Chapter 4
Esme leaped out of the way, but the bird ignored her, swooping down on to the deck—and seizing Ariane’s notebook. It soared off along the bay, the black diary suspended between its claws.
‘Wait! Give that back!’
Dark specks peppered the white bird’s wings. This was the same bird that had acted so strangely on the day of her father’s wedding. Now it was headed toward the point, stealing away the last words her mother may have ever written.
She set off after it, racing along the sand, arms, legs, heart pumping, sure the bird would drop the book once it realised it wasn’t prey.
The sea eagle alighted on a mass of boulders far in the distance, atop the next headland. It poised there, motionless, a furled white flag against the charcoal cliffs. Esme huffed her way up the rocks, b
