Page 5 of Hidden Tide

“I wanted you to hear about the body before the news reported it.”

“That isn’t the only reason.”

“No.”

I waited.

The waves rolled across the beach, steady and patient.

Behind me, Ward left Storm and started in my direction. He must have noticed the change in my expression.

“What did they find with the body?” I asked.

“An old waterproof camera case.”

I looked down at the camera hanging against my chest.

Ben had given it to me after Mom’s rescue. Beneath the lens, he had engraved two words.

KEEP LOOKING.

“What was inside?”

“A thirty-five-millimeter camera, two rolls of undeveloped film, and a small notebook. The lab is processing everything.”

“After three years in a flooded cave?”

“The case was designed for underwater photography equipment. The inner seal was intact.”

That was possible.

Unusual, but possible.

“What was in the notebook?”

“Most of the pages were destroyed. The forensic team recovered part of one sentence.”

“What did it say?”

“East carries the eye.”

I stopped breathing.

Grandpa had called me East.

Storm was North—the one who always found the way home.

Willow was South—steady and warm.

Hazel was West—forever chasing the setting sun.

Ivy was the center—the heart that held us together.

And I was East.

The one who noticed the first light.

The one who kept looking.