The Pirate Who's More Terrified than Ever

by Annabeth Bondor-Stone

  Clomps looked down at Margo. She had his full attention now. “So what’s the big problem?” he asked.

  “We found a message in a bottle that says a pirate named Captain Crook is going to attack the people of New Jersey!” said Margo.

  Clomps let out a chuckle. Margo didn’t see what was so funny. “That’s not going to happen.” he said, patting her on the shoulder with his big meaty hand. “Pirates never attack people on land. It’s the number-one rule of the Pirate Code.”

  “That’s what I said.” Shivers brushed a twig out of his hair.

  “But what if he does?” said Margo. “The message says that the key to stopping him is in the Bermuda Triangle.”

  Clomps arched an eyebrow. “The Bermuda Triangle?”

  “That’s right,” said Shivers. “The one and only!”

  “The Bermuda Triangle?”

  “Uh-huh.” Shivers nodded.

  “The Bermuda Triangle!” Clomps cried. “Everybody knows that the Bermuda Triangle is the most dangerous place on earth! No one who’s been there has ever come back—ever! You’d have to be crazy to go to the Bermuda Triangle just because of some soggy note.”

  “But, Dad—”

  Clomps held up his hand. “I’m sorry, Margo. I’ve got to get ready for Cheese Curd Night.”

  “Cheese Curd Night?” Shivers dared to ask, already feeling a little C-sick at the thought of it.

  Clomps pulled a flyer out of his back pocket and handed it to Shivers. “That’s right,” Clomps said. “It’s the biggest cheese-themed celebration of the year. The whole town comes out to play games, ride rides, and eat buckets and buckets of fried cheese. Last year, they ran out of cheese early, and things got . . . crazy.” He shuddered. “I’m going to go round up the squad.” He turned to go into Mrs. Sternbean’s house, but when he saw Margo’s concerned expression, he crouched down and looked into her green eyes. “Don’t worry; everything’s going to be fine. Unless they run out of cheese again . . .” He walked into Mrs. Sternbean’s house and closed the door behind him.

  Margo turned to Shivers with her hands on her hips. “Well, looks like we need a new plan.”

  “Wait!” His face lit up. “Have we tried waking ourselves up and realizing this was all just a really bad dream?”

  Margo pinched Shivers’s scrawny arm, and he screamed, “AAGH! It’s real life!”

  “That’s right. Which means we have to stop Captain Crook ourselves.” She marched off with Albee in one hand and the message in a bottle in the other. “It’s a long journey to the Bermuda Triangle. Let’s get your ship ready.”

  “For what? A horrifying shipwreck?” Shivers ran after her. “You heard what your dad said. The Bermuda Triangle is the most dangerous place in the entire world! My ship will be destroyed! We’ll be swallowed by the sea!”

  “Shivers, we’re the only ones who can save New Jersey,” Margo called back. “This is my home. And it’s your home, too. Look around—everything you love is here. The ice-cream stand . . . the Mop Stop . . . the pop-up popcorn shop!”

  Shivers smiled dreamily. “I love it when that shop pops up.”

  “If we don’t do something to stop Captain Crook, it might never pop up again.”

  “But Margo, sailing to the Bermuda Triangle is crazy! It’s crazier than crazy! It’s what a crazy person would call crazy!” He stopped to think for a second. “Or is it what a crazy person would call normal? Either way, it’s a terrible idea!”

  “If you think that’s scary, think of what will happen if we let Captain Crook attack. He’ll destroy everything here, including us!” Margo looked Shivers straight in the eye. “Sure, we might sink your ship.”

  Shivers gasped.

  “Sure, we might end up trapped in the most dangerous place on earth.”

  Shivers squeaked.

  “And sure, we might end up buried in a squid cemetery. But we have to try!”

  “But we’re sailing into certain destruction!” Shivers squealed.

  “If you want to conquer your fears, you have to face them head-on,” Margo said. “I heard that from the guy at the helmet store.”

  Shivers wasn’t sure what to say. Albee was speechless. By now, they had reached Shivers’s ship. Margo led the way up to the main deck and gestured around them to the beach, the pier, and the town behind them. “This is our home. We have to fight for it.” She grabbed him by the shoulders. “Are you with me?”

  Shivers realized that Margo was right. He loved his town. He loved his beach. But Margo forgot the thing he loved most about New Jersey. It was where his best friend lived. He might have been filled with fear, but the choice was clear. He took a deep breath. “I can’t believe I’m about to say this,” he whispered. “Let’s go to the Bermuda Triangle.”

  Margo smiled. She raced up to the captain’s deck and grabbed the helm. “It’s do or die!” she shouted.

  “Or both . . .” said Albee. But fortunately, nobody heard him.

  AS THE GROUNDHOG FLOATED out onto the open ocean, Margo realized that as sure as she was that they had to get to the Bermuda Triangle, she had no idea which way to go.

  “Shivers? Do you have a map?” she called down to the main deck.

  “Are you kidding me?! Have you ever tried to unfold one of those things? You need a map for the map! Not to mention a pair of protective gloves—a map is a paper cut waiting to happen.”

  “But I do have something else.” Shivers ran inside, then came back to the captain’s deck holding a globe. “I hold it when I want to feel big.”

  “Perfect!” Margo spun the globe around until she saw three small dots in the Southern Seas. Between them were the words BERMUDA TRIANGLE.

  Shivers was already tingling with terror. “I heard that it was originally called the Bermuda Square, but the fourth dot disappeared and was never heard from again!”

  Margo was too busy setting the course for the Southern Seas to pay attention. While she steered the ship over the rolling waves, Shivers and Albee went to the kitchen. Shivers gave Albee a snack of fish flakes and butter, then decided to see if banana-pudding popcorn was a tasty snack. It wasn’t.

  Shivers stepped out onto the deck. “Margo, you’ve got to try this banana-pudding popcorn! It’s disgusting!”

  “Um, no, thanks,” Margo called down. She turned back to the helm just in time to see a bright-yellow raft full of people drift into their path. “Watch out!” Margo shouted, spinning the helm so hard to the right that it felt wrong. The ship veered to the side, narrowly missing the raft and sending Shivers tumbling over. Banana-pudding popcorn spilled everywhere.

  “AAAGH!” he shouted. “I need a fresh mop!”

  “Ahoy there, sailors!” a voice called out from below. Standing at the front of the raft was a tall man with a ponytail and a friendly smile. He was sporting a bright-orange life vest and had a guitar strapped to his back. “My name’s Roy!” he announced. “And these are the Roy Scouts!”

  Shivers and Margo peered over the railing and noticed that the raft was filled with kids who were also wearing orange life vests.

  “Ahoy!” the kids said in perfect unison as they all gave thumbs-ups.

  “That’s a lot of thumbs,” Shivers whispered to Margo.

  “The Roy Scouts?” Margo asked.

  “That’s right!” Roy replied. As the scouts rowed the raft alongside the ship, he explained, “We explore the outdoors and sing catchy songs, all while putting safety first!”

  Shivers’s eyes lit up and he leaned over the railing. “I’m listening. . . .”

  “Well, if you’re really listening, you wouldn’t lean so far over that railing! It’s dangerous!” said Roy.

  “You’re right!” Shivers jumped back.

  The kids all cheered. “He’s learning already!” one of them shouted.

  “Give him a safety patch!” another one urged.

  Roy reached into a knapsack full of colorful patches and flung one up to Shivers. Shivers screamed and ducked. Margo caught
it and handed it to him. The badge said SAFETY along the edge and was embroidered with a picture of a man covering his head. “It looks just like me!” Shivers exclaimed. He peeled off the sticky backing and slapped it onto his velvet pirate coat. “I get a sticker just for being safe?”

  “You get a patch for every achievement when you’re a Roy Scout,” Roy beamed. “Isn’t that right?”

  “WE LOVE PATCHES!” the kids yelled. All of their scout uniforms were covered in brightly colored patches.

  Roy continued, “And every day after our adventures are over, we gather around the fire to tell—”

  “Ghost stories?” Margo guessed.

  “No!” Roy looked at Margo like she was insane. “Toast stories! We talk about our favorite kinds of toast and jam!”

  “Are you kidding me?!” Shivers clutched his hat. “This guy is incredible!”

  Margo could see where this was going. If she didn’t act fast, Shivers would be tempted to stay here forever, and they’d never make it to the Bermuda Triangle. “Well, it was nice to meet you. We have to get going now.”

  “Where are you off to?” Roy asked.

  “The Bermuda Triangle,” said Margo. She moved to go back to the helm, but Roy signaled for the scouts to paddle faster until they drifted in front of the ship, blocking its path.

  “The Bermuda Triangle? That doesn’t sound very safe,” said Roy.

  “Thanks for the warning, but we’ve got to get there right away,” Margo called down. “We don’t have time to talk.”

  “But do you have time”—Roy unstrapped the guitar from his back—“to sing?”

  “Do I?!” Shivers exclaimed. He leaped over to the grand piano on his deck and fluttered his fingers across the keys. “It just so happens that singing is one of my two specialties. The other is dancing!” He tapped out a tiny little dance. “I call that the tippy-tap!” he said.

  The Roy Scouts burst into applause. Roy strummed his guitar and led the scouts in song. Shivers tried to follow along on the piano while hitting all the high notes.

  Roy Scouts, Roy Scouts

  We don’t light fires, we don’t use matches!

  Roy Scouts, Roy Scouts

  We only care about getting patches!

  Roy Scouts, Roy Scouts

  We think that danger is the worst!

  Roy Scouts, Roy Scouts

  After patches, safety’s first!

  Jump for joy,

  Jump for Roy,

  Scream and shout,

  Roy Scooooooouts!

  Shivers held the final note longer than anyone. When the song came to an end, all the scouts were looking up at him, amazed at his angelic voice.

  “Singing patches for everyone!” Roy announced. He reached into his bag and tossed patches in all directions as the scouts jumped up to catch them. Shivers rushed over to the railing to get his patch. “Over here!” he shouted, leaning all the way over with his arms outstretched.

  “Shivers—” Margo warned.

  But it was too late. Roy flung a round life preserver through the air, and it landed around Shiver’s shoulders like he was a human ring toss.

  “PULL!” Roy bellowed.

  The scouts yanked on the rope that was attached to the life preserver, and Shivers tumbled down onto the raft. “AAAAAAGH!”

  As soon as Shivers landed, Roy slapped a patch onto his coat that looked like the inside of a giant mouth. “That’s your screaming patch,” Roy said.

  Margo ran to the edge of the ship. “Hey! What in the Seven Seas do you think you’re doing?!”

  “Saving you from yourselves!” said Roy. “You can’t go to the Bermuda Triangle. It’s much too dangerous!”

  “That argument doesn’t work on her,” said Shivers, trying to wriggle free from the life preserver.

  “Give me back my best friend!” Margo demanded, her green eyes sharpening like two swords.

  Roy stepped to the edge of the raft. “Listen, little lady. If I let you go to the Bermuda Triangle and your ship sinks—and we all know it will—that would just break my big old heart.” He turned back to the scouts. “GET HER!”

  One of the bigger scouts hoisted up a heavy rope from the floor of the raft. As he swung it around his head like a lasso, Margo could see that there was a hook attached to the end. He tossed the rope up in the air and hooked it onto the ship’s railing.

  “Who wants a climbing patch?!” said Roy, holding a fistful of patches above his head.

  “PATCHES!” the Scouts shouted with glee. They scrambled onto the rope and started climbing up toward the ship.

  “Don’t let them get to you, Margo!” Shivers called up to her.

  Margo darted around the deck, searching for something to cut the rope before the Roy Scouts got on board, but everything on Shivers’s ship was soft and cozy. Even the sharp keys on his piano were covered in plush padding. She sprinted around a corner and skidded to a stop in front of a door labeled AX ROOM.

  “Don’t worry! I found the Ax Room!” she shouted down to Shivers.

  “Uh, Margo—”

  She flung open the door and saw that the room was full of saxophones. “What is this?!”

  “It’s my Sax Room! It’s where I play my smooth jazz!” Shivers explained. “The S must have fallen off the door!”

  Margo groaned. The Roy Scouts were halfway up the rope and moving fast. But then she spotted another door labeled SHARP ROOM. She eagerly looked inside, only to discover that it was filled with shining gold harps.

  “Shivers!” she said through gritted teeth. “This isn’t a Sharp Room, it’s a Harp Room!”

  “Oh, that’s where the S went!” Shivers said with relief.

  In a last-ditch effort, Margo rushed into the kitchen. She opened the silverware drawer, but it was all pudding spoons. The pantry held nothing but soft foods. Albee was still on the counter finishing his afternoon snack, looking rounder than ever.

  “You’re no help,” Margo said.

  “Can’t you see I’m eating?” Albee replied, his mouth full of butter.

  Margo swung open the freezer door. She pushed past trays of ice cubes with rounded edges—which Shivers had labeled NICE CUBES. Deep in the back corner, she spotted exactly what she needed.

  The Roy Scouts were just inches away from the ship’s railing when Margo burst out of the kitchen, brandishing a frozen piece of pizza above her head. It was frosted with jagged ice.

  “Pizza slice!” she bellowed as she brought down the icy edge and cut straight through the rope. The scouts dropped down into the ocean. They bobbed on the surface in their bright-orange life vests like oversize goldfish.

  “Wow! I didn’t expect that to work so well,” said Margo.

  “It’s sharp cheddar!” Shivers called up, still trying to free himself from the life preserver. He’d been keeping that piece of cheese pizza in the freezer for years in the hopes that he would one day overcome his C-sickness. But deep down, he knew that would never happen, so he was glad Margo had been able to make good use of it.

  Roy pulled the sopping wet scouts back onto the raft and announced, “Swimming patches for everyone!”

  “Hooray!” the scouts cheered.

  “Unfortunately, I’m going to have to revoke your climbing patches.”

  “Aww!” the scouts groaned. They scowled up at Margo.

  “If we can’t get onto the ship, there’s only one thing left to do,” said Roy. “Sink it in the name of safety!”

  The scouts reached into their pockets and pulled out small red tools.

  “Are those pocket knives?!” Shivers edged back in fear.

  “You only put a knife in your pocket once before you realize what a bad idea it is,” said Roy. “They’re pocket sporks!”

  The scouts flipped open the tools, revealing small silver spoons with pointy prongs. “The safest fork!” one of the scouts said.

  “Or the most dangerous spoon.” Shivers grimaced.

  “Time to earn your wood-carving patches!” said
Roy.

  The scouts paddled the raft over to the Groundhog and dug their sporks into the side of the ship.

  “Not my Hog!” Shivers wailed.

  Margo looked down at the scouts scraping at the hull in a frenzy. Wood chips were flying everywhere. Just then, Shivers finally managed to free himself from the life preserver.

  Margo pointed to the bag of patches on the floor of the raft. “Shivers! Throw me that bag!”

  “But I don’t have my throwing patch yet,” Shivers protested.

  “Just do it!”

  Shivers flung the bag into the air with all his strength. It wasn’t a lot. But it was enough. Margo reached out and caught the bag by its strap, leaving it dangling over the open ocean.

  Roy gasped. The scouts stopped carving at the ship.

  “Hand over the pirate or you’ll never see your precious patches again,” said Margo.

  “Never!” said Roy. “We can’t let you go to the Bermuda Triangle!” He turned to the scouts. “Sink their ship!”

  One of the scouts stood up and stared off into the distance. “But . . . with no patches, there’s no point.”

  “No point?” said Roy. “What about all the great safety tips you’ve learned?”

  “I can’t decorate my shirt with safety tips!” another scout said angrily.

  The Scouts broke into an angry chant. “NO PATCHES, NO POINT! NO PATCHES, NO POINT!”

  “Stop it!” said Roy, but the scouts weren’t paying attention. They got louder and louder, and threw their pocket sporks overboard in protest.

  Roy threw his hands in the air. “You’re throwing away your pocket sporks?! Don’t come crying to me the next time you want to eat spaghetti and sauce at the same time!”

  But it was no use. As is often the case when people are swept up in a great chant, there was no turning back. The scouts rocked the raft, and Roy’s eyes widened in fear. He could see his life’s work crumbling around him like an overbaked pie.