Until We Reach Home by Lynn Austin Read Free Book Online

three of them linked arms, clinging to each other to keep from being blown away as they crossed the street from the rooming house and walked down the road to the dock. Ahead of them, seawater splashed across the pier and onto the walkway, reminding Kirsten of a cauldron of boiling water. Rows of wagons lined the harbor front, loaded with crates and barrels and trunks, all getting drenched in the cold, pelting rain. She wanted to sprint down the pier and board the ferry, but Elin stopped her.
    “Wait here for me. I need to search for our trunk first and make sure it gets loaded. It contains everything we own. We can’t lose sight of it again.”
    Kirsten huddled close to Sofia in the pouring rain while Elin consulted with the baggage porters. Ships of all shapes and sizes tossed and bobbed on the restless water until it made Kirsten sick to her stomach to watch them. The damp, fishy air was the foulest she’d ever smelled. Sofia pinched her nose closed.
    The smell reminded Kirsten of the white-hot summer day when she had gone fishing with Nils and Tor in the lake where Papa had drowned. They had cleaned and gutted their catch afterward and tossed the remains on the compost pile, where they festered in the sun. Uncle Sven had been furious with them, swearing that the stench could reach all the way into town. Nils and Tor had laughed it off, imitating his tilting shoulders and crab-legged walk as soon as he’d turned his back to walk away.
    The memory of Tor’s laughter struck Kirsten like a kick in the stomach. She glanced around for Elin, who was still searching for the trunk, and spotted the overhanging roof of the baggage porter’s shed nearby.
    “Let’s wait under there. We’re getting soaked.” She and Sofia hurried over to stand in the shelter of the ramshackle building. They were no longer getting drenched but still had to endure the brunt of the wind.
    “Remember the stories we read in school about water nacks ?” Kirsten asked as rain drummed on the eaves above them.
    “No. What are nacks ?”
    “Come on, don’t you remember? They’re mysterious creatures who live in the sea and lure people to watery deaths in their kingdoms. They—”
    “Stop it, Kirsten,” Elin said. She had joined them in time to hear what Kirsten was saying. “You’re not helping matters.”
    “All I’m saying is that if there is such a thing as a water nack, then the one in Gothenburg’s harbor seems very angry this morning. I think he’s determined to drown us all.”
    “Stop it.”
    “When are you going to realize what a mistake this stupid trip was,” Sofia asked, “and take us home?”
    “See what you’ve done, Kirsten? You’ve scared her.”
    “Well, I’m scared, too, in case you can’t tell. You’d have to be crazy to get into a boat on a day like today.”
    “I’m sure the sailors know what they’re doing.”
    “Right . . .” Kirsten mumbled under her breath, “but you sure don’t.”
    The gangway onto the ship bobbed up and down, making it treacherous to board. Thrashing waves splattered Kirsten’s skirt and soaked her shoes. The ship rocked from side to side and slammed against the dock as waves surged into the harbor. The motion made Kirsten feel dizzy as she tried to walk, as if she had a high fever. All three of them staggered and lurched across the deck like a village drunkard, hanging on to anything they could find along their path. Kirsten sank onto the first empty bench she came to. Sofia tumbled onto her lap.
    “This ferry is going to sink before it ever leaves the harbor!” Sofia said.
    Elin gave her a reassuring pat. “I’m sure the captain will wait for better weather before venturing from port.”
    But he didn’t. The horn shrieked, the hull groaned, and the engines thrummed to life. The ship sailed out of the harbor and straight into the storm.
    Sofia vomited three times in one of the buckets the sailors passed around. She cried inconsolably.
    “Please, Elin, please. Can’t we