Harrison nodded. “Not surprised,” he replied. “She’s not as young as she used to be.” It went unsaid that neither was Harrison.
“Do we head for the lifeboats?” one of the officers asked.
“In this storm?” another challenged. “Might as well throw yourself into the sea.”
Harrison kept his eyes on the sea, and on the green flashes of ungodly lightning that flared and crackled down around them. He had the look of a man steering into hell at high speed, and if the officers around him had hoped for salvation, one look at his expression stripped them of all hope.
A wall of water rose, towering higher than the ship’s remaining masts. The wave swept the Lady Jane up with it, then dropped her into a trough as the huge wave came crashing down. The drop broke her keel, and the wave smashed what was left of her masts. The Lady Jane went quickly into the icy depths, shrouded in a green, ghostly fog, its cursed captain holding onto the wheel with a death grip as the sea claimed him for its own.
“CASSIDY! WAKE UP! You’re shivering like you’ve been in the arctic,” Teag said. The vision left me, and I was sitting in my kitchen once more, but the cold of the merciless sea clung to me. My teeth were chattering, and I folded my arms across my chest, running my hands up and down my upper arms to warm myself.
“Before you ask, yes, having you anchor me made a big difference. And in the future, you are more than welcome to do it anytime you’re willing.”
Teag gave me a pitying look and went to the living room to retrieve an afghan from the couch. He wrapped it around my shoulders and went to make me a hot cup of tea. I accepted it gratefully, holding the cup in my hands and letting it warm me as I let the horror of the vision slip away.
“Why is it you never get to see cute puppy dogs and happy bunnies?” Teag wondered.
“I do,” I said, barely stopping my teeth from chattering. “I don’t generally need assistance with those visions.” That was the bright side of our work at Trifles and Folly. Most of the pieces we handled were boringly normal, without any resonance at all. Some held the echoes of joy and wonder, like souvenirs from bygone trips, well-traveled luggage, silver and crystal that had been wedding presents or were part of holiday celebrations for many years. Touching those items was one of the best parts of my job.
Teag poured a cup of tea for himself and sat back as I told him about Captain Harrison and the ill-fated Lady Jane.
“So Harrison came upon the Cristobal either as it foundered or shortly afterwards, soon enough to scoop up crates and barrels that floated to the surface,” Teag said. “I’m guessing here, but I’d bet that either Harrison had done some smuggling for Abernathy before this, or knew enough about him to think he’d pay for goods from a pirate ship.”
I shrugged. “For all we know, the crates might even have been addressed to Abernathy.”
Teag nodded. “Could be. So Harrison delivers the goods – but only part of what was actually onboard the Cristobal.”
“The rest went to the bottom with the ship.”
“Abernathy and Harrison concluded their deal, and Harrison took his ship back to sea,” Teag said. “But then Harrison sails into a strange storm, just like the Cristobal did. In fact, it’s so much like the freak storm that sank the Cristobal, Harrison gets suspicious, but it’s too late. Abernathy – or Moran, or the demon – decide Harrison is an inconvenient loose end. Conjure up a nasty storm, and sink the evidence,” Teag said, making a spiraling gesture like water going down the drain.
“I think that’s exactly what happened,” I said.
“What about the ledger?” Teag asked. I reached for it, but he grabbed it away.
“Rest,” he said with a warning look. “I can read as well as you can.” I sat back, happy for the reprieve.
Teag frowned as he scanned down the faded ink and old-style penmanship. “Offhand, I’d say it’s Captain Harrison’s log book,” he said. “Just pages torn out – but it happens to be the day they saw the Cristobal sink.”
“What does it say?” I resisted the urge to want to see for myself. The horror of the Lady Jane’s wreck was still too close.
“I can see why Harrison and his crew were frightened by the storm that sank them – aside from the normal human reasons to not want lightning to strike your ship or big waves wash you overboard.”
“Harrison’s notes say he and the crew spotted a ship flying a Spanish flag on the route between Barbados and Charleston, between Bermuda and the coast. It was a good distance ahead of them, but clearly in sight.” Teag looked thoughtful as he studied the next portion of the log.
“Harrison says that they had crossed paths with the Cristobal before, and recognized it, even at a distance. Clouds came up ‘unusually fast’ his notes add,” Teag continued. “Here’s what he says: ‘The air took on an unusual color, like the green glow of a certain fungus, a sickly, diseased color like a rotting corpse. The mist gathered all around the Cristobal, so we could scarcely make out the tip of her tallest mast. Clouds gathered, and bolts of lightning began to strike all around the ship, but nowhere else. All around the Lady Jane, the sky was clear and we had calm winds. This discrepancy was noted by my men, who commented on it at length and many took out charms or good luck trinkets and prayed for deliverance’.” Teag met my gaze and raised an eyebrow. “There’s more. ‘I ordered our course changed so that we did
not steer into the same unlucky conditions as the Cristobal. Yet I wished to see if assistance would be needed.’”
“For a pirate ship?” I said with a snort. “More like he hoped there would be cargo to loot if things went wrong.”
Teag nodded. “I thought the motives sounded very noble. ‘We saw lightning strike the Cristobal in several places, and the sea was wild beneath her. One huge wave and one deafening peal of thunder later, and the Cristobal vanished from our sight.’”
“Just like that,” I murmured.
“Apparently so. Matches what I found on the Darke Web”
I thought for a moment, sipping my tea. “Abernathy and Moran wanted what was on the Cristobal,” I continued. “Somebody hired a wizard to sink the ship. We’ll probably never know whether that person was Abernathy’s enemy or someone with a grudge against Moran or the crew of the Cristobal
themselves. Whoever it was wanted to make sure Abernathy didn’t get what was onboard the Cristobal, but sinking the ship didn’t completely fix the problem. Some of the items washed up anyway. He couldn’t have guessed that Harrison would happen upon the wreckage and see an opportunity.”
“Then Abernathy and Moran got rid of Harrison, figuring that eliminated a witness,” Teag said. “And they might have wanted to go back after the wreckage right then, but something else must have gone wrong. Moran disappeared and Abernathy wasn’t strong enough to control the demon himself, so his fortunes soured and the demon caused a fair bit of damage until Sorren and the others could banish it.”
“But they didn’t destroy the demon, and they didn’t manage to banish it permanently,” I said as I absently reached down to stroke Baxter’s fur.