![]() Sea Magic
-- EXCERPT: Prologue Maria Hallett There was a perilous storm last night, with gusts of wind that tore through Eastham like a scourge. The violence of the driving rain had matched my own rage, a pain so bone deep I wondered how I would survive it. That’s what grief had become for me, a boiling pot of emotions that kept me teetering on the edge. My love was everything to me—my North Star, my protector, and my deliverer. But now all that was left of him was this interminable rain that drove his coffin deeper into its watery grave. I placed my shawl on the wet sand and sat down, glaring at the ocean as if I could resurrect him at will. My legs itched from the rough fabric of my homespun skirt bunched up above my ankles. I picked up a fistful of the cool sand, let it sift through my fingers, and smelled the musty, brackish air. As I undid the pins of my white cap, my hair billowed like a sail in the breeze. The noonday sun had long been hidden behind dark, gray clouds—the last remnants of that dreadful weather. A much worse storm had already laid its mark on this place just four months ago. The devil had a hand in that horrible night, I’m sure of it. At low tide, I could still see the planked shell of his ship like the bones of a beached whale. I was afraid my little cottage just above those cliff dunes would be torn apart, so I hid out in my uncle’s barn not but a quarter mile from here. The lashing rain and howling wind woke me in the middle of the night, giving me a jittery feeling, and I knew something had gone terribly wrong. I pulled my blanket up to my neck and burrowed deep in the hay, but sleep did not come. The townspeople said I was a witch, but I swear on the Lord’s Holy Bible that was a lie. I admit to having a knowing, just like I knew a storm was brewing long before the wind picked up and the sky turned pitch-black. I must humbly confess, for as long as I could remember, I had this feeling about certain things, like a seed that had been planted deep inside me. But I don’t cast spells or cavort with the devil. And I can’t see the future. My knowing’s neither good nor evil…it just is. ![]()
GIVEAWAY!
1 Comment
Sue G.
2/14/2023 07:40:37 pm
Sounds intriguing!
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