Read Online Thirteen Days By Sunset Beach by Ramsey Campbell - Free Book Online

said. "Have you finished shopping?"
    "I just want to get some more water."
    "I will too," said Tim.
    "Then three of us are thirsty," Sandra said. "Anybody else? I'll buy."
    As Ray took three plastic bottles to the desk the moustached old woman in black stared past him. "Never dream dark."
    "Jonquil, will you take William to find the bus stop," Julian said. "I'll pay for your hat and you can settle with me later."
    When Jonquil closed her hand around his the boy seemed about to demur, presumably feeling too old to be led. As soon as the two of them had left the shop, Julian rounded on the shopkeeper. "Pardon me, what were you saying?"
    "Never dream dark." Ignoring Julian, she stared at Tim. "You bring it here," she said.
    "I don't think anyone can do that just by dreaming," Pris said.
    This time she responded, but in Greek. "Did anybody understand that?" Natalie said, more a protest than a question.
    "Something like—" Pris tapped her forehead with a fingertip, which put Ray in mind of touching an onscreen icon to summon information. "People who want the sunset," she suggested, "invite the dark."
    The old woman gave that a single vigorous nod. "Friends of dark."
    Ray was trying to decide whether this was agreement or a correction when Julian said "Speaking of nonsense, may we ask you all to keep it away from William."
    "What sort of thing would that be, Jules?"
    "Bad dreams. Unpleasant legends. You've already had him imagining knocks in the night with that tale of yours, Douglas."
    Before Ray could take responsibility Tim said "My dream didn't feel exactly bad."
    "I think it's time to move on," Julian said at once.
    As he and the Thorntons left the supermarket they heard a bus approaching. Ray took Sandra's hand as they jogged after long-legged Tim, subsiding to a trot when they reached a bend in the road. Tim was already with Jonquil and William by the bus at the stop, and dabbing at his forehead while he sucked on a bottle of water. The first few rows of seats were occupied by local folk, and as the Thornton party made their way along the aisle several women in black gave them a sign of the cross, pointing with the finger. "Thank you," Sandra said more than once, an example Tim and Jonquil followed.
    Nobody boarded the bus at Sunset Beach. When it passed a loiterer in a shady side road blinking at the sunlight, the women in black covered their eyes with a hand. "Is that another tradition?" Natalie murmured.
    "Looks as if it's religious," Pris said.
    "Maybe they aren't supposed to look at sinners," Doug said, "which could mean anyone at Sunset Beach."
    Ray thought this might be so, since they left their eyes uncovered when the bus reached the next village, where a good many people were to be seen. After that the road wound between fields not too far from the sea and past the occasional lonely bus shelter, until Doug craned forward and then poked the bellpush on the neatest metal pole. "We're here," he said.
    He might have been telling the driver, who seemed in no hurry to brake. As Doug led the procession up the aisle the bus slowed, halting with an exhausted gasp some yards past a rudimentary stone shelter. The doors stayed shut as the driver turned to him. "Where you want?"
    "We're off to the beach."
    The man's eyebrows, outposts of his shaggy black moustache, seemed to darken his eyes. "Sunset it better."
    "You're saying we should see it there?" Pris said.
    The driver's eyebrows hunched lower. "Where you came from."
    "We'll be back there for the sunset," Doug said.
    The driver might have been shrugging as he released the doors, which parted with a sigh that could almost have denoted resignation. All the women in black made the sign again while the party left the bus. "Well, we're nothing if not blessed," Sandra said as Ray took her hand to help her down.
    The doors thumped shut and the bus rumbled away, disgorging an oily grey cloud. Julian planted his hands on his hips and watched the bus vanish around a bend before he