The Silver Swan Read Free

Moggia grabbed me and swung me around in the air until I felt giddy. Miller and Jem slapped one another on the back and hooted. Mama ushered all the boys inside, and they exclaimed loudly at her and at the house, and grabbed Lucas’s cheeks in great pinched handfuls. I pushed tears away from my face. We were a loud, clumsy knot of tangled, hugging, shouting people, spilling down the hallway and into the dining room, everyone talking at once.
    â€˜You’re all right! I can’t believe it — but how, bella?’
    â€˜How did you find me here?’
    â€˜Where the hell have you been?’
    â€˜Excuse me, sir, is that a blunderbuss?’
    â€˜My, we had you buried at sea a thousand times, lass.’
    â€˜Not me, I’m tough. Where’s the Mermaid ?’
    â€˜Let me guess — you must be Brasher. Come in, come in.’
    â€˜Don’t mind if I do, ma’am.’
    â€˜You tell us your story first, Cyg,’ said Jem, when the clamour had died down.
    â€˜Allow me.’ Papa stood apart, in the hallway, with his sword still drawn. The boys all stared at him. I noticed Miller’s right hand twitch closer to his cutlass.
    But Jem took a step forward, peering at Papa, trying to see through the red beard and rough curly hair to recognise a man he had once known.
    At last he pursed his lips. ‘I’ll be blowed.’
    â€˜Mamma mia,’ said Moggia. ‘Look who it is.’
    Papa’s face was stern. ‘Tell me what you want with my family,’ he said abruptly.
    Jem crossed his arms and smiled ever so slightly. ‘We’ve come to pay our respects to the child’s poor grieving mother.’ He glanced at Mama. ‘I expect that’ll be you, ma’am. How d’you do?’
    Before she could answer, Papa brought the tip of his sword level with Jem’s eyes. ‘What do you want?’
    â€˜Calm down,’ said Miller from behind me. ‘He’s telling the truth.’
    â€˜That’d be a first.’
    Jem moved his hand, slowly and deliberately, so that Papa could watch the movement, and drew an old leather purse from his belt.
    â€˜We came to bring you this, ma’am,’ said Jem, holding out the purse to Mama. ‘We figured, since you’d lost your daughter, you deserved her share of the Mermaid ’s prize money.’
    Mama put her hand out to touch Jem’s.
    â€˜Leave it!’ snapped Papa.
    â€˜Cygnet earned her share of the prize, fair and square,’ said Jem. ‘We thought you should have it.’
    â€˜Since she’s not dead, perhaps you don’t need it any more,’ said Miller, trying to lighten the mood.
    Slowly I stepped into the pool of light between my father and Jem. I turned around, away from Papa, and faced my friends. Papa’s sword was now only inches from the back of my neck.
    â€˜It’s a strange world, isn’t it?’ I said. ‘Last time we saw each other, we all thought for sure I’d be dead within days. I nearly was.’
    â€˜We couldn’t stop them,’ said Moggia.
    â€˜I know,’ I reassured him. ‘I’ve always known that.’
    â€˜Diablo would have killed us all.’ Francesco pushed his way to the front.
    â€˜Jem and Miller got a bloody good clobbering as it was,’ said Brasher. ‘Pardon the language, ma’am.’
    â€˜Is that what this is all about?’ asked Papa, harshly. ‘You thought you could absolve your guilt with a few gold pieces?’
    â€˜Perhaps,’ said Jem, quietly but firmly. ‘It was the only thing we could think of to do. We didn’t expect to find Cyg — or you — here.’
    â€˜You can go now.’ Papa motioned with his sword. I watched its glittering tip flick past my ear. ‘Go on, and don’t come back.’
    â€˜No.’ I faced my father. ‘These are my friends. If you don’t want to talk to them, that’s your loss,