Page 4 of In the Pursuit of Haven
Yeah, Ruth isn’t the only one paying for her spitefulness. I am going to be in big trouble after this, but I’ll do anything to get that queen bee back for telling me I don’t belong.
And that’s how I found myself jumping into the mud on Brown’s Island, feeling the water from the rising tide lapping up against my calves and looking into Jessie’s intense eyes under the fireworks of a massive sky boiling with its sudden storm.
Chapter Two
My sandals slipped on the rocks as Jessie helped me onto the small island’s grassy knoll. I hadn’t thought the help was necessary, but these strappy sandals and this crazy Greek dress wrapping around my legs in the wind kept tripping me up.
Not that I minded his help… I liked Jessie’s fingers. Too much. They pressed into mine. “Maybe you should just take the sandals off.”
He was right. “Yeah, yeah, of course.” I sat in the tall grass to work the buckles off. The trees on the forested part of the island swayed loudly. The sound of breaking branches and wind whined through the island in a strange type of moan, and all I could imagine was the Wizard of Marblehead wandering through the burial ground in the cemetery across the way, calling the ships in from the storm. I heard the crashing of waves in the distance and swallowed. “You sure you can get us back to the mainland in this?”
“Honey, I can navigate us through a cyclone,” Jessie bragged with a grin. “I’ve got your back.”
I couldn’t help my answering smile. Apparently, I had an experienced fisherman here… and a total player, and so I did what I did best, played with him. “You can, huh? You might have to show me what you can do.” I got the shoes off and found my feet again. His hands discovered my back this time. I shivered, more from his touch than the cold… though I was actually pretty cold too.
His arms went around me next. “I should’ve thought of bringing you a coat,” he said. “That was actually pretty nasty of Ruth to send you out here in your dress.”
And both of us had to take her dare to come out here to the island, but… I’m crazy like that. What’s his excuse?I stepped back from him so I could catch my breath again. As soon as I did, I remembered all the other reasons why I should keep my distance. “I think Ruth was trying to keep me away from you…” I teased him.
“No one keeps me away from anybody.”
Not even his dad? His father really hated my family. And Aunt Haven, as a rule, was nice and pleasant to everybody, and yet, his father was the exception. No one had told me the story behind that, and I was too nervous to bring it up. I licked my lips, deciding Ruth was a safer topic. “Did you used to date her?”
His low laughter warmed my cheek. He was standing closer to me in the darkness than I thought. “No way. She’s like a sister to me… a mean one. Wedidgrow up together…”
Good to know! And it wasn’t like I had a chance with him either. Aunt Haven was grounding me for weeks after this… or I could find this rock, blurt out my scary story, and get back in time for her to not get worried enough to be angry. “Where’s this Wizard Rock?” I asked quickly.
“Honestly? I have no idea. Guess I’m not a local.” Jessie laughed. I was starting to like his sense of humor. It was a lot like mine.
And I needed to stop flirting with danger.
I glanced around the shadows of this island to see what we were getting into. The branches tossing around in the wind made up a forest in a hilltop to the side of us. The perimeter was big enough for maybe a ten-minute jaunt around the wooded area, and then across from us where we docked was a meadow with rocky crags overlooking Gerry and other islands in the distance. I let out a breath, remembering his uncle had died across the way.
How treacherous was it out here for that to happen?
“My uncle was looking for treasure,” he said abruptly.
How had he known I’d been thinking it? He kept surprising me for a lot of reasons. This place was known for the witch trials, not pirates.His uncle was actually looking for treasure?“When he—he… uh, died?”
“Sorry,” he said. “It’s just everyone asks me about it, and well… I thought…”
I was too polite to say it… not that it stopped me from thinking about it, but well… yeah, I’m not too polite, I guess. “What was he doing looking for treasure?”
He let out another laugh, but it wasn’t at my boldness. “You reallyarean out-of-towner. Your aunt never let you know why she hates us?”
Hate. Such a strong word… and so absolutely true. I’d hoped it wasn’t so obvious, but now that the cat was out of the bag, I had to add to my embarrassment by admitting I was clueless about how his family had ruined mine. “She hasn’t gone into detail really…”
“That’s okay, my old man doesn’t tell me anything either. I had to find out a lot of this stuff from my grandma. She’s already lost two of her sons to this. She says we’re cursed.”
I might as well admit I knew about that too. “The fires,” I breathed.
“Yeah, the fires…”
Lightning split through the clouds in the distance. It lit up a gargantuan rock facing the harbor to the side of us. My heart raced. “That has to be Wizard Rock,” I said.
About five seconds later, thunder shook the ground. I screamed and jumped into Jessie, my heart in my throat. I shouldn’t be clinging to him, but the rate of my pulse was at train speed, though some of that had to do with him and feeling his warm breaths against my cheek.
I inched back with all the self-control I could muster and tried to find my voice again. “It’s safe out here, right?”
