The Siren's Call

by Candace Osmond

  “Did you find out anything?” I asked Gus.

  He glanced around and then leaned in close. “Yes. The Burning Ghost sailed into port about a week ago. A merchant said she stopped at their tent and traded some things. But Maria Cobham hasn’t been spotted since. If the devil’s here, she’s keepin’ quiet. Not causing no trouble or nothin’.”

  “Seems suspicious,” Lottie added.

  I looked to Henry who was unusually silent. Even for him. Just the idea that Maria Cobham, the woman who took so much from him, could possibly be anywhere around us must have been eating him up inside. I knew his desire to end her life. But I also knew the struggle he faced by deciding not to do it, to take the higher road. We’d bring her to justice.

  Eventually.

  “Maria’s probably just searching for my mother,” I said and then, after a second thought, “our mother, I mean. She’s most likely not distracting herself with other things. Which is good but doesn’t leave much of a trail for us to follow.” I chewed at my bottom lip in thought. “Gus, where is her ship now?”

  He shrugged. “I’m not sure, Captain. I was told by a number of people that a group of men came and sailed it down shore in the middle of the night. But I can’t confirm that.”

  “Ye ken who would definitely confirm that?” Finn blurted out after taking a massive swig from a pint mug. His brow raised in wait as he eyeballed Henry.

  At my side, Henry stiffened and sat up straight. “No, not yet.”

  “What?” I asked him, and he sighed tiredly. “If someone can help us find Maria then I think it’s worth a try.”

  “It’s Wallace,” he told me with reluctance in his tone. “Wallace always knows everything that happens, every boat and person that comes and goes from the port. But we can’t go there just yet. Yes, it may help, but it would most definitely deter us from the mission. We simply don’t have time for that if you wish to save your mother.”

  “Well, then,” Finn cut in and slammed his mug down on the table in front of us. “There’s only one thing left to do.”

  Four sets of eyes slowly turned and fell on me. I moaned inwardly. “The wish.”

  “Aye, just do it, Lassie,” Finn urged. “We know Maria’s been here. And she hasn’t left.”

  Lottie gently touched my shoulder and gave a sympathetic look. She knew my worries. “Look, if you wish to find Maria and it doesn’t work, then we still have Wallace as a backup plan. We can go there for help. Not all will be lost, and you will still have one remaining pearl.”

  Lottie always made sense to me. She could say things in such a simple way, stripping down the problem to its basic core. Making me see clearly. I nodded. “You’re right. She’s here. That’s all I was waiting to find out.” I inhaled deeply through my nose. “It’s all I need. I’ll use the next pearl first thing in the morning, and we’ll get this done so we can finally go home.”

  “Aye!” Finn said loudly and raised his mug of what I assumed was ale. “I’ll drink to that.”

  “I’ll go see about getting us some food,” Henry told me and stood to leave, kissing the top of my head before he walked away.

  “Where’s the boys?” I asked, thinking of Charlie, Seamus, and John. “They must be famished.”

  Gus and Finn exchanged a playful glance and Finn chuckled. “Famished, yes. But for a bitta harmless trouble, I reckon. They got cleaned up and headed out hours ago.”

  The thought of young Charlie finally getting the chance to have some fun warmed my heart. “That’s wonderful. They’re good boys. They deserve some fun.”

  “Did you get some sleep?” Lottie asked me.

  I nodded. “But I’m still tired. I think it’s the baby.”

  “Everything alright?” She had a pained look of concern.

  “Oh, yes,” I assured her and glanced down at my stomach with a smile. “Making a person is just hard work, I guess. I just need a good meal.”

  I barely had the words out of my mouth when Henry came from behind, balancing two plates in his hands. The smell that wafted from them seeped into my nose and made my mouth fill with warm saliva. I hadn’t realized just how hungry I was until that moment.

  The final few weeks of our journey consisted of dried goods, salted fish, and rabbit jerky. He laid a plate in my lap. A heap of Sheppard’s pie and a freshly baked bun. I took the bun and ripped it in half, dipping it in the filling of the pie and scooping it into my mouth like someone who’d been starved for days. Weeks, even. It was heavenly.

  “Fork?” Henry asked, and I spotted the utensil he cheekily offered.

  My friends playfully laughed at my expense as I took the fork from his grasp and continued shoveling the food into my mouth. We sat like that for a while. How long? I had no idea. But it certainly felt nice to bask in the comforts of general chit-chat and good food. A sense of coziness that was clearly enjoyed in any era. The fire in front of us raged on, safely contained in its stone cage. I sat back and adored my small circle of friends as I let the warmth soak into my skin and wished I could make this moment last forever.

  But, of course, like any good feeling, there’s always the logical brain standing by, ready to whisk it away. I had the concrete ability to make such a silly wish. I could. If I truly wanted to. But I knew that’d be a colossal waste of the rare gift that was given to me. No, I had other things to wish for. A responsibility to my crew, to my mother. Even if I never decide to actually see her. So, I sat there, smiling, lapping up my friends’ laughter and cheerful voices instead of heading to bed. For the morning brought with it a promise of something unknown. Something potentially… dark.

  I was going to wish to find my sister.

  Chapter Three

  Iwasn’t sure what really woke me from my sleep; the thick cold sweat that suddenly covered my body or the realistic nightmare that I was constantly falling. Nothing else. No landscape, no dialogue, no other people. Just me, free falling through space and time, no destination in sight or mind. I couldn’t make it stop. So, now I just laid there in bed in a sort of stunned, motionless silence as I attempted to regain my breath.

  Finally, I peeled the damp sheets from my slick body and stole a glance over to Henry who’s sleeping more soundly than I ever witnessed him before. Must have been the two pints of strong ale that Finn insisted he down. Nevertheless, Henry deserved to have a drink or two after the journey we had. He deserved even more than that.

  So much more.

  Henry should have the life he’s always wanted. The one that was so barbarically taken from him. The quaint little house by the ocean, a small farm and a boat to catch fish. A place where kids could run and play. Then a thought flashed through my mind. I knew a place just like that. But it was over three hundred years in the future. I wondered then… my final wish. If tomorrow leads us to Maria before she kills our mother… I would have one pearl left. One pearl to wish for whatever I wanted. Whatever Henry wanted.

  But I shook the very thought from my mind. There was no way he’d go to the future with me. He stated as much back on The Devil’s Heart. It would be an unknown world to him. Plus, I had friends here. Family, even. And a responsibility as their captain. Lottie trusted me to sail her father’s ship. And my crew believed I could. They’ve always believed I could.

  I owed them everything and they blindly followed me across the Atlantic for nearly four months. The least I could do was make the damn wish that would end this journey and allow us to go home. Then I smiled as the brilliant idea entered my mind, trailing in behind my last thought like a warm light. My final wish.

  I’ll use it to get us home.

  I laid there for a while, trying to get to sleep, but the room was too hot and the thick sheen of sweat that covered me made it impossible to relax. I needed some air. I flung my legs over the side of the bed and, ever so quietly, tiptoed across the room, grabbing my grungy red pirate’s coat on the way out.

  The inn was silent and held a chill in the air as I crept down the stairs toward the front doo
r. Wrapping the jacket over my shoulders and slipping my hands through, I glanced down both ends of the old English street and took off toward the water. The sounds of my footsteps, leather against stone, flapped in the air. Stark against the eerie silence around me. The feeling of walking through a civilized village without the polluting sounds of electricity flowing all around, the bustling of vehicles, or the cry of a siren… it comforted my old soul.

  Small lanterns of fire led my way to the boardwalk as I bypassed the abandoned merchant tents and touched my foot to the weathered wood that lined the length of the wharf. Funny, how eager we all were to get off The Queen and spend time on land, it was the one thing I now craved. I knew the salt of the sea air would fill my lungs and wash away my stress. I sucked it in, breath after breath, while rolling the pearls around in my pocket.

  Just do it, sweetheart.

  The sound of my mother’s voice so loudly in my ears startled me to my core. I glanced around frantically, searching for her, but Constance Cobham was nowhere to be found. I willed my heart to slow and pinched the bridge of my nose. I had to do it. I had to make the wish then and there or there’d be no hope in getting back to sleep that night.

  Slowly, I pinched one of the pearls and pulled it out from the bottom of my jacket pocket. I twirled it in my fingers, admiring the way it glistened in the moonlight. It was the grey one. I clutched it tightly and walked to the wharf’s edge. With one big gulp of air, I flicked the enchanted pearl into the water and watched in awe as it began to dissipate just like the black one had done. The tiny particles were nearly gone when I realized I’d yet to say the words. I panicked and opened my mouth to speak.

  “I wish to–”

  But the words dried up in my mouth. The sound of my mother’s voice still echoed in my head and I second guessed what I truly wanted. Wish to find Maria, or wish to find my mother first?

  “I… I wish to find Maria.” There. It was done. But my heart still raced with the poison of regret. The final grains of pearl slowly fizzed away, and I shouted before it was too late, “before she finds my mother!” The weight had been lifted and I breathed a huge sigh of relief. Now I just had to wait for the universe to do its duty.

  I just hoped it worked.

  ***

  Three days had passed since I made the wish. And nothing happened. Not one single thing. No sign of Maria, not even a hint of what direction to go in. I was beginning to think it didn’t work, that perhaps I waited too long, and the pearl had dissolved too much before I spoke the words. What if I did it wrong altogether? The siren didn’t exactly give me detailed instructions. Worse yet, I began to worry that my first wish hadn’t worked. That Benjamin was still trapped aboard The Black Soul with no way home.

  But I couldn’t think like that. He just had to be free. Benjamin risked everything, even sacrificed his own brother, for the hope that I could save him. I couldn’t bear the thought that I may have let him down. So, I resorted to pacing. I walked the length of The Kraken’s Den every waking minute. Scanning every corner, catching the eye of every guest I crossed paths with, and desperately searched for a clue. A signal of some sort that told me what to do.

  “Knock, knock,” spoke Lottie as she peeked her head in the door of my room.

  Henry was downstairs getting us breakfast while I got dressed. Lottie stood in the doorway, clad in a clean creamy clue skirt and thick, grey cloak with fur that hugged her neck. I smiled and motioned her to come in.

  She held up a handful of trinkets. “I came to do your hair.”

  My eyes focused on the trinkets she held and realized they were hair clips and combs. “Do my hair?” What’s wrong with the way it is now?” I asked and gave my head a shake, letting the straggly black curls fall down around my shoulders and upper arms.

  Lottie gave that sideways look she often shot me, the one that said just listen to me, Dianna. “Women here have a certain image to uphold. If you don’t blend in, you’ll be talked about. And if you’re talked about, then you’re noticed. And perhaps by the wrong people.” She came to where I stood by the floor-length mirror and placed a chair behind me. “Now, have a seat.”

  I sat down and watched attentively at our reflections as Lottie grabbed my heap of hair in her hands, molding and twisting and braiding until it resembled that of a beautiful up-do. She stuck gorgeous combs in place, lined with pretty beads and pearls. I almost looked like a lady. Almost.

  “Where did you learn to do that?” I asked, slowly turning my head back and forth in the mirror to get a better look.

  She shrugged. “I pick up things here and there. Traveling all over the place with my father meant stopping in a lot of different ports, home to many cultures.” She quirked a grin at me in the mirror. “I adapt quickly.”

  “I bet.” I stood and straightened out my heavy red skirt. “So, what’s with the hair? Are we going somewhere?”

  “Yes,” she replied. “We’re getting out of here. Let’s go walk around down by the merchant tents. There’s also a market square further in town. It’s clear that your wish isn’t going to happen by just waiting around here in The Kraken’s Den.”

  “Yes, you’re right.” I sighed heavily. “I’m just… part of me is almost afraid to find her, you know?” I shook my head. “Is that cowardly of me?”

  Lottie regarded me thoughtfully. “No, it’s not. Maria is dangerous and unhinged. She can’t be trusted.” My friend’s hand went to my stomach. “I understand your reasons for concern.” She stepped back and raised the layers of her blue dress to reveal a leather garter full of intimidating blades and grinned widely. “But I assure you, Maria Cobham won’t lay a finger on you. Not if she wishes to keep it.”

  I laughed. Now that was the Lottie I knew.

  After breakfast, I left a reluctant Henry behind with the crew while Lottie and I hopped in a carriage that led us further in town. He wanted to escort us so badly, but his presence was needed more aboard The Queen. Our ship suffered more damage from the battle of the Siren Isles than we’d originally thought, and we didn’t want to raise any local suspicion by hiring men to help. Nothing screams red flag like kraken guts and smashed deck boards.

  The ride was bumpy and long. We probably could have walked faster. But my pregnant self couldn’t handle that long of a trek. The December air was nippy, and I tightened the fur collar of my red cloak around my neck. Lottie caught it and looked at me with concern.

  “Are you cold?” she asked. “You can have my cloak, too.”

  I stifled a slight chortle. “Please, if I can sail across the Atlantic while fighting giant squids and fight my way off a cursed ship of insane cannibalistic pirates, then I can brave a little bit of cold air.”

  Lottie’s unamused eyebrows rose high as she regarded me from across the small carriage house. “Pardon me, Captain. I meant no disrespect.”

  I rolled my eyes, mostly at myself because that wasn’t the first time my pregnancy hormones had gotten the best of me lately. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean–”

  Lottie let out a loud cackle of laughter and it took me a second to realize she was messing with me. My brave, badass knife-ninja best friend so very rarely showed the carefree lighter side she held under the shadow of her usual quiet self.

  “It’s quite alright, Dianna. You’re not the first pregnant woman I’ve dealt with.” She peered out the little window to our left. “Don’t dance around my feelings and I won’t dance around yours.”

  My lips spread far and wide. God, she was the best. “Deal.” We jostled to and fro as the carriage turned a corner. “So, speaking of feelings, how are things with you and Gus?”

  Her pale cheeks flushed a pleasant rose. “As fine as they could be, I suppose.”

  “Just fine?”

  Her eyes rolled. I knew she hated talking about the details, but that’s what friends do so I urged her with my widened eyes, but Lottie continued to scan the world outside the window. “A lady never tells.”

  “Well, I’m no lady,” I s
tarted, egging her on. “Things between Henry and I have never been better. He’s… different. Happier. And, surprisingly, the sex is still amazing considering I’m a million years pregnant.”

  I could see she was biting back a grin. Finally, Lottie sighed happily. “Things are… just as good with Gus and I.”

  We caught one another’s playful gaze from the corner of both our eyes and erupted into a fit of laughter. Eventually, the giggles subsided as Lottie’s face turned serious.

  “Y’know, he told me about his wife,” she said.

  I fought back a look of surprise. Gus was clearly getting serious with her, then. “Oh? And how did that go?”

  Lottie’s shoulders slumped. “I’m not sure, really. I mean, I’m thankful he’s opening up, willing to move on and take the next step with me. But it’s odd, don’t you think?”

  “Odd?”

  “I don’t know.” Her head shook quickly. “Perhaps I’m being silly. I haven’t a clue what I’m doing.”

  “Look, that part of Gus, his past, his… the man he used to be,” I began, “I’m sure he’s put it all behind him now. But it’s still a very big part of who he is, and I think the fact that he was comfortable enough to share that with you means something.”

  “You think so?”

  I nodded. “He wants you to know the person he used to be, so you’ll learn to love the man he’s become.”

  Lottie’s face lit up. “Like you did with Henry?”

  I was taken aback by the statement. Mostly because I’d never really thought of it like that. But, in a way, I knew the person Henry used to be before I ever even met him. Through his journal. My heart cried for the poor boy in the words and then fell in love with the man he became. His past was such a huge part of him, woven into his very soul.

  And he wanted to share that with me.

  “Yeah,” I replied with the ghost of a smile, “I suppose so.”

  We sat in a comfortable silence for a few more minutes until, finally, the carriage came to a stop and the rickety door swung open to reveal the driver awaiting our exit.