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20 June, 1835
I think I’ve finally gotten my sea legs now. After two weeks, I feel like a salty sea-dog. The rest of the family are still feeling seasick when the wind is high, but I’ve been well for quite some time. Poor Father and Nan have it the worst. Jereth says I’m a natural with the elements.
The ship is starting to smell somewhat now. Our cabins are very basic but they’re the best we could afford without looking suspicious. Nana and Jereth both agree that using the wrong sort of gold could get us thrown overboard. No captain likes to find his currency has turned to leaves.
Our supply of fresh fruit and vegetables has expired so the rest of the journey will be dried meat, pickles and what potatoes survive the damp of the hold. Today’s dinner was stewed cabbage and salted beef. Not the most appetising of meals. I’ve offered to help the ship’s cook where I can. I think it’s best for a woman to be well liked by the crew if she can’t keep her distance and I’ve no intention of spending this entire voyage in my cabin.
Jereth showed me a pod of dolphins this morning. They swam alongside the boat for almost an hour before vanishing beneath the waves. He really is quite handsome. I know there are stories about his people but I can’t help thinking Jereth is different. He has a kind face, I think. I have a feeling about him.
“Don’t we all.” Sara rolled her eyes. “It always starts with the bloody feelings and next thing you know, your brain is out the window.” She sighed, screwed up her nose, and flipped over a few pages before forcing her brain back to the written words.
29 June, 1835
Wonderful day. Warm and sunny with just a few clouds. Jereth asked the ship’s cook for some food and made a picnic on the deck for us. The dolphins came back and we watched them together as the waves went by. Jereth had arranged for one of the sailors who has some little skill with the flute to play for us while we ate. I felt like a proper lady sailing a luxury barge down the river. It was wonderful.
15 July 1835
We will arrive in our new land of New Zealand in just a few days. I do not know what I will do when we are back on land and Jereth and I are back under the watchful eye of my family. The sailors have been so kind to us, protecting our love from prying eyes throughout the journey and allowing it to bloom. Jereth has given me a token of his intent. A beautiful ring crafted by his own hand. Even I, with my crude senses, know it is more than simple gemstones and promise. He has given me a great gift and I will treasure it always. For now, I can but keep it close to my heart until we have convinced both of our families to allow us to wed.
“And you didn’t fuck it up by throwing yourself at him with his seven year old child in the next room? Well done.”
Sara hurled the book onto the table. It hit the polished wood with a satisfying slap.
Hard as she tried to bury her tumultuous thoughts and feelings in her efforts to follow the bidding of the ghost, it was impossible. It’d been more than a day since the incredibly awkward ending to what had started out as a lovely first date with Nate Adams. She hadn’t heard from him in that time, but, to be honest, she hadn’t expected to. He wasn’t working on Sunday so there was no need for Abigail to come over and no reason for him to come without his daughter being there.
This being Monday, however, that reprieve was coming to an end.
She felt incredibly stupid. Yet again. What was it about this man that had her making a fool of herself over and over in his presence? Had she been out of the dating world so long that she couldn’t read the signs anymore? One moment she was certain it wasn’t even a date, the next she’d thrown herself at the man. No wonder he was keeping his distance!
She sighed. There was no point worrying about it now. Best to keep her mind occupied. Well, as occupied as she could manage.
Whatever Bridget’s ghost had hoped to share with her via this diary, Sara was sure she hadn’t found it. Thus far it was simply the musings of a young girl on her way to a new country, falling in love on the boat. Lots of detail about the weather and the food and the various and fine qualities possessed by the young man known as Jereth, but very little that would indicate why the girl who wrote it would have wound up haunting this house.
“What am I missing?” Sara asked the empty room. There was no answer.
She sighed and glanced at her watch. The hands were still, the battery dead once more.
“Dammit, Bridget,” she muttered. The realisation there was a ghost in the house had finally provided an explanation for all of the strange electrical problems she’d been having. Or perhaps the ghost was trying to give her a reason to talk to Nate again. Where else would she get a fresh battery in this small town?
She pushed up from the table and paced the house. Whatever the time was, Abigail should have been here by now. Had Nate decided she was too crazy after all and kept his daughter back? Or worse, had something happened to the girl on the way here?
She hurried to the window and peered out. The yard and the gravel road were empty. “Where is she?”
Dizziness swept over her, like a splashing wave on a boat bow, overwhelming then gone. Sara gasped and stumbled. As the wave passed, she turned back to the room expecting to see the ghost. “Bridget?”
A small glowing light spread out from the wall, oozing from one of the newly installed electrical sockets. It formed a buzzing orb, like the will-o’-the-wisp she’d followed into the bush days earlier. It hovered in the room over the couch for a long moment, then drifted toward the door.
Almost without thinking, Sara took a few steps after it. “What is that? Bridget? Is Abigail okay?”
The light pulsed and began moving faster.
“Shit.” Sara followed it out onto the porch and watched it float around the side of the house, towards the bush. It followed the same path the earlier one had followed. The path that led to the circular pool.
A jolt of panic ran through her. A pool of water. If Abigail had gone wandering in the bush, the little girl could easily have fallen in.
She jumped the stairs and ran. Ahead of her, the will-o’-the-wisp vanished into the trees. Sara pelted after it as quickly as she could, leaping over small bushes and fallen logs as she went. Ferns and branches whipped at her body as she ran, but she ignored it.
Up ahead, the glowing ball suddenly stopped dead.
Sara slowed down as she approached it, puzzled. The ball gave a little hiccup and split apart into sparks that fell to the ground and vanished into the damp earth.
As her ragged breath calmed she heard a voice up ahead. A woman’s voice, chanting in a sing-song rhythm.
“What the hell?”
She walked forward, peering through the trees and out into the clearing with the circular pool. Sure enough, there was Abigail. The little girl was safe and sound, sitting on the edge on one of the stones around the pool, cross legged.
A woman stood over her, chanting words Sara couldn’t understand. She recognised the language as te reo maori, but not the vocabulary. Her knowledge was limited at best.
The water in the pool glowed with phosphorescence, throwing swirling shadows across both adult and child. The tree in the centre quivered, leaves rustling.
As Sara watched, the woman stopped her incantation and the light in the water died. The tree became still. The woman turned to face Abi and Sara gasped as her face came into view. It was Moana.
“Did you memorise the ripa that time?” Moana said.
Abi shook her head, looking miserable.
Moana grabbed her by the elbow and pulled her to her feet. “You need to learn it! What if something happened to me like what happened to your mother? You have to pay attention!”
“It’s hard!” Abi squirmed. “Ow! Auntie, let go. I have to go to Sara’s house. Daddy said so. I’ll get in trouble.”
Moana let go and Abi fell backward onto the grass. “With Sara here, we’re already in trouble.”
“You certainly are,” Sara called out, striding into the clearing. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
Moana’s eyes widened. “W-What are you doing here?”
“It’s my property. What are you doing here? Aside from terrorising a little girl?”
Moana tugged her jacked tighter around herself. “Leaving,” she said. As she passed Sara, she leaned in close. “I know what you are, O’Neill. My sister might be gone but I’m still here. I’ll do whatever needs to be done to stop you. Kauwaka.”
And then she was gone, leaving Sara open mouthed and staring, Abigail at her feet.