Page 25 (2/2)

"Not far now," she said after a moment’s contemplation

"What are you, Sabine?" he asked

She stared at him, and he could see that she accepted his need to know Perhaps she had dreas he could never understand Either way, he left the question standing, and her answering began

"I honestly don’t know I’ifts are hten le wish, it would be to understand better what they are, and what I am"

A profound sadness filled her as she spoke, and Jack wanted to reach out to comfort her, but he dared not move from his place for fear that the current would twist them around Even if Sabine could influence the weather, she could noton this while you slept, and I knohat you are"

Hope lit her eyes

"You are a woic lies in your hands And you are lovely"

She smiled, but her sadness remained "I feared that if you knew the truth about what I can do, you would think me no less a monster than Ghost"

Jack scoffed "You are hardly a ing hiic than I’ve told you, Jack It isn’t just the weather, or sensing the location of a ship upon the water I sought out Death Nilsson, you see? It isn’t only that I kneas couided him to us so that he would kill his brother Or even better, they would kill each other"

"And I’ to the slap of waves on the side of the skiff as they sailed beneath increasingly clear skies The stor in once they’d passed, as if erasing their trail so that they could not be followed

"I can disorient a man or hex him with bad luck," Sabine went on "A talent I was sorely tempted to use on the Larsen, but which I kept tomy true talents … well, Ghost is a covetous ifts to find, as I did with Ghost Every tiuide Ghost to another ship, I tried to warn the ships’ captains by whispering in their dreams, but it never seemed to matter how prepared they were for an attack The wolves were too ferocious Too swift"

"You tried," Jack assured her, wanting ain

Sabine co One last thing"

"Go on"

"Ghost could have murdered me, I am sure But I do not think I will ever die as an ordinary woe"

Jack stared "You’re … i as i time, Jack I’m afraid to tell you what I recall of hten you to knohat an old woman I truly a a sirl Those recollections are lost to me But I believe I am … ancient"

Jack held his breath ato understand what he felt And then he realized that what he felt was not numbness; he simply did not care

"You’re not the first woht have called witchcraft"

Sabine leaned forward, eyes fixed on hiic," he continued "But the other--her nahter of a forest spirit, an eleentle and loving You are far from a monster, Sabine I said I loved you I know that you heard me"

She turned away

"I love you still," he said

Her s

"How can you?"

"How could I not?"

Sabine shook her head, took a moment to consider his words; and then her eyes narrowed in contemplation "Jack … if you knew"

"Knehat?"

"Knew … nothing Nothing, Jack So, this Lesya You ht back to his time in the Yukon, the hardships and brutality of that journey and the beauty and ure out where best to start relating his story Even as he did, he realized that though he had professed his love, Sabine had not spoken the words in return And he wondered if a woht be immortal and had lived many lifetimes could love an ordinaryout at the ocean, lost in thought When he finally began to speak, he was unsure if the words that burst forth would be the tale of Lesya or an inquiry about the nature and disposition of her heart But as he turned back to Sabine, words failed him

In the distance, beneath a clear blue sky, the island beckoned

CHAPTER TWELVE

DEEP CURRENTS

Sabine ht have been able to influence and steer the weather, but the ocean was its own beast As the wind drove them toward the island, Jack dropped sail and let the waves carry the for an inlet where the waves ht not dash their boat to pieces at the foot of low cliffs or s froe the for a violent clash of waves They finally positioned themselves well and rode the waves in, and it was only when Jack allowed himself to relax and believe that they hadsound carounded on the sand

"Is it bad?" Sabine asked She sat at the bow, exhausted and soaked Jack still saw her as a gorgeous wo she claimed to be What that displayed about his state of s were true Perhaps the mystery she presented made him love her even more

"Let’s pull it onto the beach so we can take a look"

They jumped from the boat and landed on the coarse sand, where Jack had a fleeting thought: Our island Escape had been his pri shore safely, but now he could consider the future beyond the hour or day ahead This ood as stranded here In a sth would be treacherous beyond belief, however ht be able to store on board And if the da over unseen rocks was as bad as he feared…