The searchlight swept past the mouth of the inlet, and for one heart-stopping second, Elias was sure it would find them.
But the beam slid over the black water and kept moving, and the red ship's rumble faded into the distance. He let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. The raft bumped against the rocks, and the children huddled closer, their small bodies trembling from cold and fear.
"Stay quiet," Elias whispered. "We wait until the sound is gone."
They sat in the dark, listening to the slow pulse of the sea. The inlet was narrow, walled by jagged stone that rose thirty feet on either side. It smelled of salt and rotting kelp. Overhead, the sky was beginning to pale with the first hint of dawn, but the light felt thin and weak, as if the world itself was exhausted.
Lyra sa
