. She watched many tourists jump off from the top and even let her friend Frankie tackle her off the cliffside. This was the first time, however, that as she descended toward the water, her focus stayed on the water. Her body became an arrow, pointed straight down into a circle of cloaked figures. The sunset shifted. Nighttime abyss draped over the cove as the moon illuminated the rocky wall around her. Yet torches lit up the water beneath her.

They wouldn’t stop speaking that name!

Cloaked figures, each with a torch in one hand and a dagger in other, hovered in a circle over the water’s surface. Water crashed into their sides. Choppy waves and thick foam licked up the rocky cliff. The cloaked individuals stood unphased, their voices growing louder.

It’s so cold at the bottom!

Their chants found her ears, their voices bellowing up the side of the cliff. In a blink, the sky rumbled. The full moon lifted high into the sky. Queenie broke the surface of the water at the height of their chant.

A darkness unlike any other seen on earth, a devouring abyss.

The ocean muffled all sound and dragged her deep. Her legs were caught in the current. Her attention remained glued to the surface as it rose higher above her outstretched hand. Red water crashed into her. The undertow ripped her to the base of the cove. Panic subsided to cold fear as her feet touched smooth rocks. The rainbow illuminated by the moonlight, tainted red, broke apart in her vision as cloaks sank into the water. Her veins froze as daggers shot through the water around her. The bubble of air around her broke. Sliced to ribbons by the blades as they embedded into the rock below. As water flooded her system, her panic returned.

Queenie launched up into the water, the surface miles above her. Something with the suction strength of a black hole ripped her back to the base of the cove. Her skull cracked against the rock. Black spots filled her blurry vision of red.

A new beginning, one no one has seen before, a last chance to return.

The first face of one of the cloaked individuals passed by her in the water pinched in horror. The ocean pinned Queenie against the rocky bottom, unable to lurch away as bodies settled over her. Her lungs gave out before her GoPro.

Within the deep, the rumbles of chaos begin. Upon the surface they return, where there is no mercy.

★

She drowned in the darkness within her head. The sounds of waves crashed around her. A sliver of moonlight broke through the abyss, waking her. As the waves calmed, she floated up through the dream. Warmth filled her system, like a warm blanket directly out of the dryer onto cold toes. Then her eyes fluttered open, and she awoke at home. A romance novel was glued to the side of her cheek, and drool dried on the pages.

Queenie lurched forward in her bed; sweat drenched the sheets in a pool around her. When she pulled herself away from her bed, she peered down at herself in pajamas. Not a bathing suit, not at the bottom of the cove, not pinned down under bodies in bloody water. A nightmare, obviously, left a film of sweat and ick across her skin. There was no scent of sunscreen or sea salt on her skin, and her hair even felt washed. Queenie ran her fingers through the length of her messy bed head to the rat’s nest at the back of her scalp. There was no crack at the back of her skull; she didn’t even feel a papercut.

The thud of her book woke her up to the world around her. Queenie bent down gingerly to pick up her recent obsession: Below the Surface by Kinsey LeMay, a sweet romance between two marine biologists trapped in an underwater base that is attacked by a giant squid. She ran her fingers over the front cover, the raised text in a shimmering turquoise. She settled the book back against her bedside table as she pivoted from it.

Sunlight trickled through her heavy pink curtains with crystals sewn in to add a bit of fantasy in her life. Her cat pajama pants, rolled up from sleep, pinched her ankles and stomach as she shifted to get up. Queenie had only a moment to collect herself when the text alerts rolled in. Tonya was first, Theo and Frankie next, Leia last, as their group message went off. Strange, as she always beat them in the morning. Queenie prided herself on being the early bird.

She opened the messages as she stripped off her pajamas. Tonya asked if anyone else was up for lunch at Denny’s. Theo sent a pancake gif that danced, then Frankie put a thumbs up. Queenie stopped from typing at the sound of footsteps against the wooden hallway floors. Her mother was awake.

She put her phone down, message unsent. Queenie peered out her bedroom door and down the hall—the bathroom was unoccupied. She brushed her teeth and changed into jeans and a simple T-shirt. When she took one last glance in the mirror, her hollow reflection stared back. Queenie faked a smile, unable to make it reach her eyes. She scowled, slithering from the bathroom and back into her bedroom. The screen of her phone lit up with new messages. She pocketed it, flipping the switch to silent.

Queenie investigated the halls for her mother. Her purse remained on the counter, and the car keys were not in their usual place on the kitchen table. Her shoes still stood at the front door.

The scent of coffee wafted around her, warming up in the pot. Queenie knew better than to drink it before her mother took her first sip. Instead, she opted to slip out onto the back porch.

693 Hourton Lane, a one-story house on the top of a deep hillside, was a massive cliffside construction. Her home loomed over the rocky shore a mile down the road. Their home was a simple house on the peak of the hill, bought on a homicide detective’s salary. The late William Lowe purchased the house back before any of the other houses on Hourton Lane were built, for a cheap price. He often worked on it prior to his untimely demise, making it the steadiest house on the hillside. Kelsi Lowe worked as a middle school English teacher, currently in her planning week prior to school’s reopening. The last weeks of Christmas break had nearly wrapped up, leaving Queenie only two days before she, too, returned to school.

Queenie pulled the glass storm door shut behind her and stepped to the right of the door. The steps to the two-foot porch led to a lower porch down the cliffside. She enjoyed the way the salt air bit into her cheeks early in the morning. A slow breeze licked at the side of her moist arms as she leaned over the railing. Queenie didn’t have a back yard, just a steep rocky hillside. A sharp cliffside dropped to a rocky valley within ten feet of the lower portion of the split-level porch. It all ended at her favorite part, the sea. She loved how it crashed along the rocks, how it smelt, how the spray tickled her skin at any time of the year.

She closed her eyes and took a big sniff.

“Oh, I wouldn’t do that.” An unfamiliar voice broke through her concentration.

Queenie jumped in her skin and spun to her right. 693 Hourton Lane had been full for thirteen years, but 695 Hourton Lane had been empty for the last six. No one wanted a house built that close to the cliff, even though it was beautiful. The back side was made entirely of large windows which overlooked a rocky, misty sea. A split-level porch connected the house with the cliff.

On the porch’s lower level sat a teenager with messy hair dyed a murky green—the person who had just spoken. Mist from the ocean mixed with the shadows of the porch blurred them from Queenie’s vision. She couldn’t tell who they were until they stepped closer. Dressed in a pair of ratty jeans and a thick black hoodie with a blurry text logo long ago washed off. A bucket of slimy squid sat by their flip-flop covered feet. When they stepped into the light, they appeared androgynous.

Queenie flashed a smile. “Ah, thanks for the warning.” She held out her hand to her new neighbor.

Instead of shaking her hand, her neighbor cupped her hands and brought Queenie’s fingers up to their pale, pink lips. They had a round face, clear skin, beautiful lashes and thick brows that did not match the dyed hair.

Queenie blushed. The stranger grinned from ear to ear as they dropped her hands.

“What’s your name?” They stood up straight, hands poked into their pockets.

“Queenie,” she gasped. Her knuckles tingled at her side.

They laughed. “Fitting. Seriously, what’s your name?”

“I am serious!” Queenie pouted and put her hands on her hips.

Their lips curled. “Well, I cannot even judge, my name is—”

Queenie didn’t catch the name. As if her ears stopped working at the exact moment they spoke. Their name disappeared in the sound of a strong gust of wind that roared along the cliff. Her neighbor’s hair flew up around their cheeks. They fought to push their hair away. Queenie caught sight of green orbs that lit up in the morning light.

A sharp pop echoed in Queenie’s ears, and the tingles returned. The volume of the world doubled, muffling the words her new neighbor spoke. The memory of her nightmare returned swiftly and took over all her senses—crashing waves, chants, the flood of water into her ears and nose. The taste of blood on her tongue debilitated her. Queenie gagged as her hands flung to her nose and mouth. Her stomach flipped and twisted into a knot.

Dream…

Her neighbor blinked hard, her expression pinched in concern. “You all right? Is it the squid? I can put it away?”

“Uh, yeah! Totally. Thanks, um …” She didn’t catch their name. Her brain scrambled for a collection of sounds, a vowel or anything really. Every second she scrambled for words and her anxiety rose. Was this the dream? Or was the dream affecting her? Panic spiked in her veins, hot and sharp as her heart raced. Then she blinked, and the feeling evaporated suddenly. She knew their name “Do you mind if I call you Lulu? Your name’s kinda long.”

Her neighbor winked. “You can call me anything you like, beautiful.”

“Mmm, flirting with the new neighbor? Flattery will get you everywhere. Just checking, what are your pronouns?” Queenie leaned her elbow on the porch’s railing and put her chin on her hand.

“I don’t normally use any other than ‘omnipotent god’, but I’ll take she/her.” Lulu mimicked her. Her gaze, colored a brilliant jade, glowed with whimsy. She cocked a brow.

Queenie couldn’t help but think how lucky she was to have a new neighbor. A flirty new neighbor.

Although she had romance on her mind, Queenie glanced away. Lulu was still a stranger on the porch of an empty, dark house. Her nose crinkled. She peered toward the house behind Lulu. “When did you move in?”

When she left yesterday, she’d seen the For Sale sign sat in the front yard. Wait. No. No she didn’t. She hadn’t actually left yesterday—she just dreamed she did. Queenie blinked as her attention shifted up the shallow dip between the houses; she could see what was left of the front yards. It was hard to see anything clearly from the lower side. A light tap to the outside of her hand brought her attention back to Lulu.

“Last night, kind of. Mom and Dad dropped off all my stuff and told me to unpack, went back to get more.” Lulu explained while she fidgeted with the front of her hoodie.

Queenie tilted her head. “They just left you? To fend for yourself?” she scoffed.

“Something about being old enough to fend for myself.” Lulu rolled her eyes, her voice low and gravely.

“Ah, so you’re one of those lone, alpha wolves, kinda girls, huh?” Queenie teased.

“Sure.” Lulu let out a snort. “You do know that alpha crap isn’t real—they work as families, actually.”

Queenie blinked as she reeled back, her hands falling to her side. Lulu grimaced, but then Queenie grinned.

“Thank you!” Queenie cried out with glee. “I’ve been trying to tell my friends that for months now! No one believes me that the Beta-Alpha thing is a crock of lies.”

Lulu exhaled steadily with relief as she straightened up. “I thought you were upset for a second.”

“Me? Upset? Pfft!” Queenie waved her hand before her flippantly. “I’m Queenie Lowe. I’m never upset.”

A bemused smile graced Lulu’s lips as she leaned her right side upon the railing. “Somehow, I don’t believe that.”

“You’ll just have to get to know me better.” Queenie pressed her side to the railing as well, her attention falling to the choppy ocean. Large waves crashed into the rocky shore, and foam colored the coast. She knit her hands together and hung over the edge. They examined the sea together. Queenie inhaled steadily, even enjoying the stench of salt water mixed with wet gravel and squishy fish guts. Seagulls cried out from a distance, their bellows bouncing off the trees and cliffside.

“I love standing out here,” Queenie confessed breathlessly.

“It feels like home here,” Lulu murmured.

“Oh, yeah, it must be weird, living in a new place all of a sudden.” Queenie glanced toward her neighbor.

Lulu shifted her stance, exposing a sliver of tattoo upon the crook of her neck and shoulder. An eye, barely visible in the light but the lines were crisp from what Queenie could see. Queenie’s gaze traveled up to Lulu’s expression. Sadness etched into Lulu’s face as she propped herself up on her crossed arms.

“It is what it is. I was told to get in the car, then we move in here. Not much I can do.”

“That’s a blasé way of looking at things, I suppose.” Queenie nudged her new neighbor. The other teen brightened by the touch.

A warm twinkle replaced Lulu’s sullen expression as she changed her concentration from the coastline to Queenie. A moment passed where Queenie absorbed the warmth in her face while her spine and legs froze in the ocean breeze. Lulu reached out, hesitant at first, then confident as Queenie leaned toward her. She brushed a lock of hair behind Queenie’s ear. Shivers licked down Queenie’s spine. Lulu’s eyes peered through her very soul, stealing all the air from her lungs.

After a hard swallow, Queenie found the words to say. She pulled back from Lulu’s touch. “Well, hey, I know being the new kid at school can suck, but you’ve already got a friend, so that ought to help things.”

Lulu’s analyzed Queenie’s face, before she locked eyes with her. Queenie melted instantly. Mist rolled over the cliffside as Queenie poked Lulu’s nose softly with her index finger.

Lulu let out a soft chuckle. “Thanks, I appreciate it.”

“You’re very welcome.” When Queenie placed her hands on the rail, the wood caught her attention. She followed the wood only to switch to the other railing, where Lulu’s arms leaned on the wood. Splinters. She spotted them stuck up from the wood like dead ends at the salon. “And watch this porch, the splinters are killer.”

“Oh? I hadn’t noticed them.” Lulu pulled back.

“Yeah, that house has been empty for so long, no one’s taken care of it. Bet your parents make you dust first.” Queenie nodded at the dusty windowpanes of the other house. Queenie opened her mouth to speak more when she heard the storm door slide open. Her attention shot up to the upper porch and found her mother leaned over the rail.

“I’m headed to work, honey.” Kelsi peered at Queenie for a second before she swiveled around. “Get off the lower porch; it’s not safe anymore.”

Kelsi Lowe, in her forties, was five foot five and had platinum blond hair, blue eyes, and a strong jaw. Kelsi wore fitted suits to work and heels to make up for her height. Today was no different, as her small heels clicked against the wood.

Queenie twisted to excuse herself. “I should get going. Have fun with your squid.”

“Oodles and oodles,” Lulu chuckled. “See you tomorrow?”

“How else would you get to know me better?” Queenie teased.

She jogged up the steps and slid into the house with ease. Her mother stood near the kitchen counter, coffee cup tipped up to chug the last drops. Queenie slid the storm door closed behind her. The second her foot stepped down fully, she recoiled with a hiss. Kelsi lurched, her cup clanking against the counter as she reached out to Queenie.

Queenie grasped a dining room chair and threw herself into it. She pulled her right leg over her left thigh with a whimper. Splinters bit into her flesh. The slivers of wood covered her heel like a porcupine. Kelsi knelt before her daughter and pinched Queenie’s heels between her fingers. Slowly she plucked them, as if she fought with them to come out. Queenie winced as they embedded deeper.

Queenie tried to help pry them out, but Kelsi slapped her hands away.

Kelsi scowled. “I told you that the old porch wasn’t safe.”

“That’s the first time it’s splintered. Dad sanded it down,” Queenie blurted out.

Tension filled the room as Kelsi plucked the last splinter out of her heel. Queenie’s throat tightened, only a squeak of air broke free of the iron grip.

Kelsi stood and pressed a kiss to Queenie’s head. Her attention never stayed long enough on Queenie to recognize the hurt. Queenie’s throat tightened as she lurched after her mother’s retreating back.

“Mom, I—” Her voice cracked, dying in her throat as her mother ripped around toward her.

“You’re right, your father used to take care of this old, stupid house,” Kelsi’s gaze focused on the floor.

“I didn’t—” Queenie choked again on the words she wished to say.

“Maybe we should sell it.” Kelsi shrugged into her suit jacket, twisting away from Queenie again. “You’re about to go to college; no need for such an empty house.”

Queenie swallowed her words as her mother scanned over the last remnants of the “before”. According to her last therapist, Queenie saw her life in two chapters: The Before and the Present. As if compartmentalizing it would help in the slightest. In the “Before,” her father would take care of the house. He often spent his weekends polishing pieces of the house, fixing pipes or cabinets, resetting the bones of the house.

Then Kelsi exhaled loudly. “No good memories here to keep,” she said under her breath.

Queenie stepped forward, her hand lingering inches from her mother’s elbow. “Mom?”

“Yes?”

“I was going to go visit Gran and everyone wants to hit up Denny’s?” Queenie slowly tested her footing back down on the floor. It stung but wasn’t’ the same wrenching pain as before.

“Who is everyone?” Kelsi checked her phone and tugged her purse up over her shoulder. Kelsi plucked her keys out, tucked her phone away, brushed her hair back behind her ears, then spared a glance over her shoulder meticulously.

Autopilot, a robot, unfeeling, cold…

Queenie shook the voice from her head like an Etch A Sketch. With a nervous giggle, she ruffled her hair and stood gingerly. “Tonya, Theo, and Frankie.”

“That’s fine. Oh, is that who you were talking to down there?”

“No, actually, I was talking to the neighbor. Her name is Lulu, seems nice.” Queenie blushed.

A loner desperate for connection. Flirty but withdrawn.

Queenie shivered as the words ran down the back of her spine. It wasn’t her usual internal monologue. This voice felt separate, like a pixie on her shoulder whispering in her ear. It mimicked her voice but sounded off key. Queenie rubbed her ears. Kelsi eyed her daughter for the first time in a long time. Queenie skin crawled at the sudden full attention.

She rubbed her ears hard, faked water in them as she shook her head to the side. “Sorry, shower still in my ears.”

“Be careful—that’s how you get swimmers' ears.”

Kelsi and Queenie peered out the front window. There in the yard to their left was the ‘For Sale’ sign at the neighbors’ house. “Must not have taken down the sign yet.”

“Lulu said they dropped her off and went back to get more stuff.” Queenie fiddled with the fabric of her shirt.

“That’s impractical, but then again it’s been so long since I’ve had to move in and out of a house.” Kelsi straightened out her jacket.

She cares for nothing…

Queenie stopped her hand millimeters from her cheeks. A moist, cool breath of air ran down the side of her neck. The scent of salt water returned to the house as Kelsi opened the front door and left without another word.

Queenie shut and locked the door behind her mother. She inhaled the last sliver of ocean scent mixed with the expensive floral perfume her mother wore. She pulled out her phone. She texted Frankie and asked if she could pick her up.