Searching in the Pages (Pirates #2)

Chapter 1

They say that your mind is never truly at rest, not even for a moment. That at any given time, your brain is processing at least forty different thoughts, simultaneously taking in the smells around you, the temperature, the sights, the sounds, everything. It never stops, it never pauses.

Except, that couldn't possibly be true. Because at that moment, I swear I couldn't feel the cold filtering into the room or the discomfort of my clothes—I don't even think I was breathing. The world stopped, and I was numb. One word—only one—echoed in my mind as I stared at my mother.

How?

How?

How?

"Lizzie?" my mother barely whispered. "Is it really you?"

Lizzie. She was the only person I'd ever allowed to call me that.

She was really here.

How?

A lump crawled up and lodged itself in my throat, barring me from uttering even a syllable. My eyes locked on hers, my vision blurring as tears welled up.

She jerked against William's grip on her arms, her gaze locked on me. "Are you hurt? Did they touch you?" She glared up at her captor, baring her teeth. "If you laid even one of your meaty fingers on her, I swear I'll—"

"Elizabeth?" Carter said, sliding off his desk with a wince and clutching at his bruised ribs as he moved toward me. His one unswollen eye scanned my stunned face. Then he turned on my mom, partially blocking my view of her. "State your name."

"Lizzie—"

"State your name."

"Jennifer Burrough," she answered impatiently before bringing her eyes back to me. "Please, just—Are you hurt?" Mom asked again.

How?

I swallowed hard, licking my suddenly dry lips. "No," I croaked.

She breathed a small sigh of relief. Then despite William's hold, she straightened her shoulders and looked the pirate captain dead in the eye. "Let us go. We don't have anything worth stealing, I promise you."

Carter cocked his head to the side. "Elizabeth called you—"

I shook my head, clutching the back of Carter's shirt. "She's not real. She's not."

The woman who couldn't possibly be my mother frowned at me. "What—"

"No." I squeezed my eyes shut. "It can't be. I'm just—I'm...No, it's not possible."

"Lizzie, baby, look at me."

That was her voice, the same one that had read me stories before bed and soothed me when I came home crying from school and laughed with me when Dad did something ridiculous.

A voice I hadn't heard in far too long.

Very slowly, I cracked open my lids.

It was my mother's eyes that met mine. Hers. She smiled slightly and nodded. "I'm here, baby. I'm here."

It was like all the air had fled my body. I could barely breathe. She looked more like Mom than she had in the past six years since Dad went missing, and I couldn't help the tear that slipped down my cheek.

Hesitantly, I moved around Carter. He touched my arm as if to stop me, but I hardly even felt it as I reached out with a trembling hand to her cheek. I had to be sure...

A sob wrenched out of me. "You're really here?"

She smiled and turned her head to kiss my palm. "I'm here."

"Oh, my God." I covered my mouth with a shaky hand. "You're here." I could do nothing more than stare. Hardly blinking. It was her. It was really her. My mother was here.

How?!

"William," Carter said softly, "let her go."

William released her, and suddenly my mother was hugging me. I didn't think she'd hugged me once in the last six years. But now she clutched me staggeringly tight and murmured, "I'm here now, baby. I'm here. Everything is going to be okay."

My arms were trapped between her body and mine—which was good because I wasn't sure what I would've done with them if they'd been free. Shock didn't even come close to the complete void that had opened in my mind. Just a chasm of blankness.

"Come on, William," I heard Carter distantly before the door opened and shut, and my mom and I were alone. For the first time in a very, very long time.

She pulled back but held onto my hands. "I was so worried about you," she gushed. "You've been missing for months."

"I have?"

She nodded. "Where are we? Who are these people? Did they hurt you? Are you okay?"

This was how she'd acted before Dad went missing. Like my mom. Overbearing and protective and caring. And affectionate. I'd forgotten that, but she hadn't let go of me since the moment William had released her, and even now she ran her fingers through my hair.

I was at a complete loss. She was acting normal but...None of this was normal.

Mom's gaze intensified. "I'm gonna get us out of here, I promise. When those two oafs come back in here, I'll distract them while you escape."

"Mom—"

"I want you to run. Just keep running."

"Mom—"

"I'll be right behind you, and then once we get away, I'll think of something—"

"Mom, would you just listen to me for a second?" I spoke over her. "We're safe here."

She blinked at me. "Have you lost your mind? Do you have any clue what kind of men these—"

"As a matter of fact, I do. That's why I'm telling you that as long as you stay here—on this ship—you will be safe. If you would just—"

"Lizzie, I don't know what kinda crap these men have put in your mind, but we are not safe here. Either you come with me, or I will make the decision for you."

I stared at Mom, disbelieving. And then quickly—so fast, my head felt light—I was filled with a deep, enveloping anger. "Six years, Mom. Six years I have been making my own decisions. Six years I have survived on my own. And now, you just show up here and want to tell me what to do? Make decisions for me? No. No, that's not how this is gonna work. I will gladly explain to you everything that's been going on. But I have survived months in the eighteenth century on my own. We are going to do this my way. So stop interrupting me for just five minutes and let me speak!" All the resentment I had buried deep down boiled to the surface and my face heated as I desperately tried to stay calm. And failed miserably.

Mom swallowed. Scoffed and shook her head. "I'm sorry...Did you say eighteenth century?"