Page 44 of Cursed By Fate

I slipped out of his grasp. “Until next time.”

“Glad to hear there’ll be a next time.” He cupped his hands around his mouth. “Take good care of them, Nina. You’re carrying precious cargo.”

I turned away before he saw the smile I was unable to temper.

“Your spell’s worn off, so we’ll need to sneak past everyone once we get home,” I said. “If Penny finds out, we’ll all be in trouble. She’s a stickler for the rules.”

“A mini-Judd in the making,” Meemaw murmured. “Well, we can’t have that.”

“Not much I can do about it at the moment.” I was training her, but there was little I could do about the damage the Fates had done to her.

Once we were underway, Joan and Catherine huddled inside to avoid the evening chill in the air. Meemaw stood with her face to the setting sun and watched the city disappear from view.

“Thanks for your help today,” I said.

“Thanks for opening the cage.”

“How did it feel, being back on the mainland?” I asked.

“It was a nice change of scenery, but I honestly don’t miss it.” She gave me a sidelong glance. “You seem different there, though.”

“In what way?”

“More like yourself.”

“I’m always myself.”

She wore a cryptic smile. “Sure you are.”

My phone vibrated with a text from Vale. Walk to the port side. Bring binoculars from the cabin bulkhead.

Should I bring anything else? Like a weapon?

Just the binoculars.

I relayed the message to the others. Meemaw was at the port side with the agility of a teenager.

“I have the same brand,” Meemaw remarked when she saw the binoculars.

“I didn’t know you had a set,” I said. “What do you use them for?”

“Birdwatching,” Meemaw said, prompting a howl of laughter from Joan.

I stood beside them and gazed at the horizon through the binoculars until black sails came into view. The Jolly Roger flag.

“What on earth?” Louise stood at the helm with her hair tied back in a red bandana and her trademark eye patch.

“Is it them?” Meemaw asked.

I nodded. “Both of them.”

Meemaw let loose a relieved breath. “Told you they were fine.”

A few minutes later, Louise and Margie were being rowed in a dinghy by a burly man in a pirate hat.

I lowered the boarding ladder.

“Bye, Gaston,” Joan said. “Thanks for the lift, hon.”