Blinking from the top of the abandoned tower.
Once.
Twice.
Then darkness.
Lena grabbed her phone.
Before she could dial, someone hammered on the front door.
She ran downstairs and threw it open.
A teenage boy stood outside.
Fourteen, maybe fifteen.
Thin.
Dark hair plastered against his forehead.
He wore a soaked yellow rain jacket and carried an old radio receiver beneath one arm.
“Mrs. Vale?”
“Who are you?”
“My name’s Finn Mercer.”
Lena recognized the surname.
“Caleb Mercer’s son?”
The boy nodded.
His father owned the electronics repair shop near the marina.
“Have you seen Iris?”
Finn looked toward the lighthouse.
“That’s why I’m here.”
Lena’s stomach tightened.
“Where is my daughter?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then why are you here?”
“Because I think she’s going to Grey Needle.”
For a second Lena could only stare at him.
“Why would Iris go there?”
Finn lifted the radio.
“Because someone called her.”
They drove toward Grey Needle Point in Lena’s truck.
Rain hammered the windshield.
The wipers barely kept up.
Finn sat in the passenger seat holding the radio tightly.
“Start talking,” Lena said.
Finn swallowed.
“About four months ago, my dad bought a box of old marine radios from an auction. I fixed one.”
“And?”
“I started listening at night.”
“Listening to what?”
“Mostly fishermen. Weather reports. Coast Guard transmissions.”
Lightning flashed over the ocean.
Finn looked down at the radio.
“Then I heard a girl.”
Lena stopped breathing.
“What girl?”
“I didn’t know at first.”
“What did she say?”
“Not much.”
“Finn.”
“She always called at the same time. Two seventeen in the morning.”
The truck hit a puddle.
Water exploded beside them.
“She would turn on a transmitter and say, ‘Keeper, are you there?'”
Lena gripped the steering wheel.
“And somebody answered.”
Finn nodded.
“A man.”
“What man?”
“I don’t know.”
“What did he say?”
Finn hesitated.
“He called her Little Star.”
Lena slammed the brake.
The truck stopped in the middle of the empty coastal road.
Rain thundered against the roof.
“What did you just say?”
Finn looked frightened.
“Little Star.”
Lena stared at him.
Daniel had called Iris that.
Not occasionally.
Every day.
Since she was a baby.
“Play it.”
“What?”
“You recorded it, didn’t you?”
Finn slowly pulled his phone from his jacket.
“I recorded some.”
He pressed the screen.
Static filled the truck.
Then came a girl’s whisper.
Small.
Careful.
Terrified.
“Keeper, are you there?”
Lena’s hand flew to her mouth.
Iris.
There was no question.
It was her daughter.
Then a man’s voice emerged through the static.
Distorted electronically.
“Always here, Little Star.”
Lena felt the world tilt.
Iris had spoken.
Her daughter could speak.
She had been speaking.
For months.
Lena turned toward Finn.
“Who is that man?”
“I don’t know.”
The recording continued.
Iris whispered, “Can I tell Mom?”
The man’s answer came immediately.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because daylight isn’t safe.”
“But she cries.”
“Then protect her.”
A pause.
“How?”
The man’s voice became quieter.
“Stay silent.”
Lena’s face went cold.
The recording ended.
For several seconds there was nothing but rain.
Then Lena whispered, “Someone has been doing this to her.”
Finn nodded.
“That’s what I think.”
“Why didn’t you tell anyone?”
“I tried.”
“Who?”
Finn looked at her.
“Mr. Keene.”
Marcus.
Lena felt something tighten inside her chest.
“When?”
“Three weeks ago.”
“What did he say?”
“He told me it was probably some kids playing with radios. He said not to worry you.”
Lena restarted the truck.
“Where does the signal come from?”
Finn pointed toward the darkness ahead.
“Grey Needle.”
The road ended half a mile from the lighthouse.
They continued on foot.
The storm had swallowed the coastline.
Waves struck the cliffs below with the sound of collapsing buildings.
Finn carried a flashlight.
Lena shouted Iris’s name until her throat hurt.
No answer.
Then the radio crackled.
Finn stopped.
A voice whispered through the static.
“Keeper?”
Iris.
Lena grabbed the radio.
“Iris!”
Finn caught her wrist.
“Wait.”
Another voice answered.
The man.
“You came.”
Lena’s blood turned cold.
Iris whispered, “You said tonight.”
“Yes.”
“You said you’d tell me.”
“I will.”
“Tell me what happened to Daddy.”
Lena nearly dropped the radio.
Finn increased the volume.
The man’s voice continued.
“Come inside the lighthouse.”
Lena started running.
The door to Grey Needle lighthouse had been forced open.
Fresh footprints marked the mud.
Small footprints.
Iris.
Lena ran inside.
“Iris!”