Sail With Me (A Discovery Series Book) (32 page)
Read Sail With Me (A Discovery Series Book) Online
Authors: Christy Major
“Yes… well… God, she’s magnificent. Look at her,” Daniel said, jerking
his arm back to indicate me. “Really
look
at her.”
And, for once, my father did.
“Charlotte.” His voice was barely a whisper. “I’m sorry.” His green eyes
pleaded. “I know I don’t deserve your forgiveness or your love, but I want them
both. I want them more than anything. It was wrong of me to…” My father buried
his head in his wet hands, trying to regain some control.
“I did so many things wrong. I know not letting you sail was like asking
you not to breathe. I would have gone around anyone who stood in my way too.”
He looked at me. “You may look like your mother, but you’re definitely my
child, my daughter. I did what I thought was best because I love you. Now and
always. What more can I say?” He looked as if he were about to collapse onto
the beach.
Tears rolled down both our cheeks now as I stepped around Daniel and
reached out to my father. He took my hand in his big, sea-roughened one.
“You don’t need to say any more,” I said. “You’ve said exactly the right
thing. I love you too, Father.”
He caught me in his arms and pulled me closer. He stopped when he
remembered the blood on his tunic. “I owe you a hug.”
“You owe me
many
hugs,” I corrected, as he wiped his eyes. “And we
have a great deal of catching up to do.”
“Aye, that we do.” We walked up the beach back to Xochitl’s shelter.
“Firstly,” I said, turning to Daniel. “This is Captain Daniel Connor, and
I will be marrying him—
not
Benjamin—shortly.”
“Marrying? Oh… well…” my father sputtered.
“I thought I’d start with the most important information first then fill
in the silly details later.”
“I suppose that makes sense.” My father narrowed his eyes at Daniel. It
was going to take a little convincing for him to see that Daniel was worthy of
my love. “What else?”
“I consider the Sunal woman and baby you saved part of my family and
would do anything to protect them. I’ve killed for them, and I would do it
again.”
My father stopped walking and turned to face me. “You did what? Cripes,
Charlotte!” He put his hands on my shoulders and looked me over. “Did you get
hurt at all? You could have been killed.”
I rested my hands on his. “I’m fine. Physically anyway. I won’t lie and
say that certain images don’t flash in my mind when I close my eyes though.”
With Daniel by my side, those images were fading, but they were still there.
They might always be there. “I did what had to be done.”
My father exhaled a slow breath as he continued to study me. “Why did I
ever think caging you up in Southampton was the right thing to do?”
“Ha!” Daniel intertwined his fingers with mine. “You can’t cage someone
like Charlie. She’s a free spirit.” He kissed my hand as we arrived in front of
Xochitl’s shelter.
Tizoc came out holding the new baby. He looked so proud, his eyes a deep
shade of honey as he presented the newest member of his kin.
“Tiegan. Little Princess.” He winked a golden eye at me. “The first Sunal
born in our new home.”
“The first of many.” I peeked into the blanket at the tiny baby. She was
perfect with her delicate, dark features and thick black hair.
“We will do well,” Tizoc said. “This baby proves it.”
The rest of Tizoc’s family gathered around, adoring the baby and thanking
my father for his skill in delivering the little one.
“Maybe all those years at sea weren’t for mere business,” he said. “I
wouldn’t have known what to do if I hadn’t traveled so much.” At least some
good had come from his being away from me for so long.
“Charlotte!”
I looked past my father to see Eric and Riley jogging over. I now had
more family than I knew what to do with.
As the dawn surrendered to day, more Sunal from the
Swell
came
streaming over to Xochitl’s shelter to have a look at the baby and offer
congratulations. Acalon held his daughter for his people to see, encouraging
them to believe starting over was possible. Their culture would survive through
their children born in this new place. Tizoc would lead them. They couldn’t be
in better hands.
Daniel took a turn holding the baby. He looked nervous as he cradled the
child on his left arm. It would be some time before we were ready for one of
our own. We needed time to enjoy each other first.
As my father talked with Yaoti, I was overcome with a sense of
tranquility. Of perfect happiness.
Then I felt the eyes on me.
Shifting my gaze to Tizoc standing a couple of paces away, I watched him
smile as dark eyebrows raised above the tiger eyes.
Thank you, Cihuapilli,
he thought.
I believed I was supposed to
save you, but it happened the other way around, didn’t it?
No. We saved each other, Tizoc. As friends are meant to.
I pressed
my fingers to my lips and blew him a kiss.
Again, he smiled. As we watched each other, a young Sunal woman from the
Swell
walked over to him, her long, black hair shimmering down her back. His gaze
slid to her for a moment, and I noted the quick flicker in his eyes.
Perhaps new beginnings existed for everyone here in Florida.
Before I could spend too much time thinking about Tizoc with someone,
Daniel slipped up behind me. Spinning me around, he caught my mouth with his
and kissed me as if he were ready for our own new beginning.
“How about we take a stroll? Find that place in the vision. Our place.”
“An excellent idea, Captain.”
Daniel nipped at my earlobe before taking my hand and leading me toward
the water. Before my feet reached the sea, however, a white puff of fur
skittering across the sand caught our attention.
“Looks as if someone wants to come with us.” Daniel released my hand and
scooped up Ghost.
“And why shouldn’t he?” I took the cat from Daniel. “He’s been on this
adventure with us all along. He wants to make sure we end it properly.”
“You and me together. That’s the best ending I can think of.”
Daniel grasped my hand again, and with a quick glance to the
Charlotte
bobbing contentedly next to the
Emily
, we sloshed along the shore.
“What else do you think is out there?” I motioned to the horizon. It
still called my name.
“Only one way to find out,” Daniel said. “Sail with me?”
WITH ME
A Paranormal
Discovery Book
Chapter
One
The world had
decided I didn’t exist.
A lady in a
purple, striped dress parked herself in front of me as if I were invisible.
Didn’t even ask if I was in line. She just didn’t see me.
She wasn’t the
only one either.
This exact scene
replayed at the public library, in the halls of Olaf Browne High School, at the
Zephyr Art Gallery where I worked a couple hours a week. Didn’t matter if I
wore neon green or strung twinkling Christmas lights around my neck.
So I went home,
foregoing the few essentials for which I’d come to the market—salt and vinegar
chips, apples, white grape pomegranate juice. Trudged up to my room instead.
Mom didn’t stop me. She didn’t see me either. Not really. Her detective nose
was always buried in whatever case she was trying to solve—saving the world
“one psychopath at a time” as she called it.
I stood in front
of the mirror on the back of my closet door and studied my reflection. Yep.
Same as always. Two green eyes, two ears. One pierced all along its rim. A reasonable
nose above good-looking lips. Long brown hair, a little stringy by this time of
day. An angry zit on my cheek. Seriously, invisible people didn’t get acne, did
they?
I was there.
Dahlia Mayson. One seventeen-year old human. My heart beat in my chest. My
breath flowed in and out of my lungs. I took up space. Flesh and blood. Real.
So what was with
everyone?
My cell phone
buzzed in my pocket. I flopped onto my bed and let the soft leopard-print quilt
rub against my bare arms. Sterling, my Siamese cat, uncoiled from her slumber
and crawled onto my stomach. Even she only noticed me when it benefited her.
“What,” I said
into my phone.
“Hey, D,” Nikki
said. Okay, maybe a few humans acknowledged my existence. “Alise and I are
going to the movies tonight. Want in?”
Nikki Sodorov
and Alise Bedeau had been my best friends since they moved from the mainland to
Samson Island—Nikki ten years ago and Alise eight. By hanging out with me they
had condemned themselves to a similar brand of invisibility, but at least we
all had each other.
“Can’t, Nik,” I
said. “Got to work.”
“You looked sick
to me during Calc,” Nikki said. Even though I couldn’t see her, I could hear
the smirk on her face. “Maybe you shouldn’t go to work.”
“I definitely
shouldn’t go to work, but I’ve got to.” I added a hint of a whine to my voice
to be convincing. Truthfully, I liked working at the gallery, but Nikki and
Alise both had crappy jobs at Frankie’s Sandwich Shop. I had a duty as their
pal to commiserate about the pains of trying to earn money when you’re an
unskilled teenage laborer.
I’d lucked out
with the job at the gallery. My father’s cousin, Sophia Mayson, ran it. My dad
and I used to go there at least once a week to visit and wander and daydream.
Sophia saw one of my drawings once—a swan gliding across a lake with a
mirror-like surface—tacked to my father’s home office wall. She told him then
and there that when I turned fifteen, she’d give me a job. She stuck to her
word and on my fifteenth birthday, Sophia sent me a card with a schedule of my
hours for the week. Worked there ever since, answering phones and whatever else
Sophia wanted me to do.
“C’mon, D,”
Nikki said. “Just once. Call in sick just once.”
“No. Sophia is
counting on me.”
A long sigh
gushed into my ear. “I wish I had your morals.”
“You wish you
had my boss.”
“True. Frankie
sucks.”
“And stinks.”
Nikki laughed.
“Can’t make a burger to save his ass either.” She took in a loud breath. “Okay,
then. See you tomorrow.”
“Later.” I
tossed my phone on my nightstand and rolled over, pouring Sterling off my
stomach. She meowed but settled up near the pillows on my bed. I stroked her
sleek, grayish fur until a purr buzzed in her throat. Now that I was lying
down, the urge to go to work fizzled away, birthing a more potent urge to nap.
Shaking my head,
I forced myself to my feet and after a quick shower, I changed into my black
pants and white, button-down dress shirt—official Zephyr Art Gallery uniform.
Looked like an unfinished tuxedo. Some strands of black and silver beads thrown
around my neck femmed it up a bit. Not that anyone paid any attention to me
with Sophia gliding around like she did. Still felt the need to make an
attempt. Silly me.
“Dahlia? Dahl?”
my mother called from downstairs. I cringed at the way she said my name. Always
sounded like
doll
, which I definitely was not.
After grabbing
my school bag, I went down to the kitchen where Mom sorted file folders at the
table.
“Oh,” she said,
a surprised look in her eyes. “I wasn’t sure if you’d left.”
Nice when your
own mother doesn’t know if you’re home or not. I mean, only the two of us lived
in the house. You’d think she could keep track.
“No. I’m still
here.” I held my hands out to either side of me so she would see me, but she’d
already refocused on her work.
“Listen.” Mom
stuffed her pen behind her ear as she rifled through a book by her right hand.
“I’m heading back to the station in a few. You’ll need to get your own dinner
and—”
“Mom,” I
interrupted. “Going to work. This is dinner.” I held up the last apple we had
in the house and half a bag of salt and vinegar chips.
“Oh, right,” she
said. “What day is it anyway?”
Typical.
“Thursday, Mom. It’s Thursday.”
“Already?” She
stopped looking at her papers long enough to rub at her temples.
“Yep.” I leaned
against the counter and studied my mother. She still had on her business suit,
a chocolate color today. A peach sweater peeked from under the jacket, giving
her dark skin an autumn-like glow. Even overworked, every auburn hair on my
mother’s head was in place. Brown eyes traced perfectly in black liner. Lips
rimmed in a deep burgundy. After my father died, she was a zombie for a week,
then she put on this very suit and went to work. She’d been solving crimes
nonstop ever since. Funny how mourning makes you productive.
I fingered the
row of silver hoops and studs in my left ear. We all had our ways of surviving
the cards we’re dealt.
My mother stood,
gathered up her folders, and slipped them into her bag, moving as if she didn’t
have a lot of time. She never had a lot of time.
“See you
tomorrow, Dahl.” She disappeared out the front door.
“See you.” I
stood for a good five minutes in the kitchen, thinking. About everything and
nothing at the same time. The house was so quiet, morgue-like. Couldn’t stand
it. I pulled on my hooded sweatshirt and slung my school bag across my chest.
After dumping the apple and chips into the bag, I followed my mother’s
footsteps and left.
Outside the air
was October crisp. Halloween was a week away, and the smell of autumn hung on
every breeze. Leaves crunched their dry, red-orange-brown tune beneath my feet,
offering further proof that I did, in fact, exist. If I made a sound, I was
real, right? Small hope, but I clung to it.
In the space
between streetlights, jack-o-lanterns lurked in the shadows on my neighbor’s
front steps. What a shame in a matter of days, signs of rot would ruin such
art. That’s why I preferred drawing. So permanent. You couldn’t say that about
much these days.
The bay lapped
at the shore somewhere in the near distance, a gentle lullaby tonight as I
walked toward the art gallery. The garlic scent of marinara sauce wafted into
the darkness from DiNorna’s, Samson Island’s best Italian restaurant. Okay,
Samson Island’s
only
Italian restaurant. On an island the size of a
dime, off the coast of Rhode Island, one of everything was all we had. One
pharmacy, one elementary school, one high school, one hotel, one post office,
one hospital…well, it was more like a clinic. Serious emergencies were
airlifted to the mainland. As I knew all too well.
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CAST WITH ME
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