Find Me

What if the boy you love is immortal, ocean-bound, and you are a human girl afraid of the sea?

“The water is a dangerous place. Those out of their depth can be lost to it forever. It is safest to keep away.”
They stared at each other.
“What if I can’t?”
“If you can’t?” His expression became apprehensive. “If you can’t – then God help us both.”

When Skye Sebastian returns to the seaside village of her childhood and meets Hunter, a compelling, mysterious swimmer, she is soon drawn out of her depth and swept into a dangerous riptide. Instead of seeking answers about the drowning of her mother there ten years earlier, she becomes obsessed with questions about this beautiful, enigmatic boy, who seems equally obsessed with her. But what is the cost of uncovering his secrets? Will it be too late before she realizes that once you’re in too deep, there’s no going back?
This is the story of an ordinary girl and the extraordinary love that leads her beyond impossible.

Excerpt:
“Remember I said sometimes I wasn’t…good with the sea – with being in it?”
He nodded.
“I meant I’m terrified,” her voice stifled itself into a whisper.
“You’re terrified of being in the sea?”
She nodded, only partially registering that he looked stricken. Breathe in, breathe out, her head spun. Perhaps Hunter had noticed the shift in her gasps. His strong hands gripped her arms, and she heard his voice as though from a distance calling her name. Focusing on his voice, for an instant she was conscious only of him – his smoky eyes with the sea-glass tints around the pupils, his long eyelashes. He was so close to her again.
His skin was lightly tanned. His hair had dried into twists above his broad shoulders, like bleached driftwood, darker underneath as if charred on a beach fire. He was stunning, like a heartrending ocean sonnet penned in the long ago. She blinked at him, trying to remember why he was here, with her.
“Skye? Stay with me, focus only on me.”
Skye nodded, feeling a strange thrill at his words…stay with him?
Oh. Right. Stay focused on him... Remembering why he would say that, she looked at the tide, closer now, threatening their feet.
“I am a…very strong swimmer. I can take you to Bascath Beach easily and safely. But the way there is through the water.”
Skye’s breath caught. Through the water. The image of Emma’s tiny body sinking past her returned, chilling confirmation of her nightmare-fuelled fears. But she’d changed that future for Emma, and survived the channel. More than survived. She could do this. So why couldn’t she move?
“Skye, look at me.”
She met his eyes again.
“I can take you there easily, your head will never be submerged.” He winced as her breathing became more ragged, “Sorry.” He paused, perhaps searching for words that wouldn’t send her into a panic. “I mean, if you will let me, I will carry you safely to Bascath Beach. Will you trust me to keep you safe?” He dropped his arms and stood back, letting her decide.
He’d been there in the channel, helping her. She studied his clear eyes. After the longest pause something settled into her soul, smooth and warm like a tide-polished, sun-warmed beach stone. Sweet, like honey, but not the dizzying sweetness of before. This was like turning into a strange and frightening path and finding sanctuary, or better.
“Yes.” It was less than a whisper, simply her lips shaping the word, but he must have understood.