Page 17 (1/2)
FINN STOOD BY CAPTAIN TREMBLAY near the hel with theht blue sky
"Cooes sreed He looked at the captain "I&039; all will be well I&039;ve asked Tara to use a few of her special abilities to ensure it"
Tre woood portion of the arood luck and God&039;s help, we&039;ll not come across another ship laden with diseased!"
"Well, sir, I know this sounds quite absurd, but then, the situation we&039;ve been in has been quite absurd Tara has other abilities" He spoke loudly Dr MacKay was seated on a barrel not far fro a sail near the helm and several of the other men were involved in mundane tasks of one kind or another in the near vicinity Whatever he said would be repeated over and over again, until his words were heard by every ht, I suppose you ht say There are ti And when so is dire, or eventful, she can so to happen"
Tre lady see any of the events that have so recently plagued us?"
"A few of the puzzle, so, no, Tara doesn&039;t see all events, just soe, more than just all the talk you hear about mediums and seances from other venues Tara can sometimes tap into someone else&039;s mind I know it to be true, because she&039;s told me about events and people that only I know about"
"I&039;d have said that all &039;spiritualiso, aye, that&039;s what I would have said The armed forces and half the country have whispered about President Lincoln and his wife, Mary They say she went off the hen they lost little Willie in the White House Seance practices going on-and even the president taking part! I thought it all true rubbish! Noell, now I say that anything is possible"
He looked at Finn and said seriously, "If only she soon sees into the heart of the traitor who has caused the death and destruction of so ood rows short before we reach the naval yards at DC," Finn said
"Aye, we&039;ll be on fierce guard!" Tremblay said
Finn nodded, and walked down the deck toward Dr MacKay "A journal, Doctor? It will be interesting to see how you have recorded these days"
MacKay looked up at hi the truth, and should anyone read what I&039;ve written, the truth will surely be regarded as fiction Actually, I&039; it all up as fiction, and perhaps repairingthis wild story to some publisher"
"Where do you hail from, Doctor?" Finn asked
"Massachusetts A little town just outside Boston My grandfather fought in the American Revolution," MacKay said proudly
"Was he a doctor, too?" Finn asked
"No He was an evil-doer!" MacKay said, laughing "A politician, but he went to war, fought with General Washington and survived Valley Forge He lived to tell the tale, and see that I h medical school at Harvard"
"Well, then, all the best with yourfiction," Finn said, nodding and walking away Heading toward the portside rail, he found Charles Lafferty fishing They wereout a line
"Any luck?" Finn asked hi to have fresh fish for all by suppertiood fortune I confess, I couldn&039;t begin to fish under these circuood speed"
"Keeps the bait ed "And I co I&039;ve done since I was a child"
"Are you from Massachusetts, too?"
"Too?"
"The doctor is from the Boston area," Finn said
"Ah, yes, of course I did know that Our pasts have all been lost in the years of the war, I&039;m afraid? I&039;m not from Boston Gloucester, man, Gloucester! A beautiful place, but brutal sometimes, inter comes And still, in winter, ent out to make some of our finest catches, that we did!"
"I daresay, it&039;s alain," Finn said, and nodding, he headed down the steps, anxious to see as going on below Three of theover the sleeping ame of cards
"All is well here?" Finn asked Richard
Richard nodded "One of us dozes off now and then No one has slept well But we&039;re doing all right"
"Have you slept?" he asked Richard
"Enough," Richard assured hiood day to the others and returned topside He walked back to Tara&039;s cabin, knocked and entered
She ake and pretending to give her attention to a book It was upside down He righted it for her
"It has begun," he told her
"What do we do now?" she asked hiht as a brushfire
What was going to happen when they reached Washington?
If they reached Washington
They had to The threat aboard the ship was great, and as the days passed, he found hi ever more concerned He had never felt torn like this in his life, lost in a pair of eyes, the scent and every movement and breath of a woman?
And such a fear for the future
"Finn?" she said, puzzled as she stared back at his for her to jeopardize the discovery they must make, and the ultimate shipboard battle they must win
"We wait," he told her He smiled "You now have truly re you"
"And you?"
"I&039;ll be watching them," he told her quietly
FINN WAS STRANGE But, of course he was; she was surely strange herself They were tense, waiting for the horrible event that was sure to occur
As the day wore on and the afternoon arrived, Finn was convinced that his words about her "abilities" had traveled through the men on the ship She wandered out on deck with her book-carefully held in the upright position-and found a seat near the helht, and the sun like a sweet beacon in the sky
She wasn&039;t there long before she heard her name called softly
"Miss Fox!"
She turned Billy Seabold was standing by the rail behind her, staring at her with a curious expression
"Yes, Billy?" she said, turning to look at him
"Would youwould you talk with reat hand had claed to say
Captain Trereat wheel
Finn was down in the center of the ship talking with Dr MacKay, and Richard was topside with Grisso a cache of fish
She stood, and eased toward the stern with Billy She tried to make sure that she kept a distance of a few feet between theled to speak for a minute "I hear that you have very special powers, Miss Fox"
"Perhaps that inforent Dunne," she ripped the rail hard, not wanting to appear to be frightened of hiain, and then hesitated Hethat the others atching
"Miss Fox, I have to know," he said
"You have to knohat, Billy?"
He let out a long breath He was even closer She was nearly pinned to the rail
"I need to know about"
His face was so close to hers She felt that she could al come over his face and his eyes She was afraid that when he opened his s had extended, and that he wasn&039;t the young ht that she had known
"Eric Wordsan to speak quickly "He was ether, and he was killed in a sea battle early on in the war He was terrified of hell, but he was a good fellow, he really was He thought that God would daainst our brothers I think about hi that you can seethat Eric rests in heaven"
"What&039;s going on here?" Finn de between them
Billy flushed to the roots of his hair
"It&039;s all right, it&039;s all right!" Tara said quickly "Billy just had a question for me, Finn That&039;s all Just a question"
Billy backed away "Iyour pardon, please?" he said to Tara "You see, it wasI wanted to be in the navy, and Eric joined up because of me"
She smiled at him "Billy, I believe that God knows that men were forced to ht up in a horrible war God weeps at the loss of life, and we all have to hope that it&039;s been for a greater cause, and we&039;ll all go on to a better life I doubt you need to worry, Billy I believe that your friend rests with God, in heaven, and that all will be well for him"
Billy reached for her hands in a suddenbetween theht!" she said softly She squeezed Billy&039;s hands
He sent Dunne," he said to Finn, and then he walked away, heading toward the fish-cleaning project, whistling a sad tune as he walked
Tara looked at Finn and gri me about their loved ones who have died," she said
"I&039; about your mental powers of observation I hadn&039;t anticipated that those would be the primary questions they&039;d have?"
"It&039;s fine It&039;s just that I can&039;t see behind the veil of death Hoill I know if so me about a human monster?"
He studied her intently for a moment "Your dreams of Abraham Lincoln seem to be so intense and real Maybe you do see ine"
"I can&039;t see who the ht be," she said quietly She shook her head "Finn, perhaps he or she isn&039;t aboard the ship You have been a detective for a long ti around, "you are half vampire-you should be able to see who this is!"
He was frustrated; she saw that instantly His fists clenched at his sides and his features tightened, but she knew that he wasn&039;t angry with her
"I can&039;t see, and that makes me really afraid Believe me, this vampire is here And he&039;s old, and farand confident
"Perhaps then, you shouldn&039;t spend so much time with me Let the others come," she said
He nodded "I will be near I will be watching At all tio"
Finn walked away, heading to the helm where he spoke with Captain Tremblay Soon after, Richard left his work and came to stand by her
"All is well?" he asked softly
She wrinkled her nose "You s down at ht when you dine on cod fillets, Miss Fox!"
She smiled, but her s? Richard, I fear for you You are so often a air of distrust?"
"They&039;re tired," he said "Even spelling one another in groups of three to see that we are on guard for one another Today, I was on guard shift with two of the men-Samuels and Humphrey-and Humphrey dozed off Samuels went to wake him, and I nearly panicked and attacked Sa, but not for nationalistic reasons"
"With everyhis duty But I see that they are strained I see it in their faces"
"Nothing will happen by day," Richard said
"You&039;re so certain?"
"Aye, this man ait for the darkness," he told her He so wash up, and leave you to your observations"
Richard left her She gave her attention to her book It was an excellent book-Tales of the Sea-but she couldn&039;t an to blur before her As she read, awhat she saw for the
Many asked about their loved ones
The wind shifted direction Captain Tremblay shouted orders, and the men scurried about to trian to lower in the western sky
Billy Seabold and several of the e pot and coal from the steaan to waft across the deck Rum portions were ladled out, and limes and coconuts and other still-fresh produce completed the
As she ate, Tara tried to speak with all thethat she wasn&039;t aware of the way they all looked at her, wondering just what ht lurk in her mind
When she had finished with her fish and thanked Billy Seabold and the others, she found that Captain Tremblay was behind her He wanted to lure her back to the helm with him
She looked at him No! It can&039;t be this man, it can&039;t be!
But she let herself be led
The captain excused Grissom, who had been at the wheel, and took over the helm himself And as he looked ahead he asked her, "Can you see the future? Can you really see the dead?"
"I see so ahead Richard and Finn were together, she noticed And she was certain they were both aware of her situation
She forced herself to stand still; Tre His hands on the wheel were knotted hard
"God help ?" he asked
She tried not to let him see the instant frown that creased her forehead "I believe so, sir"
"But you don&039;tsee it?"
"No," she told him quietly "I knohat you know, sir That the South is drastically short on supplies, that the young reat uns, and thatoff ships to join the Union ranks I believe that generals such as Lee are desperately hoping for a great victory to turn the tide-and God knows, Lee is a great general-but hisdepleted"