Chapter 22
The ringing phone jolted Clare from sleep so abruptly, that her dream remained vivid, the horror still real. She’d been miles beneath the earth, swimming in a warm underground ocean. Jack was there too, on the beach, laughing and throwing sticks into the shallows for Samson. A tranquil scene. But while they played, the waves changed direction, breaking at an unnatural angle to the shore. It was then she saw it – a dark stain in the distance, expanding at incredible speed. She’d called to them, but Jack had merely waved and cast a stick into the waves. Samson bounded after it, swimming strongly out to sea. ‘Jacky, no!’ But like a flash the child was in the water too, dog paddling towards the stain. The black water assumed a concave shape – a monstrous, roaring vortex, swallowing
