Page 41 of The Tide is High

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The car park was full, and people were still coming, parking on the verge in the mid-morning sun. It seemed everyone wanted to watch the eclipse, and they wanted a beer in their hand while doing it.

True sidled up to Hope and nodded towards the wreck. “That ship look closer to you?”

“Closer.” Hope confirmed standing on the outside patio, looking out at the shipwreck.

“How bloody close does it have to get before we help it on its way back to sea?” True whispered, aware of the humans packed into the area around them like sardines.

“Does it matter now? The ghost is free to walk among us,” Hope whispered back.

True shivered at the thought, almost like the ghost had just rested a hand on her shoulder. She eyed her shoulder, and when a hand appeared, about to grab a hold, she squealed and sidestepped the touch. “Pirate!” she hissed.

“I’ve been called a lot of things, sister, but never that,” Faith said, grinning.

“Ugh!” True caved in on herself. “I hate this, I hate the ghost, and I hate Nana for releasing it.”

“At least you knew where it was before,” Faith said, eyeing the shipwreck. “That get closer?”

“Yes!” Hope and True said before rolling their eyes at each other.

“Will it go back out when the tides do?” Faith asked.

“It blooming well better!” True said. “Or we’ll need to give it a push.” When they both slowly turned to question her with raised eyebrows and smirks, she sighed. “Well, we don’t want it cluttering up our nice beach, do we?”

“That’s your excuse, and you’re sticking to it,” Faith said.

“Could be even more of a tourist attraction,” Hope said, teasing True by wiggling her eyebrows.

“Here it goes!” Someone in the crowd yelled, and three witches donned stupid-looking, specially-made cardboard sunglasses and looked up at the sun.

“How long does this take?” Faith asked, noting that the moon had only taken a little bite out of the sun so far.

“No idea,” Hope said.

“Do I look like a scientist to you?” True asked.

“Nope, a scaredy cat,” Faith said, elbowing her sister.

Evie popped up at Faith’s shoulder. “Oh, good, we didn’t miss it,” she said, donning her glasses and slinging an arm around Jennifer’s shoulder.

“I guess it takes a while,” Faith said, eyeing the other two.

Jennifer wrinkled her nose as she looked through her glasses at the sun. “It can take several hours for the moon to pass in front of the sun, but a total eclipse only last minutes, so if you snooze, you lose.”

Faith motioned to Jennifer and raised her eyebrows at True. “See, even a child knows how long it takes.”

“And you did?” True asked Faith.

Faith frowned. “Not the point; I’m not the sister who thinks she’s smarter than the average bear.”

“Bears poop in the woods, I use a toilet, ergo, I am smarter than the average bear,” True replied. “It must be exhausting being you, Faith, what with the chip you’re carrying on each shoulder.”

Faith prickled, but she covered it up with a chuckle. “Well, doesn’t that make me the well-balanced sister?”

~

Nana eyed the ghost, who seemed to like standing in the corner of the room and not leaving it. “Well, what do you have to say for yourself?” she asked.

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