Risen (Haunted Series Book 22)

took me back in time and broke the connection.  But still we’re…”
“Inextricably interrelated,” Kevin said.  “Fergus, your turn to row.  My arms haven’t felt this burden since I last held a pickaxe.”
He opened his hands and Mia saw the blisters forming.  She took his hands in hers and healed them.
“It works,” she said.
“What works?” Fergus asked, fighting with the right oar, splashing everyone.
“I can still heal in this realm.  That means I can do other things too.”
Kevin saw her sly smile.  “Mia, what are you thinking?”
“I have a bigger arsenal than just my intellect and wings.  I can read minds, mesmerize, start fires, move objects, and move out of my body.  Plus, I can sense your son…”  Mia closed her eyes and spoke, “He’s alive and over there.”  She opened her eyes and pointed.
“There’s nothing there,” Fergus scoffed.
“Let me start the engine, and then you’ll see,” Mia said, climbing over Fergus.
He reached out a hand and steadied her.  Fergus was so surprised his hand didn’t go right through her, he forgot to let go.
“Excuse me, I need that leg,” Mia said.
“Oh, sorry.  Kevin, I could touch her,” he explained.
“You shouldn’t be touching a married lady,” Kevin scolded.
“He wasn’t being forward,” Mia said.  “Just stopping me from falling out of the boat.”
Mia started the engine which made any further conversation difficult.  She steered the craft towards where her heart was telling her Murphy was.  There was no reciprocal feeling coming back.  She dismissed this as the fault of the saltwater on which they traveled.

Chapter Twenty-two
“Small craft off the port bow,” the day watch called.
The quartermaster picked up a spyglass and was surprised to see a woman dressed in a uniform accompanied by two men in working garb.
“Slow, prepare to receive visitors,” he instructed.
Fergus tied the boat off to the side of the ship while Mia called up, “Permission to come aboard.”
“Who be askin’?” the quartermaster inquired.
“Emissary Cooper of the house of Abigor,” she called back.
The quartermaster looked at Captain Crocker.  He nodded.
“Permission granted.  You may bring one escort with you.”
“Thank you.  Be advised, I am armed.”
This raised the eyebrows of the few within earshot.  Who volunteered that kind of information?  They were used to visitors arriving armed, but this was the first to admit the fact.
Mia climbed over the side and waited for Kevin before addressing the boatswain before her.  “I’ve been sent to make a trade.  May I speak to whomever would be in charge of such a trade?” Mia asked, looking around.  She thought she had spotted someone who resembled Murphy.  He was leaner than she remembered, and his beard and hair had grown.  Gone was his death-pale skin; he was tan.  It was his eyes that gave him away.
“That be the Capt’n, follow me.  Leave your man.”
Mia turned to Kevin and whispered, “Your son is standing to the right of the water barrels.  See if you can make contact.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Mia followed the tattooed man to where a tall man wearing elegant boots stood before a door, she assumed was the way to the captain’s cabin.
“Quartermaster Waite at your service.  Please surrender your weapons.”
Mia looked up at the man and drew the dagger from her boot, handing it to him hilt first.  “I expect this back,” she said sternly.
“That will be up to Captain Crocker,” Waite replied.  He opened the door.
Mia entered the lavishly ornamented cabin.  She stood still, letting her eyes adjust to the light inside   She saw, seated behind an ornate desk, a clean-shaven man wearing a brilliant waistcoat.  His strong, thick shoulders and arms were barely contained in the voluminous sleeves of his linen shirt.  Mia bowed quickly, addressing him with one word, “Captain.”
“I recognize your colors.  Why is a member of Abigor’s household motoring in the realm of the ghost ships?”
“We have lost a valuable prisoner in a blast.  He’s a farmer carrying an axe.  I was sent to make inquires in the GSD.  I am prepared, should you have him, to offer you recompense once he is returned to us.”
“What makes him so valuable to the house of Abigor?  He is just a farmer.”
“He has information we would like to ease out of him,” Mia said, lifting an eyebrow.
“His memory could be faulty.  We picked him up out of the sea.”
“I have been entrusted to bring him back whole, not to make a judgement call on the man’s sanity.”
“Why would Abigor employ a woman?”
“Abigor likes females,” Mia answered.
“That’s what I hear.  Would you join me in a brief respite before we search my crew for your farmer?”
“I would enjoy that very much.  The sea air gives one a certain appetite.”
Crocker liked this woman.  “How do I address you?”
“Cooper is fine, Captain.”
“Do you have a first name?  Mine is Daniel.”
“Mia,” she answered, frowning.
“Is there a problem, Mia?” Crocker asked.
“It’s been too long since I’ve heard my name or thought of myself as Mia.”
“I take it you weren’t born in the house of Abigor?  You bear no markings of a demon.”
“Upon my honor, Captain, Abigor held me as a baby,” Mia said.
“Daniel, call me Daniel.  It has been too long since a gentle borne woman has said my name.”
Mia lifted an eyebrow and said, “Daniel, it would be a pleasure.”
Kevin walked over to the water barrel and nodded to Murphy.  “May I have some water?”
Murphy looked to the boatswain, and he nodded.  Murphy lifted a ladle full of the brackish water and cautioned, “It’s not fresh.”
Kevin took a sip, letting most of it evaporate in his mouth.  He pulled out his flask and chased it with a measure of his whisky.
“Thank you,” he said and walked away to stand by the ladder to the boat.
Murphy