At the Beginning with You
Prologue
"What happened here?!" Lucy Turner heard the frantic voice, and the sound of what seemed like the running of foot steps.
"It's most likely the powder magazine. Merchant vessels run heavily armed." This voice sounded much less concerned than the first voice that she heard. In fact, it sounded pompous, and proud not to be befuddled by the appearance of two small children, who were previously floating in the sea on a thin wooden tile from a ship.
"A lot of good it did them. Everyone's thinking it. I'm just saying it. Pirates." This voice was gruff, quick, and accusing.
Lucy moaned and rolled over. The voices grew softer after that last one. They sounded like the buzzing of a million bees. Oh, how she wished they would stop. Her head was sore. She was sleepy. She didn't want to know why she heard them. She didn't want to know why she was lying down. She didn't want to know why she was cold and wet. She didn't want to know where her brother was. She didn't even want to know why a coarse hand was touching her plump bare arm, or why she could smell the foul breathing so close to her face. All she wanted now was to sleep. Ow! Suddenly, she felt a blunt pressure against her left temple. Oh no, the voices were beginning again.
"Is she awake, Mr. Gibbs?" She heard the first frantic voice ask.
"I don't think so, sir. She's got a nasty cut on her head." The gruff voice softened. It was very close to her ear. "Poor little mite, can't be more than four...maybe five years old."
"And the boy?" the pompous voice asked, his tone still not expressing concern.
"I'd say about ten."
"I mean his condition, Mr. Gibbs." A long sigh came from the pompous voice.
The coarse hands then left Lucy. She could no longer smell the foul breath, or feel the pain on her temple. It was strange, but she missed it. She began to long for her mother, her gentle touch, her soothing voice.
The gruff voice came back, this time from almost right next to her. "I don't see no blood, but he don't look to good either. I'm telling you Lieutenant this has the look of"
"That's Enough, Mr. Gibbs! You will take the little girl below immediately, that's an order!" The pompous voice was impatient, and suddenly became louder as though it were shouting orders to more than one man. "Rouse the Captain! Heave to and take in sail! Launch the boats!"
Lucy felt the coarse hands again, only this time, they were lifting her small body up into a cradling position. Lucy felt her eyes open. Her senses, deafened by her injury, began to kick back in. She felt afraid. Where was she? Where were they taking her? Where was Will? She could see the scruffy, black, overgrown sideburns of the man carrying her. She could see men running this way and that. She could see the murky water from where she had been rescued. She turned her head. She saw a pretty girl in and ocean blue dress a few years older than she, a man in a feathered hat, and the very still body of a boy with raven black hair, his skin was so pale. Will! Was he dead like her mother?
"Will!!!" The little golden haired child in a wet petticoat screamed in Mr. Gibbs's arms. She screamed at the unconscious body of her brother, afraid of what this unpredictable life might bring her. "Will, help me!!!"
