Island of Bones (The Djinn Kingdom Book 2)

by LJ Andrews

  “He’s close,” she said at the warning.

  “Anything?” Kale asked under his breath.

  “I don’t see it,” she responded in a shrill voice.

  “Captain,” Atlas shouted above them.

  “What now?” they heard Smythe hiss.

  “We seem to be off course,” Atlas said. “I can’t get us back. I have my compass here. It requires your skill.”

  Smythe let out an animal-like growl and stomped up the stairs.

  “Why do I have a helmsman?” they heard him say. “When I have to be doin’ all the navigatin’ meeself. Let me see that.”

  “Kale,” Nova said, her eye catching the spine of a brown book tucked far back on top of several others. “I think I found it.”

  Carefully, she pulled out the hidden book, her heart racing when she opened the inside flap. There it was, Varick Willock etched into the cover. “Got it.”

  “Stop,” Kale said, his eyes watching the ceiling.

  Nova felt as if the ship had overturned on top of her chest. Smythe was stomping down the stairs from the quarterdeck.

  “Get behind the door,” Kale said, shoving her.

  Just as Nova stepped next to the rusted hinges, Smythe swung the door open, pushing it so close to Nova’s feet, she thought she might stop it with her toes.

  “What are ye doin’ in me cabin?” Smythe growled. Nova heard him slide his cutlass from his belt slowly and methodically.

  “Sir, I’ve been waiting for you to return,” Kale said coolly. “There is something you should know about our journey to the Island of Bones I think will interest you.”

  “Is that right?” Smythe said. “What makes ye think ye have the right to enter a captain’s cabin? Crew addresses me on deck. Ye comin’ in the cabin without permission is a clear act for floggin’ by the brig master.”

  “Sir, I understand the risk of my actions, but this involves bringing up…my past military service,” Kale replied. Nova held her breath as she listened. Smythe was still blocking the door. All she wanted was to get her and Kale out safely.

  As he talked, Kale started walking in a wide circle, and Smythe circled the opposite way, holding his cutlass in front menacingly.

  “I have worked hard to prove myself to this crew, and I feared if I admitted for the other men to hear that I had reached out to a military contact when we stopped at the marshlands, I would face repercussions. With the men that might be…unpleasant. I believe most men have long forgotten I was once a soldier for the Royal Navy.”

  Nova felt her heart pounding as Smythe stepped away from the door, still oblivious to her presence. She smiled as she realized Kale was leading him intentionally in a direction so she could sneak out without him seeing.

  “Aye, ye would be correct. It be treasonous to speak to the Royal Navy on me crew. I wonder why are ye tellin’ me this when I will kill ye for sure.”

  “Sir, I remembered hearing about the Island of Bones in my service. I come with information about the journey there. If I’m to be accepted to the crew completely, I think it in my best interest to tell you if there is something worth pillaging on the way.”

  “What are ye sayin’?”

  “My contact reminded me of a royal treasury just off one of the lower Keys. The Keys are on the way to the Island of Bones, are they not?”

  “Why should I believe ye, brig master? Ye have never been truly loyal.”

  Kale eyed the doorway quickly, meeting Nova’s eye. Smythe was out of sight from where he stood in the room.

  “Send scouts if you’d like when we get to the Keys. Prove what I say is truth. I hope you’ll forgive this one offense of coming to your cabin to let you know of one of the grander royal treasuries. Besides, with Insel dead and the monarchy in chaos, now would be the best of times to take your fill.”

  Kale now stood directly in front of where Nova hid silently behind the open door. His hand flicked to the side. He was signaling her to leave. Slowly, she inched her way out from behind the door. Her feet remarkably made no sound as she slithered behind Kale. Smythe was facing one corner, not the window where he might catch her reflection, but the corner. It seemed odd. He stared at the wall for no apparent reason. As Nova disappeared through the doorway, clutching her father’s ledger, she thought of what Madame Sienna had said. Djinn twist fate for their favor. All she’d wanted was to leave, and the captain happened not to impale Kale for breaking ship rules. The door hadn’t touched her. Smythe was in the perfect position to escape unseen. It all seemed too remarkable.

  She waited outside the cabin, no longer able to hear Kale’s conversation with the captain.

  “Nova,” Atlas called down in a forced whisper. “Success?”

  She nodded quickly, glancing around to make sure no other crewmen saw her. Finally, Kale made his way out of the cabin. Nova realized she’d been holding her breath when she released a long blast of air.

  “I wasn’t sure you’d make it out of there,” she said.

  “Well, let’s hope the treasury is still there, or I’m a dead man,” he said.

  “Wait, you really know the way to the Island of Bones?”

  “No, but I remember being on the keys when I was in the service and a local drunkard spoke about a cursed island of bones. Smythe confirmed we would be passing the Keys on our way, though that was just luck. I didn’t know if that was the right way.”

  “So, there was no military contact?”

  Kale shook his head. “You think the Royal Navy would help a pirate? That’s how they see me now. I just thought of something quickly to distract Smythe long enough for you to get out. The idea just…came to me. And I suppose for now, we’ve bought ourselves some time.”

  “You don’t think he saw me, do you?”

  “Not a chance,” Kale said, shaking his head. “I wouldn’t be alive if he had.”

  “Thank you for helping me,” she said, looking at the deck.

  Kale’s face fell flat. “I hope you find what you’re looking for in that ledger. I will plan to speak again as we get closer to the Keys. That’s when we should plan our move on the island. Good-night.”

  Kale walked away, saying nothing more. Nova stood silently watching him leave her alone. He didn’t want her around, not unless they were planning their escape. It was becoming quite clear where she and Kale stood with one another. Nothing more than a true means to the end. A means for her to escape and continue her search for answers, and a means for him to return to his loving home and loving fiancée. Nova was nothing more to Kale Tucker than a part of the plan.

  Taking a deep breath, Nova rushed to the gun deck and snuggled in between one of the broken cannons. She made sure she’d be concealed from the stairs should anyone come down. She opened the ledger carefully and brushed her fingers gently over the words written in swooping calligraphy like beautiful ribbons. It was her only connection to her father now.

  “No matter what you’ve done, Father,” she said to the dark. “I have to find you. I’m ready for answers.”

  Chapter 15

  Mark of Phoenix

  The creatures were not men. Two had no eyes, yet seemed to see into my soul. Captain used their guidance to help us find the token that would lead us to Dia. It seemed foolish to be indebted to such cunning debtors. Were I captain it would have been different...

  Nova read the marked page Smythe had left in the ledger. That was how he’d known about the Three Brothers. Her father was careful in his wording, so as not to divulge too much. She yearned to learn how he’d called himself captain. The seal of the Scarlet Moon was on the front of the ledger, yet he never mentioned his captain’s name. She wondered if it was truly possible he sailed under Captain Phoenix.

  The meal bell sounded, but Nova flipped through the pages trying to find something more about the mountain of Dia. Near the end of the ledger, three words caught her attention.

  It is real.

  Nova scanned the page, and her heart seemed to stop as she read her f
ather’s report.

  We arrived at the mountain. I have seen the white temple with my own eyes. Our journey will not be complete until the treasure is claimed. The captain will not be left to squander it. I will report once we have visited the temple.

  Nova dragged her finger down the page, holding her breath as she read the next entry. “Nearly eight days later. What happened in that temple?” she asked out loud.

  She is brilliant and has taken a keen interest in me. Captain does not take well to this. I must shield my inner thoughts, for I fear she may detect my true intentions. The great one guards her fiercely, but I will not leave this mountain without her. The greatest of treasures is within my grasp.

  The great one requested a private audience. I told her of Captain’s plans to betray her. Which of course I plan to do as well, but for some reason, she chooses not to see it in me. Charles Smythe, second mate, has joined in my plotting. He will take the treasure by force if she will not come and while he is thieving, the great one has agreed to imprison the Captain for his treason against her. The plan is not without risk. We must leave the mountain before the great one catches on to us. She has no power in Launi according to Smythe. It is with great hope he is true in his information, or even the treasure will not save me against her wrath. I will report back after my meeting with the great one.

  Nova leaned back against the cannon, her mouth dropping in disbelief. So Smythe was the second mate. He did help Varick on Dia; until then she’d always believed he’d been lying about being to the mountain. But who was the great woman he spoke of? What was the treasure? She cursed her father’s cryptic pirate language before continuing. It was on the last page of the ledger, the final log, that her heart felt as if it might beat out of her chest as she read.

  It is done. The great one entrapped the captain and remarkably that fool Smythe was able to smuggle the treasure off the mountain before the great one noticed. She, the greatest plunder I could imagine, is now in my service for all time. Of course, once we launched into the sky, under great fire by the black knights of the Djinn temple, I had to excuse Smythe from service. I could have left him for dead on the mountain. But after great urging from the treasure I am assured if I maroon him on one an unknown island, we will still succeed in escaping unscathed.

  So it is with great pride, my worthless first mate, Charles Smythe, no longer has the treasure. It was unwise of him to believe it would ever truly be his. My new mate is a loyal man I call Briggs, though he will not tell me his true name. Captain Phoenix is imprisoned Below, with no way of escape.

  I end this ledger not as Varick Willock, first mate of the Scarlet Moon, but as the new Captain Phoenix. With the treasure of Dia, I am certain Launi Kingdom will never be the same.

  Nova wiped a hot tear from her cheek as she read her father’s pillaging tale. His words carried no warmth, no feeling for others. They were not the words of the patient, loving man by whom she’d been raised.

  Nova bit her lip, holding back the tears for her rough Uncle Briggs. She was certain he was the same first mate her father had written of. As the truth hit, she covered her chest with her open palm trying to calm the painful pressure building. Two pirates had raised her. Her father had assumed the role of Captain Phoenix after betraying the real man. All those stories Briggs used to tell her of the great adventures of Phoenix, they were true. The stories were Varick’s adventures.

  Nova scanned the words again. He spoke of the treasure as an object, but at times as a person. It peaked her curiosity. Then she saw the words Djinn Temple.

  “No,” she whispered. “Did he…did he steal a Djinn?” Nova let out a long breath.

  It was absurd. Djinn couldn’t exist. Closing the ledger, she felt a pang of disappointment. She understood Smythe’s vendetta against her father in greater detail, but felt more confused than before. The only person who could answer her questions was Varick himself, or Briggs. She thought about her mother’s note. Briggs was going to Mollem to wait for her. Nova decided once she escaped she would return home and find her Uncle Briggs. He had to tell her the truth.

  “Nova,” Atlas’s voice echoed along the gun deck.

  She wiped her cheeks, not wanting to show her emotion in front of him. “Over here,” she called back.

  “Did you find anything out?”

  She shrugged. “It seems my father really did find Mount Dia. He is very cryptic, but he spoke of a treasure and the Djinn Temple. I found out why Smythe hates him and wants me dead. My father marooned him on a micro-island.”

  Atlas lifted his eyebrow. “Really? No wonder Smythe wants revenge so badly. So, he only spoke of a Djinn Temple, not an actual Djinn?

  Nova nodded. “For all we know, this temple could simply be called the Djinn Temple, and actual Djinn don’t exist. Perhaps that’s where the legends come from.”

  “I suppose,” Atlas said. “It still bothers me what Madame Sienna said about you, though.”

  “Oh, and if I ever find Captain Phoenix, then I’ll be speaking to my father,” she said bitterly. She’d left home seeking help from Phoenix to find her father, but she’d sacrificed her freedom searching for the same man.

  “What?” Atlas asked.

  Nova explained Varick’s betrayal and assuming the name Captain Phoenix.

  “Unbelievable. He struck fear into the skies. I remember hearing tales when I was a boy and then all at once reports stopped. No one saw him. My father once told me it was around the same time I was born. He remembered, you see, because he followed up by telling me it was the year I killed my mother,” Atlas said.

  “Why did he stop?” Nova wondered out loud.

  “Maybe he met your mother,” Atlas suggested. “There’s a lot a good woman can do for wayward men.”

  Nova flushed hearing the underlying meaning in his words. “It could be possible. I would’ve been born a few years later if that is when he truly left piracy.”

  Atlas straightened. “Nova, what if he’s back.”

  “Who?”

  “We saw the mark of the Scarlet Moon on that shipwreck. Nova, what if your father knows you’re with Smythe? Do you think that could’ve been him sending a message? It’s possible he’s assumed his old name again.”

  Nova’s heart leapt to her throat. “I…I never thought of that. But why would he leave me on the ship for so long? Wouldn’t he come after Smythe? And, honestly, if your theory is true, that means my father killed people…again. I can’t imagine that of him.”

  Atlas took a deep breath, leaning against the cannon’s base. They sat in silence for a long moment until a sudden commotion broke out on the main deck.

  “What’s going on?” said Nova.

  “I don’t know. Come on, let’s go see.”

  Nova carefully tucked the ledger underneath the broken cannon without Atlas seeing before following him to the upper deck. Much of the crew was lined up along the port side rail leaning over as if reaching for something in the sky. Men were shouting from the rigging above the deck. Some rushed along deck holding muskets and pistols as if going to war.

  “Come on, over here,” Atlas said, pushing his way to the edge of the rail.

  Nova peered into the thin wisps of clouds below. Bile rose in her throat. Countless bones dotted the skies, all floating on broken bits of a ship. Manu from the ship’s keel kept the torn-apart skeletons afloat for all to see. Each portion of human remains had been strategically placed in a slow current, tied down with heavy rigging rope. Below, she saw a crewman climb up the side of the ship on a rope ladder with something lodged beneath his arm.

  Pulling himself over the side, he rushed toward Captain Smythe. Nova pushed her way closer to the quarterdeck so she could get a better look. Nova saw what Smythe held in his hands and gulped. It was a human skull. Smythe stared at the surface with fear and anxiety.

  “It be true, Cap’n,” the delivery pirate said. “It be the seal again. Cap’n Phoenix, he be after us.”

  The pirates howled in protests of
wonder, fear, and pirate war. Nova pushed her way up the stairs near Smythe. He held the skull firmly between his hands. Nova held her breath; the seal of the Scarlet Moon was crudely carved into the bone on top of the head.

  “You’re afraid of him, aren’t you?” Nova whispered.

  Smythe raised his eyes slowly. They filled with hate for her, but she saw it, the fear deep within him.

  “There, that small island with red sand on its coast,” he said pointing to the distant. The sand was unmistakable, brightening the rocky coast like a ruby in the fog. “That be the Isle of Blood. This current, filled with death, it is what keeps the isle in place as a marker for those seeking the Island of Bones. It would seem Phoenix made this a true bloody scourge of the skies. I cannot count how many bodies be down there.”

  Smiling as Smythe grew more anxious, Nova stepped closer to the skull in his hand and rubbed a finger over the seal. “Do you suppose this could be my father? He did once take on the name of Phoenix, and he would be quite angry you are keeping his daughter prisoner.”

  Smythe straightened. “Ah, so ye were in me cabin last night as well. So, you’ve seen the truth in the ledger then; I suppose ye read the part where yer pap betrayed those who helped him?”

  “What I read revealed he was once a pirate, yes,” she said. “I’m not sure why it should surprise you. Even you would say pirates are not the most honorable of sorts.”

  “There be codes for a reason, missy. And he broke them all!” he shouted. “Yer brig master will be joinin’ ye on the Island of Bones for certain now. I knew he was actin’ strange. Just know, last time I watched a crew enter that jungle, only one of ‘em came back. It pleases me to know I’ll be sendin’ ye both to a torturous death, better than I could ever bestow.”

  Smythe threw the skull over the side of the ship and tromped down the stairs before turning around a final time. “Oh, and Miss Nova, I don’t believe this is yer pap’s doin’. From what I heard, the second Captain Phoenix took what he wanted without murderin’ a soul. I’m certain Varick was able to plunder without spillin’ blood because she helped him, even if he stole her from me. If these killin’s be the work of Phoenix, then Varick Willock is certainly dead, for he be the one who betrayed ‘im in the first place.”