Kelsey watched him, a strange curiosity slowly replacing her fear. If only he wouldn’t stare at her with that eye…

“So,” he said. “You come to swim?”

Kelsey felt her lips move. “I don’t like to swim.”

“No?” His scraggly brows drew together. “But let me see…you don’t live around here ’cause I never seen you. So you gotta be a tourist. And tourists come to swim.”

“I don’t like to swim,” Kelsey said again. “I don’t like water.”

The old man slapped his leg, a fine spray of saliva flying from his mouth as he laughed loudly. “You’re funny, girl! You come to the beach and you don’t like to swim. You come to the island and you don’t like water! What you gonna do?” He rocked back a little, his eye a thoughtful slit as it looked her up and down. “You smart girl, not to swim, maybe. Maybe stay alive that way.”

A chill snaked its way up her spine, and Kelsey moved her feet, testing the ground behind her.

“But wait—I did see you before. You got off the boat yesterday.”

Kelsey knew if she had seen the old man yesterday she would never have forgotten that face. She frowned and saw that he was laughing at her.

“You don’t see me, but I see you.” The grizzled head bobbed slowly. “Isaac sees a lot of things.”

One step back. “What…what do you mean by that?”

He lay one finger along his upper lip, smugly considering. “Ever hear of the ninth day, girl?”

Kelsey shook her head.

“When a person be drowned, his body will float on the ninth day. Except this body ain’t a he. And it ain’t never gonna have a chance to float.”

Kelsey stared at him, her legs turned to rubber beneath her. “I…I don’t know what you’re talking about. You’re just trying to scare me—”

He gave a high-pitched chuckle. “Me? Scare a nice little girl like you? Isaac just tells the truth; you should listen to old Isaac.”

“I should report you!”

“Report me?” he breathed in, his face mocking. “Well, now, I see I was wrong about you, wasn’t I?”

“Wrong about what?”

“I thought you be a smart girl. I thought you listen to the truth.”

“You tried to scare me back there, and it wasn’t funny—”

“You’re right, girl, it wasn’t.” His grin faded, lips settling into a thin, serious line. “It wasn’t funny. And it wasn’t me.”

A gust of wind whined around the lighthouse, and Kelsey glanced toward the tower, suddenly cold. “What do you mean it wasn’t you? I heard you! You were watching me!”

For several moments he regarded her passively, his lips finally curling into a humorless smile. “Don’t believe everything you see, girl. Folks ain’t always what they seem to be.”

Kelsey turned her back on him and started walking, fearfully conscious now of the old man lumbering to his feet.

“You remember what I say!” he shouted. “You remember, and you have a care! There’s evil all around you, closing you in! It’s got you! Anytime it wants you, it’s got you—”