“You’re one of those Sisters, aren’t you?” he said. “I’ve seen you lot about. What were you doing in the—sweet Jesus, aren’t you bleeding, then. Damn, what do I do when…” He leaned in. “Can you hear me?”

She could certainly smell him. There was alcohol on his breath. Madeleine wrinkled her nose and groaned. Now that the angel was gone, the pain was coming back, along with the unpleasant taste of salt. Her mouth was dry, her tongue thick.

“Right, anything broken? Can you sit up? Come on, now.” The man slid one hand beneath her back and hauled her to a sitting position. She yelped at the ache in her head and her back.

“That’s a girl. Stay awake, all right? My name’s Jonathan.” His voice was slurred. “Sit here and I’ll fetch Sue Kilbright. She’s a nurse.”

“Yes…thanks…” Finally, she could manage proper words. She looked around, blinking, and coughed again. She could see better now, but it was still dark save for the streetlamps, which seemed a hundred miles away. Where was her flashlight? Probably still on the dock with the scissors. She should get the scissors. They weren’t hers. It wasn’t right to steal.

“Wasn’t somebody with you?” Jonathan grunted as he propped her up straighter. She guessed that he was significantly older than she—in his sixties, maybe. “I’d have sworn blind I saw two of you, but maybe I was seeing double. I’m a bit worse for wear. I’m not usually,” he added quickly.

“An angel,” Madeleine muttered, turning her head to look back at the waves. “There was this horse…” She pointed to the dock, to the dinghy. “A horse in the water, and then a woman…she saved me, and she said…”

“A horse in the water?” An odd note entered Jonathan’s voice. His grip on her tightened. “And then a woman, you said?”

“Yes, and she—” Madeleine touched her forehead. It stung, and her fingertips came away dark with blood. “She said⁠—”

“Never mind what she said,” Jonathan growled. “Fuck, we’ve got to get off this beach. Come on!”

He put his arm around Madeleine’s shoulders and stood up with a grunt. He seemed none too steady on his feet, and for a moment they seemed about to fall back down, but then he caught himself. “Ah, hell. Let’s go. Quickly now.”

Madeleine couldn’t approve of his language, but she did appreciate the sentiment. As they made their way to the steps, although her head continued to ache, it also became clear. And with the slow agony of clarification came the fear.