Free A School for Unusual Girls by Kathleen Baldwin Page A

the waves, gagging and sputtering, half blind with confusion.
    It took me a moment to realize where I was. Waves sloshed against the sides of a cave. I recognized the flickering oil lamp as it hissed from where it hung on a rough-hewn docking post. I, gulping and grappling, half swimming, half drowning, bobbed my way to the rowboat. No sooner had I grabbed hold of the prow when I spotted something unthinkable sitting against the far wall. My heart nearly spewed out of my throat along with the seawater I’d swallowed.
    A skeleton. Bones wearing a tattered pink gown. A noose hung around its neck and a faded placard warned: BEWARE THE HANGMAN’S WALTZ!
    I screamed, lost my grip on the rowboat and sank once again beneath the dark waves.
    When I burst back up through the surface my nightdress ballooned under my arms. I angrily flung away a strand of seaweed, spit out fishy seawater, and shook off my fear. Bones could not hurt me. But the monsters who’d left that girl here to rot certainly could. I swam for the boat with grim determination. Fate had offered me a chance to escape Stranje House and I intended to take it.
    Except when I tried to pull myself into the rowboat the ruddy thing tipped, almost to the point of flipping over. So, I swam, or rather thrashed, toward the dock and heaved myself onto the stone ledge like a great flopping fish. I lay there shivering, a wet muddy mess. As soon as I caught my breath, I took one last look at the skeleton with her ghastly warning, and climbed aboard the rowboat.
    The skiff was surprisingly well equipped. In the stern, atop a box of supplies, lay a woolen blanket, which I immediately wrapped around me. Inside the box I found a bottle of brandy and a neatly wrapped parcel containing bread and cheese. Having had very little to eat that day I ripped off a hunk of bread and took a quick bite. That would have to do for now. I needed to get under way before Captain Grey and Sebastian returned for their boat.
    It had to be theirs. Most likely the two of them were smugglers. Or pirates. Lord Wyatt, indeed! That couldn’t possibly be his real name. Sebastian was no gentleman. And even if he was, it didn’t matter. Their rowboat was mine now. I set the two oars into place and tugged the rope loose from the docking post.
    Rowing proved trickier than I’d expected. The boat banged against the cave walls a number of times. The oars knocked one side or the other so often, it was a small wonder the entire household did not come running. I battled the current and managed to maneuver the craft toward the small mouth of the cave. Luck was with me. I caught an outgoing wave, ducking as the dinghy thumped and bumped its way through the low arch to freedom.
    Stars blinked in and out as clouds raced across the inky sky.
    I’d done it. I had escaped.
    Surf roared in my ears and the rowboat lifted high atop a wave. I set to the oars, suddenly aware that the cave had provided shelter from the wind and this violent tide. It took every ounce of my strength to keep the skiff from crashing against the rocky shore. I rowed like mad, but the sea lifted up the boat and tossed it down as if it was a child’s toy.
    I’d escaped, but to what end. Death?
    The thought of drowning in that dark sea, of sinking unnoticed and unremembered into a vast unmarked grave, of being eaten by indifferent fish and scavenging snails made a shudder run through me. Fear gave way to a warming anger. I would not surrender to death. Not without giving it a good fight.
    I rowed harder, leaning into every stroke. My life depended on it. Waves pelted me. Salt bit against my cheeks. Wind whipped the blanket from my shoulders, but I dared not stop to adjust it. I put my back into the task of rowing, lifting off the seat to push harder. Even with my newfound strength the oars grew heavier and more awkward with every stroke.
    Waves splashed over the sides, turning my woolen blanket into a sodden mess, filling the