“Finn?” Icried and ran to him, falling into his open arms and nearlyknocking us both down. “You’re alive? What are you doing here?”
His massivearms held me tight, but he leaned back to look at my face. His warmgrin shone through the thick red beard and his eyes sparkled withamusement. “Aye, I could ask ye the same. I watched ye get suckedinto a bloody hole in the air, for Christ’s sake.”
I laughed butmy throat gurgled with a tearful choke. “How did you know I washere? Where I was?”
“I heardwhispers of some black-haired devil woman askin’ about the likes ofour ship,” he told me. “Now, I only knows two black-haired devil women,” he paused to grinand arch a large red eyebrow at me, “but one of them would surelyknow the spot she let The Devil’s Heart sink.”
Our faces bothturned solemn, weighed down by the words he spoke. Our home. Ourfamily. They were all gone. I pulled away and stepped back.
“What happenedafter I was gone?”
Finn’s massiveframe walked past me and stopped at the edge of the boardwalk,crouching down to take a seat and swing his long legs over theside, dangling over the calm evening water. I followed and sidledup next to him.
“We were allshocked by what happened, when ye,” he waved his hand in the air infront of us, “did whatever it is ye did.”
I hung myhead, staring at my lap. “It was an accident. I was sent–” Istopped myself, but realized there could be no more secrets betweenus. Finn was my friend, my family. I could trust him with my life.“I was sent back to the future.”
The Scotsman’seyes bulged before he let out a sigh and looked out to the calmwater. “I knew there was something off about ye.” Silence hung inthe air, but he soon filled it with a raspy laugh. “It’s what savedus, though, ye know?”
I perked upand looked at his face. “What do you mean?”
“Yer littlemagic show,” he replied. “It stunned The Cobhams long enough for usto disarm them. I grabbed little Charlie and high tailed it out ofthere. I knew Gus and Henry could handle themselves.”
I shiftedin my spot and grabbed Finn’s arm.“Wait, are you telling me Charlie’s alive?”
“Aye,” heconfirmed, but then his face dropped. “Barely.”
“What doesthat mean?”
“Maria cutthrough his neck, but not as deep as it seemed. I carried him outof there and into the village for help. I could hear him breathin’.Hardly. But alive. I got someone to help me clean and sew him up.We’ve been bunkered down with him, hidin’ in the barn of an oldfriend. But he’s,” Finn appeared distraught at the thought ofCharlie, “Sick.”
“Sick?” Ishook my head. “What, you mean he’s not healing?”
Finn shruggedhelplessly. “I don’t know. He was doin’ fine one day, and then thenext he caught a fever, sweatin’ all over the place. His woundsturned purple and are festerin’. He hasn’t woken up for three daysnow.”
My stomachclenched at the thought. I knew what was wrong. He had aninfection. No amount of cleaning and disinfecting would do it atthat point. Only one thing could help him. “How far away are youguys?”
“About fivehours walkin’, give or take.” He examined my face curiously.“Why?”
“I havesomething that can save him,” I replied. “And I have a place whereyou can hide that’s better than a barn. He needs to be in a cleanerenvironment where I can properly tend to his wounds and monitor thefever.”
“Aye,” hespoke, “I’ll see what I can do about gettin’ a wagon and ahorse.”
“And youshouldn’t be trekking back to Cupers Over in the dead of night.Stay with me and we can head out tomorrow morning, together.”Although I worried about Charlie’s life, I was ecstatic at thethought of being reunited with Henry. I beamed. He wasalive. There was no way I’d wait around The Slippery Cod allday while Finn went to fetch them. “I’m sure Gus and Henry can livewithout you for one night.”
The Scotsman’sbrow furrowed, and his shoulders hung low. “Oh, Lassie–”
I didn’t likehis sudden tone. “What?”
“Henry isn’t…he’s nae with us.”
I jumped to myfeet and backed away, refusing to believe it. “What are you talkingabout? You said I distracted The Cobhams so you guys could disarmthem.”
Finn stood tomeet me, arms outstretched to try and calm me. “Now, Dianna–”
“Yousaid Gus and Henry could handle themselves.” My hands balledinto tight fists, the fingernails nearly piercing the flesh of mypalms.
“I did,” hereplied. “I thought they could. But when they didnae turn up, Iwent back to the spot in the forest. Gus was badly beaten and tiedup like a bloody hog. The captain was…”
“What? Waswhat?” I cried, preparing for the worst.
“Gone,” Finnfinally said. “They took him. They killed the rest of the crew andset blaze to The Devil’s Heart. Now, whether the captain was thrownaboard with it, or if they took him to The Burning Ghost,” heshrugged in defeat, “We dinnaeken.”
My mouth gapedas I fought back the tears and searched for words. Maria wouldn’tdo that. Not to her precious pet. No, as much as it killed me toadmit it, there was some dark and twisted part of her that caredfor Henry. I could see that in her soulless eyes that night. Shewould have kept him, took him back.
I reached upand vigorously wiped the skin under my tired eyes. “No,” I saidsternly. “Henry is alive. And we’re going to find him.”
***
We snuck backto town and I entered the front of The Slippery Cod while Finnwaited out back, hidden in the shadows. The tavern was alive withhalf-drunk locals and visiting merchants, clanking their mugs ofale and singing jaunty tunes as someone played the fiddle. I made ab-line for the back kitchen, knowing I’d likely find Lottie there.I was right. She tended to the supper dishes over a giant metaltub.
“Hi,” shegreeted with curiosity, looking me up and down with a half-grin,“How did the secret meeting go?”
I smiled andwalked over to her side, lowering my voice to a quiet whisper.“Lottie, I need to know that I can
