Wendy's Pirates by Rebecca Varnell

Author:Rebecca Varnell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Covenant Communications, Inc.
Published: 2021-09-30T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Wendy stood stiffly beside James. His brow was furrowed. “I—I don’t understand,” he stuttered. “He was with you when I left.”

Michael paused in front of them. “No, he followed you out. I thought you knew—I thought he was with you.” The wind whipped Michael’s hair wildly around his wide, shock-filled eyes.

Wendy couldn’t believe her ears. She didn’t want to picture how easily the sea could sweep Peter off the docks, and she didn’t want to think of the unknown dangers of dark, slippery alleyways. She didn’t want to listen to the pounding of guilt echoing in her mind, but it was there all the same.

The rain had slowed to a light drizzle, but thunder still grumbled between the silence of trying to understand. A sudden crash of thunder shook Wendy’s nerves and knocked her off balance. “We have to find him,” she said, her voice quivering, but James was already moving swiftly down the road ahead of them.

Michael followed James, asking what was to be done and how he could help, and James transformed into Captain Hooke before Wendy’s eyes. “There’s a box on my desk in the study with a pistol in it. Fetch it and bring it to me as quickly as possible,” he said. Michael nodded gravely and began running down the street toward town.

Wendy shifted her gaze between James and the empty lane Michael had just been on. So much had changed between her and James in just a few minutes. She couldn’t help but stare at the man in front of her. Every word he’d said to her moments ago bounced vengefully around her head. She wanted to hate him for keeping the truth from her. She wanted so terribly to pretend he had never existed so that things could go back to how they’d been before she’d met him. Life had been easy and predictable and numb then. Now her life was in a constant state of volatility. It was making her nauseated.

But that didn’t matter now. All that mattered was finding Peter.

She waited impatiently with James until Michael finally reappeared, stuffing a pistol into a holster clumsily strung around his waist, carrying another pistol in the box he’d brought with him. James muttered a quick thanks before strapping a holster to his own hip.

Wendy gasped. “Do you really think all that is necessary?”

James, busy with the buckle, didn’t look up. “They’ve tried to nab him once before. This time we’re not taking any chances.” No one needed to ask who “they” were. Living by the sea came with its perks, yes, but it also had its dangers. Wendy, more than most, was keenly aware of the fact.

Images of press-gangs and mutineers and pirate ships flashed through her mind. She looked at James. He’d said he couldn’t stand the press-gangs, but would he be able to stop them now? She saw determination in his gaze as he hunched his shoulders into his coat.

“Michael, take Wendy back to the house. She’ll be safe there.”

Wendy stood her ground, a protest forming on her down-turned lips.

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