10
Tennyson
Dinner at Moby Dick’s had been the best meal of Ten’s life.
The clam chowder had been rich and creamy.
The baked stuffed lobster was done to perfection.
Ten wished they could eat like that once a week.
Ezra had tried lobster for the first time and couldn’t get enough of it.
He’s also managed to eat half a bowl of chowder and the little oyster crackers that came with it. All in all, it had been a great night.
“What movie do we all want to watch?” Ten asked, when the kids had gathered downstairs in their pajamas.
“Jaws!” Everly and Aurora shouted.
There was no way on God’s blue earth that Ten was going to sit through that movie. He’d seen it once and once was more than enough.
“Will Maid!” Lizzie said, climbing up onto the sofa.
“What’s a will maid?” Ronan asked.
“Where there’s a will, there’s a maid?” Fitzgibbon suggested.
“Little Mermaid,” Jude said. “Right, cutie?”
“Will Maid!” Lizzie agreed.
Jude grabbed the remote and started the movie.
The Little Mermaid was Ten’s favorite Disney movie.
, and he’d been captivated by the idea that he could change who he was with a simple wish that stayed with him long after the movie ended.
If he had a nickel for every time he wished to be straight and not psychic when he was a teen-ager, he could buy his own island in the Caribbean.
It wasn’t until Ten came to Salem and started working at West Side Magick that he’d finally been able to see he was perfect just the way he was. Looking around the room at Ronan, their kids and their found family, Ten was happy Ursula, the sea witch, had never offered him a bargain.
Ten was singing along with “Under the Sea” when Everly got up from the sofa and walked toward the sliding glass door leading to the back deck. He assumed she was going to take a peek at the full moon, through the glass but then he heard the door open.
Getting up from his seat, Ten hurried after Everly. She’d left the door wide open, which was something his daughter never would have done if she was in her right mind. He had no doubt she was having another vision, courtesy of Sam Bellamy.
When he reached the door, he could see Everly standing at the railing, looking out over the ocean, which sparkled under the light of the moon. He slid the screen door shut behind him and stepped up to his daughter.
Everly didn’t move a muscle. She didn’t acknowledge Tennyson’s presence.
Ten set a hand on her left shoulder and was jolted by what he saw.
A large masted ship was foundering several hundred feet from the beach.
Rain, so thick it was nearly impenetrable, lashed everything in sight.
Large waves broke against the hull, serving to push the vessel onto its port side.
He could hear cries of pain and fear, which should have been whipped away by the howling wind, yet he could hear them clear as day.
A loud crack signaled the tallest mast snapping. It seemed to fall almost in slow motion. It finally crashed against the deck, sending large pieces of wood flying. One man was impaled and fell over the side into the churning sea.
A flash of red caught Ten’s attention. Climbing down what looked like a cargo net was a man wearing a red shirt.
He moved slowly and deliberately, holding on for dear life every time another wave slammed into the ship.
Blood ran from a gash on his forehead and his left arm looked badly broken.
Even with his injuries, the man continued his perilous climb toward the angriest ocean Ten had ever witnessed.
The man slipped several times, but caught himself before tumbling down into the water. Just as the waves reached his black boots, the man, with his eyes on the shore, leapt into the ocean and disappeared.
Ten turned to Everly. Tears streaked down her face, but she remained motionless, her eyes glued to the horrific scene playing out in front of her.
He wanted to grab her and pull her away from the ship wreck, but knew it was a futile action.
Sam Bellamy had been able to reach her twice now.
Ten had no doubt he would continue to do so until his message from beyond the grave had been delivered.
The man who’d fallen into the ocean miraculously bobbed up to the surface. He swung an arm over his head and began trying to swim toward shore. Each time he made a bit of progress, a wave would swamp him, pushing him back toward the ship, which was now listing dangerously, nearly on its side.
Ten watched in growing horror as more men took their chance with the sea rather than staying on the ship, which was quickly being torn to pieces. Only two men had survived the shipwreck of the Whydah, meaning most of the men struggling in the water were not going to make it to shore.
Once again finding the man in the red shirt, Ten noticed he was being battered by the waves. He bobbed up and down in the water like a cork before sinking beneath the waves.
“No! Sam! SAM!” a voice screamed from the beach.
A woman, dressed in white, ran toward the water. She began to wade out into the sea, but was quickly swamped and dragged into the surf. The weight of her dress combined with the ferocity of the waves was no match for this woman. She was somehow pushed back onto the beach by a large swell.
“SAM!” she screamed again, her voice breaking. “Come back! Don’t leave me!”
Incredibly, the man in the red shirt floated back to the surface. Ten could see his arms floating in front of him, his head nearly submerged into the water. It was obvious he was dead. Several waves pushed his body toward the beach, before sucking him back toward the ship.
The woman continued to scream for him as the vision slowly dimmed and faded away.
“Dad?” Everly buried her face in Ten’s shirt. Her small body was wracked with uncontrollable sobs.
“Ten, what’s going on?” Ronan stepped out onto the deck, instantly coming to Everly’s side. “Is she okay? Was she hurt?” He scooped his daughter into his arms and took a seat in one of the sun lounges nearby.
“No, she’s fine. I am too.” Ten wasn’t telling the exact truth. He might be okay physically, but he would never forget standing with his daughter by his side witnessing Sam Bellamy’s last moments. Her face pulled back into a terrified grimace.
“What the hell happened? I saw Everly get up and you followed behind. The next thing I knew, you were both screaming.”
“Screaming?” Ten asked. He could have sworn he hadn’t uttered a sound as he watched the scene play out in front of his eyes.
“You kept yelling for Sam. Urging him to swim. Begging him not to leave you.” Ronan reached a hand out to Ten. “Was it another vision?”
Everly nodded. She sat up and dashed her tears with the backs of her hands. “I saw the shipwreck. The boat hit the sandbar and crashed. Men fell into the water. They were all screaming. The masts broke, one by one. A man in a red shirt tried to swim to shore, but he didn’t make it.”
“Who was the man?” Ronan asked, sounding as if he already knew the answer.
“Sam Bellamy,” Everly said. “He was wearing red, just like in the pictures at the pirate museum.”
Ten thought back to the image of the pirate which had been plastered all over the museum.
It was of a tall man, with ebony hair partially covered by a tricorn hat.
He wore a white shirt and a long red coat that reached down to mid-thigh.
The man in vision had been wearing a red shirt, not a jacket, but Ten had known without a shadow of a doubt it was Sam Bellamy.
“He tried to swim, Daddy, but his left arm was broken and the sea was so rough. I watched him drown.” Fresh tears streaked down her cheeks.
“That wasn’t the worst part. I could hear Maria yelling for him.
Pleading with him to swim. She saw the whole thing, Daddy.
She watched Sam die.” Everly wrapped her arms around Ronan’s chest and began sobbing again.
“Did you see it too?” Ronan asked, his own eyes wet with unshed tears.
Ten nodded. If he lived to be a hundred he’d never forget the sight of the pirate’s body being pushed and pulled by the waves, as if Poseidon couldn’t decide if he wanted to keep his prize or to spit it out onto the shore.
“Maria tried to run into the water to save him. Her dress was so heavy that it pulled her down. I don’t know how she made it back to shore. ”
“It was Sam. He saved her. I saw his spirit helping her.” Everly sniffled.
Ten hadn’t seen that part of the vision. Piggybacking on what Everly saw wasn’t as effective as him having a vision himself. He may not have seen as much detail as his daughter.
“I hate to ask, honey,” Ten began, “but did you see what happened to his spirit?”
Everly nodded. She wiped her face with her nightgown and took a deep breath. “Sam went back to the ship. I saw him standing at the wheel. Just like in my first vision. Why would he do that?”
Several thoughts ran through Ten’s mind. He wasn’t sure if he should tell Everly any of them.
“The captain goes down with the ship,” Ronan said, reverently.
“What does that mean, Daddy?”
“It’s an old maritime tradition, that the captain only left a sinking ship when all of his sailors had been saved.
Sam knew his men weren’t going to survive, so he did what he’d been trained to in the British Navy.
He stayed with his ship.” Ronan hugged Everly close to him. “I’m so sorry you had to see Sam die.”
“I’m not.” Everly’s voice was muffled against Ronan’s shirt. “He wanted me to see what happened. I think he wanted me to know where he is.”
“The vision was like an SOS,” Ten said. “That’s why Maria’s spirit has never been able to find him, because Sam’s with the Whydah.”
“If memory serves, the wreck sunk in thirty feet of water and had been buried in forty to fifty feet of sand. Not to mention the fact that the wreck site is off limits because the man who found her has salvage rights.” Ronan shook his head. “Reuniting the two lost lovers is nearly impossible.”
“No, it’s not,” Everly said. “I think there’s a way to do it, but we might end up in jail.”
Ronan snorted. “That’s just what this vacation needs to spice it up, a trip to jail.” He stood, with Everly cradled in his arms. “Let’s get back to the movie and we can talk more about this tomorrow.”
“Okay, Daddy.” Everly smiled weakly up at her father. “Can we make some popcorn?”
“We sure can, you little pirate.” Ronan set her back on her feet and headed back into the house.
Ten knew exactly how Everly planned on reuniting Sam and Maria, but unlike his daughter, Ten thought he knew how to do it without anyone ending up in the brig.