“I asked her about her double lives and if she knew why it happened to us. She didn’t.”
“I’m sorry you didn’t get the answers you hoped for.”
“But she did tell me my grandmother’s name in Salem,” I continued. “Her name was Rachel Howlett.”
“Do you think her family is still there?”
“I don’t know, but I need to find them.” I took a deep breath. “I asked Annie about her death here—on her twenty-first birthday—and she didn’t understand it, either. She wasn’t sick. She just simply died and stopped returning to this life.”
Marcus watched me, as if trying to put the pieces together.
“I’m afraid it might happen to me, too,” I told him. “My twenty-first birthday is in ten days. What if I don’t wake up here after that? What if my body dies?”
Realization dawned on his face, and he stood, drawing me to my feet, as if preparing for action. “We can’t let that happen.”
I nodded, swallowing the emotions choking me. “I don’t want to leave here in ten days.”
“What can we do?”
“I want to go to Salem and see if Rachel’s family is still there. If this happened to me and my mother, mayhap it happened to Rachel and her mother or sisters or aunts. I must find someone who can tell me how to stop this.”
Marcus began to pace as he rubbed the back of his neck.
“How long would it take to get to Salem from here?” I asked.
“If we push hard and the winds are favorable, we could reach there in a week’s time.” He nodded at my clothing. “Is that why you’ve worn this again?”
“Aye. We need to get to theOcean Curseas soon as possible.”
He continued to rub his neck. “The captain will never take us there. We’ll have to find another way.”
“But how? We can’t charter a ship, and if we buy passage on one that’s already going in that direction, we’ll have to followtheir schedule.” I clasped my hands, knowing that I had another way. “I know how we can convince the captain to go to Boston.”
He stopped pacing and lowered his hand. “How?”
“The sailor I was speaking to the other day—Timothy—his father claims that he knows the location of the Queen’s Dowry. If we can convince Captain Zale that this man is telling the truth, mayhap he’ll go to Boston to find the answer, and I can make my way to Salem.”
“Timothy?” Marcus asked. “Is he the one who came on board with you from theAdventurer?”
“Aye.”
“What’s his father’s name? How does he claim to have knowledge of something no one else does?”
I told Marcus Timothy’s story, and he slowly nodded. “If he can convince the captain, then your plan might work. But do you want to get back on board theOcean Curse, Caroline? You’re free here—you won’t be free if you go back. And we have no guarantee that the captain will go along with our plans.”
“I have no choice. If I don’t try, then I take the risk of losing this life.”
“Even if you try,” he said, drawing me back into his arms, “there is no guarantee that you can save it.”
I wrapped my arms around his waist, feeling the cording of his muscles under my hands, and said, “I’d rather spend my last week on a pirate ship with you than be with my grandfather at Middleburg Plantation. But it can’t be my last week, Marcus.”
He tilted my chin up with his gentle hand. “What happened to calling me Maxwell?”
“Do you prefer it?”
“Aye.” He smiled. “I love hearing my name on your lips.”
I would have said it again, but he quieted me with another kiss.
