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golf cart. Kevin was helping his part-time staff clean up before he left. He’d be there until he felt comfortable that the people who worked for him could finish. I offered to help, but he said I couldn’t clean up after my own party.
    I wasn’t in any hurry to leave. The parties would go on most of the night. After being turned down to help put things away, I went out on the verandah to look at the stars and take a deep breath. Everything was happening very quickly.
    I pulled on the light sweater I’d brought with me and sat in one of the rockers. One of Kevin’s many cats walked by on the railing after a sharp look in my direction. A small, brown bat flew out from under the eaves, and I knew what the cat was really looking at.
    Everything was going uphill from here, I told myself. The problems of the past few weeks before the election were gone. Kevin wanted to marry me. I was mayor again for another four years. It was an awesome responsibility but one I took on gladly.
    I could hear the ocean hitting the shore behind the inn. I thought about walking back there but wanted to be ready when Kevin was finished. There were still five more parties with food, drinks, and congratulations to get through. I didn’t want people who had put their trust in me standing around wondering where I was.
    There was a scratching noise from the side of the verandah. It came from the same direction where the cat had headed. Thinking it might be in trouble, possibly no match for the brown bat, I went down the stairs and searched for it.
    There were several bright floodlights that Kevin used when guests were staying at the inn. He’d turned those lights off after the party. Instead the old fashioned lanterns were on, softly illuminating the evening. They fit the early 1900 timeframe when the Blue Whale had been built. I admired their charm, but they weren’t much help for looking for a cat.
    “Here kitty-kitty.” I scraped my hands on the dark bushes. My sweater got caught on a branch, and I carefully disentangled it. “I’m sorry I don’t remember your name, kitty, but if you’re in trouble, I’ll be glad to help.”
    There were no more scratching noises in the bush. No doubt the cat had run away, laughing at the stupid human who was getting caught in the branches. I turned to go back on the verandah and a dark shape rose up before me.
    “I’m sorry, Dae.”
    It was Jake. I couldn’t see his face but I knew his voice. I started to accept his apology for what had happened at my house earlier. Maybe we’d even have time to talk before Kevin came out.
    But before I could speak, he thrust one of the stone horse statues into my hand. There was an instant when I was cognizant of the statue’s weight and the coldness of the stone. I didn’t have time to think how he’d betrayed my trust. Images of the statue’s terrible past overwhelmed me, and I sank to the damp ground, unconscious.
     

Chapter Four

    The hot night was made hotter and brighter by a hundred torches. The smell of the tar they had been dipped in hung over the area like the heavy smoke from the large bonfire. Dozens of men were dressed in animal skins. They chanted loudly, monotonously. The large figure of a horse, at least twenty feet tall, presided over the event. Dozens of living horses raised a protest with snorting and stamping feet.
    Something was coming out of the fire. The men held the stone horse statues in the air, cheering when they saw the beasts rising from the flames. Their enemies would soon be vanquished.
    One man stood to the side, alone. He was covered in blood, and held a large animal bone in one hand. He stared through the flames and the smoke, his eyes narrowing. He reached out, trying to grab what he saw—
    I woke up, back inside the Blue Whale. The windows were dark and a fire burned in the hearth. In the quiet, I could hear the logs crackling and shifting as they burned.
    Something is coming out of the fire.
    I jumped from the chaise in the