Episode 48: Deserted Beaches and Dotted Letters
- Crystal Crawford
- Apr 26
- 6 min read
Updated: 7 days ago
As soon as the blinding light faded and the beach came fully into view, Trenchcoat Man turned to Chloe. “What was he saying we’re unable to stop? What has he done?” His voice and expression were urgent.
“I don’t know,” Chloe said helplessly. “I really don’t!”
She might have been telling the truth… but my mind was consumed by the fact we were back at the beach.
The sun was already setting, and the beach was deserted. The storm had passed over, and the waters were far less choppy off-shore than before. A sandcastle someone had built near the water’s edge earlier was now partly swept away—the tide was coming in.
“Why did you bring us here?” I asked Trenchcoat Man.
He looked at me. “Your home would’ve been too obvious. Plus, this is where Emery led you, and we still aren’t sure why.”
Something in his tone caught me off guard. “You have a theory?”
His eyes met mine. “Emery’s clues revealed the elemental in the water. But maybe that wasn’t all she wanted you to find here.”
“What do you mean?” Collin asked.
“Elementals can’t put themselves under sleeping spells, nor can they cast illusions. Someone else did that.” Trenchcoat Man asked, looking right at me. “So why put a raw elemental under a hibernation spell, then conceal it just off shore?”
I stared at him. “Are you saying you think Emery did that?”
“No. But someone did, and she must’ve known,” he said. “She wanted you to find the elemental. Why?”
It was clear he had an answer, but wanted me to come to it on my own.
Then it clicked. “It’s guarding something.”
He grinned. “There you go!” He turned to Chloe. “What would your father be guarding out here?”
Chloe gave him a wide-eyed stare. “I—I’m not sure.”
Trenchcoat Man looked at me. “I noticed something about the gold-sand quote earlier. I’d like to look at it more closely. Can you pull it back out?”
I dug out Emery’s notebook again and turned to the page.
Trenchcoat Man moved close to peer at it over my shoulder.
“There,” he said, pointing at the word sand. “Those letters are dotted, not solid like the others.”
I looked up at him. “You think that means something?”
“With Emery, it seems everything means something,” Collin commented.
I drew a breath. “That’s true.”
I looked more carefully at the word. “It’s like the letters faded…” A realization flashed in my mind, a deep instinctual understanding. “No—it’s like they have holes.” I looked up at the others. “The sand is sinking.”
Trenchcoat Man’s face lit up. “Grab your hourglass and follow me.”
He hurried toward the shoreline.
I pulled the hourglass pill-box out of my pocket and followed, with the others close behind.
He stopped just where the waves were lapping at his boots and pointed out into the water. “The elemental is there,” he said. “Anglemoor re-concealed him, and thanks to Rupert, he should once more be sleeping. The sleeping magic Rupert used won’t disperse when the illusion is removed like the other did; whoever set the first spell had bound the two together.” He looked back at me. “Come on.”
I only hesitated a moment before removing my sneakers, rolling up my jeans, and following him. The others joined us.
When we were about thigh-deep in the cold water, Trenchcoat Man stopped. “We should be about where we saw the elemental,” he said. “With the deep sleep from Rupert and Anglemoor’s talent at concealment, we’d hardly notice the elemental even if we were standing right on top of him.”
“Oh, fantastic,” Lockley said with an edge of sarcasm.
“Better than him waking and us knowing he’s there,” Trenchcoat Man said.
He had a point.
Waves were lapping at my legs, occasionally splashing as high as my waist. I slid Emery’s notebook into my backpack and zipped it one-handed, then lifted my pack higher onto my shoulders so it—and my phone that was also in my backpack—wouldn’t get wet.
The pillbox that held the hourglass was still in my right hand, which was a good thing since my jeans pockets were soaked.
“My theory is that there is more than one illusion at play here—that the elemental was a distraction. Anglemoor confirmed that he sensed something else when he was here. We just have to figure out what.” He looked at me. “I thought perhaps it might make a difference to flip the hourglass while out in the water.”
“Like Emery was,” I suddenly realized.
We were standing almost exactly where Emery was last seen, right before she was supposedly sucked under by a current and drowned.
A nervous anticipation settled on my chest. What if I didn’t like what we were about to find?
I looked up at my parents and found they looked nervous, too.
“Whatever it is, we face it together,” my mom said softly.
I nodded and opened the pillbox.
Before I could grab out the hourglass, my dad stopped me.
“Let me try something first.” He pulled a flat, copper disc out of his shirt pocket—I had no idea when he’d put it there; he’d probably pulled it from his briefcase on the beach—and held it out over the water.
The disc had a metal arrow on it, like a compass, but no other markings.
The arrow was swinging wildly.
“There is something under there,” my dad said, looking up at Trenchcoat Man. “It’s not just the ocean floor.”
“Could it be the elemental?” I asked.
“This reads electrical currents.” Dad looked at me. “Water elementals don’t make those.”
“Doesn’t the ocean itself generate some level of electrical current from the moving saltwater interacting with the Earth’s magnetic field?” Collin asked.
“Yes, the ocean does have some level of electromagnetic activity,” my dad said, “but not like this.”
I stared at Collin, because I hadn’t known that about the ocean. Apparently, he was into science.
I also found myself wondering, again, where my dad got all these gadgets he supposedly sold. I was about to ask him, but Trenchcoat Man turned to Chloe.
“Do you know anything about this?” he asked.
“Nothing,” Chloe said. She looked honestly bewildered.
Trenchcoat Man turned back to me. “Flip the hourglass, Aubrey.” He looked up at the rest of the group. “We should be ready for anything.”
I took a deep breath, then flipped the hourglass.
The ground beneath us immediately started sinking.
I shouted and tried to jump back, but the water and sand were all rushing downward like a drain under our entire group, and I couldn’t get my footing. There was still ground beneath us, but something was sucking sand and water past us, creating a violent, whirlpool-like current around our entire group.
The water and sand were slipping away beneath us into… a sinkhole? I couldn’t tell, but there was obviously an opening somewhere, and the churning water made it impossible to see what the hole actually was or how deep it went.
“Aubrey!” my dad yelled. “Grab on!” He reached out his arm, and I clutched it for balance. Mom was on his other arm with a grip on Lockley, who was holding onto Collin.
He offered his free hand to Chloe, which surprised me, and she took it.
The cheer hawks had shifted, and were circling above us.
Trenchcoat Man braced himself as best he could against the current, but even he was struggling to stay upright. “Hold on!” he called to us, then flipped his face up. “What do you see?”
The cheer hawks circled back down, then turned back into human form just above the surface and plopped down into the water in the middle of the churning mess.
“There’s a grate,” Tory said, wiping water out of her eyes. “The sand and water are sifting down through it, but it’s solid!” She stamped her foot, and it made a clanging sound.
“Move into the center! It’s easier to stand up here.”
“A grate?” Collin yelled over the sound of the current. “How was the water not draining out before?”
“Aubrey’s hourglass must’ve opened some kind of seal,” Trenchcoat Man said. He looked at the cheer hawks. “Is there a handle?”
“A lever, near you,” Jillian answered.
“Perfect,” he said. “One moment.” He ducked under the water, trench coat and all.
We saw his long legs thrashing at the surface, like he was kicking, then his legs slipped under, too.
For a moment, I was worried. Then he popped back up.
“I’ve found it,” he said, looking around at us. “Everyone, brace yourselves.”
He ducked back under, and a moment later, the surface beneath us completely dropped away.
We were freefalling.
***
Want to reread a previous episode? Click here to be taken to the main Season 1 menu, where you can see all available episodes!
***
Comments