Page 68 of Someone in the Water
I nod. I need to let this go. Remember that the only thing that matters right now is that she’s okay. ‘So have your travel documents arrived?’
Lola lets out a long sigh and leans back. ‘I haven’t checked at reception yet, but yes, I guess so. I got an email from the consulate.’
‘Great.’ I try to hide the relief dripping off me. ‘Shall we go pick them up now?’
Lola looks away. ‘There’s no hurry. I need a shower, and I want to charge my phone. I also think I might have run out of credit.’
I push my lips together. Last night Lola threatened to stay in Corsica by herself if I insisted on leaving. But she was angry then and I hoped it was just her lashing out. After last night’s note, there’s no way I can let her stay, but if I push too hard, I risk her storming off again. ‘I can buy the phone card while you’re in the shower. And we may as well pick up your documents now,’ I coax. ‘As we’re so close to reception.’
‘I know what you’re doing, Mum,’ Lola says quietly. ‘You think that once I have them, I’ll suddenly want to go home. But it doesn’t work like that.’
I feel my eyes grow hot. I don’t know who is sliding notes under my door, or what they know about my dream in Gatwick Airport car park. The first note could just about be described as harmless goading, but there’s no sugar-coating the second one. That was a threat to kill. I need to change Lola’s mind, and maybe there’s only one way I can do that.
‘I need to tell you something.’
‘Oh?’ Lola stiffens.
I scan the room. The bar area is empty, but not private. Anyone could wander in. ‘Will you come for a walk with me?’
Lola looks away, then back again, and sighs. ‘Okay.’
We push out of our chairs and walk through the sliding doors in tandem. We skirt silently around the pool and head in the direction of the sea. When we reach the beach, I veer left, until I reach an empty stretch of sand.
Here goes.
I turn away from Lola and look out to sea. ‘Last night you thought I was overreacting about the danger we’re in.’
‘Yeah, I guess.’
‘Well, I haven’t told you everything.’ I listen to Lola’s breathing become shallower as she prepares for yet another secret.
‘Oh?’
‘I’ve been getting these notes,’ I continue. ‘One on Sunday night, and then again last night.’
‘What notes?’ Lola’s tone is part disdain, part fear.
I reach into the pocket of my shorts and pull them out – as though I always knew, eventually, that I’d have to show them to her. I watch as Lola starts reading, but seeing her hand begin to shake drags down the corners of my mouth. ‘I’m sorry,’ I murmur. ‘I didn’t want to scare you.’
‘What do they mean?’ she finally asks, looking up. ‘Calling you a mazzera, talking about dreams.’
I’ve never confided in anyone about my mazzeri dreams, at least not when I’ve been thinking straight. But I need to try now. ‘Do you remember us talking about the mazzeri last night?’ I start.
‘Yeah, of course. But what has that got to do with you?’
I take a breath. ‘I … I had a dream about Izzy. It was grotesque, but vivid,’ I say, trying to find the right words. ‘And I had it the night before she died. It was Salvo’s fault, putting crazy ideas in my head the morning after we found Archie’s body, saying my dad was mazzeri so I probably was too. I knew the dream wasn’t really witchcraft or anything, but it was horrible. Me killing a deer, then seeing Izzy’s face on the carcass. I can still see it now, clear as day. And then Izzy died, just like the dream foretold.’
‘So you started to believe it?’ Lola asks, but her voice is soft, not judgemental and it allows me to look at her. My skin feels taut as I hold it in place.
‘Not really. At least, not during the daytime,’ I say. ‘But when I went to bed … I was scared it might happen again. It was safer to stay awake, but then I’d get so tired.’
‘And you’ve been dealing with this for twenty-one years?’
I shake my head. ‘I really struggled in the beginning, but then you came along, and I had something else to focus on. Something amazing. And now most of the time I can treat it as what it is – a creepy story to scare kids around campfires. But then the anniversary comes around, which happens to also be the most powerful night for the mazzeri. And the doubt starts to take over again.’
‘Which is the real reason you hide away,’ Lola says. ‘Why your mental health suffers so much.’
‘I never wanted to leave you. But when I nearly killed us both in that car accident when you were three, and then I lost my mind in the hospital and didn’t leave for nearly a month, I knew I had to take precautions.’
