Chapter One

Abigail stood against her red Jeep Cherokee parked at the edge of the gravel driveway of the deserted mansion. The wind blowing out of the Northeast across Adam's Point flattened her long-sleeved white blouse and new navy blue pantsuit against her body, whipping her hair around her face while she desperately tried to keep its long strands from blocking her view of the scene spread before her. Her unbuttoned jacket took on the appearance of a navy blue sail flapping in a gale behind her. The widow's walk perched high above, struck her as a crow's nest on a sailing vessel of long ago. Shading her eyes, she swept the dunes to the ocean beyond and back to the house. A flutter of a curtain from the third floor caught her attention. She looked again, but saw nothing. Must be tired, she thought. I'm beginning to imagine things. She laughed.

Her laughter, echoing over the dunes, stopped short as the curtain on the second floor moved ever so slightly. When she looked again, all was still. She shook her head. Without knowing why, her heart suddenly began to race as an excitement arose within her being. Spellbound, she held tightly onto the front of her jacket and to a broken picket. As she stood transfixed, with her gaze upon the house, her long dark hair blew unrestrained in the wind.

It didn't look any different from other stately houses she had seen on her travels along the shoreline and inlet seas of New England. It still had an air of dignity about it with its white, clapboard-covered, multi-tiered and dormer-studded roofs, and its blue shuttered windows. And, it seemed to be easily accessible by front, back, side, or basement doors. As always, there were the large floor-to-ceiling windows, first and second floor wrap-around porches, and a widow's walk sitting high atop the house. But then, too, there was a white picket fence in disrepair, running along the front of the property, its broken slats standing aloft, weaving in and out of the holding rails like drunken sailors on shore leave. To complete its demeanor, the gate squeaked unattended as it swung free from restraint. On the top floor, from a shattered window, curtains periodically flowed through the break as gusts of wind blew wantonly through it.

The house sat imperviously on a bluff, above windswept dunes that seemed to drift down to the sea. The open ocean beckoned as its waves washed against the fragile shoreline. What was it about this place that caused one to silently shiver, then shudder violently, and swiftly pass, always looking back over one's shoulder until they were a safe distance away? No one could be sure. Was it because it stood unoccupied for decades, appearing so alone and forbidding? Or was it because the last person to stay there had vanished into the night after a blood-curdling scream had permeated the air? Something had happened here. Yet, to this day, no one was really sure what.

Abigail felt a compulsion to move forward toward the house. Though her head told her "no," she wasn't listening to her head, only to the challenge that was in her heart.

In a rash moment, she was standing inside the grand main entrance hall. Before her, the stairs rose to the second level and above. Her heart thumped as she felt herself being propelled forward step by step to the second floor. The click of her heels echoed throughout the house. From the darkened second floor hallway, she looked furtively around at the closed doors leading to the rooms behind them and shuddered. Then she looked up. The stairs led even further. She followed them to the third floor. Again, the doors were closed to the rooms hidden behind them. What am I doing here?

The light flickering in from atop the house sought her attention. She again moved forward, on up a ladder, and out to the widow's walk above. Staring at the vast ocean before her, she wondered about the people who had once lived here, and who they might have been searching for as they scanned the ocean, waiting for the sailing ships to return to shore.

Abigail felt a tap on her shoulder and turned. No one was there. She laughed silently as she shook her head. My imagination again.

Once more, her eyes sought the sea before her. There wasn't a single ship in sight. No sails. No modern vessels. Nothing... Just the clear blue ocean. Its waves were washing gently upon the dunes and back again into the waters, taking with them a part of the fragile land.

It was dark when she looked away from the sea and back into the house. If she were going to get out, she would have to make her way through a lightless house. Then again, she wasn't sure she wanted to leave. She would wait for morning. At least here, on the widow's walk, she would be safe. Wouldn't she?

# # #

Eyes straining, Abigail peered into the overcast ahead. There was no outline, no ship, and no apparent danger, though it was hard to tell for sure. The lights emitted from the decks below could not even penetrate the enveloping murkiness, making it difficult to really see.

A mournful sound of a horn sent shivers up Abigail's spine as a cruise ship edged its way carefully through the dense fog. Why, she wondered, did the crew seem so nervous? There was nothing up ahead. Nothing that accounted for the tension she sensed.

"It would be better, Ma'am, if you were below decks," a nervous, friendly voice suggested. She caught the strangeness in his speech and wondered.

"Why?" she asked, smiling as she turned to face the voice.

"Because," the young, tall, blond seaman added apprehensively as he appeared out of the cloud alongside the rail, "it just would be!"

"I like the mist." She smiled disarmingly. "I'd rather stay up here if it's all the same to you."

Strands of her long, dark hair fell forward, and she flipped them back before continuing. "It really is too crowded in the lounge, as well as everywhere else below decks, and I don't feel like retiring to my cabin. Not just yet, anyway."

"Up to you, Miss," the crewman replied as he walked off. "Hope you feel the same way when you get out of this." His voice trailed behind him, "If you ever do."

Abigail smiled at the warning from the voice, fading away with the footsteps, and turned back to peer into the uncertainty ahead. "Nope!" she said, most emphatically. "There is absolutely nothing out there to be frightened of!"

"I shouldn't be too sure of that," a thick accented voice boomed from behind. Alarmed, Abigail jumped, losing her balance.

"Now, now. We'll have none of that!" said the Voice from behind, as huge strong arms reached out and steadied her.

"I wasn't planning on jumping!" Abigail exclaimed. "You startled me!"

"You should have taken that young man's advice," the man said as he emerged from the fog.

"Why?" Abigail smiled. "You didn't."

"I'm used to walking the main decks. This is where I belong!"

She couldn't help staring at the extremely tall, burly figure before her. His curious dress startled her, and his manner and dialect triggered a memory that she could not place. No matter, she thought, it would come to her later. "Where did you come from?" she asked the stranger.

"Here and there," he said, laughing, his deep blue eyes flashing.

"And where might you be bound for?" She laughed to herself. Playing along with the intimidating, yet amicable, ruddy-faced stranger looming before her might be fun, she thought.

While the fog alternately obliterated and revealed his presence not two feet away from Abigail, the man answered, "Same as any sea-faring man. And you?"

"Same as any sea-faring woman." Her laughter resounded in the fog around them.

"Shall we go together?" he asked, getting into the spirit of things, and offering her an arm. "And walk along the fo'c'SLE?"

"If you wish," she agreed, taking his arm and wondering about her enchanting escort.

They walked quietly along until they reached the forward section on the upper deck of the cruise ship. Abruptly, he released her arm, touched his hand to his forehead in a salute, and disappeared into the fog.

Stunned, Abigail looked around. How, she wondered, was she going to find her way back to where they'd first met, and the doors to the lower decks?

Then, from behind, she heard, "What are you doing up here all alone, Miss?"

Abigail's hand flew to her throat, as she turned toward the slightly recognizable voice in the fog and cried, "You scared me! Don't you know better than to sneak up on people that way? You could give someone a heart attack!" With one hand clenching the rail, the other ready to stifle a scream, Abigail leaned forward, straining to see whom she was addressing.

Slowly releasing her breath, she relaxed her grip on the rail as she straightened up and, with a sweeping gesture, dropped her other hand and greeted the young mariner she had met earlier.

"Oh!" she sang out relieved. "It's you!"

"Yes, Miss," he replied grinning. "Who were you expecting? And why are you here?"

"Well," she answered matter-of-factly, "I went for a walk with someone who seemed to be ... well, at least I think he was ...." She shook her head, stared at the man, and blurted, "I'm not sure who he was! For all I know, he could have been on his way to a masquerade party. He was certainly dressed for it!"

"You saw someone dressed as if he was going to a costume party?"

"Yes! No! I don't know! You tell me! It's your ship!"

"This ship is not having a party. Not this voyage, anyway."

How odd, she thought. He said voyage. Not cruise. "Then who is he?" she asked, puzzled.

"You tell me. You're the one who saw him."

"He's got to be a member of the ship's complement!"

"Not this vessel, Miss."

She stared at him. Again, the strange use of words. "Are you sure?"

"Crew members are not allowed to go around undressed. That is to say ... out of uniform." He grinned.

"Maybe you ought to tell your Captain."

"No. I think it would be better if you did. I'll show you the way if you wish."

Abigail studied the young seaman very carefully. She could not tell if he was serious, or if something else was on his mind. Shaking her head, she asked him to show her the way back to her cabin instead. He nodded and led her to within a few feet of her stateroom, bowed slightly, and disappeared so quickly she didn't have a chance to thank him.

# # #

Alone in her cabin, Abigail paced back and forth, thinking and wondering. Something was definitely going on. There was a strangeness in the air she could not quite put her finger on. Those two "sea-dogs" had a hand in it, she was certain. But what? Why was it that she had not met any other members of the crew? And why, she wondered, was she the only one on deck? Surely, other people enjoyed being out in foul weather—particularly when one can stand on the deck of a modern cruise ship and marvel about the days of 'yore' when sailing ships worked their way across uncharted seas.

She shook her head as if to clear her mind. Then, suddenly, she stopped moving as she whiffed the air. What was that 'odd' but familiar scent she had detected on the deck? It seemed to follow her everywhere. She could even perceive it here in her cabin. Intuitively, she sensed the mystery and intrigue that pervaded her being. Somehow, she would find a way to be a part of it. But not now. She was too tired to think any more. Maybe if she rested a bit, she could deal with it. Abigail tossed and turned for a long time before she fell asleep. Visions of the sailor, the huge stranger, the mystery surrounding them, and the fog, swirled around and around in her head until she was finally overcome by fatigue.

# # #

Deep in the throes of sleep, Abigail heard the clanging sounds of an anchor being raised, and she woke with a start. Excited, she grabbed a robe to cover her bedclothes, dashed up the stairs to the main deck, and out into the dense fog. After rushing to the ship's rail and peering into the swirling mist, she caught her breath, then held it for a moment.

Astounded by the scene unfolding before her, and with a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, Abigail reached out in a desperate effort to stop the approaching ship that was bearing down in her direction.

When Abigail stopped screaming, she was standing between the two old "out-of-time" seafarers on the fo'c'SLE of an ancient sailing vessel. With her robe and bedclothes flowing in the wind, Abigail's laughter echoed in the blow, as the call of her ancestral blood rushed to the surface. The refrain of a battle song, once heard in a movie, stirred in her head as the 9th-Century, dragon-prowled VIKING Long ship, its crew at the oars, passed through the cruise ship and into the dense fog beyond.

# # #

Again, Abigail woke with a start. Shivering in the night wind, she realized she was still huddled against the rail on the widow's walk. My God, she thought, I could have fallen off during the night. What a dream. Dream? Or was it a nightmare?

Abigail stared long into the night, wondering about her "dream," what it had meant, and why she'd experienced it. She wasn't about to go to sleep again. Instead, she drew her legs up closer, wrapped her arms around herself, and scanned the surrounding platform. There wasn't even the frame of the house to lean against, just a railing that went all around the top.

Crouched in one corner for the rest of the night, her eyes furtively searched in all directions until she viewed, and felt the warmth of, the golden orb rising in the horizon where the sea meets the sky.