Chapter 24

24

AUGUST 22, 1927 MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA

Anything and everything made me happy the next day. The memory of Marcus's kisses and his love warmed me from head to toe and made me feel giddy. Irene was the first to notice, though I had no way of telling her what had made me so joyful. But my mood wore off on her, and by suppertime, she was just as cheerful as me.

As we ate and listened to Father tell us about tomorrow's long-awaited arrival of Charles Lindbergh, I tried not to think about returning to Charleston. Because as much as I longed to be with Marcus again, I wasn't sure what would happen. Captain Zale wasn't likely to let Marcus go without a fight, and there was the matter of Nadine, who needed to be returned to the Ocean Curse . Marcus and I couldn't simply disappear together and start a life somewhere else. There would need to be plans and sacrifices and confrontations.

And even though Marcus had told me he loved me and promised to find a way forward, he hadn't asked me to marry him. That had not escaped my attention, and it was the only thing that truly dampened my newfound happiness.

"Lindbergh will land at the Minneapolis airport at two o'clock," Father said, "and the parade will start directly from there."

The parade would begin in Minneapolis and end in Saint Paul, where Lindbergh would dedicate a new airport. Tomorrow evening, there would be a reception for him at the Saint Paul Hotel, with invited dignitaries in attendance. We would race from there to the tent meeting being held in Minneapolis, where Father would deliver the first of three evenings of sermons.

The phone rang as we were eating, and Father frowned his disapproval. "Who would be calling during the supper hour?"

"I'll answer," I said as I set my napkin aside.

"It must be an emergency." Mother set down her fork. "Oh, I do hate emergencies."

I lifted the receiver to my ear and spoke into the mouthpiece. "Hello?"

"Carrie, it's Lewis," he said quickly. "Annie will be at the Wabasha Street Caves tonight, and word is that she's leaving town tomorrow. Can you be ready in fifteen minutes?"

My pulse escalated as I turned to look at my parents.

"Who is it?" Father demanded.

"Lewis."

Irene turned in her seat, her eager gaze on my face.

"Tell the boy he shouldn't call during supper," Father said. "It's bad manners."

"Is it an emergency?" Mother asked.

"It's not an emergency," I assured her, wondering how I would get away. Father wanted all of us to get to bed early so we would be refreshed for tomorrow. "He's wondering if he can stop by and take—"

"I'll take you out for ice cream," Lewis said in my ear. "Use that as an excuse. I'll make sure we get some."

My heart was beating hard, and I tried not to sound nervous. "He's wondering if he can take me out for ice cream."

Mother beamed, but Father didn't look pleased.

"Fine," Father said, "but you'll need to be home early."

"Is the invitation for both of us?" Irene asked, her hands on the back of her chair as she waited.

I didn't want Irene at the Wabasha Caves when I met my time-crossing mother. After taking her to the Coliseum, I'd had enough trouble explaining Thomas and Alice's relationship. How would I explain knowing Annie?

"I'm sorry," I said. "The invitation is for me only."

Her shoulders fell, and she turned around in her chair to face away from me.

"I'll see you soon," I said to Lewis and then hung up the receiver.

I didn't bother to take my seat, since I was no longer hungry.

"I think I'll go up and get ready," I said to my parents. "Lewis will be here soon, since we'll need to be back early."

"Have fun, dear," Mother said. "We'll keep Irene entertained this evening."

I felt horrible about Irene as I rushed up the stairs, but I had other things to worry about tonight. It was one thing to visit the Coliseum Ballroom, which was rumored to be a speakeasy, and another to visit the caves on Wabasha Street, which did not pretend to be anything other than a speakeasy. I'd never been there, but Lewis had told me stories of secret caverns, dark corners, and dangerous meeting rooms.

If anyone saw me at the Coliseum, there would be whispers and speculations. If someone recognized me in the caves, there would be no question why I was there.

None of it mattered, though. If this was my last chance to speak to Annie, I would risk it all.

Lewis was quiet as we drove from Minneapolis to Saint Paul. He'd greeted my parents and Irene before whisking me away, apologizing to Irene that he couldn't take her along. I'm certain my cousin was confused, since it was the first time we'd failed to include her.

"I'll have to find a way to make it up to Irene," Lewis said as we drove over the Franklin Avenue bridge across the Mississippi River.

"I was just thinking about her, too. I would have invited her, but I would have no way to explain."

"I had the same thought." I could hear the regret in his voice. "I've enjoyed getting to know her the last few days."

I glanced at him in the dying light, trying to read his thoughts and wondering if he was falling for my pretty cousin.

"I want you to be careful, Carrie," Lewis said. "There will be some dangerous people there tonight, but I didn't ask Thomas to come this time. It's best if we try to blend in. I want you by my side at all times, even if that means you have to speak to Annie in front of me. Do you understand?"

"I do."

As we drove down Wabasha Avenue, my mind spun with possibilities. Lewis had told me that the caves were man-made, dug out of a large sandstone hill by Frenchmen fifty years ago for a mushroom farm. They'd been closed for a while and then recently reopened as the Castle Royal.

We pulled into the parking lot, and I was surprised to find that the entrance to the caves was covered by a brick facade that looked like a castle built into the hillside. It even had fake battlements, stained-glass windows, and a dormer.

"How do you know Annie will be here?" I asked Lewis as he parked the Chevy.

"She was at the Green Lantern today," he said. "My informant learned she was coming here tonight to meet with an old gang member who has moved to Saint Paul, and then she and Lloyd are planning to head out tomorrow. Are you ready to meet her?"

"I've crossed two centuries for this meeting," I said. "I'm ready."

We left the Chevy and walked toward the Castle Royal. I'd chosen to wear something simple so my parents wouldn't get suspicious. It was a plain yellow dress, with no frills or embellishments, though I had worn a string of pearls and a white cloche hat.

Lewis opened the door and allowed me to enter ahead of him.

The first room was small, and the sandstone ceiling was low. A coat-check girl took Lewis's hat and told us to head to the right where we would pay a cover charge.

Music drifted through the caves, and the sound of laughter and loud voices echoed in a haunting cadence.

Lewis offered his arm, and I clung to it. My entire body was shaking, and I couldn't seem to catch my breath. I fidgeted with my necklace.

"I'll take care of you," he whispered as he took my hand away from my necklace and lowered it. "Try not to look so nervous. It might draw attention."

After paying our entrance fee, we were directed into another room. This one was long and wide, with a rounded sandstone ceiling and a bar. Dozens of people sat at the bar and the high-top tables. To the left was another cavernous room, accessed by small sandstone archways. A band was playing, and people were dancing. A massive chandelier hung over the dance floor, and electric wall sconces offered a soft ambiance.

"How many caves are there?" I asked Lewis.

"Several," he said. "There are secret meeting rooms and a restaurant, besides the bar and dance hall."

It was impressive and frightening, all at the same time.

I continued to cling to Lewis as we meandered through the caverns, keeping our eyes open for Annie. When we entered a crowded dining room, complete with a fireplace, I paused.

"There she is," I whispered as my stomach tightened. "At the table."

The same woman I'd seen on the dance floor at the Coliseum was sitting at a table with a white linen cloth. There were five dozen other people sitting around it. The man at her side had his arm behind her on the back of the chair.

When she looked up, our gazes collided, and time seemed to stand still.

She rose slowly as the man at her side gave her a strange look. Without a word, she left the table and approached us.

My instinct told me to back away from this notorious criminal, but this was the moment I'd been waiting for my whole life. My heart told me that this was Anne Reed.

"Who are you?" she asked as she stopped a few feet away from me. "You were onstage at the Coliseum the other night, too."

I nodded, my voice not wanting to work.

"Are you following me?" She looked from me to Lewis, her suspicion growing.

"May I speak with you?" I asked, though my throat felt raw. "In private?"

Her eyes narrowed, as if this was a trap, but she finally nodded. "Follow me."

I was still clinging to Lewis, but Annie stopped and said, "Alone, or not at all."

Lewis's arm tightened, but I pulled away. "I have to."

Something in my voice must have convinced him not to argue because he let me go, though he didn't look happy.

I followed Annie into another cavern, this one smaller and dimmer. There were tables in there, too, but the room was empty. It was so cold, goose bumps rose on my skin.

When she turned, she crossed her arms and lifted her chin. "What is this about?"

This was it. I had nothing left to lose.

"Are you Annie Barker?"

"Yes."

I swallowed but forged ahead. "And were you also Anne Reed?"

Her mouth parted as her arms slowly lowered to her sides. She was a pretty woman, though up close, I saw the toll that life had wrought upon her features. Wrinkles creased the corners of her eyes, and gray hair streaked at her temples.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"I'm Caroline."

My name sparked a cascade of emotions that played across her face. Shock dominated them all. "Who?"

"Your daughter. Caroline Reed."

She took a step closer, examining me. "You can't be—it's impossible."

"I live here, but I also live in South Carolina in 1727. My grandfather is Josias Reed."

Her face grew pale, and she looked like she was going to faint. I reached for her, and she grasped my arms.

We stood for several seconds, just staring at each other.

"You have two lives, too?" she asked.

"Yes, and I've been looking for you for months." I didn't know how much time we'd have, so I quickly told her about the letter I'd found in the wall of the plantation house and my visit with Mary Jones in Nassau. "When I learned that you lived in 1927, as well, my friend began to look for you. I was in Lakeville the day after you."

She slowly let go of me and took a step back, humiliation creasing her brow. "So you know about me?"

"Yes." The word held the weight of all her transgressions.

Annie crossed her arms again and lifted her chin like she had before, almost defiant. "I suppose you're ashamed of me."

"I'm confused."

She pressed her lips together.

"I have so many questions," I continued.

"I'm sure you do."

"How? How is this possible? Why do we live two lives?"

Annie shook her head and said the one thing I feared the most. "I don't know."

"What?" I wanted to reach out to her again, to demand a better answer. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know." She shrugged and paced away from me. "Until this very moment, I thought I was the only person in the world who lived like this. I had no idea you would be the same."

"What about your mother? Did she live like this?"

"I don't know, Caroline. I never met her. She died in Salem, and my father raised me in South Carolina. He refused to speak about her. I know nothing except her name and that she died in jail during the witch trials."

"What was her name?"

She let out a breath. "Rachel Howlett."

"And you never thought to go to Salem to find out if she had family or to see if they're like us?"

"No one is like us." Anger filled her voice as she said, "My mother died as an accused witch. The last person her family would want to see is me. But it doesn't matter," she said. "I stopped waking up there in 1713."

"When you died."

She frowned. "I died?"

"Yes, on your twenty-first birthday. You died in your sleep. Mary told me."

"I suppose I never wondered what happened to my body there."

"You weren't sick before that?"

"No. On my twenty-first birthday, I woke up here and then never went back there. It was a crushing blow, but to be honest, it was also a relief."

A thought struck me like lightning, rocking me so violently, it took my breath away. "Will I die there on my twenty-first birthday?"

She studied me in the dim light and shrugged. "I don't know, but that's only eleven days from now."

Eleven days. Would I lose Marcus in eleven days, just after I'd started to hope we might have a future? I couldn't bear the thought. "How will I know?"

"You won't."

"There must be someone who knows. Maybe Rachel's family, or one of her old friends. Someone." I sounded desperate because I felt desperate.

"Can you even get to Massachusetts in eleven days?" she asked.

How long would it take to sail from Charleston to Salem? Could it be done in less than eleven days? Because I would also need time to look for Rachel's family, if she had any left. "I don't want to lose my life there."

"I don't know if you have a choice."

I still had so many questions for Annie, but all I could think about was getting to Salem. Though one question still burned deep in my chest. "Did you have a choice?"

"What do you mean?"

"Your lives." I swallowed the nerves bubbling up again. "Did you have a choice to be a pirate, and to be ... whatever it is you are now? Could you control that?"

I waited, feeling like the fate of my soul hung on her response.

Did I have a choice?

"Yes," she finally said, sadness lining her face. "Everyone always has a choice. I didn't have to run away when I was thirteen. I didn't have to leave John Sterling to follow Sam Delaney, and I didn't have to take up with Lloyd. But desperation makes you do unspeakable things."

"John Sterling, the merchant? Was he my father?"

Annie shook her head. "Sam was your father, Caroline. But I knew if he found out about you, he'd force me to do something drastic. A pirate ship is no place for a child. I couldn't let that happen—but I couldn't stay on the plantation with my father, so I had to make a choice. That's why I left you there."

"You chose Sam over me."

She dropped her gaze.

My father was Sam Delaney, another notorious pirate. How was it possible that one set of my parents were infamous criminals and the other were devout law-abiding citizens? It was as if my very existence was divided by good and evil—yet the line between them was fine.

"When Sam was hanged," she continued, "my reason for living was gone—until I met Lloyd."

"Why?" I shook my head. "If you had a choice, why did you become a criminal?"

She hugged herself and shrugged. "My soul is lost, Caroline. I know I'll die this way. I've accepted that God doesn't care. I might as well have some fun while there's time. I was born to be a pirate, whether on a ship at sea or in a stolen roadster on land."

Her words echoed my own fears, that God didn't care and that my soul was lost. But Marcus had shown me it wasn't true. God did care. Everything He created was good. Even this strange existence was good. The way we chose to deal with it was up to us. We could either choose good or evil.

"God cares, Annie. It's a lie to think He doesn't, and it leads us to live for ourselves and not Him." I thought of my father's preaching, and a hundred different things came to mind, but I suspected that Annie Barker had heard many of them, so I chose not to continue. Instead, I approached her and wrapped my arms around her in an embrace, knowing she needed proof. "And I care, too."

She was stiff, but she slowly softened until she enfolded me in her arms and hugged me back.

"I've always wanted to tell you I love you," I whispered.

She began to weep silently, though her body shook with emotion.

"Can you forgive me, Caroline?" she asked.

"Yes."

Her hug tightened, then she stiffened again.

"What's going on in here?" a man asked.

"Lloyd." Annie pulled away as she wiped her tears. "Nothing's going on. We're just talking."

"Who is this, Annie?" he asked.

She had her hand on my arm, but she surprised me with her answer. "My daughter."

"Your what?" He narrowed his eyes.

The door opened again, and Lewis appeared.

In a blink of an eye, Lloyd pulled a pistol out of a holster under his jacket and aimed it at Lewis.

I screamed, and Annie shouted at Lloyd to put it away.

Lewis was just as fast, and a pistol appeared in his hand.

Before I had time to react, Lloyd grabbed me by the arm and pulled my back to his chest. His arm was like a vise around my waist, forcing the air from my lungs.

Lewis's face blanched, and his pistol dipped before he leveled it out again.

"Get out of here, Annie," Lloyd yelled at her. "Through the back entrance."

"Let her go," Annie demanded. "She's done nothing wrong."

"I'll let her go when I'm ready." He was pulling me backwards with him into the depths of the cave.

"I said let her go," Annie told Lloyd.

"Do as she says," Lewis said, "so no one gets hurt."

"I don't aim to get hurt." Lloyd continued to pull me as Annie and Lewis followed. "Stay there," he yelled at Lewis. "Annie, get out of here."

"Not until you let her go."

A small opening at the back of the cavern revealed another pitch-black cave. Lloyd nodded at Annie. "Get in there. It leads to an exit outside."

"I won't move until you let her go."

"I'll shoot her if you don't get moving," Lloyd yelled. "Now move, Annie!"

Annie hesitated, and Lloyd shoved the barrel of the pistol hard against my temple.

I tried not to whimper as I pleaded with my eyes for Lewis to do something. Fear hovered in his gaze. All his police training had not prepared him for this moment.

"Fine," Annie said. "But let her go the minute I'm in that cave."

She moved to the opening but turned to look at me one last time. "I'm sorry, Caroline." And then she was gone.

Lloyd continued to pull me to the opening, and Lewis stepped closer, both hands holding his gun pointed at Lloyd.

With a shove, Lloyd pushed me away and I stumbled to the ground, my knees hitting the hard sandstone with blinding pain.

I turned just in time to see Lloyd disappear into the inky darkness.

Lewis rushed to my side as he put his gun away. "I'm so sorry, Carrie. I shouldn't have let you be alone with her."

"It's not your fault." I stood, but my knees were aching, and my heart was sore.

"Come on," he said, "I need to get you home."

"Will you go after them?"

He shook his head. "As much as I want to, they'll be protected by the police. Even if I arrest them, the chief will let them go. If not, then the whole system will crumble, and chaos will break loose in Saint Paul. No one would let that happen. But I'll send a warning to the smaller towns south of us to be on the lookout for them, and maybe someone else will stop them."

I hated to cry, but as Lewis walked me out of the Wabasha Street Caves, I let the tears from a lifetime of abandonment, rejection, and uncertainty slip down my cheeks. I had finally met Anne Reed, but she couldn't answer my questions.

Desperation made me feel sick. Could anyone answer them?

Tomorrow, as soon as I woke up in 1727, I had to tell Marcus that we needed to return to the Ocean Curse and get to Salem before my twenty-first birthday.

And I knew of only one way Captain Zale would agree.