“You’llbe comin’ with me now.”
“Indeed Iwon’t,” I told him stubbornly.
He sighedimpatiently. “Look, sweetness, I have orders. You’re comin’ with me willingly orby force. I’m kind enough to let you choose.” My empty response wasenough of an answer. “Have it your way.” Benjamin bent down andgrabbed both my arms, hauling me to my feet. He spun me around, somy back was pressed against his chest and his hands began to feelme up.
“Excuseme!” I cried and elbowed him in the gut.
He spat out apuff of air and then grabbed me again. “Jesus! I was just checkin’if you had weapons.”
“I’llcome willingly,” I gave in, “but you’ll keep your hands toyourself. Understand?”
The pirateclutched me by the arm and yanked hard, dragging me along as heheaded off toward the forest. “You’re in no position to be makin’orders.”
“Why?What did I do?”
He stopped,briefly, and glanced at me from over his shoulder. “You showedup.”
My throattightened, along with every muscle in my body, and I swallowed hardagainst the dryness. Silently, I followed Benjamin into the woods.The only sound was that of the earth crunching beneath our bootsand our labored breaths as we walked. He refused to release hisgrip around my arm, but at least it loosened.
We trudgedalong, through trees and over creeks. It seemed to go on forever. Itried to soak in our surroundings, to make a map in my head of howto get back in the event I escaped. But it was too dark. I couldbarely see five feet in front of me, so I settled for studying theViking-like pirate before me. God, he was tall. More so than Henry.Heck, maybe even Finn who was an easy six and a half feet. Inaddition to a narrow sword sheathed at his side, Benjamin also hada large mallet and an array of knives dangling from his leatherbelt.
Clearly, he wasnot one to be messed with.
“So, doyou live here on this island alone?” I asked him, thinking back towhen he mentioned having orders. I waited for him to respond, whichtook a while. He seemed to carefully mull over hiswords.
“No.”
“How manyof you are there?”
“You’llfind out soon enough, sweetness.”
“My nameis Dianna,” I reminded him through gritted teeth. It made me thinkback to my time on The Devil’s Heart when the boys kept calling mewench. It royally pissed me off then, too.
“Whateveryou say, sweetness.” His backwas to me but, I swear, the grin could be heard in hisresponse.
We walkedsome more until I could spot the moon’s reflection on the waterglistening through the trees. We emerged from the forest andcrossed the pebbly beach before stopping at the water’sedge as if waiting forsomething.
“What arewe doing?” I dared ask.
“Waiting.”
I rolledmy eyes. “Obviously. But for what?” Orwhom? I added to myself.
“For ourride,” the man replied and walked toward the water’s edge, pullingme behind.
I was about toprotest, to kick the pirate in the leg and then take off running.But where would I go? What would I do? I had a knife. I coulddefend myself. But something told me I’d need more than justdefence against Benjamin. The only way I was escaping his grip wasif one of us died.
Suddenly, theglow of the moon on the ocean’s surface glistened and moved,creating a cascade of ripples. I stopped struggling against mycaptor and stared in awe as a dark object began to float to the topand bob there. Waiting.
It was anempty rowboat.
My mouth gaped.“How–”
“Justc’mon,” Benjamin ordered with a growl and yanked me toward thesmall wooden boat. “Get in.”
“Why?”
His brown eyesrolled under the shadow of his furrowed brow. “Because I told youto.”
“Whereare we going?”
“You’llsee,” he assured me with a sly confidence.
I stood myground. “No, I’m not some flighty country girl who washed ashore,you know. I’m a pirate.” I held my chin high. “A captain, infact.”
Benjamin’s eyeswidened as he leaned back and raised his brows. “Is that so?”
“Yes.” Icouldn’t tell if he was just humoring me or not.
He held hishands out and glanced around in a mock fashion. “Where’s your ship,captain?”
“It… wehit that storm that just passed,” I told him, trying not to let myemotions show through in my words. “My crew were still aboard whenI got thrown over the side.”
The pirateremained calm, eerily so, as he nodded. His eyes glancing down atthe sand thoughtfully. He took a few steps toward me and stoppedbefore taking in a deep breath. “I’m very sorry for your loss.”
Was heactually showing me mercy? Would he let me go? But before I couldsigh in relief, he scooped me up and placed me in therowboat. “You may have beenthe imaginary captain of some ship, but you’re a prisoner aboardmine now.” He jumped in beside me and grabbed the oars. “Get usedto it, sweetness. You’re not goin’ anywhere.”
I scrambled toa sitting position, panic hot in my veins. “You can’t just kidnappeople!”
“Yes, Ican.” His massive fists clutched the oars and paddled with ease.“This is my island.”
I let out asnort. “No one owns this island. It’s not even on the map.”Suddenly, my stomach tightened at the next thought that ran throughmy mind. “Besides, you’re taking me away from the island. Surelyyou don’t think this little thing can stand the open waters?”
“We’renot headin’ for open waters,” Benjamin informed me with a hint ofannoyance in his tone.
“Thenwhere–”
His head tippedin the direction behind me and I spun around on the narrow woodenplank. At first, I saw nothing. Just the open ocean and the coolsilver glow of the moon. But, for a split second, that same coolsilver glow… shimmered. As if it were a mirage. The closer we got,the more I could see the strange curtain-like veil. All I couldthink of were the dozens of movies I’d seen, where you see aninvisible object, how it sometimes shudders. Like it doesn’tbelong.
I held myhand out to touch the ghostly curtain as our littlerowboat slowly passedthrough it. It felt as cold as the November sea belowus and as soft
