Chapter One: The Name Only She Could See

The master recording had gone down with his research vessel. “Who’s playing that track?” she asked. The sound engineer lifted one headphone. “What track?” The melody stopped. A woman whispered against Xia Mi’s ear, “See you at midnight.” That evening, the storm paused. Thousands of phone lights floated over the audience. At the end of her last song, Xia Mi saw a tall man in a black raincoat at the rear of the crowd. A red waterproof cord circled his left wrist. Wen Yu had owned the same cord. After the wreck, rescuers had recovered only its severed end. “Wen Yu!” She abandoned her guitar and ran. The man crossed a barrier marked OLD LIGHTHOUSE—NO ENTRY and vanished.