CHAPTER SEVEN

THE CAPTAIN AND HER CREW

I packed you both a turkey sandwich, chips, yogurt, a banana, two bottles of water, and a cookie,” Charlotte said. “There’s also a sweatshirt, a flashlight, a Swiss Army knife, a first-aid kit, matches, and a compass.”

The twins’ mother handed them each a backpack full of the items she’d packed. Alex and Conner appreciated the gesture, but traveling into a fictitious dimension was very different from going on a camping trip.

“Thanks, Mom,” Alex said. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“Yeah, this isn’t our first rodeo,” Conner said, and looked through his backpack. “Oh cool, chocolate chip! Thanks!”

“It’s just a few things—I’ll feel better knowing you have them,” Charlotte said. “So where’s your first stop? Any idea how long you’ll be gone for?”

Alex turned to Conner, just as curious as their mother. For the first time in their lives, she was leaving all the planning to her brother. She had offered to help a number of times, but Conner was determined to do everything himself. Not insisting was a gamble on Alex’s part, but he seemed very confident he had everything taken care of.

“First up is my short story ‘Starboardia,’” Conner said excitedly. “It’s a pirate adventure set in the Caribbean Sea around the early 1700s. The story’s about Captain Auburn Sally and her all-female crew as they search deserted islands for buried treasure.”

Charlotte hid her concern behind a smile. “Sounds progressive,” she said.

“Don’t worry—we’ll be fine,” Conner said. “Auburn Sally is based on Goldilocks. We’ll find her ship, tell her the situation, and bring her and her crew back to the house. It’ll be easy.”

“If you say so,” Charlotte said, unconvinced.

“Go get ’em,” Bob said, and patted him on the back.

Conner had organized his writing neatly in a binder with tabs separating the short stories. He opened the binder to the first page of “Starboardia” and set it on the living room floor.

“Are you sure there isn’t anything we need before we go?” Alex asked one final time. “There’s nothing you’re overlooking or forgetting about?”

“Trust me. I’ve got everything under control,” he said. “If there’s one thing I know inside out, it’s my short stories. I’ve actually been really looking forward to this. I bet my characters will be excited to meet me!”

Traveling into the short stories had been all Conner could think about since he’d first had the idea. Naturally, the circumstances to warrant the trip were terrible, but he still felt like the luckiest author in the world. Who else got to visit the worlds and meet the people that existed only in their imagination? Conner often fantasized about seeing a film or a play based on his writing one day, but this would be much better than that. It wouldn’t be someone else’s interpretation or adaptation of his words; everything would be purely as he’d envisioned it.

Conner removed Mother Goose’s flask, which contained the Portal Potion, from his back pocket. He poured a couple of drops on the binder and then stored the flask safely in his backpack. The pages illuminated like a powerful spotlight, shining a bright beam of light toward the ceiling.

“Here we go!” Conner said. “Wish us luck!”

“Good luck!” Bob said. “We’ll be here when you get back.”

“Make good choices!” Charlotte said. “There’s also some sunscreen in your bags if it’s sunny out!”

Alex and Conner strapped on their backpacks, stepped into the beam of light, and disappeared from the house.

Just like it had when they traveled into The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Peter Pan, and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, the Portal Potion first took them into an endless space with nothing but words. Rather than printed text, words were written all around them, as if there were hundreds of invisible pencils moving through the air. Each word was in Conner’s messy handwriting.

“Awesome!” Conner said. “It’s like we’ve stepped inside my brain!”

“You’ve got to work on your penmanship,” Alex noted.

The handwritten words stretched into shapes, then gained color and texture, and finally transformed into the objects they described. Conner watched in awe as the world of his first short story came to life around him. Alex was excited, too, until she saw the words ocean waves stretching below their feet.

“Hey, Conner?” she said. “Should we be worried about—”

Before she could finish her sentence, the twins fell into an ocean that formed under their feet. Strong waves crashed over them, pushing them farther and farther below the water. The water was difficult to swim against, but they kicked their way to the surface and spit out mouthfuls of salty water. Conner saw his binder of short stories floating in the water nearby and retrieved it before the waves carried it away. If he lost the binder, the twins would lose their exit back into the Otherworld.

Alex angrily splashed water in her brother’s face. “Why didn’t you say we needed a boat?” she asked.

“Sorry!” Conner said. “I forgot the first thing I described was the ocean!”

By now the handwritten words had finished forming the world of “Starboardia” around them. They were bobbing up and down in the middle of the Caribbean Sea. The air was so misty, they could barely see each other, let alone any land or ships in the distance. Alex snapped her fingers and a small wooden rowboat appeared in front of them.

The twins climbed aboard and caught their breath. Conner put the binder in his backpack, where it would be safe. If anything happened to it, they would have no way back home.

“Well, that was a rough start,” Alex said. “What’s the second thing you described?”

“The Dolly Llama,” Conner said.

“The Dolly Llama?”

“It’s the name of Auburn Sally’s ship,” he said. “Don’t judge me, I thought it was a funny name for a ship. We should see it any minute now.”

A towering shadow appeared in the mist—something very large headed their way. The shadow grew larger and darker and details formed as it got closer. Finally, the twins saw that it was a pirate ship sailing straight toward their rowboat with no sign of slowing down. It was going to plow right into them!

“Abandon boat!” Conner yelled.

The twins dived into the water just as the ship smashed into their rowboat, crushing it to pieces. Once again, Alex and Conner were caught under the vicious waves. They swam to the surface and were sloshed around the choppy water as the pirate ship sailed right past them.

“Ahoy!” Conner yelled up at the ship. “Twins overboard! Help us!”

A few seconds later, a rope ladder was rolled off the ship, and it landed in the water next to the twins. They grabbed it, climbed up, pulled themselves over the ship’s railing, and collapsed onto the lower deck. They were drenched and coughing up seawater.

Alex looked up and saw a large black flag flying above the ship with a llama skull on it.

“This must be the Dolly Llama,” Alex said. She pointed out the flag to Conner, and a giant smile grew on his face. He leaped to his feet and helped his sister to hers. The flag was proof they were in his short story.

“We made it!” he exclaimed. “Alex, we’re in ‘Starboardia’!”

His excitement was cut short when they heard footsteps nearby. A dozen female pirates surrounded Alex and Conner, and they didn’t look friendly. The pirates pointed their swords and rifles at the twins.

“Well, well, well,” said a woman with an eye patch. “Look what we have here.”

“What are you two scallywags doing in the middle of the sea?” asked a woman with enormous lips. “Too young to be in the navy, too fair to be pirates.”

Conner almost stepped on a pirate behind him and jumped. Having no legs, the pirate walked on her hands and held a dagger with her teeth.

“My guess is they were stowaways!” the legless pirate said. “I’m surprised the sharks didn’t find them first!”

Conner couldn’t believe his characters were living and breathing before his eyes. The women were just as rough, dirty, and sunburned as he had imagined them. He grinned from ear to ear and jumped up and down.

“I’m so happy to see you guys!” he said.

The pirates tilted their heads at him like confused puppies. No one had ever been happy to see them before.

“Guys, it’s me!” Conner said. “I’m Conner Bailey!”

The pirates raised their eyebrows and scratched their heads—should they know who he was?

“Who?” asked a pirate with a round, flat face.

“Oh, come on.” Conner laughed. “I’m the author!”

“Author of what?” asked a pirate with bare feet.

“Of this story,” he said. “I created this ocean, I created this ship, and I created all of you. Do you really not recognize me?”

Conner thought for sure it would have clicked by now, but the pirates still stared at him awkwardly, just as perplexed as before.

“He’s been marooned for too long—the boy’s gone mad,” said a pirate with a peg leg, and the other pirates nodded in agreement.

Conner was getting frustrated. “I’m not crazy,” he said. “Look, where is Auburn Sally? Let me talk to her. I’m sure she’ll straighten this whole thing out. This is my own fault—I should have written you guys to be smarter.”

The pirates stopped looking puzzled and began staring daggers at him. Alex covered her face and let out a sigh—this wasn’t going to be as easy as her brother thought.

“Oooooh, Captain,” the pirate with the eye patch called. “There’s someone down here who’d like to have a word with you!”

Suddenly, a woman did a backflip off the upper deck and landed directly in front of the twins. She wore a large black hat, a long brown coat, tall boots, and she had a sword and pistol attached to her thick belt. Alex knew this was Auburn Sally from the minute she laid eyes on her. If her acrobatics weren’t enough to give it away, the captain looked exactly like Goldilocks. The only difference in their features was the captain’s long locks of auburn hair.

“Sally!” Conner said like he was seeing an old friend—because, technically, he was. He stepped toward the captain to give her a hug, but Auburn Sally quickly drew her pistol and aimed it at his head.

“Am I supposed to know you, boy?” Auburn Sally asked.

Conner was shocked by the treatment he was receiving from his own characters. He had expected a warm and gracious welcome, but instead the heroine of his story was holding a gun to his head. Without him none of them would even exist! He wondered if this was what an underappreciated parent felt like.

He held his hands up and backed away from the pistol. “Okay, time out!” he said. “Everyone just calm down and let me explain! My name is Conner Bailey, and this is my sister, Alex. I know this is hard to believe, but I’m your creator! We are living in a short story I wrote for my eighth-grade English class!”

Auburn Sally looked at him with more perplexity than that of all her crew added together. “He’s got yellow fever,” she said. “Prepare the plank! We need to get him off the ship at once!”

“I’m not sick, either!” Conner said. “Fine! If you don’t believe me, I’ll prove it!”

He walked around the circle of women, pointing at each pirate.

“That’s Winking Wendy, Fish-Lips Lucy, Somersault Sydney, Pancake-Face Patty, Stinky-Feet Phoebe, and that’s Peg-Leg Peggy,” he said.

“I prefer Margret,” said the pirate with the peg leg.

“Fine, Margret,” Conner said, and rolled his eyes. “In the back, that’s High-Tide Tabitha, Catfish Kate, Too-Much-Rum Ronda, Big-Booty Bertha, Not-So-Jolly Joan, and up in the crow’s nest, that’s Siren Sue. Your captain is Auburn Sally, this ship is called the Dolly Llama, and you’re all searching the Caribbean for buried treasure!”

Conner crossed his arms confidently and waited for their apologies. The pirates were startled by how much he knew. They all looked at their captain, waiting to see how she would respond.

“There’s only one explanation for how a young man we’ve never met before could possibly know so much,” Auburn Sally said. “He’s a warlock! Tie him and his sister up! We’ll burn them at the stake on the next island we find!”

Before they knew it, the twins’ backpacks were yanked off and they were pushed against the mainmast. The pirates wrapped ropes around their bodies, binding their torsos to the ship. Conner was so mad, he turned bright red.

“Let us go or you’ll be sorry!” he yelled. “Just wait until I get home! I’m going to write a sequel where you all get shipwrecked and have to eat your boots to survive!”

The pirates laughed at his attempts to scare them. Winking Wendy pulled the ropes even tighter just to spite him.

“Keep it up, Wendy! We’ll see who’s laughing when I have a seagull peck out your other eye!” Conner warned. “Alex, can you believe this?”

“How did you expect them to react?” she asked. “What would you do if a guy showed up out of nowhere and told us we were characters in his story?”

“I would punch him in the face for making everything so damn difficult!” he said. “Alex, you’ve got to do something! Zap them with a sleeping spell, turn them into sea horses—anything!”

“No!” Alex yelled. “I’ve been asking you for days if you needed any help planning, and you told me you had everything under control! Well, so far we almost drowned, we narrowly missed being crushed by a ship, and now we’re being captured by your pirates! You and I have different definitions of under control!”

“Alex, don’t be a child!” Conner said.

“Grow up, Conner!” she said. “This is your mess—you clean it up!”

“Fine, I will!” he yelled. “I don’t need you or your stupid magic! I’ll find a way out of this myself!”

Although Alex and Conner were tied up right next to each other, they each pretended the other wasn’t there and pouted in silence.

A strong ocean breeze began clearing the mist and uncovered the sun. Soon the ship had a breathtaking view of the ocean surrounding it. There was nothing to see but the bright blue Caribbean Sea for miles around them.

Captain Auburn Sally returned to the upper deck and wrapped her hands around the large helm. She looked out at the open water and a radiant smile spread across her face. There was nothing keeping her back and no one to stop her; she was surrounded by an abundance of freedom and possibilities. Conner remembered writing about that expression—it was the expression he always wished the real Goldilocks could have more often.

“Once again, it’s a beautiful day to be a pirate,” Auburn Sally said to her crew. “Ladies, lower the sales!”

The twins looked up, expecting the sails above them to come down and fill with the ocean air. Instead, Siren Sue peeked out of the crow’s nest with a treasure chest full of scarves, jewelry, hooks, and weapons. The other pirates gathered below her with hands full of gold coins.

“You heard the captain—time to lower the sales!” Siren Sue announced. “For a limited time, everything is half off! Scarves are two coins, earrings are four coins, necklaces are six coins, and the rifles are eight coins! Get your accessories while the sales are low!”

Siren Sue sold off the items to the pirates below until there was nothing left in her chest. The women ogled their new purchases and showed them off to one another. It absolutely baffled Alex, and when she glanced at Conner, he looked just as confused as she did.

“I don’t understand what’s happening,” he said. “I never wrote that.”

“Did you mean to write lower the sails? Like the normal sails on a ship?” Alex asked.

“Oops,” Conner said. “I must have spelled it wrong.”

To his relief, once the sales were over, the pirates lowered the sails, too. They were made from cream-colored cloth, the exact color of Porridge’s coat. They filled with the ocean breeze, and the Dolly Llama sailed into the horizon.

Auburn Sally turned the ship’s wheel back and forth as she guided her vessel through the rough waters. She kept a watchful eye on the entire horizon around them. The longer the ship sailed, the more a familiar expression grew on her face—one that the twins had seen Goldilocks wear many times when they’d first met her. The captain seemed a little sad, like she was hoping something would appear in the distance, but it never came.

Conner recognized this face, too, and began to worry.

“Oh no,” he said. “We’re getting close to the part of the story when the navy shows up.”

“How can you tell?” Alex asked.

“From the way Auburn Sally is looking out over the ocean longingly,” he said. “The pirates are about to get company.”

Like clockwork, Siren Sue climbed down from the crow’s nest in a panic.

“Captain!” she shouted. “Look, in the east! A ship from the British Navy is approaching!”

Auburn Sally quickly unfolded a long telescope and scanned the eastern horizon. Alex and Conner squinted and could barely see a small speck moving in the distance. The captain smiled as she spotted the ship—this was what she had been hoping for.

“It looks like Admiral Jacobson has finally caught up with us,” Auburn Sally announced to her crew.

“Any orders, Captain?” Winking Wendy asked.

“I’m tired of playing the admiral’s game of cat and mouse,” the captain said. “Hoist the sails and prepare for battle!”

The pirates all saluted her and went to work right away. They loaded the cannons on deck and sharpened their swords. The sails were rolled up and the ship slowed down, allowing the admiral’s ship to gain on them. The small speck the twins saw in the distance quickly grew into an enormous ship twice the size of the Dolly Llama. Soon they could make out a British flag waving from the tallest mast and the ship’s name painted along its side: the Royal Tantrum.

While the pirates scurried around the deck preparing for battle, the captain gazed at herself in a compact mirror. Auburn Sally applied lipstick and blush, she brushed her hair to give it extra volume, and she wiped off all the smudges on her clothes. The captain wasn’t getting ready for combat; she was getting ready for a date!

“That’s how she prepares for battle?” Alex asked her brother.

Conner nodded bashfully. “Just wait,” he said. “In about five minutes it’s all going to make perfect sense.”

When the Royal Tantrum was getting close to the Dolly Llama, the pirates dropped the sails and sailed around the navy ship. The twins could see that the Royal Tantrum’s lower deck was full of British sailors running amok. They spotted Admiral Jacobson standing on the upper deck.

The admiral was posed regally, with one foot on the railing and a long sword in his hand. He was a very handsome man with broad shoulders and pitch-black hair in a neat ponytail. He wore a blue coat with several gold buttons and badges. The closer the pirate ship sailed around the navy ship, the more familiar he seemed.

“Conner, is it just me, or does the admiral look exactly like Jack?” Alex asked.

She glanced between the captain and the admiral. Just like her brother said, it all finally made sense.

“Oooooh,” Alex said. “I get it now. Auburn Sally is based on Goldilocks, and the admiral is based on Jack. ‘Starboardia’ is a love story! That’s so sweet!”

Conner grunted like his sister had just insinuated something very crude.

“Excuse me,” he said defensively. “‘Starboardia’ is a pirate adventure! It might have elements of love, but it is absolutely not a love story!”

Alex raised an eyebrow at him. “Sure,” she said mockingly.

By now, the Dolly Llama was sailing around the Royal Tantrum with gusto. The British sailors ran across the deck to watch the pirates circling them. Winking Wendy took the wheel and Auburn Sally went to the railing to see the admiral. She mimicked his pose on the railing of her own ship, and the two commanders locked eyes. If Alex hadn’t known there was something between them before, she definitely knew it now.

“Good afternoon, Admiral,” Auburn Sally said. “What brings you to this part of the Caribbean today?”

“You’re a wanted woman, Auburn Sally,” the admiral said.

“You mean, by more than just you?” the captain said playfully. “Honestly, Admiral, you’re so persistent, I’m starting to think you have a little crush on me.”

The pirates roared with laughter. Even the navy soldiers were amused and covered their mouths to hide their chuckles. The whole scene felt like it should have happened in a high school hallway instead of the Caribbean Sea.

“The entire British Navy is just smitten with you, Captain,” the admiral said. “They’ve asked me to personally escort you back to land. Come willingly and I won’t sink your ship.”

“Admiral, may I remind you I am literally sailing circles around you,” she said. “It’s your ship I’m worried about. I’d hate to destroy it and embarrass you in front of all your men. By the way, nice tights, gentlemen!”

“So it’s going to be the hard way, is it?” Admiral Jacobson said with a grin.

Auburn Sally laughed. “Oh, Admiral,” she said, “haven’t you learned by now I’m the kind of girl who likes—”

“PLAYING HARD TO GET!” Conner yelled, finishing her sentence.

The captain and her crew quickly turned to him, wondering how on earth he knew exactly what she had been planning to say.

“I told you this is my story,” Conner reminded them. “I wrote the cheesy dialogue coming out of your mouths! Would you quit the innuendos and just get to the battle already?”

Auburn Sally glared at him suspiciously for a moment, then turned to face the admiral again.

“I agree with the warlock,” she said. “Ladies, open fire!”

As the Dolly Llama circled the Royal Tantrum, it was like the ships were joined together in a dangerous waltz and the pirates were taking the lead. They lit their cannons and fired them at the navy sailors, blasting large holes in the British ship. The admiral’s sailors retaliated, but the pirate ship was much smaller and moving fast, making it a harder target.

The few times the pirates were hit, the entire ship rattled and swayed in the water. But the damage the navy was inflicting was nothing compared to the mark the pirates were leaving. The sailors looked to the admiral for guidance, but he seldom gave them orders. It was almost like he wanted to lose.

Cannonballs and chunks of wood flew through the air. Parts of the navy ship were set ablaze and the sky filled with smoke. Conner had written the entire battle, but writing it was nothing like living it. Even though he knew exactly what was going to happen, it was still terrifying to see it come to life.

“This is the most dangerous flirting I’ve ever seen!” Alex said.

“Don’t worry, the pirates win!” Conner said, then looked up at the captain. “Sally, would you hurry up and tell your pirates to aim for the navy’s cannons already? I don’t want to get splinters in my eyes!”

The thought had come into the captain’s head just a moment before Conner suggested it. “How did you know I was—”

“JUST DO IT!” he yelled.

“Aim for their cannons, girls!” Auburn Sally ordered.

The pirates followed their captain’s orders and aimed their cannons at the navy’s. They blasted them off the ship, leaving the Royal Tantrum virtually defenseless. The pirates cheered and shook their swords at the sailors.

Winking Wendy jerked the wheel, and the Dolly Llama slammed into the Royal Tantrum, bringing the pirate ship alongside it.

“Now let’s take their ship!” Auburn Sally ordered.

The pirates each grabbed a rope and swung aboard the navy ship. The battle continued with hand-to-hand combat on the decks of the Royal Tantrum. The sailors were barely trained for sailing and were no match for the pirates attacking them.

Winking Wendy flashed her empty eye socket at the sailors, scaring them and causing them to trip over themselves. Stinky-Feet Phoebe held her bare feet against their noses, and the fumes made the men temporarily lose consciousness. Having no legs made it easy for Somersault Sydney to tumble into the sailors and knock them down like bowling pins. Pancake-Face Patty seemed to enjoy head-butting the men, which explained the odd shape of her skull. Big-Booty Bertha simply turned her backside to any of the sailors charging toward her, and they bounced backward onto the deck.

Some of the pirates weren’t as efficient fighters. Siren Sue sang high notes to hurt the sailors’ ears. Fish-Lips Lucy irritated them with slobbery kisses. Too-Much-Rum Ronda drunkenly argued with the sailors about religion and politics. Not-So-Jolly Joan simply cried on their shoulders. These pirates offered perfect distractions for Peg-Leg Peggy (or “Margret”) to sneak up behind the sailors and trip them with her wooden leg.

On the upper deck, Captain Auburn Sally and Admiral Jacobson walked around each other with their swords raised. They were so lost in each other’s eyes that they almost forgot they had to fight to keep up appearances. When the two eventually started dueling, it resembled more of a passionate tango than an actual sword fight.

“This is the most nonviolent violence I’ve ever witnessed,” Alex said.

“I kept it tame in case I had young readers,” Conner said.

“That explains why the antagonists are so simple,” she noted. “To be honest, I was really worried about what kind of villains your imagination would have come up with. I’m glad they’re just men in tights.”

“The navy sailors aren’t the bad guys in this story,” he said. “The bad guys are way scarier. They’re based on people I’ve seen in nightmares. But we’ll be long gone before they show up… I hope.”

Eventually, the sailors surrendered and the pirates rounded them up in the center of the Royal Tantrum’s lower deck. Auburn Sally pushed Admiral Jacobson off the upper deck, and his men caught him. The pirates raised their weapons in celebration—they had won the battle!

“You’ve lost, Admiral,” Auburn Sally said. “The British Navy is going to be so disappointed.”

“Sometimes a man fails in order to win,” the admiral said with a smirk.

The navy sailors were stripped of their weapons, and their hands were tied behind their backs. The pirates placed a plank between ships and forced the sailors to cross it and board the Dolly Llama. Once everyone aboard the Royal Tantrum had been taken prisoner, the pirates blasted the navy ship with cannonballs until it sank.

“Put the prisoners in the cells belowdecks,” Auburn Sally ordered, and glanced at the twins. “And I mean all the prisoners.”

The pirates untied the twins and pushed them along with the sailors.

“Oh no,” Conner said. “The bad guys are going to show up soon! I’ve got to convince Auburn Sally I’m the author of this story before they get here!”

“I’m willing to help you if it speeds things up,” Alex said with a sigh.

“Well, I’m not willing to accept your help yet,” he said. “I told you I can take care of this on my own!”

Conner managed to push past the pirates manhandling him and his sister. He dashed across the deck, but just before he was in reach of Auburn Sally, he was tripped by Somersault Sydney and tackled by Catfish Kate and High-Tide Tabitha.

“Captain, don’t lock us up!” he pleaded from underneath the pirates. “I’m warning you! Something really bad is about to happen, but you can avoid it if you just listen to me!”

Auburn Sally laughed at his warning. “Take him away,” she said, and turned her back on him.

The pirates forced Conner to his feet and dragged him away, but he wasn’t ready to give up.

“I know what you stole from SMOKY-SAILS SAM!” Conner yelled.

The entire ship suddenly froze as if he’d shouted something obscene. Alex could tell that all the pirates and sailors knew who her brother was talking about. Just the mention of the name Smoky-Sails Sam sent a collective chill down their spines.

Auburn Sally turned back to Conner with large, fearful eyes. He continued his warning, desperate for her to listen to him.

“He knows what you stole from him, too—he knows about everything that happened on the island!” Conner said. “Smoky-Sails Sam is looking for you and your crew right now! He’s going to see the smoke from this battle and be here before sunrise tomorrow!”

Conner knew that if anything would get through to her this would be it. The captain looked him up and down but didn’t say a word.

“Your orders, Captain?” Catfish Kate asked.

Auburn Sally put on a brave face for her crew. “Throw this boy and his sister in the cells with the others,” she said. “If he has tall tales to tell, he can share them with the other prisoners.”

Auburn Sally turned around and faced the ocean. Conner struggled against the pirates, but it was no use. They were too strong to break free from—that’s how he had written them. Conner and Alex were pushed down the steps to the cells belowdecks with the sailors.

“Well, that totally worked,” Alex said. “Are you sure you don’t want my help?”

“Give it a minute,” Conner said. “She’ll come around—she’ll have to.”

The captain looked down at the burning wreckage of the Royal Tantrum, and her eyes followed the trails of smoke ascending into the sky. Once all the sailors and the twins were belowdecks and there were no pirates around to bear witness, she pulled out a necklace she kept hidden in her shirt. Dangling from a golden chain was a bloodred ruby the size of a human heart.

While she refused to believe everything Conner had said, she couldn’t deny that he possessed extraordinary knowledge of her ship and crew. If what he said about Smoky-Sails Sam was even remotely accurate, then the captain’s greatest nightmare was about to come true.