by Antony John
I sensed that I was losing Rose to sleep. I wanted to say good-bye, but the thought that I didn’t know when I’d see her again made my chest tighten. In my mind I begged for her to be alive when I returned.
CHAPTER 27
I brought food to Griffin. Told him about our plan to return to Roanoke Island. He promised me that by the time I returned, he would’ve cured Rose. I believed him too.
I took food up on deck, and we ate our fill. Drank all the water we needed. We wouldn’t be carrying any supplies with us—Alice had taught me that.
We waited until nightfall to return to Shallowbag Bay; specifically, a point just to the north of the bay, where we’d be partially hidden from the pirates. Our ship had drifted almost a mile across the sound, but I figured that might work in our favor. If the pirates on shore thought that we’d lost control of the vessel, maybe they would let their guard down.
Now that he had recovered, Dennis was eager to unfurl the sails and use his element. That wasn’t an option, though. Even though it was night, the sky was clear and the bright white sails were likely to be seen in the moonlight. No, we’d need a different element to help us this time.
Marin stood at the prow, eyes fixed on the water before us. Beneath the ship the sound stirred like a creature awakened from sleep. The surface frothed as she turned the water against the tidal flow, but the ship barely moved.
Nyla joined her. Marin was hesitant to combine, but when they linked hands the water around us came alive with eddies and rapidly shifting currents. The ship turned in an impossibly steep arc. We were moving toward our target, fast enough that a breeze played against my face.
Dennis lay on his back and stared at the stars, breathing deeply, relaxing while he still had the chance. I was tempted to join him, to seek comfort in the night-sky canopy and remind myself that we were small and the universe was infinite and somehow nothing was as horrifying as it seemed. Not even death. But Tarn was staring at the island, and I wanted to know what she saw.
“Nothing,” she said, before I’d even had a chance to ask. “No movement on the shore. I can’t get a clear view of Skeleton Town, but I figure they’ll be waiting for us.”
“If we get that far before the rats find us, we’ll be doing well.”
“I suppose that’s true. Another glorious chapter in elemental history.” Her voice was quiet, but not so much that the others couldn’t hear her. “Tell me, Thomas—now that you’ve seen them, have you wondered why we kept those journals?”
“You wanted a history of the elementals, I guess.”
“Not exactly. The earliest entries were by John White himself. He found the elementals, drew their portraits, and kept their secrets. But he was so blinded by the miracle of the elements, it was like he forgot to mention the conflict between elementals and non-elementals. After that, each generation added to the journals, keeping a record of every argument and skirmish, hoping against hope that the next generation would be the one to learn from these lessons, and avoid conflict altogether. But it has never happened, and I wonder if it ever can. History is intellect; the present is all emotion. I did what I did to survive, Thomas. I could apologize—I know, I should—but if I had to do it all over again, I’d probably do everything just the same.”
There was a point to all this, I could tell. But Tarn wouldn’t be rushed.
“When the dust settles, everyone has an opinion about the things we’ve done,” she continued. “Especially those who weren’t there. But I was going on instinct, and that instinct is what has kept me alive. It’ll keep you alive too, so please don’t second-guess it. Tonight, I honestly believe we’re fighting for our lives.”
Marin raised a hand, and the ship slowed. The night was eerily quiet.
“I still don’t see anything,” said Tarn. “If we’re going ashore, now is as good a time as any.”
Nyla gave me a brief, pain-free hug. “Please bring my brother back.”
“I will,” I said.
Dennis crawled over the rail and stepped onto the ladder. Tarn followed him. With barely a splash, they slipped into the water.
As I straddled the railing, Marin tugged my tunic. “I’ll be here,” she said. “Waiting for you. All of you.” She couldn’t look me in the eye. “And Thomas, I . . . I’m sorry.”
I figured that she was talking about interrupting Rose and me in the cabin. “You couldn’t have known—”
“No. I mean . . . I’m sorry for everything.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “I always thought Rose and I were alike, that she was comfortable with her role in the colony. When she began arguing with me on Sumter, it was as if she was rejecting me. Rejecting everything we’d done together. I thought that if we placed ourselves in Chief’s hands, he’d look after us the way Kyte had. I thought that you and Rose were jeopardizing our future.” Her face creased up, and tears fell. “I’ve let her down, Thomas. I let you both down.”
It was strange to see Marin like this. She’d always been an imperious woman, distant and often mean-spirited. I knew how difficult it must be for her to apologize, but she was apologizing to the wrong person.
“You need to tell Rose that,” I said. “And when Griffin’s ready—”
“I know. He and Nyla will save Rose. I truly believe it.”
The others were waiting for me in the water. They sculled their arms back and forth, holding position. I climbed down the ladder and joined them. Without a word, we began swimming, with Tarn in the front.
The water was calm. The breezes that had propelled the ship from Sumter were gone, so that the only noise was the gentle splash of our arms breaking the surface. Tarn set a slow, steady pace, more interested in conserving energy than in getting there quickly. Ahead of us, Skeleton Town was a black outline against the sky.
It felt strange to be approaching Roanoke in secret, as trespassers. We slowed as we got to within thirty yards, and stopped as soon as we touched the ground. Tarn held up her hand, demanding silence. She turned her head back and forth, looking and listening.
It seemed like forever before she gave us the all clear to wade ashore. We left the water and scanned the island for signs of the rats that we were convinced must be lying in wait nearby.
“We’ll head straight for Skeleton Town,” Tarn whispered. “If I raise my hand, it’s because I’ve seen pirates. Find a hiding place immediately.”
“What about rats?” asked Dennis.
Tarn hesitated. I couldn’t see her face clearly in the darkness, but I guessed what she was thinking: That sooner or later we certainly would see rats, and there’d be little we could do about it. “If you see rats, I suggest you run,” she said.
The night was dry but cool, and my wet clothes felt chilly against me. Beside me, Dennis shivered. “Keep moving,” I told him. “We’ll warm up soon.”
We kept tight formation as we picked our way through the crumbled foundations of buildings. Wild grass and rubble covered the ground, making it difficult to see where we were stepping, but we weren’t in a rush. As the evening grew late, our chances of catching the pirates by surprise improved. At least, that’s what I told myself. But we’d already encountered a seemingly desolate town once earlier that day, and look how that had turned out.
Tarn raised a hand, and I almost stumbled in my haste to stop. She pointed to a dark silhouette at least a mile away. “Light,” she said.
I narrowed my eyes and tried to make out what she was seeing. It took a while, but then I saw it: a dull glow above one of the buildings.
“It’s firelight,” she continued. “A torch. Whoever’s holding it is moving, but only a little.” Still she peered into the darkness, searching for answers, or at least clues about what lay ahead. Finally she lowered her hand. “Let’s keep moving.”
I was so focused on the uneven footing that I was surprised when, a short while later, I looked up and discovered we were nearin
g the center of Skeleton Town. We approached the main street from between two buildings. The walls were battered and the windows broken, but they hid us from view. At the end of the passageway, Tarn raised her hand again. I pulled alongside her and peered around the corner at the desolate street.
The torch, or whatever it was that Tarn had seen, was gone. The street seemed empty. But Tarn remained on edge.
“What do you see?” I asked.
She shook her head. “Nothing. But there are voices.”
“Whose?”
“I don’t know.”
We both stepped back as a pirate emerged from a building about fifty yards to the south. He had a candle in his right hand, and in its flickering flame I made out a rifle in his left hand. He crossed the street and sat cross-legged before a doorway.
“Strange,” murmured Tarn. “That building is dark, but he isn’t entering. It doesn’t look like he’s resting, either. So what’s he doing there?”
“Maybe he’s guarding something,” I said. “Something that mustn’t escape.”
“The clan folk,” offered Dennis hopefully. “They could be inside.”
“No. Tessa said the clan folk are in the hurricane shelter.”
“Shh.” Tarn was peering into the darkness again, straining to make sense of what she was hearing, even though it was inaudible to me.
As we waited, another pirate left the building and handed something to the new arrival. What if Kieran’s parents were inside?
A cry went up at the end of the street. It was loud and sudden and deep—a man’s cry. Even the pirate guard left his post beside the door to look at the spectacle unfolding no more than a couple hundred yards away.
There were noises from down the street now—voices, and pounding footsteps—but I still couldn’t see anything until Jossi emerged from behind a building, carrying a torch. In the yellow glow the scene became horribly clear.
Four figures were organized in a line across the street: Father, Ananias, Alice, and Jerren. They were perched on crates, teetering, about to fall at any moment. From the rigid way they stood, arms behind their backs and feet close together, I was sure that they were bound. I had no idea how long they’d been standing there, but they looked exhausted. How had they remained upright at all after everything they’d been through?
Then I got my answer. A few yards above them, a metal beam ran across the street, attached to the roofs of two buildings. And dangling from the beam were four identical ropes, which were wrapped around each of their necks.
CHAPTER 28
Tarn stepped forward. I had the feeling she would have run into the street if I hadn’t grabbed her sleeve.
“Alice needs me,” she hissed.
“They all need us,” I said. “But if you step out there, you’ll be captured too.”
Tarn breathed in and out, struggling to stay calm. I kept hold of her sleeve as she craned her neck around the building.
“That voice,” she murmured. “I know it.”
I looked too. The scene had shifted. The pirates were no longer interested in whoever had cried out, but in something else I couldn’t see. There must have been half a dozen pirates, and every one raised his rifle in warning. From so far away their voices merged together.
Dare emerged from the shadows, colorful arms swinging loosely at his sides.
The pirates didn’t look as if they were in a welcoming mood. Neither did my father, or Ananias. Only Alice and Jerren seemed unsurprised by Dare’s arrival.
Dennis wormed under my arm to check out the scene. Then he froze. “That’s Dare,” he said. “It’s Dare, I know it is.”
I pushed him back. In his panic, he wasn’t aware of how loudly he was speaking.
Dennis struggled against me. “Alice told us she watched Dare board the other ship.” He grasped fistfuls of hair. “She lied to us . . . about Dare.”
He clearly expected me to share his outrage. When I didn’t speak, he narrowed his eyes. “You knew, didn’t you?”
Tarn was shocked too, but seemed more concerned with the noise that Dennis was making than with Dare. She placed her hands on the boy’s shoulders. “Alice lied to us . . . all of us,” she told him. “But if the pirates are pointing their guns at Dare, that means he’s no longer their captain.”
“So?”
“So maybe he’s here to help us. Alice is his daughter. Ananias is his nephew. Right now, he doesn’t look like a man who plans to watch them die.”
“But . . . he’s Dare.”
“And for this night, on this island, you are more powerful than a hundred Dares.”
We grew quiet as Dare stepped closer to the men who’d once answered to him. They kept their rifles raised. I couldn’t hear what was being said, but it hardly mattered. The pirates were distracted. This was our chance.
“We need to get in there,” I said, pointing at the building across the street, where the pirate had returned to his place at the doorway. “That’s the only building with an armed guard.”
Tarn mulled over my suggestion. “What if the pirates see us crossing the street?”
“Dare’s distracting them. It’s dark. As long as we keep low and stay quiet, I say it’s our best shot.”
“But Dare’s a seer,” said Dennis. “What if he knows what we’re doing? What if he tells them?”
“He won’t,” Tarn answered confidently. “As long as they’re pointing rifles at him, he won’t give us away.”
Satisfied, Dennis followed me across the street, while Tarn brought up the rear. I kept my footsteps light and quick, and my eyes fixed on the pirate guard. When we reached the opposite side, we stayed tight to the buildings and headed south.
We were only twenty yards away when the pirate moved suddenly. We shuffled into the space between two buildings and remained completely still.
Several moments later, Tarn leaned forward to get a view of the street. She exhaled deeply. “He’s not looking this way,” she whispered, “but he’s agitated. Dare coming back wasn’t part of the pirates’ plan.”
“Then let’s hope he can keep them occupied a while longer,” I said.
There was no way we could tackle the guard, and approaching the building from the front would only attract his attention. So we walked along the side to the rear, where overgrown bushes engulfed the stone. We took it in turns to crawl under the gnarled branches.
“It’s the next building down,” said Dennis.
The battered back door was slightly ajar. It might have made a noise if we’d tried to open it more, so Tarn slid through the gap instead. I wanted to go in too, but hers was the only element that counted now. We had to know exactly who or what we were up against.
She was only gone for a moment. “There are two guards inside, plus the one outside,” she said. “You’ll hear them talking.”
“Who are they guarding?” I asked.
“I couldn’t see. But I don’t think Kieran’s parents warrant a three-man guard. I’m guessing that it’s Kieran himself.”
“Are the guards armed?”
“They must be, right?”
We were silent after that. Nothing that Tarn had told us was a surprise, but the danger felt especially real as we closed in on our target.
Dennis peered up at me. “Can you take them down, Thomas? With your element, I mean.”
“One of them, sure. But I’ll be lucky to get close enough to do that.”
“What if I distract them?”
“How?”
“A little breeze.” His voice shook, but he didn’t sound scared. If anything, he appeared alert and determined. “Just enough to make them look away. To make sure they don’t hear any noise we make.”
“We’ll need to stay close,” said Tarn. “You won’t be able to see as well as me, so follow my lead.”
“What if we can’
t see you?” Dennis asked.
“Just hold on to my tunic. We’ll go slow and steady. Surprise is key.”
We followed Tarn through the gap in the door. The building reeked of damp and mold, and the floor was coated in a layer of dust so thick that our footsteps made almost no sound at all as we edged closer to the guards. Unable to see anything, I closed my eyes and allowed Tarn to steer me.
The guards’ voices were quiet, but their words grew more urgent with every tentative step. “Dare” was repeated over and over between them, like a new word they were trying out but didn’t fully understand. They were on guard in more ways than one now.
When I opened my eyes I saw them in silhouette against the broken windows. They held their rifles close, while their nervous hands kept the barrels moving in tiny circles above them. It wasn’t going to take much for them to use those rifles, I was sure of it. Or to shout for help.
As we drew to within fifteen yards of the pirates, I saw Kieran at last. It was difficult to believe that this was the same child who had commanded an army of rats. He was lying on the floor, fast asleep. In the darkness he resembled Dennis, only with lighter, longer hair. He was small, maybe ten years old, a child caught in the crossfire of a battle in which he should never have had a stake. I even felt sorry for him. Then I realized that we hadn’t seen a single rat since we stepped ashore, which meant that Kieran must have maintained some measure of control over his element even in sleep. If we rescued him, could we really be so sure he wouldn’t turn that power on us?
We were only ten yards away from the guards now. My heartbeat was so strong that I was certain they would hear it. I wanted Tarn to stop moving, and for Dennis to distract the men, but she kept going. I had no choice but to follow as the distance separating us from the pirates slipped away.
Then one of the guards stood.
“What are you doing?” asked the other.
“Going to see him for myself. Dare was dead. We watched him drown. And I ain’t never seen a ghost before.”
