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“There!” Bonnie exclaimed all of a sudden, her right arm whipping out and pointing toward a small gap between the curve of the main island and the smaller one settled in its bay. Indeed, a light shone from there, moving closer, and as the clouds shifted once more, Sarah’s breath lodged in her throat as she saw the white sails of a ship approaching.Oh, please, don’t let me have been wrong.
Chapter Fifty-One
A GHOST UPON THE WAVES
Keir and Eoghan stood upon the deck beside Duncan as the MacKinnear ship made the tight curve around the coast, aiming for that small space between where the main island dipped inward and the tiny island lay to the south. The winds blew strong that night, pushing them onward, and the crew struggled to maintain control and maneuver the ship through the small gap. Never had there been a reason to seek out the small bay, the rocky coast of the island impenetrable.
“There is no way Sarah could’ve come down here,” Duncan argued as he had before, convinced the journey here would be for nothing. “We’ve tried to find a way down to the water often enough when we were lads. We never succeeded.”
Eoghan nodded in agreement. Yet Keir could see a glimmer of doubt in his friend’s eyes.
“I have to be certain,” Keir replied, squinting his eyes, wishing for the thick cloud cover overhead to disappear and allow the moon to shine through more permanently. “Sarah has surprised me before, and she has to be somewhere. I refuse to believe that…,” he gritted his teeth, “… that she’s lost to me, that she was snatched away, and I didna even notice.”
“There!” came a shout from the crow’s nest, and all three men glanced upward, seeing the crewman up there point toward the island. “’Tis a ghost!” he stammered, his voice tight and quivering. “’Tis gliding across the water!”
Within moments, everyone stood at the railing, gazing out across the water. Keir felt his heart thunder in his chest, his mind instantly arguing that there were no ghosts. Yet as his gaze focused, he did see something.
“Mrs. Murray was right,” another crewman stammered fearfully. “We ought to turn back.”
Keir squinted his eyes further, as did Eoghan and Duncan beside him. “What is that?” he murmured, allowing his gaze to sweep over the shadowy figure that seemed to hover in the air above the water.
“It canna be a ghost,” Eoghan remarked, doubt in his voice.
Duncan scoffed. “Of course not.”
“We have to know what it is,” Keir stated clearly, knowing he could not leave without finding out what had happened. “We needa get closer.” He looked at his brother, and Duncan nodded.
Slowly, carefully, they sailed onward, passing safely through the small gap and into the bay. Clouds still lingered above, hiding the bit of moon that shone that night, and despite the spyglass in his hands, Keir could barely make out anything. “It does look as though someone is walking there.”
“How is that possible?” Eoghan remarked, taking the spyglass from him to see for himself.
Duncan laughed one of his booming laughs, then shook his head at the crew as they gazed on in fear. “Walking on water? Ye must be mad.”
Still, all of a sudden, it was eerily quiet. No one dared say a word. The only sound was the howling of the wind and the soft lapping of the waves, carrying them onward, closer and closer.
“I shall sail straight through that ghost and prove to ye all,” Duncan exclaimed, gesturing for them to pick up speed, “that ye’re all mad.” He laughed, slapping his knee.
Keir met his brother’s gaze. “I’m not saying this is a ghost,” he remarked, casting another glance out toward the water, “but ’tis something. And if it is not hovering in the air, it must be standing on something.” His brows rose meaningfully. “Something solid just beneath the water’s surface.”
For a moment, Duncan frowned before understanding dawned upon his face. He immediately gestured to his crew and had them lower the sails, slowing the vessel. “What do ye think it is?”
Keir shrugged as they slowly drifted closer.
* * *
Sarah froze as the cloud shifted, and her gaze fell upon a ship with large sails, heading straight toward them. “We need to hurry!” she exclaimed, picking up the pace and ushering the girls onward. “We need to reach the other side!” Could this be Birchwell after all? But how could he possibly know to find them here?
“But ’tis a MacKinnear ship,” Bonnie objected, her eyes expectant as they looked at Sarah. “Perhaps they can help us.”
Sarah frowned. “How do you know?”
“Ye canna tell ships apart?” Bonnie asked rather incredulously. “’Tis Duncan’s ship.”
Nervous laughter fell from Sarah’s lips. “Well, I’ve barely seen a ship in my life.” Still, the certain expression upon Bonnie’s face was reassuring, and the slowly rising water, now well above her knees, worried Sarah. After all, the ledge from whence she had embarked was still a good bit away.
“Wave to them,” Sarah instructed, praying that she was not making a monumental mistake. “And call out.”
Without a moment of hesitation, the girls did as she had asked.
