Читать книгу ElsBeth and the Call of the Castle Ghosties, Book III in the Cape Cod Witch Series - Chris Palmer - Страница 6

ElsBeth’s hair started to frizz, along with her mood. The rest of the drenched girls did not look at all pleased about the launch party, either. Even most of the boys looked at least uncomfortable that the girls were upset.

Hillman-Jones did not notice or seem to care about all this one bit. As they left the marina, he stood tall and looked completely content in command of his Uncle Preston’s made-for-racing yacht, the Sea Charmer. As if nothing had happened, he snapped out orders to raise the sails.

ElsBeth could see that Frankie wasn’t just uncomfortable, he was upset, too, and her attitude softened — though she quickly found out his upset had nothing to do with the mean prank Hillman-Jones had pulled in the marina.

“Man, I saw a Boston cream pie in the kitchen this morning,” Frankie said to Johnny. “Some of that should have been in my lunch, but look ... ” He opened his backpack. “All I got is whoopie pies. My brothers will have first shot at the Boston cream, and I’m sure they won’t leave me any. Some things can really get to a person.”

Johnny nodded, his expression carefully serious.

But ElsBeth had to laugh. Something about Frankie was just plain funny, no matter what else was going on. And it wasn’t just his crew cut.

The sun rose warm and full and so did their spirits, and attentions on board turned to the pleasures of a sail in the bright Cape waters.

Lisa Lee opened her pack and took out an antique brass instrument covered with strange symbols. She said it was an astrolabe, used for finding a ship’s position at sea. She showed them how it worked and explained in detail, painful technical detail, how she’d restored it with her father that summer.

Veronica rolled her eyes. ElsBeth poked her and whispered, “Don’t make fun. Lisa Lee likes science, you like fashion. What’s the difference?”

Veronica whispered back, “You’ve got to be kidding.”

ElsBeth laughed quietly, and Lisa Lee looked up, hurt.

“I’m sorry, Lisa Lee, but I’m not laughing at you, I’m laughing at her,” ElsBeth said, nodding at Veronica, who turned her head and rolled her eyes again so only ElsBeth could see.

Across the deck Frankie alternately practiced shadow boxing — he had ambitions of prizefighting like his Uncle Vittorio — and, between rounds, tucked into his whoopie pies. ElsBeth was glad Frankie was part of their crew. You could count on Frankie.

They were well underway in the stiffening breeze between the Cape and Martha’s Vineyard when Johnny said to Robert, “This sure is a beautiful ship.”

“Yeah, she’s just under forty feet and fitted for ocean travel. Custom modified for racing, of course.”

“But what happened to the navigation and communication equipment?” Johnny asked.

“Oh, you know Uncle Preston. He always has to have the newest and best. The old equipment was pulled out so new stuff can go in next week.”

“No problem. On a day like today only a blind man would need any help navigating.” Johnny chuckled at his own joke, while the friendly morning sun beamed down on his nut-brown face.

But ElsBeth shivered. The castle she saw yesterday, and the strange funnel wind, and the dream she had, they all nagged at her. Her radar was on high alert, and there was nothing she could do to turn it off.

Other things niggled at her, too. Like Grandmother teaching her about their responsibility as witches to care for the natural world — but that castle and that wind, they certainly weren’t natural, and she had no idea what to make of them.

Her thoughts continued to drift.

Her family ... she didn’t know much about her family. Except Grandmother, of course. And Sylvanas, he was family. Her parents ... well, that was a big, dark empty place. She didn’t know what happened to them since just after she was born. Grandmother wouldn’t tell her. Not yet anyway.

She really hoped she found out more soon, though. She was growing up, after all, and she could feel that her family history was important to her future.

These darkling thoughts rose up on her horizon, while Martha’s Vineyard rolled closer every minute, and she began to feel better as she listened to what the others wanted to do for fun on the island.

“I want to visit the Historical Museum,” Veronica said, “and find out more about Cape fashion in the old days. There might be some interesting styles I can update and bring back.”

Amy sat cross-legged, her dress almost dry. “I hope there’ll be some street music today. And maybe some mimes. I love mimes.”

Nelson’s eyes hung on Amy. He looked like he hoped he could just hang out with her for the day.

ElsBeth turned to Johnny Twofeathers. “I want to look for wild plants Grandmother can use in medicines.”

Johnny said he’d heard of some marshes that might be good for that and he was up for exploring them, too.

Robert had obviously heard enough of this chatter. “Look, I don’t care what you want to do. What we are going to do is search for treasure.”

“What?” Veronica cut him off. “That’s ridiculous. You said we were going to Martha’s Vineyard.”

“Not exactly. I said we were going to sail around the islands. We’re not going to Martha’s Vineyard.” Robert pushed back his Black Dog cap. “So, if you girls want to get off, you can take the dinghy. We have more important things to do than go sightseeing like a bunch of stupid tourists. We have work to do. Right, men?”

Frankie stopped eating his whoopie pie and agreed straight away, but Nelson and Johnny looked embarrassed. They’d clearly forgotten “the plan” when talk had turned to fun on the Vineyard. “Right,” they added weakly.

Veronica huffed and puffed. She looked like she was about to explode with some powerful arguments, and she could be a mighty arguer, when the wind picked up.

They all watched as hills ... then cliffs ... then mountains of dark grey clouds swelled on the horizon and marched toward them. Fast. Extremely fast.

The yacht felt smaller and smaller under the covering sky.

Onboard no one moved.

Then, “Life jackets, everyone. Now!” Johnny yelled. Johnny knew weather. He’d been out on the tribe’s fishing boats since before he could walk.

Lisa Lee looked into the black swirl ahead and called out precisely in her flat, unemotional way, “Force 7 winds.”

Johnny Twofeathers grabbed some rope and tied it to the mainmast. Nelson followed Johnny’s lead, Frankie helped, and ElsBeth and Veronica joined in. Competent fingers, working quickly, tied ropes to the mast, and to each other.

***

With the activity on deck, the silent black form in the cabin below yawned to life and stretched. “Well, well,” Sylvanas purred. “As I thought. Trouble. And I’m just the cat to get us out of it.”

Sylvanas hadn’t yet examined the situation in depth, but he wasn’t worried. He’d seen too much and been through too much to get worried too quickly.

Hillman-Jones had left a meatball sub on the shelf by the bed. Sylvanas pulled it over and started chomping, to give himself strength. But mid-bite he flopped down, and promptly fell back asleep.

***

Above, the ship twisted and crackled in the tossing sea. The wind snapped off the tops of white-capped waves and shot the spray into their bodies like bullets. ElsBeth braced herself and tried to slow down time, to make herself a quiet point in the middle of the wild.

Lisa Lee peered into the roiling water and shouted her grim calculations over the wind. “The yacht’s probable survival is about zero point five percent, based on projected wave size, wind velocity, and the overall likelihood of being bashed against some rocks.”

Lisa Lee could be alarmingly negative at times in her cool, logical way.

“I don’t understand it,” Robert yelled to Johnny. “The forecast was for clear skies. Perfect for treasure hunting.”

“Yeah,” Johnny yelled back. “Our shortwave radio at home said it was supposed to be an ideal sailing day.”

As a witch ElsBeth had her own particular sense about the weather, and this wasn’t at all natural.

She forced her way against the wind over to Johnny. Johnny’s grandfather was a Native American shaman (a word he said his tribe preferred to “medicine man”). In any case, sometimes there were things they both just “knew.”

She held the rail with one hand and grabbed him with the other. They shared a look, and she could tell Johnny felt it, too — there was something supernatural behind this storm.

They’d also both been taught the only way to handle a scary situation with anything supernatural was straight-ahead, dead-on. They held tight to the rail and bent into the wind.

The salt spray stung, but ElsBeth forced her eyes open, then wider when she recognized South Wind.

Sylvanas had joined her on deck to look around, and they both knew they had to find out from the Wind what was going on. But a wave pushed the Sea Charmer hard, and Sylvanas scampered below. The deck slipped away, and a wall of water crashed over the side.

ElsBeth was tied to the mast but was still washed half-over the rail. She pulled herself up and scanned the deck. Hillman-Jones was still at the helm, lashed in, but was bent over and holding his side. The wheel must have knocked into him.

Frankie and Nelson boxed Amy and Veronica between them. Everyone was soaked. Lisa Lee huddled under the mast, now frantically yelling something technical about this “impossible course change.” But Johnny ... where was Johnny Twofeathers?

There. Behind a rolled sail, on the deck, unmoving.

ElsBeth shouted to Hillman-Jones but her voice couldn’t carry against the roaring wind. She had to use a little magic. It was really not OK to use magic with other people but this was an emergency.

She sent a silent streamer of pure intention to Robert with the thought, “Hold on tight, but get Frankie and come forward. We have to get Johnny to the cabin.”

Robert’s head whipped around and their eyes met.

Robert was clearly hurt, too, but he scrambled over to Frankie and pointed to the bow. Nothing could be heard over that wind, and ElsBeth hoped Robert didn’t wonder how she’d gotten through to him — but there was no chance to wonder long or much in this storm.

The boys struggled forward to carry their friend below.

***

ElsBeth led the way into the cabin. Frankie was about to put Johnny’s head on the bunk when a lump under the blanket moved. Frankie froze. He stared spellbound at the shifting shape, and started to back away.

ElsBeth now heard Frankie’s thoughts in her head.

“This is sinister! Maybe it’s a headless seaman — like a headless horseman but at sea.”

Frankie’s thoughts were out of control. His body was, too. His heart boomed and he quivered like Jell-0.

Robert was holding Johnny’s legs and he couldn’t see why they’d stopped. He tried to push forward. But Frankie was a big guy and he wasn’t going anywhere.

A rough black form crept slowly from the covers and aimed a green eye straight at Frankie. He squealed.

Sylvanas turned a lazy head and smiled white teeth at the paralyzed boy.

ElsBeth was embarrassed when she saw Frankie trying to hold himself from wetting his pants — which were already soaked, so at least no one would notice.

Thankfully Frankie finally focused — it was only a cat, even if it was Sylvanas.

ElsBeth looked down at Johnny. He didn’t look like he was breathing, and panic clawed at her. Then she remembered what the lifeguards taught them on Beach Safety Day.

“Robert, help me roll him over.” They tugged Johnny onto his side and ElsBeth pounded his back. She whacked him hard, over and over.

“Are you trying to kill him?” Hillman-Jones howled.

Johnny’s chest heaved, and a great gout of seawater gushed from his mouth and onto Robert’s expensive boat shoes.

“Eewww, that’s disgusting,” Frankie said.

Johnny coughed and spat, but he was breathing. ElsBeth was so thankful she’d paid attention at Beach Safety class. This was as good as magic.

But it was all too much for Sylvanas, and he jumped off the bunk. He snagged a bag of turkey jerky on his way down, and set out to investigate the goings-on. At his own pace.

ElsBeth knew Sylvanas wasn’t going to rush into anything. Unless it involved doughnuts, or a few other select items.

“How did that cat get aboard?” Robert asked.

ElsBeth said nothing. She could see that Sylvanas was on a mission and was not to be interrupted, by her or anyone else. She was just glad he was here with them — even if he was someone else to worry about.

ElsBeth took a deep breath, and had a new thought. She was just a young witch and this weather was a powerful enchantment.

She looked again at Johnny and took another deep breath.

But if anyone used magic and one of her friends got really hurt ... she was not going to put up with it. She had to get to the bottom of this.

She climbed back into the stinging storm, more determined with each step.