Haunted Tides: The Vanishing of the Sea Bride

Chapter Nine: The Blake Family

Claire sat at her kitchen table, staring at the piles of papers she had gathered over the past few days. Records of the Grey family, the Wards, the Stones, and now, her own family. She had uncovered something she never expected—her great-great-great-grandfather had been the foreman for the ill-fated ship that had wrecked all those years ago. The same ship that Elias Grey had captained. The threads of history were pulling her deeper, binding her to the mystery that seemed to span centuries.

As she sifted through the old documents, trying to make sense of it all, her phone rang. She grabbed it, half expecting another ominous message, but when she saw the caller ID, it was from an unknown number.

"Hello?" she answered, her voice tense.

"Is this Claire Blake?" a voice on the other end asked, unfamiliar and authoritative.

"Yes, who is this?" she replied cautiously.

"This is Officer Reynolds with the city police. I'm calling with some unfortunate news... It's about Mark Dawson. I'm afraid there's been an accident."

Her heart froze. "An accident? What kind of accident?"

There was a pause, and when Officer Reynolds spoke again, his voice was softer but still direct. "I'm sorry to inform you that Mark was involved in a car crash earlier this evening. He didn't survive."

Claire's world spun, the words barely registering in her mind. "No," she whispered. "That can't be right. I just talked to him..."

"I understand this is a shock, Ms. Blake. The crash is under investigation, and while we don't have all the details yet, there are indications that this may not have been an accident. We're looking into foul play."

Her stomach churned. Foul play? Her Mark... gone? Claire's mind couldn't wrap around the reality of it.

"Who would do something like this?" she asked, her voice hollow.

"We don't know yet, but we're pursuing every lead," Officer Reynolds said gently. "Given the circumstances, I suggest you be cautious. You may want to stay somewhere safe for the time being. This could be connected to what you've been dealing with."

Claire's thoughts raced as grief and fear flooded her senses. Mark—her constant through the madness of the past few weeks, who had worried for her, protected her—was dead. And someone had caused it. Could it have been Jonah? Or even Nathaniel? Or was there someone else pulling the strings, manipulating everything from the shadows?

Tears welled up in her eyes as she ended the call, the enormity of her loss settling over her like a suffocating weight. She looked down at the scattered papers on the table, her family's connection to the shipwreck suddenly feeling more sinister. Her great-great-great-grandfather hadn't just been the foreman of the ship; he had been part of something much bigger, something that had reached through time to claim the lives of those closest to her.

But why? And how was she involved?

The past was bleeding into the present, and now, Mark was gone. The danger was real, and it was getting closer.

With a deep, shaky breath, Claire wiped her tears and straightened the papers in front of her. Mark's death wasn't going to be in vain. She needed answers—about her family, the shipwreck, and the powerful forces that had tied her to this nightmare. She wasn't ready to give up, not yet.

There was still more to uncover. The truth was waiting, buried beneath centuries of secrets, and now, Claire had a personal reason to find it.

Claire sat in her car, hands gripping the steering wheel, staring blankly ahead. The reality of Mark's death still hadn't fully sunk in. The weight of it pressed on her chest, making it hard to breathe. She knew she couldn't sit alone in her house, not after everything that had happened. She needed comfort, and there was only one place she could go.