Chapter Three
"Windlass, bah, I say!" Mary Bradbury winked at me. "Do ye, child, ever want to sail across the Atlantic?"
"Yes." She had touched my innermost wish, and I found myself confiding in her. "I think one day, I'm going to ask William if I can sail with him abroad his ship."
"Go, dear child." She gave my hand a squeeze. "And while ye there, climb the crow's nest for me, will ye? Climb the crow's nest, and feel the salt spray…and with your young voice scream into the wind." She extended her arms out. It was like she were already there.
"We should show Susanna the petition," Johnathan said.
"No, not yet, lad." She leaned in closer to me. "Believe ye me child. There are no such things as witches." She tapped her mind. "Witches are the evil thoughts lurking in our human minds. Witches are the thoughts Satan sends to us to hamper our purity and spiritual contact with the Almighty God.
"Do ye believe me to be a witch now?" She spread out her arms wide as if daring me to convict her. "I'm only an old woman sprung from prison by a group of honest friends. Were I a witch, couldn't I escape from prison lock or no lock?" Her eyes twinkled as she talked. "Remember, Susanna English, there are no such things as witches."
"Mary, we should leave now." Johnathan consulted the darkening sky. "We have a meeting with our friends. The petition shall convince Susanna."
"Lad, if such were so, ye would have shown it to Susanna before. No, she wants to behold this delicate, old woman herself. She wants to touch me, to feel me. What does a petition do? If I were a witch, I could cause her to believe in illusions. Come now child." She extended an arm. "Pinch me and decide for yourself whether I am measly old woman or a witch everyone should fear."
I didn't pinch her. My doubts were somehow appeased.
Mary Bradbury thrust it towards me. "Come touch me." I touched her. "Does my touch afflict ye?"
"No," I whispered. Her arm was as warm as my own. But then all witches could throw a shroud over my head. I could be fooled. "But—"
Johnathan held up a hand. "'Tis late now. We should leave, Mary." He shot me a glance that said, "Stay quiet." But Mary Bradbury wouldn't hear of it. "Now, now, Susanna is still not convinced. I can't save my own hide and not save this dear girl's." She held out her arms. "Come to me," she said. I followed her orders, not because of her power as a witch, but because (as strange as it may sound) I wanted to.