Bookfour
By
CandaceOsmond
Copyright © 2018Candace Osmond
All rightsreserved.
ISBN-13:978-1-988159-55-3
FirstEdition
DigitalVersion
Cover Design byMajeauDesigns
The characters,places, and events portrayed in this book are completely fictionand are in no way meant to represent real people or places.Although the province ofNewfoundland is an existing location, the use of it in the book isfor fictional purposes and not meant to depict true historicalaccuracy.
Table ofContents
ChapterOne
ChapterTwo
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
ChapterSix
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
ChapterTen
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Epilogue
About the Author
ChapterOne
“Life isn’treally linear. Although it’s generally perceived that way. Thestories we tell are woven like snakes around a divining rod. Acenter of time containing all that’s ever been told and heard.Remembered and forgotten. Lost and found. Our pasts, presents andfutures are unwound, stretched flat, cut into pieces and held upwith human arms.”
― ThomasLloyd Qualls, Waking Up at Rembrandt's
What would you do if you were granted a single wish?What about three? It sounds easy enough, but it’s not. It’s likeholding the greatest power in the whole world right in your pocketand being too scared to even think about it. I could wish for ahundred things. Save the people I love, bring back those I’ve lost.I could stop wars. Change the future. There were no limits to thethings I could do now. I even wondered if I could wish for moreenchanted pearls.
But what kindof person would I become with an endless supply of demands likethat? Would it corrupt my mind? Taint my soul? And then I worriedthat a wish like that wouldn’t even work. Maybe the magic of thesirens would curse me, too, for my selfishness. Just like they didfor Captain Cook and his crew on The Black Soul.
I couldn’ttake that chance. Not when I had so much at stake.
My feet firmlyplanted at the stern, I stood at my post, eyes locked on thehorizon. A thin, black line that morphed and grew with the shape ofcivilization the closer we got. The rocky landscape slowly cameinto view as The Queen sailed closer to our destination and Iwatched as we hugged the Southern coast to Southampton. I spottedthe black speck earlier that morning but said nothing. My rationalbrain finally caught up with the whirlwind of emotions I’d beenchasing for months and I fought with the fear of facing it all now.This was it. This was the day I’d been waiting for. I’d finally puta stop to Maria and save my mother. But something persistentlytickled in the back of my mind as my fingers rolled the pearlstogether in my pocket.
Why hadn’t Imade the wish yet?
The SirenIsles were only six days away from the shores of England and mycrew had spent every one of them urging me to do it. To make thewish that would lead us to Maria. But I couldn’t bring myself tosay the words. I wasn’t sure where my hesitation came from. Alittle bit from every corner of my worrisome mind, I guess. I onlyhad two wishes left and I constantly stressed over the possibilityof wasting them.
Finn made itinherently clear that he thought I should wish for Maria to die.Quick and easy. But How would I really know she was dead? And whatkind of closure would that be for Henry? The woman murdered hisparents in cold blood, after all.
So, did I wishto find Maria myself, bring her to justice and finally rid theworld of such evil? I’d save my mother in the process. But thatwouldn’t lead me to actually finding my mom and making sure she wassafe. So, what then? Use my final wish to track down the woman whoabandoned me all those years ago?
Did she evenwant to see me?
Nothing hadforced Mom to go back in time and leave Dad alone to raise me. But,still, she left. My thoughts were constantly plagued with imagesand scenarios of finding her. Constance Cobham. The timetraveler who started it all. I’drun toward her, but she’d be awash with anger and turn me away. Andall my wishes would be gone.
“Dianna?”Henry spoke as he appeared by my side. I’d been so lost in my ownmind that I hadn’t even seen him climb the stairs. His concernedgaze fell on me as he neared. “Are you alright?”
My fingersreleased the enchanted pearls and they fell to the bottom of mypocket as I smiled. “Yes, just nervous. Eager.”
He steppedcloser and peered down as he reached out to tuck a straggly blackcurl behind my ear. “Don’t be. It’ll all be over soon.” Henryturned and pointed at the coming horizon. “We’ll reach landtoday.”
I sighed. “Iknow. I’ve been staring at it all morning.”
His handdropped to my arm and he rubbed it comfortingly. “Still unsureabout the wishes?”
I shrugged.“I’m unsure about all of it, Henry.”
“How can Ihelp?” he asked, a sense of helplessness in his tone.
I desperatelysearched his obsidian eyes. “Tell me what to do?” Henry sighed andpulled away. “Please, I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. I don’tknow how…to make this right. I don’t want to make a mistake.”
His long thumbbrushed the skin of my cheek and he leaned to press his soft lips to mine, leaving a kissthat lingered even after he gently pulled away. “Dianna, it doesnot matter what you wish for. I know you want to find your motherbut–”
“Do I,though?”
Henry seemedconfused. “How can you not? Dianna, she’s your mother.”
“Yeah, mymother who made the decision to leave me. To break myfather’s heart and shatter his soul. She left her only child with aman who ate away at himself until he was nothing more than a shellof a human being, incapable of caring for me. I’ve thought about itover and over… what must have been going through her mind. How shecould even bring herself to consider it. I look down at my growingbelly and the baby I carry inside… I just,” I shook my head indefeat. “I can’t imagine a day going by without looking into mychild’s eyes. God, I’ve yet to even see them and I can alreadyunderstand how that feels.
