Seahorse — Graham Petrie

High on a cliff overlooking this remote fishing village stands the institute. Some of the villagers fear that its head, Dr. Daniels, is interfering with the nightly journey of their souls to the deserted island a mile off shore. At first the narrator, a visitor staying at the hotel, scoffs. But as his stay endures, he too, is involved in experiences he cannot explain. Even the villagers' cardgame, Seahorse, a game whose rules he cannot master, seems to presage future events, and yet, how can it?
The reason for the narrator's presence in the village is itself a mystery as he struggles to make sense of the world from the clues available, an unwilling participant in the life of a primitive and sinister community.