Page 3 of In the Pursuit of Haven
“No, no, that doesn’t make her a Marbleheader or a-a Salemite either.” Ruth glanced over at me. “You’re just a tourist. Why don’t you act like one and join the other witch hunters in October. That’s the season to come, not—not summer when the real residents are trying to live out their lives.”
“Sorry, didn’t realize there was a litmus test to talk to people here,” I said.
“Oh, there is…” A big grin took over Scrooby’s face. “Forget the Horribles Parade. You’ve got to join our Revolutionary War reenactments too.”
“She’d look really cute in those boots you wear as ‘Joe Brown.’” Zak came up behind us, outing Scrooby as a regular reenactment junky.
“I’ve got something better,” Ruth said. Her eyes took on a wicked gleam. “Roxy, how about you spend the night at Brown’s? Then you’ll earn our respect.”
That tiny little island off of Marblehead? “Brown’s?”
“Crowninshield…” she said with a smirk. “That’s what the tourists know it as, but we’ve called it Brown’s forever.”
A flash of lightning broke through the sky over the water.
Scrooby erupted into a laugh. “What’s wrong with the Crowninshields? You’re a Crowninshield.”
“And that’s not the point,” Ruth said with an exaggerated glare at him. She turned back to me. “You believe in witches?”
Now it was my turn to roll my eyes. That’s the belief that got nineteen people executed here, not to mention seven others dying in jail and another pressed to death. More than two hundred survivors, including the accusers, went on to live in a world of dark seclusion.
“Oh please!” I said. “That’s why you won’t see me here in October. I’m not into that kind of superstition.”
“Lame. You haven’t heard of Old Dimond then. He lived near Old Burial Hill during the witch trials—wandered through the gravestones and guided ships in from the storms.”
And he didn’t get taken in for witchcraft? Still, everyone was doing pretty weird stuff back in the day. Looking into the history of these Puritans, they had all sorts of interesting superstitions—like hiding shoes in the walls for luck or making dolls to ward off evil spirits… and yeah, I geek out over these kinds of useless facts.
“Dimond was using what he called ‘benevolent magic’ during the Salem Witch trials,” Ruth said, “and no one said a thing. When the sheriff and all those accusers came over to Marblehead to ‘go get ’em,’ the selectman of the town told them to go home. Turns out the Wizard of Marblehead was too useful to get rid of.”
Maybe the men in the neighboring county didn’t want to continue the bloodbath. “Sounds like they were being smart,” I said.
“Well, Dimond was good at finding lost things, so yeah, they were.” Ruth shrugged in that know-it-all way I was already becoming familiar with. “He didn’t just guide in lost ships; he found thieves and made them walk through snowstorms to turn themselves in. Some say his ghost wanders the island during stormy nights like these.”
The thunder that had threatened the skies rumbled through the clouds at that very moment.
Ruth’s gaze lifted to the coming show that threatened to stop the fireworks for the night. “You go there when it gets dark,” she said, “and sit against that big wizard head rock while you tell the best scary story in the history of your family, and then we know you belong.”
I laughed, trying to hold back the mockery and failing big time. “Ruth, you missed your calling in life. You’d make a great ghost tour guide.”
Her brow popped up. “You scared?” she asked. “Some say it’s haunted. The clubhouse burned down there in the ’70s. I’ve heard stories about that place.”
“No,” Scrooby interrupted. “That was the house on Gerry Island next to it.”
I’d also heard about that… and I wouldn’t have if Jessie’s uncle hadn’t also died there in that accident.Just another fire that haunts that family.I decided to scorch Ruth for the mistake. “Guess it’s not haunted,” I said. “Too bad. Your story was really going somewhere.”
“Pfft. You think you can handle it then? Dare you to go there… right now. Take on Dimond’s ghost and prove you’re a local.”
I scoffed. My aunt would have my head on a platter. Haven had brought us here on her old, weathered motorboat, but if this weather was anything to go by, we were staying at her friend Bette Ann’s place above the candy shop tonight. “Sorry, no boat.”
“I’ve got one,” Jessie said. His lips were curled in amusement, but his eyes gleamed with challenge… and interest.
Ruth stiffened. Her dare had just backfired on her in a big way.
Jessie’s sister was shocked. “You finally get to meet Roxy, and now you get her alone on your boat all in one night?” Abby dissolved into more giggles. “Oh, her auntie’s going to kill you!”
Zak and Scrooby both joined in her laughter.
One look at Ruth’s frozen sneer and I was all for taking her idiotic dare. I texted Aunt Haven: “Hey, Haven, don’t worry about me. I’m going boating with…” I had no friends here. “Abby.” Hopefully she didn’t know Abby was also a Crabb. Andhopefully, Haven did what she always did… left her phone on the boat. She wouldn’t see my text until she was turning in for the evening, and by then it would be too late to stop me. “If I don’t get back in time to catch you before you leave, I’ll spend the night at her place.”
