Free The Voyage of Lucy P. Simmons by Barbara Mariconda

Grey Man about, ye can never tell.”
    I avoided his eyes and quickened my step. I felt his hand on my arm.
    â€œPardon me, Lucy. Have I gone ’n’ upset ye? Jest worried for ye, is all.”
    â€œIt will be all right,” I said, and realized that I meant it.
    Grady and Seamus agreed to take Old Peader back to his home, to put it back in order after the ransacking and tuck the old fellow into bed, his loyal Rosie following behind. He’d been through way too much for one day. Pru, Walter, Pugsley, and I took the turnoff to our cottage.
    The snug little house was dark and closed up tight—even from a distance it was obvious no one was there. “I knew it didn’t seem possible,” Pru murmured, “that Marni would be here—but all the same I have this strong feeling that she’s safe.”
    Inside we poked at the fire and lit the lanterns, all without a word. Pru watched me carefully, more kindly than Grady had, and I knew she could sense I was withholding something. My loyalty torn, I avoided her eyes.
    â€œI . . . may have seen something out there,” I began.
    I could feel Pru’s interest flare like one of the peat bricks in the fireplace. “Where?” she asked. “What do you think you saw?”
    â€œIn the water. It could have been a fish—a porpoise. Or maybe a seal.” I hesitated. “But it might have been Marni.”
    â€œMarni does not look like a porpoise,” Pru began.
    â€œSwimming. What I saw was definitely swimming.”
    â€œWhy didn’t you say anything?” Walter asked.
    â€œBecause I didn’t want Grady and Seamus to know.” I knew they both understood.
    The door suddenly swung open. There was Marni, slick as a seal. Our eyes met. “Are you going to get me a towel, so I don’t drip all over the floor?”
    In an instant Walter had a blanket wrapped around her. “Get out of those wet clothes,” Pru insisted. Marni went into our room and quietly closed the door behind her.
    In relief we exhaled. There would be no more questions tonight. As Pru and I settled into bed, we both took in Marni’s slim form beneath the blankets, the gentle rise and fall of her shoulders. What a night it had been—we’d unearthed a grave, found an old man buried alive, and had almost been drawn into the sea by the Grey Man—or the curse. Perhaps Marni actually had been. But a part of me knew she hadn’t been lured at all. She’d jumped into the sea, and swam as close as she could to whatever it was she’d needed to see. I only hoped she’d tell us what that was.
    Though exhausted I knew I wouldn’t soon fall asleep. And the same nervous energy that buzzed in my head was flowing from Aunt Prudence as well. It moved like a current between us, and the atmosphere in the room felt like the air before a thunderstorm. Tingling. Electric. Unsettled, with the potential for danger.
    â€œTomorrow,” Pru whispered, “we need to look at everything we know. Put the pieces together. Make a plan.”
    â€œYes,” I murmured. I didn’t voice the thought that crept up behind those words . . . Before it’s too late.

10
    F our of us sat at the table and spread the deck of cards before us. Side by side we laid out our clues. “We have to be missing something,” Pru said. “Something so obvious we’re not seeing it.”
    I hunched over the display, searching for some scrap of significance we may have overlooked. Walter frowned in concentration. Marni, however, seemed distracted, distant. She went through the motions of considering this and that, but her mind was elsewhere. I gazed at her, undetected, and wondered what was going on behind those sea-green eyes of hers. A mystery, as always.
    Pru tore several pieces of paper from her notebook. “Let’s review what we know.” She licked the tip of the pencil, reading each word aloud as