Page 89 of Haunting the Deep

“Who told you to tell me that?” I ask.

She studies her hands. “A man.”

“What kind of man? Can you describe him?”

She looks around nervously. “He had hair on his face. Not a mustache like my papa, just a little bit.”

There is only one spirit I’ve seen who is unshaven. “Was he about this tall?” I hold my hand up above my head.

She nods.

“Irish accent?”

She nods again.

The drowned man.“What did he tell you?”

“Nothing. Just that I was to say that. I told him I didn’t want to come here again. That I saw you on the ship. That I was scared you were a ghost. I just wanted to stay with my mum. But he said I had to. This one last time. To tell you that you were invited back.”

“I’m not a spirit. I promise you I’m not.”

She eyes me like she’s not sure. And I can’t blame her. I was scared of her when she first showed up, and she looks more harmless than I do.

“What is your family name, Ada?” Elijah asks.

“Sage. My given name is Elizabeth. Ada is my middle. But my sister Stella always says that Ada is much prettier and that I should be proud I have such a good name.”

I freeze. I wrote out a note card for the Sage family last night. “Ada, what’s the date? Do you remember?”

She scrunches her face up. “The thirteenth of April?” She blinks out.

“The same date Mollie said it was two days ago? The day hasn’t changed for them,” I say. I run over to my bed and sift through my pile of passenger note cards.

My fingers tremble slightly as I grab the Sage family card. Elijah moves to my side and reads over my shoulder.

“Mr. and Mrs. Sage boarded theTitanicat Southampton with their nine children,” I read out loud. “Wow, nine. They had purchased a pecan farm in Florida. That’s right, she said something about them going to Florida and how Stella didn’t want to. Here she is.” I point to the card. “Elizabeth Ada Sage, age ten. And here’s Stella, too, age twenty. Stella got in a lifeboat, but when she realized her family couldn’t join her, she got back out.” My voice catches. “Both parents and all nine Sage children died in the sinking. So much for women and children first.”

“Those rules were mainly for the first- and second-class passengers. The third-class passengers were trapped behind gates,” Elijah says.

I nod. “I know. They were locked in when the ship sank. It’s wrong.”

Elijah frowns. “Yes, a system in which value is placed on human lives because of wealth or position or race is an utmost injustice.”

I place the Sage family note card back on my bed. And now in death they’re back behind those gates. Who would do such a thing? I’m here worrying about having to go to theTitanicas a first-class passenger with tea and parasols; meanwhile, some of those passengers have probably been locked in steerage for the better part of a century. Maybe Redd was right. I don’t even know how privileged I am.

“Was the man she was referring to the drowned man?” Elijah asks, snapping me out of my thoughts.

“I’m pretty sure. But I have no idea who he is. I mean, he’s a spirit. But was he aTitanicpassenger? Is hetheCollector? Ada just looked so rattled. Every time I’ve seen her before, she’s been giggly and happy.”

“When she thought you were a dream.”

“Mmm-hmm. She definitely wasn’t coming here intentionally. And what did you make of that invitation? Why invite me back when someone threw me off?”

“She said ‘one last time.’ ”

I look at Elijah. “Yeah, I caught that. Why ‘last,’ though?”

Elijah’s eyebrows furrow.