Reading Passage

The Last Signal Rain rattled against the coastguard station’s narrow windows. From the headland, the old signal tower leaned into the gale, its iron frame groaning whenever a gust struck. Mara gripped the windowsill and searched the dark sea. Below, waves shouldered their way towards the harbour wall, then smashed apart in bursts of white foam. Her uncle had taught her to watch the water, not just the sky. “The sea can turn in a breath,” he used to say. Tonight, wind worried at the shutters while the tower’s lamp revolved, laying a pale stripe across the restless water. For a moment, Mara thought she saw a flash beyond the rocks. Then darkness swallowed it. She leaned closer. A second flash flickered, faint but deliberate. Somewhere offshore, someone was answering the signal.