I had the urge to squirm away, free myself from his strong grip on my arm, but instead I remained still, frozen in awe of the boat emerging from the water. There were a million questions in my mind, bubbling just under the surface, and yet I couldn’t find the voice to ask one.

I knew important things: I didn’t know this man; ships could not possible be effective submarines; and the eerie glow the distant harbor lights cast on the water was just off enough to send a chill down my spine. A brackish wind swept through the air, but I’m sure that’s not why I shivered. The schooner sailed toward us.

I would have thought that an immense, imposing, mysterious ship gliding right towards me would become more and more imposing as it drew near-as it was, it only seemed to become more enchanting. A majestic, spellbinding aura surrounded the vessel. At once, I felt as though I was a magnet being drawn towards metal-as though I was the one being towed in.

The man at my side dropped my arm abruptly, convinced, I suppose, that I could not possibly muster the will to escape the mesmerizing gravity of the boat. My fingers brushed the rough stone post of the fence in front of me, a cold mist coating its surface. Suddenly, it was restricting, limiting, imprisoning, and I was overwhelmed with the urge to leap over the side of the bridge., swim through the frigid water to meet this spectral ark.

“Stay.” The captain’s voice startled me out of the trance. I wondered once again who he was, what he’d brought me there for. But before I could open my mouth to demand these answers of him, the schooner had crossed the last bit of distance, and I was being pulled aboard.