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once more, she fled below to find Davy.
    – - • – –

    Davy was in the hold where Ailish had first met him, sitting on a large crate.
    “You’ll never guess what’s been going on topside,” she began, hoisting herself up onto the box next to him. “It’s incredible.” Quickly, she explained what had happened.
    “At first, I wanted the cable to fail so we could go home, but now, I truly would like to see it succeed. I would be part of a great event in history, something to tell my grandchildren, that’s for sure,” she finished with a flourish.
    “Oh, aye. To be part of this is marvellous, indeed,” he agreed.
    “And going home is out of the question until I solve the matter of my stolen property, anyway.” Ailish thought of Dalton and his threat against Paddy. “There’s something else I need to tell you, Davy, and it may take awhile.”
    “I’m not going anywhere and I crave a good story.” He swung his legs in a most casual manner.
    Wiggling in a vain attempt to get more comfortable on the hard wooden crate, Ailish explained about overhearing Dalton blackmailing Paddy for his money.
    “Aye, that Mr. Dalton has been a bad one for years. Not a good soul, at all.” Davy agreed. “If there’s something rotten belowdecks, you can bet Dalton is behind it.”
    “And I haven’t told you the worst part yet. He’s going to make it seem like a Fenian plot is being hatched on board and Paddy is the culprit. This is why the cable fault is so frightening. It plays right into Dalton’s plan and now everyone is looking for the traitor. Besides myself, Paddy is the only other Irishman aboard.”
    Davy shot her a teasing look.
    “Irish person aboard,” she amended. “This could go very badly for Paddy and I like him. I don’t want anything terrible to happen. Now that the cable is working, I hope this tempest will blow over and the rest of the trip will be uneventful.”
    “And what if this friend of yours is a Fenian and did put that nail through the wire?”
    Now came the tricky part. How could Ailish explain her gift without sounding as crazy as a bedbug? “I know Paddy didn’t sabotage the cable,” she began.
    “Oh, and how is that?”
    “I’m going to tell you something that may sound strange, even… supernatural, but it’s the truth.” She took a deep breath. “I can tell things about people, if they’re good or evil, by touching them, or simply being near them.”
    Davy seemed to freeze beside her – she hoped he didn’t think she was mad with her fey talk. She hurried on with her explanation. “My da calls it the second sight. That’s how I know Paddy is a good man. I could feel it about him.”
    Several expressions crossed Davy’s face at once; finally, he raised his eyebrows sceptically in a gesture Ailish knew only too well. She’d seen it on the faces of loads of unbelievers. “It’s not malarkey. I can!”
    “Is that so? And what does this sixth sense of yours say about me?” He crossed his arms and waited.
    Closing her eyes to concentrate, she searched for the feeling that told her what the inside of someone looked like. She felt a tingle that warmed her right down to the tips of her fingers and toes. It was like nothing she’d ever had before, and it told her nothing about Davy she recognized, either good or bad. She wiggled a little closer, but still nothing.
    Several tense minutes passed, then Ailish frowned. “Very odd.” Tentatively, she reached out a hand for his. She had hoped it wouldn’t come to this; since he didn’t believe she really could see the invisible, he might get the wrong idea.
    Davy shifted away and exclaimed in irritation, “Who, me? You think I’m odd!” Ailish yanked her hand back and Davy jumped down off their perch. “Thanks a lot.”
    “No, no, that was only a, a… slip of the lip. It’s simply that, well, I don’t feel anything from you. If I could just...” Ailish felt heat rush into her cheeks, “hold your hand to get a