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chapter twenty-one and salt the earth behind you
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The world had a way of completely stilling when the night came. Time seemed to stand still when the stars took their place high in the sky and a blanket of darkness encapsulated the entirety of the Outer Banks. The sun had died for the moon by now, allowing the celestial body to shine in the darkness of the sky. It was almost calming with the slight hum of the grasshoppers and the soft lapping of the seawater filtering throughout the air. . . . Emphasis on the almost.
Izzy had never been one to enjoy the silence. Many times it had wrapped her in a cold embrace, suffocating her and sending her into a deep panic. It made her feel alone. And for a while, the silence had let her be as she surrounded herself with people like her; people with the same scarred hearts; the broken children. It had let her rest easy, but as the group took their boat (or the HMS Pogue as the others called it) out on the water and set out to the Cameron estate, the silence revisited Izzy Windsor.
The silence rang in her ears as thoughts of recent events invaded her mind. She kept picturing Ward murdering John B's father over and over again like a sick nightmare. She knew it was the truth, but she still didn't want to believe it. She was never really keen on Ward Cameron, but she hadn't minded him, and never once did she think he'd do something like this. But he had . . . and she wondered if this was the first time . . . or if it would be the last. She wondered if her father had ever done the same in order to come out on top, and she wondered if she had ever unintentionally helped him cover it up. Because really, how much thicker was blood than water?
Izzy blinked and tried forcing her thoughts to the back of her mind. She pursed her lips and shifted in her spot on the floor of the boat. She watched in silence as Pope steered the boat to the dock outside of the Cameron estate and turned off the engine. Everything happened a little too fast for her to comprehend as the nose of the boat bumped against the dock while JJ stood to his feet and quickly tied the rope around the anchor bend to keep them from drifting. While he did that, Kiara stood at the stern of the boat with her hands on her hips as she glared at the house belonging to the Camerons. A second passed and then Izzy flicked her eyes to the Victorian house, and observed as it glared back at her with so much vigor it sent a shiver down her spine.
