Lost Voices Read Online Free

They didn’t have much time, Luce knew, before the waves would seize that tiny cold body and swirl it away. Now that they were safely back at the meadow, she couldn’t understand why she hadn’t picked the body up and carried it up the slope herself. The idea that the girl might be lost forever sickened Luce. Maybe the girl’s parents didn’t even know what had happened to her, and now maybe they would never find out. It would be unforgivable if that happened because Luce was too afraid to touch a corpse. She could run to Gum’s house and call the police, but it was obvious that by the time they came it would be too late.
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    Gum suddenly feinted, trying to jerk free of her grip on his hand, but she caught him back. He was keening now, shrilling out a single high, unbroken note.
    “Stop it!” Tears were pouring down his face as he gaped at her. “Gum, I’m going back for her! It’s going to be fine! But you have to let me get you home first.” Gum stared and his squeal weakened to an uncertain whimper. “If you keep fighting me it’s going to make me too late, okay? Come on!” Gum still looked confused, but he let her tow him along as she raced across the swaying grass to his lavender house with its ratty satin curtains. She was dashing so quickly that he stumbled, jerking down on her arm before he regained his footing. She had to slow down, but every second of delay might be one too many.
    Luce threw open the door of Gum’s house and almost propelled him inside. Mrs. Cooper gawked at her from the kitchen doorway, ashy burn marks in her scraggly blond hair and a cigarette flopping on her crackly lower lip.
    “And what do you think you’re doing running off with my son at this hour?” The voice was a shriek.
    “You need to call the police. Tell them to come to the beach!” Luce didn’t want to waste any more time explaining, and she slapped the door closed right in Gum’s wild face and charged back the way she’d come. At least now she could be fairly sure that Gum wouldn’t follow her, and that was something. She slid down the eroded slope on her back, not even noticing when the snarled roots tore her sleeve, and hit the beach so hard there was a sharp tweak in her ankle. The uneven ground made the pain worse, but still Luce pushed herself to run faster. From here the tall rocks at the end reminded her of a house where no one had lived for years. Gray water tumbled between its walls.
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    The rising waves had already narrowed the beach by at least five yards.
    “I have to save her,” Luce heard herself whisper between her panting breaths. “I have to make sure she gets home.” She knew the urgency that possessed her was irrational; nothing would bring back the dead. Still, the idea that the girl’s parents might never hold her again while her soft small limbs were gnawed by crabs seemed impossibly cruel. She couldn’t accept it, even though she could tell that water must already cover the place where they’d found the body. Luce darted around the first outcropping of rock and straight into a miniature whirlpool. It spun as high as her knees, tugging on her, before it fell back again. She was left standing on pale froth and crushed shells.
    At least all the rocks here broke the full force of the waves.
    And she might be able to catch on to one if a wave grabbed her.
    As a fresh influx of icy, biting water rushed up her legs, she forced herself to calm down and try to remember the route Gum had taken. The stone walls around her were blank and gray, but she was sure she remembered that golden tuft of grass arching out of the one to her right.
    She made her way between the rocks always sloping downward. Now that she was moving more slowly she had time to become aware of her fear. Each wave that lashed in twirled as high as her thighs before spilling out and sloshing ankle- deep.
    Luce had to hold the rocks each time to keep her legs from being jerked out from under her. They were already going