by Cate Cain
Tolly leaned across the table to place his bandaged right hand onto the large white hand of the other boy. As Tolly made contact with Fabien’s skin, the sick boy’s head shot up. He stared at Tolly and began to jerk and twitch in the chair, all the while making the high-pitched mewing sound, which grew louder and louder. He started to rub the back of his free hand against his eyes as if he was trying to clear something away.
Madame de Chouette glared at Tolly and lashed across the table, swiping his hand aside. She gripped Fabien’s shoulder, her long green fingers tightening like a claw.
Fabien began to cough, the sound rattling in his chest. He hunched his narrow shoulders up to his fleshy ears as the choking fit wracked his body, then he quietened and sagged back. His head flopped forward again and he was completely still.
“Good boy, it is over now.” Madame de Chouette relaxed her clasp and reached for another grape. She offered it to Cleo, who squawked and jumped from the tabletop into Tolly’s lap.
Jem thought he heard the woman hiss between her teeth. Then she spoke. “Such a pretty creature, but so wild. While you are my guest you must endeavour to control her, Ptolemy.” The woman narrowed her golden eye and turned to Trevanion. “I hear there are places on this earth where the savages eat monkeys, is that not so, Captain?”
Tolly’s arms tightened around Cleo.
Trevanion shifted uncomfortably. “I am afraid I do not know, Madame. Perhaps it is possible, but I have not yet come across them.”
“And you, Monsieur Valentine.” She smiled coquettishly at the young man. “Have you heard of these customs?”
Valentine shook his head and reached for a goblet on the table. “No, Madame, but as yet I have only travelled with the captain here. Perhaps, one day, when I am master of my own ship, I will visit those countries.”
“Indeed.” The woman nodded and popped the grape into her mouth. She swallowed with a smile and continued. “I have also heard of lands where the flesh of children is considered to be a delicacy. Boys are sweeter than girls, I understand.”
“I pray that I shall never set foot on such heathen soil.” The captain set down his own goblet, but Jem noticed that his hand was shaking. The chamber was silent for an uncomfortably long moment until Trevanion tried a new topic. “This … feast is admirable, Madame. I would not have believed that such a banquet was possible at sea.”
The woman cocked her head to one side. “I am always resourceful. You must eat – all of you. Try something.” Once again, the words rang out like an order.
The captain reached forward and took a chicken leg from a platter piled high with meat. He took a huge bite and, as he chewed, the tight, wary expression etched into his face was wiped clean away. “Why this is excellent,” he said through a mouthful of flesh. “Quite the best chicken I’ve ever tasted.”
Valentine reached for a glossy chop. His eyes glazed as he licked the salty sweetness from his fingers and rolled the taste around his mouth. “Superb!”
Madame de Chouette smiled and settled back in her chair. “And so we begin. I will be offended, Captain Trevanion and Master Valentine, if you leave my chamber this evening without trying every delicacy I have brought here for you.” She regarded Jem with an appraising eye. “You, boy, are nothing but skin and bone. Eat … while you can.” Her voice was musical and enticing.
Jem looked at the mounds of pies and platters of meat spread out before him and without thinking twice he reached forward to take a gleaming savoury tart. The golden pastry crumbled between his fingers as he raised it to his lips. He was desperate to cram it whole into his mouth. In fact, he wanted to eat everything on the table. A distant, muffled part of his mind asked how he could even think about food at such a moment, but he couldn’t stop himself.
“No! Don’t!” Tolly leaped to his feet and knocked the pastry from Jem’s fingers.
The air in the chamber froze. Cleo scrambled to Tolly’s shoulder and bared her teeth with a soft growl. Tolly took a sharp breath and glanced down at the pastry crumbs littered in front of Jem’s place. His mouth twitched.
“That’s twice now, boy.” Madame de Chouette’s voice was coiled tight as a spring. “I invited you to my table, yet you have disturbed my poor nephew and now you have insulted me by refusing my food.” She rose from her chair and leaned forward, pressing her gloved knuckles on the embroidered cloth. Silhouetted in front of the windowpanes, the woman swayed above the table. The folds of her dress arranged themselves into two sweeping drapes that fell from each shoulder like curved wings.
Tolly hesitated. “I … I am sorry if I have offended you and your … nephew.” He shot a look at the silent, slouching boy next to Jem. “I am afraid I am not used to such rich food.”
Jem was confused. Across the table, the air around Tolly and Cleo wavered. It was like a point far ahead on a dusty road on a hot summer’s day when a trick of the light offers a glimpse of a shimmering, distant, impossible land. Just for a second he thought he saw … He blinked and shook his head. No – there was just the door to the corridor in the wall behind Tolly. Alongside it was another great trestle heaped with even more fruit and elaborate pastries. His stomach began to rumble – the food over there looked delicious too. Perhaps he should take a grape?
Tolly’s voice came again. “I’m sorry, Madame, but I am unwell and must go outside for air. I think my friend should come with me. Will you come now, Jem?”
Jem’s head was muzzy. He was hungry and there was nothing more he wanted to do than eat Madame de Chouette’s food. After all, he was her guest. Tolly was being rude.
“Let the boys go. More for us, eh, Captain?” Master Valentine’s voice was thick and slurred. Jem looked along the table and saw that the skin of the young man’s face was slack and his eyes were glazed and sleepy. He was mechanically shovelling handfuls of food into his mouth and Trevanion was doing the same. The captain’s frock coat was now covered in greasy stains – he was eating like a starved beggar.
Somewhere in the depths of his mind, Jem registered that this was all very wrong. He glanced at Madame de Chouette, but she was staring at Tolly and Cleo. Her single eye was huge, round and completely black, and she rocked gently on her curled fists.
“Jem, please.” Tolly lunged forward and caught Jem’s sleeve. As he dragged him roughly from his seat, a platter of meats crashed to the floor.
Tolly moved his grip and clutched Jem’s hand. Instantly the room spun wildly.
Jem’s head exploded with light and searing pain. He squeezed his eyes shut. When he opened them again he was almost sick. Lying at his feet was a lump of rotting fat. It twitched as an army of thick grey maggots burrowed through its surface. If the sight wasn’t bad enough, the putrid smell made him bring his hand up to his cover his mouth and nose. He threw back his head to swallow some fresh air and was astonished to see that the low-beamed roof of Madame de Chouette’s chamber had vanished. Above there was only empty blackness.
Tolly tightened his grip on Jem’s hand and spoke again. “We thank you for your hospitality this night, Madame, but we must take our leave.”
The words seem to come from somewhere far away, as if Tolly was calling from the bottom of a well. Cleo chattered and clung to the collar of Tolly’s jerkin as the boys stumbled across flagstones towards an arched doorway far ahead. Jem was dimly aware of Madame de Chouette calling their names over and over behind him. He felt compelled to turn back.
“Don’t let go of my hand.” Tolly gripped harder. It felt as if they were wading through a bog – Jem’s legs were heavy and slow.
The woman’s voice came again. “Jeremy Green, I command you.”
It was no good, Jem couldn’t stop himself.
Jem turned and saw Madame de Chouette towering above the table, but now she didn’t look like a woman at all. Her dress was formed from jetblack feathers and the leather of her gloves had split to reveal curved bronze talons that clawed into the wood. She stretched out her arms and her sleeves unfurled like gian
t ragged wings.
“Return.”
Every muscle in Jem’s body ached to obey her.
“Get out! Get out now, wh-while you can.” Fabien was sitting bolt upright at the table and staring at Jem. His slab-like features contorted with what Jem guessed was pain as he forced himself to speak. “Sh-she cannot compel you to enter this place again if you leave without her permission. You must …” Jem locked onto the boy’s frantic, emerald eyes – and instantly knew who it was. Fabien was suddenly blocked from view by a huge black wing.
“It’s not far,” Tolly’s voice came again, as he yanked at Jem’s hand. Just before they reached the doorway, Jem saw a white powdery line on the stoneflagged floor, broken in the middle. The outline of a footprint glinted in the thin layer of crystals scattered beyond the break. Immediately he knew what he was looking at – salt.
He had crossed a line of salt at Madame de Chouette’s invitation – just like that time at Malfurneaux Place when Cazalon had called him into his room. It was old magic used to bind a soul. No wonder he had lost control of his senses.
“One step more, Jem.” He allowed Tolly to haul him over the threshold. A thud came as the oak door to Madame de Chouette’s chamber closed behind them.
Jem stared in bewilderment at the plain wooden walls of the cramped passageway they had seen earlier, trying to make sense of what had just happened, but Tolly still tugged at his hand. “We have to get outside.” He shoved the door ahead and the boys and the monkey tumbled down the steps and onto the deck as if the Medusa carved above the entrance was spitting them out.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“It was Ann! Fabien was Ann!”
Jem crouched on the moonlit deck and fought for breath. “We’ve found her – she is on board the ship!”
“I didn’t think you’d recognised her – you seemed completely under that woman’s spell.” Tolly gulped down a lungful of air. “I could see everything for what it really was, but the longer you, Trevanion and Valentine were there, the more Madame de Chouette was able to control you. You saw a ship’s cabin?”
Jem nodded.
“Well, I didn’t – just a vast, dark, cold space, like an old abbey or a ruined castle. There was a table set up for a feast all right, but the delicacies on it!” He shuddered. “Those grapes were some sort of roundbodied grub, like the grey things living in the ship’s biscuits but ten times bigger. And there was other stuff too, like rotten meat. When you were about to take a bite out of a lump of it, I couldn’t bear it any longer. I had to get us out. I wracked my brains trying to think of a way to get Trevanion and Valentine out with us too, but they’d already eaten from her table – I think that strengthened the spell.”
“What about Fabien? Ann, I mean? We could have taken her with us, Tolly. Why didn’t you try?”
“Because she told me to go. She warned me. I saw through that shell immediately but I had to find a way to reach her. It was Cleo, really, she created a diversion. Remember when I brushed Fabien’s hand and he started to twitch and make that odd high-pitched noise? That’s when I heard Ann’s voice, almost shouting at me. I think it was because I was touching her. She told me that we had to get out.”
“But we could have taken her too … or at least tried.”
Tolly shook his head. “And what would we have done then? It wasn’t the right time. Ann’s life wasn’t in danger back there, but ours were.”
“How can you say that? She’s a prisoner up there!” Jem’s words steamed on the freezing air. He turned to look down the deck at the hideous doorway. The dead black eyes of the Medusa bored into him. “We could have got her out.”
“Didn’t you understand what was happening, Jem? We were about to become part of the feast. Madame de Chouette was about to serve us up to the captain and to Valentine. They were so far gone they would have eaten anything. And she wanted Ann to take part in the feast too. Remember what she said about ‘appetite’?”
Jem felt a wave of nausea crash through his body as he stared at Tolly’s face. He was right, of course. He remembered Madame de Chouette’s words: “I have also heard of lands where the flesh of children is considered to be a delicacy. Boys are sweeter than girls, I understand.”
“Now do you see?” Jem nodded as Tolly went on, “Now we’re out of that … room, or whatever it was, we still have a chance of getting off this ship and making sure Ann’s with us when we do. For some reason, Ann’s so important to Madame de Chouette that the woman has kidnapped her, disguised her, and set sail with her for the new colonies. So I think it’s safe to say that she’s not going to kill her …” Tolly paused. “Not yet, anyway. We’ve managed to thwart that woman once, Jem. We can do it again.”
The Fortuna gave a great lurch and Jem clutched at the rail as a wave crashed across the deck. Jem looked up at the taut black ropes stretching overhead. He wasn’t sure Tolly was right. They might have escaped from her chamber, but they hadn’t escaped from Madame de Chouette. The Fortuna was her ship. Tolly might have outwitted the woman just then, but there was going to be a price to pay, Jem was certain of it.
“We can’t give up hope. Did you hear what Ann called out?”
Jem frowned. “Something about her – Madame, I mean – not being able to make us enter that place again if we left without her permission. What did she mean?”
“I’m not sure. But I think that, somehow, we managed to break her power.”
“You did, you mean.” Jem chewed his lip. “Why didn’t you fall under her spell too, like the rest of us?”
“Two reasons, I think. You saw the salt at the door? It was the first thing I noticed when I stood on the threshold. Because of what happened to you at Malfurneaux Place, I knew what it meant. I broke the circle with my foot as she called me in. The rest of you crossed the boundary at her invitation, so that gave her a hold over you – like that time with Cazalon.”
Jem nodded again. “And the other thing?”
“Well, what was it like, then?” Spider’s bony little face peered round Tolly’s back and up at Jem expectantly. He stepped between them. “Tell us about the grub. A lot better than weevil biscuits, I’ll be bound? I didn’t expect you two to be out yet. Ned reckoned there’d be at least six courses, decent grog and proper cheese at the end.”
Spider sniffed and looked down at his feet. Jem saw something round and shiny plop to the timber deck. “Pocket would have liked that. He always loved cheese.”
Jem hadn’t told Spider what had really happened to his friend. Word had gone round that Pocket’s fall from the lookout had been a terrible accident, but there were mutterings. Jem knew that sailors were a superstitious lot, but the men on board were talking openly now about the curse of the Fortuna.
Jem shuffled and glanced at Tolly. “I would have brought something back for you, Spider. But the food was —”
“Nothing special,” Tolly cut in. “You wouldn’t have enjoyed it. Trust me.”
“And I dare say I wouldn’t have the fancy manners for it, either.” Spider looked up and grinned sadly. Once again the gap between his front teeth reminded Jem of Ann. Instantly, a tremendous rush of excitement shot through Jem. She was alive and on board!
“Anyways, I only came up for an essential and now I’m going down again. I nearly got knocked over the side myself when that last wave hit.” Spider rubbed his hands together and slapped his arms. “I’m cold as a codfish tonight. I don’t know how you two can sleep out here.” He reached out to stroke Cleo’s nose and she chirped softly. “You coming down to the bilge box now, Jemmie? It’s not the same without Pocket. You can tell me about what you’ve just eaten and I’ll dream all the sweeter for it.”
Jem nodded. “I won’t be long.”
Spider turned to go.
“Wait,” called Jem. “If … if you ever need to come up on deck again, for an essential at night, wake me and I’ll come too. It’s not safe out here.”
Spider nodded. “I reckon someone should have told Pocket that, d
on’t you?”
The doorway beneath the Medusa mask swung open then, spilling light across the deck. Captain Trevanion and Master Valentine staggered down the stairs. The pair of them were whey-faced and dishevelled. Valentine had to grip the rail. He looked as if he might be sick at any moment.
“There they are.” Madame de Chouette stood outlined in the doorway above. Slowly she raised a gloved hand and pointed down the deck to the place where Jem, Tolly and Spider stood. Her black dress flailed in the wind and tendrils of her auburn hair whipped around her shoulders, making it look as if the serpentine curls from the Medusa grew from her own head.
“Call Grimscale immediately. I want them searched.”
The ring sat on top of a star chart across the captain’s desk. The large round ruby in the broad golden band gleamed in the candlelight like a globule of fresh blood.
“Turn out your other pocket too,” growled Grimscale. “Let’s see what you’re hiding there.” Jem felt a vicious prod at his back.
“Nothing – there’s nothing. I don’t even know where that ring came from.” Jem gasped as the jerkin was ripped from his shoulders, yanking his arms backwards so that his shoulders cracked. Grimscale shook the torn material and then delved into the pockets and lining. His face crumpled into a scowl of disappointment when it became obvious there was nothing to discover.
“Oh, I think you do, boy.” Madame de Chouette sat in the captain’s chair. She plucked the ring from the chart, pushed it over a gloved finger and held her hand out in front of her.
She turned it from side to side so that the red stone sparked. “It is an old family heirloom. I knew it was missing almost from the moment you left my chamber. No wonder you were in such a hurry. I remarked on it, did I not, Captain?”
She glanced up at Trevanion, who was standing at the other end of the desk. The skin on his face had a greenish tinge. He passed a hand over his clammy brow. “I must confess I cannot remember a great deal of our evening. Perhaps the wine was over-strong? I know Master Valentine is also afflicted.” It was true. After helping Grimscale to march Tolly and Jem along the deck to the captain’s cabin, Valentine had been violently sick and asked to be excused.