No trace of his previous illness remained. Nor even any telltale signs of his advanced age. His face glowed with health. Dark brown hair fell to his shoulders, and the once bent body stood tall, renewed of strength.
Impossible. My father had died months ago, returning to the Otherworld far beyond where I could go. He was now with my mother and older brother, and the countless ancestors who had gone before. This had to be a dream, or a hallucination at the very least.
Someone else moved forward, and a woman joined him, more lovely than I remembered. She laced her fingers through his, though her dark blue eyes never strayed from mine. A tremor rolled through my entire being. The past five years fell away as I studied my mother’s face, taking in every cherished feature.
Are you real?
She nodded, and I stared at them, my heart aching from the truth. I wasn’t dreaming. They were together in the Otherworld, and a single step would reunite us. My shoulders edged forward. My toes dug deeper into the grass.
The echo grew more insistent, two words running together in an endless, incoherent circle. Henrynorahenrynorahenrynora... I ignored it as power pulsed through me. My soul begged to stay, to become the child once more in the safe harbor of my parents’ embrace. My heels lifted from the ground. Just one step. That was all it would take to break the link and set me free from the human world.
My father held up a hand and shook his head. No, Selah. It’s not time. He hadn’t spoken, though each word sounded clearly in my head.
A smile curved at the corners of my mother’s lips, sadness and joy together. Fare thee well, daughter, until we meet again.
I tried to protest, but the words refused to budge. The echo grew louder, split into two distinct sounds. Henry... Nora... Henry... Nora... Henry... Nora. Reason gained ground, subdued the overwhelming impulse to move forward.
Oh, merciful saints! What am I doing? Why am I here? My heels dropped to the warm grass. Memories flew back one on top of the other. I had been in the hull of the ship...fighting with Master Calhoun and Captain Lynch...a girl touched my bare skin.
Understanding poured through me, washed away the last remnants of instinct. I looked wildly around, at my parents and the swirling mist. There was still so much to do in the human world, I couldn’t cross over. Not yet, and not without Henry if I could manage it.
My heart thumped. Goodbye—
I wanted to say a million things more, but only managed the one word before being yanked backward. The clearing disappeared, then the valleys, mountaintops and sky flew by. The world passed away next, and light merged with the darkness. Blackness pooled over me, stealing the fragile pieces of my awareness when another instinct took hold—move or die.
I kicked out in a desperate search for the surface. The dark pool wavered, and I kicked again, even harder this time. Gray light appeared as my body jerked with a sudden jolt. A hard breath cut through my nose, smelling strongly of cinnamon. My eyes fluttered open, and I stared somewhat dazed at the dim canvas directly in front of me.
Little by little, the situation unfurled. I was curled to one side, my ankles and knees bound together. The skin stung at my wrists, and I soon discovered that they had also been bound. Pins and needles pricked at my right shoulder from being compressed against a hard surface for so long. A small fire burned in my neck where the girl had touched me.
What have they done?
Confusion raced anew as a panicked cry rose up in my throat. It quickly died, broken by a coarse binding that bit into my tongue and the corners of my mouth. Frantic, I twisted every joint and bone in an attempt to break free.
A deep chuckle sounded somewhere above my head. “There you be, me lass, awake at last,” Master Calhoun said, his voice strained. “Don’t mind the sack, just a bit o’ precaution to please the captain. I’ll have you out in no time, so long as you promise to behave yourself.”
I screamed again, but the binding reduced the angry curses to a series of muffled squeaks. Damnation! Calhoun was good as dead the second I got free.
Livid to the point of bursting, I thrashed and twisted with renewed vigor. After a moment, the motion seemed to take on a life of its own, knocking me to and fro. Every protruding body part smacked into something hard. Front and back, front and back again until I was smarting from head to toe.
“Hold it there, lass,” Calhoun snapped, “afore you turn us all in the drink.”
I had already stopped thrashing, having been thrown off-kilter by the violent rocking motion. But his words gave my location new form. Gagged, tied and stuffed in a spice-infused sack, I relied on my remaining corporal sense and strained my ears for any helpful sounds.