by D. J. Holmes
“…A whole ship?”
“Yes, the whole thing.”
“The whole ship sank?”
“Yes. Father said that it just disappeared; after it fell into the bubble the water just covered it up and they never saw it again.”
“What happened to her crew?”
“They didn’t have any time to make an escape and went down with it.”
Snapping her finger Kristen states, “Just like that?”
Snapping her finger back, Jaimie replies “Just like that!”
***
“Daniel, what are they talking about? How can a huge ship just disappear?”
“It’s a strange, but natural occurrence that very few humans know about.”
“…So what happens?”
“I want you to picture a door that you walk through that goes outside.”
“Just like the one that we walk through to go to the beach?”
“Yes. That’s a good example. Do you remember that when we open that door and we walk to the sand you can feel heat can’t you?”
“There is a huge difference in how cool it is in the Beach House and how hot it is when we walk out on to the beach.”
“That is how the earth is. There are faults, places in the crust of the earth’s surface that move at different times, like the door. Sometimes these faults move a little and very little happens. At other times they will move a lot and cause a great deal of damage, like earthquakes and tidal waves.”
Treyson’s eyes widen.
“In different areas of the ocean floor, normally close to a continental shelf or edge of land, there are mounds of what is called hydrate methane. It’s an ice crystal that is a combination of water and methane (gas). Sometimes when the earth’s faults move in these areas, they cause friction which causes the methane in the ice to catch fire. This is when you will see strange lights or colors coming from the ocean floor because of the fire. The fire melts the ice; the methane escapes creating a bubble full of methane. As the bubble rises it pushes the water to the side taking its place. Sometimes there are several bubbles and other times the bubble is larger than a ship; when either one happens the water density, in that area, is no longer capable of providing adequate buoyancy for a ship to float. As a ship begins to sail over that area it sinks; as soon as the bubble is broken the methane escapes to the air and the sea water fills in where the bottom of the bubble use to be and where the ship is now, never giving its crew a chance to escape.”
“So in other words it’s gone?”
“That is one way you can put it.”
“Without a sound or trace of what happened?”
“Yes, Treyson, what you have just said is sad, but true.”
***
While listening to Kristen, Jaimie and Stacey, Jaci has been looking down to the sea, pointing toward a ship that she has just noticed, “Then that ship is going to go down, just like that!” and snaps her fingers.
“What ship?”
“…That one. It’s heading right toward the colors that you were talking about.”
Marie adds, “What’s that huge thing behind them?”
Getting the looking glass, Jaimie can see a huge wave moving toward the ship. “That’s why they are going so fast. They’ve seen the rogue wave coming up behind them…it must be at least a hundred feet tall…DIANA WE’VE GOT TO HELP THEM.”
Diana has been concentrating on flying her ship and has not heard what they have been talking about, “Help who?”
Walking over to the wheel Jaimie says, “Let me take the helm. That ship can see the rogue wave behind them, and they are racing from it. But they can’t see the bubbles that they are sailing toward…”
“What are you talking about?” Diana questions.
“Kristen, Marie and Jaci explain what is happening to Diana.” Jaimie directs, “While, you’re doing that I’m going to take us down to help them.”
Quickly her sisters explain the situation to Diana. Once she understands, she starts giving orders. “Get your pirate uniforms on. We are helping them, but we don’t know what type of people they are. We have to be prepared.”
“Jaimie, where are you going to land the ‘Destiny’?”
“Next to her, we don’t have time to land behind her and sail up to her side.”
“Good idea. Stacey and Jessica, as soon as we are next to their ship, position the planks that the pirate ships in Ocracoke so kindly left behind… that we can get more people in a faster amount of time. I’ll walk over the plank and let them know that they are in danger and that they need to board our ship…after they are all aboard we will fly away from this mess… does that sound like a plan?”
“It’s a great plan, Diana.”
“Does that work for you, Jaimie.”
“It sounds like it should work.”
Diana wears everything except her long coat. Landing next to the pirate ship that is running from the rogue wave, Diana walks the plank from her ship to their ship. Looking in her direction the crew is having trouble comprehending how another ship is sailing by their side, but because of the situation that they find themselves in, they question nothing. The Captain turns around to face Diana. In her mind she says, “He is the same man that boarded our ship when we were resting next to Cuba.”
Recognizing Diana he asks, “Well now, where did you come from? Did you drop from the sky? I didn’t see you sailing anywhere close by.”
“We don’t have time to talk about this right now. I need you to…”
“So you’re following me, right?”
“Listen, I can see where you would think that every woman would be following you, but the reason I’m here is to save you and your crew.”
“…To save us?” He questions with his ego crushed.
Pointing to the direction of the wave, “Yes, you see that rogue wave…”
Looking back at the hundred foot wave, “Yes I saw that. That’s why we’re going as fast as we are. We’re trying to outrun it…” Looking over to her ship, he asks, “Which brings up a question, how is your ship going as fast as we are and you have none of your sails up?”
“I’d be glad to explain that to you as soon as you are aboard my ship.”
“Now why would we be any safer on your ship than in my ship? We both float on the water.”
Frustrated and realizing that time is short, Diana motions to Jaimie to raise the ship and then bring it down again.
Gray Wolf hears the sound of the planks falling onto his deck as the ‘Destiny’ rises; he notices Jaimie waving to Diana through glass from the bow and sees their ship raise and lower a foot or two, not to mention that they have no sails… Diana can see the shocked look on his face. “Listen whatever your name is…I don’t have time to explain anything. The only thing that I will say is that you are sailing into several areas that your ship will sink and none of you will survive…and since I’m on your ship, I’ll be going down with you…and I’d rather not do that… I have to complete my mission.”
“The same one you said you were doing the last time we talked?”
“Yes…now quickly will you get your crew aboard my ship?”
“Ramon, tell our passengers to come up on deck. They will be the first ones to board her ship.”
“…Aye sir.” Running to the stairs he yells, “Everyone on deck.”
As the passengers appear Diana asks, “Who are these young women and older men?”
“The young women are the people I said that I was going to return to their home. The older men, we found on the southern tip of Cuba where their ship had wrecked from those horrible storms in that area. It’s a wonderful story… these men actually turned out to be…”
“Hopefully you won’t take this as being rude, but our time is extremely short, would you mind if we talked about this later? We’ve got to get everyone aboard my ship before it’s too late.”
“…Whatever you say, beautiful lady”
Men put the planks back up on the railin
g. Looking at Jody he says, “Since you are their leader, you go first, and the rest of you follow her.”
“This is scary,” Jody says to herself but turns around to her sisters with a smile because she knows that she has to show leadership. She has to be strong like Daniel said that she would be.
Grabbing a rope off the deck, Gray Wolf holds one end while he throws the other end to one of Diana’s pirates. Tying another rope around her waist he lifts her up onto the plank and says, “Now hold onto this higher rope with your hand as you quickly walk to the other ship. The rope around your waist will protect you if you fall.”
Making it safely to the other ship, she takes the rope from her waist and throws it back so that it can be put on another girl. Three planks in different spots along the railing are connecting the ships, and the same process is being used for each person that crosses a plank. Finally everyone is aboard Diana’s ship
“Do we have everyone aboard?”
“I think so.”
“Since we are the only ones on this ship who is going to leave first?”
“I’m the captain, I’m supposed to leave last,” Gray Wolf states.
“Don’t stay too long, or we might all go down with you.”
“I’m right behind you.”
On Diana’s ship Kristen pushes her way through the other passengers to the railing, “Gray Wolf, Jody went back to get her monkey.”
In the middle of crossing the plank to get back to her ship, hearing the names of Gray Wolf and Jody yelled out breaks Diana’s concentration, as she looks back to the man she had been working with. Losing her balance she falls back, tumbling off the plank, heading toward the water, quickly grasping for anything to keep from falling into the sea. Gray Wolf springs into action and grabs her hand. Pulling her up, both Gray Wolf and Diana fall back into his ship. “Are you all right?”
“Yes.”
Bringing their attention back to Jody, they hear Jaci yell, “She’s up there on the bowsprit.”
“Why would she be on the bowsprit?” Diana questions.
“The monkey must be there. That’s one of his favorite places to go,” Gray Wolf explained.
Running to the bow, both of them can hear shouts coming from her crew, “Diana you are coming to the edge of the bubbles, HURRY.”
Throwing a rope to Gray Wolf, Ramon yells, “Tie this around you.” Quickly tying the rope around his waist he climbs up on the bowsprit where Diana has already climbed to get Jody. “DIANA GRAB JODY,” as he puts his arms around Diana.
Diana yells to Jody, “GRAB YOUR MONKEY,” as she puts her arms around Jody.
All of this happens in one split second as the rogue wave pushes Gray Wolf’s ship forward into the bubbles; the ‘Destiny’ quickly pulls up and flies to the right as the hundred foot wave continues on its way filling in the holes of all the popped bubbles, pushing Gray Wolf’s ship to the bottom of the sea.
As though nothing has happened the wave continues on its way.
“THAT WAS CLOSE,” Diana shouts while she, Jody, Gray Wolf and the monkey dangle in the air from one life line at the side of Diana’s ship, with the ever changing sea beneath them and the sea breeze blowing them back and forth.
“Yes, but all this is worth it.”
“What do you mean?”
“Everyone is safe, and I’m holding a beautiful woman. I wouldn’t mind being this close to you for the rest of my life,” Gray Wolf says with a great deal of pride.
“Is that all that you can think about at a time like this?”
“No, I’m also wondering how ships fly.”
“I’ll have to tell you that story, sometime.”
“Well, it looks like you can take your time, because I’m going to have to build another ship before I can go anywhere.”
“How are we going to get up onto the deck of my ship anyway?” Diana asks.
At that precise time a bucket large enough for Jody to sit in is lowered. “Jody, get in the bucket with the monkey.”
Once in the bucket, she and the monkey are pulled on board. One of the older men pulls her aside, “why did you go back for that monkey?”
“I had to father. If you couldn’t help yourself, wouldn’t you want someone to help you?”
“After being shipwrecked for so many years, I understand that all too well, Jody.”
Putting their attention back to helping Gray Wolf and Diana, Ramon starts yelling, “Gray Wolf, have…”looking over to her crew he asks, “What is her name?”
“Diana. Our Captain’s name is Diana.”
Hearing him ask their names, Jody and her father can’t believe their ears. “Diana?”
Ramon continues, “Gray Wolf, have her turn around so that you are face to face. That way she can hold on to you while we figure this out.”
Gray Wolf bends forward to speak into her ear, “Diana, turn around so that…”
“I heard him, I heard him,” she says a little out of frustration that she is in this situation, combined with a small amount of fear; she slowly begins to turn around. Finally face to face, she relents “I hope you’re happy with all of this.”
“I’d be happier if you would hold me tighter…I mean you wouldn’t want my arms to get tired would you?”
Holding him tighter she says, “Your men had better figure something out quickly.”
“I’m personally happy just where we are,” he says smiling and content with their situation.
“Oh really…” Looking around as she surveys her position and her surroundings, she grabs the rope above his head and begins to pull herself up.
While Gray Wolf is enjoying her movement, he is concerned for her welfare and asks, “Where do you think that you are going?”
“You might be happy hanging over the side like this, but since I’m Captain of this ship, I’d like to be giving my crew orders.” Holding onto the rope as tight as she can she steps onto his belt, then his shoulders and finally his head as she yells up to her ship, “Do you think that someone could give me a hand?”
Reaching over the railing, Ramon bends over as far as he can, while other mates hold onto him, pulling her aboard. Looking back down at Gray Wolf, he makes an expression like, “What happened, you had a perfect set up?”
To which Gray Wolf shrugs his shoulders and signals… “Pull me up.”
Diana’s first thought is to go to the helm to talk to Jaimie. As she opens the door, Jaimie looks back, and begins crying.
Running to her side Diana asks, “Would you like me to take the helm?”
Shaking her head yes, Diana takes over the helm while they both stand in silence for a few minutes.
Finally Diana asks, “Why did you begin to cry when I came in the door?”
“Because I didn’t know if we had you or not; I knew that I had to break away at that precise moment or that stupid rogue wave would have pushed our boat into the bubble also, sending us to the bottomless sea. Every time I looked back at that wave, I felt like it was reaching higher and higher.”
“Your timing was impeccable, as always Jaimie. Everyone made it aboard safely, even that monkey.”
“Who was the young lady that went after the monkey?”
“They call her Jody.”
“…Our Jody?”
“I wouldn’t think so. This Jody looks like she is either fourteen or sixteen.”
“What if the same thing happened to her that happened to us?
“Are you referring to how we grew up over night?”
“Yes. If it happened to us, why wouldn’t it happen to her also? And that would explain why Gray Wolf is so much older also.”
Sitting on the quarterdeck, Jody and her sisters are watching their rescuers and quietly talking.
“Look at these pirates. They don’t talk, and their eyes are scary…but if you’ll look closer, each one wears a rose necklace that looks just like ours.”
“Why would men, be wearing this type of necklace.”
“I don’t know, but I
’m going to find out,” a determined Jody declares.
As she stands up, her sisters reach out their arms cautioning, “Be careful.”
Walking up to one of the younger pirates she asks, “What is your name?”
Silence…
“Hasn’t anyone ever told you that it’s rude to not answer a question?”
Quietly Jaci answers, “Yes, but we don’t want those other pirates to know who we are.”
“…Why not?”
“Because we don’t know if we can trust them or not…”
“Gray Wolf and his crew are complete gentlemen.”
“Well you see there, even that name tells me not to trust them. A boy by the name of Gray Wolf helped Black Beard take our sisters.” Jody is shocked by this remark. “So we don’t trust anyone by the name of Gray Wolf.”
“What is your name? Please tell me your name.” Jody pleads.
“I am speaking only because you are close to my age, and you seem like you are nice…my name is Jaci.”
Pointing to another pirate, Jody asks, and what is that pirate’s name, “that’s Marie.”
“And that pirate?”
“Kristen.”
“Where do you live?”
“We were on our way back home to Martinique when we saw your ship in trouble…you see we have been looking for our sisters.…”
Tears come to Jody’s eyes, “Do all of the pirates wear rose necklaces like the one that you are wearing?”
“Yes… how would you know that?” her voice raises.
Pulling out her rose necklace she says, “My name is Jody.”
“Jody?”
“Yes, I am the same Jody that Black Beard and Gray Wolf took from Martinique.”
“You are my sister?”
“Yes… I know that I look older…I’m still trying to figure out what happened, but one morning we all woke up and we were all older.”
“That’s the same thing that happened to us. But it worked out for us because our fathers haven’t come home yet and it made it possible for us to look for you. Where are the other sisters?”
“They are over there sitting on the quarterdeck.”
Jaci looks in their direction. Feelings of sadness; a loss of time; familiar yet not familiar because of years of separation; scramble in her heart. Though for some strange reason the air is filled with excitement.
“There are so many adventures that we experienced trying to find you that I need to tell you, but before we let anyone else know, come with me.”