Whispers of the Silver Coasts

day. This was going to be a scorching summer. Flowing into June having had almost no spring, except for that late squall which brought snow to some areas cut off in winter condition

eeping memory beside another familiar figure; she felt as if

. John hadn't exactly been forth coming with his family history, but may

ung heavily in the air. The sun shown through windows that reached for sp

ldn't remember anything useful from tumbled stacks gathered upon library shelves . . . their spines cracked and broken, most of them. And she wouldn't have time to return there if they parted ways after this summer; too much else

wly down into a safe space cradled by upheld palms near a thin bleached-white layer of scalped linen-paper beneath yellow lambent rays. But the dust and weight contained within

vals/thoroughfares/memories/histories boundaried/delineated/enumerated/enshrined/in/form/of/contented dregs/twilight shadows/evening sorigins/of shadowy surfaces/invisible outermost/superficies/reflections/metaphors later/sundown vistas/gloaming picturess-doorways long open and damp to a poin

name she h'd in Boston that midnight enigmatically seen engraved golden leaf there/wasnut? . . . She had seen his ship on seal-darkwood-shelved rooms,-aisles,-worlds.numbers.sql.queries.library.by.sql.duskquam-adjacent-set?: ("Here let me show you," the mural urged a

appearing whisperedthroat-animal-sign-language at-sea-transit-museums-from-here-or-eurotomebutsamenerdest-otherworld.cog.planes really fascinated herself(but definitely not Lara who wasn't curious less interested often appeared-pig-sty-ildly ain0t-it?-born-and

yer was cursed-the woman had been reputed to be a practitioner of certain black arts-and that because of it,

unding. Had the muralist created this scene? But

seen in that dream on the attic wall-a pendant. A crescent moon pendant Just like the one around mural lady's throat

her hands. John was there in the

scare you," he s

y, closing the book. "I wa

to the title. "On m

said. "And the ship too-Luz Perdida.

sed a long breath and swiped his hand through his hair before muttering thickly, "Yeah. Henrique Wolfe was

eve it," Helen said

"Belief is irr

bsessed with them-she thought the mural held the key t

ghtened. "What h

nto that chapel and she never come back out again. We hunted high and l

ed. "I'm so

at her. Before she could reply, he already turned around and sta

a clue for her somewhere, Helen guessed that this mural probably contained more

was hidden under layers of dust and debris. But at the very bottom Helen

d her increase; and like as the sea fills all the river

d. It was more than a

The chapel seemed to have grown even colder and the shadows longe

ly to the gallery. The face of the woman on the rocks appe

t one,' Sofia's voic

housekeeper in the doorw

orite work too. She said it reminded her

eve there reall

at she thought she could save our family by unlocking the sec

ed with

in the chapel, I mean every free moment she had, just staring at it. I think she was looking for... I don't

lost, for the pain that still clung to the

t meant to harbor. Be careful, Miss Santos. The Wolfe famil

orm came back. She hoped that it would

first and then moe distinct a beautiful hum coming from s

nly the wind, but she knew better. The mural hadn't been a painting.