“Laugh all you want,” said Smitty, “but I’m on to something. If we want to scare away the pirates, we have to take advantage of what the island has to offer. Like the Islanders did back when they lived here.”
“You think they wore squash helmets?” Tim howled.
“Maybe if they wanted their enemies to die laughing!” Monty called out.
Liam lifted his headpiece and tossed it on the ground. “I told you the hat wouldn’t work,” he said to Smitty, who dove for it, dusted it off, and plopped it back on Liam’s head.
“You’ll thank me in battle.”
“What’s with your names?” asked Elmo. “Why Runs with Daggers and…” He grinned. “Butternut?”
“They’re intimidating,” said Smitty. “Well, Runs with Daggers is, anyway. Butternut pays a nice tribute to the island resources.” Just then he caught sight of Scarlet in the crowd. “Cap’n!” he cried. “What do you think? Would the Islanders have approved?”
All eyes turned to Scarlet.
“Well…” Scarlet knew Smitty didn’t mean to disrespect her ancestors. Not long ago she’d told him that they used plants for everything, even clothes. “I’m not sure they dressed up like…that.” She waved to Liam’s hat. “Maybe…when they wanted to be mistaken for vegetables.” The Lost Souls burst into laughter. “But, Liam, where did you find that squash?”
“In the jungle.” Liam took off his hat again and tossed it to Tim, who plopped it on his own head and began to dance a jig. The Lost Souls laughed harder and more of them joined in.
Scarlet watched her crew dance around Liam and Smitty, then she silently slipped away. She didn’t want to ruin their fun, but she was certain that her time could be better spent working on a plan to prepare for Lucas’s return with the Dark Ranger pirates. She headed toward Jem’s usual sleeping spot.
She found him on his belly on the grass, waving his bare feet in the air and drawing on his map with a big red feather dipped in berry juice. Scarlet had yet to look at the map, still hoping that her Islander instincts would kick in and she wouldn’t need to.
Upon seeing her, Jem sat up, looking serious. “I’ve mapped out a spot for the tree house village.” He moved over so she could share the cloak underneath him. “I think we should build a few more houses along the main trail so we can post lookouts to watch for invaders.”
Good old Fitz, Scarlet thought. He always had his priorities straight. No squash helmets or grass skirts for him. She sat down beside him but didn’t look at the map.
He noticed right away. “Don’t you want to see where the tree houses will be?”
“Oh, um…” Scarlet hesitated. “All right.” She took a quick glance at the map, then looked away. “Looks good.”
“Captain,” Jem said tentatively. “Are you actually trying not to look at the map?”
“Me?” Scarlet forced a laugh, knowing that if she explained her logic, she’d only sound loony. Again. Jem was a trustworthy pirate, and she didn’t want him to question her sanity. She didn’t want to question that herself. “Of course not! That’s silly.” She avoided looking at Jem as well.
“Right. I just thought…hey!” Jem straightened and squinted across the clearing. “Is that—?”
“What?” Scarlet turned, relieved at the distraction.
Jem stood up. “I thought I saw something…Scarlet, look at your things.” He pointed at her belongings, which she’d left in a neat pile. Now they were strewn about as if a tiny hurricane had blown through camp with an eye for her things alone.
“Again?” Scarlet jumped to her feet and ran to the other side of the pool with Jem close behind. When she reached the scene she stopped. Her coat, which she’d lately been using as a pillow, was gone. “Mon-keeeey!” she screeched.
“Wait.” Jem shielded his eyes from the sun. “Look, over there!” He pointed to the edge of the clearing, a good thirty yards away.
Scarlet turned just in time to see a shadow duck into the trees. “Monkey, if that was you, I’m going to string you up by your tail!” she shouted.
“Monkey?” Jem said. “I think it was a person.”
Scarlet shook her head. “I’m going after it.”
Jem didn’t hesitate. “I’ll come with you.”
“That’s nice of you, Fitz, but it’s not necessary. I can take on a monkey.”
“Sure, but what if it’s a pirate?” Jem replied.
Scarlet had no answer for that. She plunged into the trees with Jem fast on her heels.
CHAPTER SIX
Scarlet was sorely missing her boots. But with Jem trotting behind her in fine expensive footwear, she couldn’t bear to stop and remove the slivers that pricked the soles of her feet. She bounded on, trying hard not to yelp.
She thought she’d seen the thief a few minutes before, but now she wasn’t so sure. Whether monkey or pirate, it was small and light-footed and barely left a trail for them to follow.
“I think I see it!” Jem puffed behind her. “Swing right!”
Scarlet swung right, trying to scan the jungle, dodge trees, and avoid sharp objects on the ground all at once. It didn’t work. The toenail on her left big toe found a twisted root and lodged into it, bending backward as she tripped and fell with a shriek.
“Scurvy! Blast! Blimey!” She sat on the jungle floor cradling her foot, which bled where the toenail had cracked. “Did we lose it?” she asked without looking up at Jem. He looked back at her with a why-on-earth-did-you-give-your-boots-to-a-monkey face.
“I don’t know,” he replied. “Ugh, that looks painful.”
His sympathy made her feel a bit better. Scarlet struggled to her feet and limped on through the brush.
“Wait.” Jem turned around in a circle. “Which way were we headed?”
Scarlet paused, suddenly unsure. Giant ferns leaned in from all sides. Vines hung like ship’s ropes overhead, and tall, towering trees shot up to the sky, blocking the sun. They were in the depths of the jungle, and Scarlet couldn’t tell which way the thief had gone, much less which way would take them back to camp. She remembered the stories Scary Mary used to tell her of people who’d stepped into the jungle, lured by the voices of the dead. The stories always ended the same—the people instantly lost their way and eventually their minds as they wandered aimlessly in the jungle for the rest of their lives. Scarlet had found them terrifying, every one.
“Did you…bring your map?” she asked, cringing as she said it.
Jem shook his head. “It’s back at camp.”
Scurvy, Scarlet thought. “I say we go that way.” She pointed right.
“Uh…I don’t know, Captain. I think we were headed that way.” Jem pointed left.
She hated when he did that.
They looked around for a moment, then stuck out their fists and shook them three times before shooting.
Jem’s paper lost to Scarlet’s scissors.
“Blast. Best two out of three?” he said.
She shook her head, triumphant. “Come on. I have a good feeling about this way.”
But after a half hour of twisting around trees and ducking under vines, Scarlet’s good feeling had completely disappeared. Still, she pressed on with Jem at her heels, dodging giant ferns, climbing over rocks, and skirting bushes erupting with sweet-smelling flowers.
Suddenly the tree canopy opened up, the jungle curtains parted, and the pair found themselves in a clearing. Scarlet was about to cheer when she realized that this wasn’t, in fact, the clearing they called home. This one was smaller and didn’t have the tranquil feeling that made the other so special. A skinny stream cut through the middle of it, and big azure-blue butterflies flitted around.
“Where are we?” she asked.
Jem looked around. “I have no idea.”
Scarlet stepped toward the blue butterflies, but they scattered the moment her shadow fell over them. “Well, I guess I’ll clean this in the stream while we’re here.” She waved her bloody toe at Jem, who grimaced. They sat down
in the shade of a giant shrub covered in purple, trumpet-shaped flowers. Scarlet swished her toe in the stream and scowled as the water stung the open wound. The butterflies settled farther downstream.
Scarlet closed her eyes, enjoying the cool shade. “Maybe it’s a sign,” she mused. “Maybe the island is sending us where it thinks we need to be.” There, she thought. That put a positive spin on being utterly lost.
“Maybe it is a sign,” Jem agreed. “A sign that we both need a map.”
Scarlet opened her eyes, ready with a hot retort, but saw that he was smirking. He knew she was too proud to look at a map of Island X. She kicked up her foot and splashed him.
For a second Jem looked stunned. Then he laughed and splashed her back. “Admit it, Captain,” he teased, “you need a map!”
Scarlet soaked him thoroughly. “Map shmap! I don’t need that old thing!”
“Don’t knock my map! It’s—”
“Shhh.” Scarlet suddenly froze and cocked her head. She motioned for Jem to stop splashing. “Did you hear that?”
He shook his head, shedding water droplets that sparkled in the sun. “What?”
She could have sworn she’d heard voices. Spirits, animals, humans—she wasn’t sure. She listened again.
“He said what?”
Scarlet and Jem exchanged a wide-eyed look, then peeked around the giant shrub just in time to see three disheveled-looking pirates enter the clearing. Captain Wallace was in front, followed by Iron “Pete” Morgan and Lucas Lawrence, who were jostling for the spot immediately behind him.
“He said a bird dropped the ruby,” Lucas said as he elbowed Pete in the ribs. “One of those red aras, ’parently.”
Scarlet put her finger to her lips and pointed at the shrub. Making as little noise as possible, she flattened herself on the grass and slithered under its branches, then shimmied her way inside it. Jem followed. Soon both were huddled inside the shrub, peering out at the scene between droopy purple flowers.
“That,” said Pete, “is complete bilge, boy. Little Harry’s been into the grog again. You haven’t been around long enough to know whose stories to trust.” He shoulder-checked Lucas out of the way. “Isn’t that right, Captain?”
The captain turned suddenly, and his crewmen stopped shoving each other. “A ruby, you say?” His upper lip twitched hungrily.
“Uh-huh,” Lucas said. “Harry said it nearly fell on his head. Said he followed the bird for a while but lost it. That’s why he broke away from the crew when we were hiking back this morning.”
Scarlet and Jem looked at each other, wide-eyed. A pirate had actually witnessed an ara drop a ruby! Silently, Scarlet cursed her favorite birds. Why couldn’t they keep a handle on their gems?
“Bilge,” Pete scoffed. “Harry stepped off the trail to get into the grog. This is his excuse for not sharing.”
“I believe him,” Lucas insisted.
The nerve Lucas had, challenging Captain Wallace’s right-hand man! Scarlet wondered why Pete hadn’t strung him upside down from the main mast by now. Maybe, she reasoned, he was planning to use Lucas as smelly wild pig bait. That would certainly make her life easier.
Now the pirates were standing right beside the shrub. Captain Wallace reached out and absently plucked a purple bloom. He went to tuck it behind his ear, then slipped it in his pocket instead. “Maybe we should set up camp here,” he said. “It’s not as dark as the spot you chose, Pete. And I’ll bet there aren’t as many spiders.”
“Then tell me, gullible child,” Pete said, ignoring his captain, “have you ever seen a ruby fall from the sky?”
“No.” Lucas crossed his big arms.
“And does Mad Little Harry actually have the treasure to prove it?”
“Well…no. He said he dropped it running after the bird.”
Pete laughed. “Of course he did. See, Captain—”
“He what?” Captain Wallace shrieked. “He lost a ruby in the jungle? Why, that lout. That pitiful excuse for a pirate. Make him swab the deck for a year, Pete. No! Better yet, have him keelhauled!”
“Keelhauled?” Pete repeated. He hesitated a moment, as if debating whether the punishment really fit the crime.
“Too soft, are you? Fine then. Lucas, have Harry keelhauled,” the captain commanded.
“Done, Cap’n.” Lucas grinned, showing all his yellow teeth. The sight of them made Scarlet cringe. She resolved to brush her own teeth at least once a week.
“Good. Now let’s talk rubies.” Captain Wallace licked his lips. “They’re my favorite jewels, you know.”
“Mine too, Cap’n,” Lucas said.
Inside the shrub, Scarlet and Jem rolled their eyes at each other. Outside, Pete balled his hands into fists and pierced Lucas with a broadsword glare.
“Can I see the map, Cap’n?” Lucas asked. Captain Wallace pulled a scroll out of his coat. It was the map that Uncle Finn himself had drawn years ago.
Jem growled softly. “Thief,” he whispered.
“We’re right about here.” Lucas jabbed at a spot on the map. “Not far from the treasure, which must be where the Lost Souls are camped. When we ambush ’em, we’ll come from this side”—he pointed again—“away from the trail they’ll expect us to take.” He turned away from Pete, who had to crane his neck to see the map.
“Excellent,” Captain Wallace said. His lip twitched again. “We’ll attack them when they least expect it with our strongest men out front to slay those disgusting pigs.”
Scarlet looked at Jem. She didn’t like where this was going. Nor did she like how close the pirates were to their very noses. In fact, Pete looked like he was about to lean right on the shrub. And if he did…
Jem jabbed Scarlet in the ribs to get her attention, then tilted his head to the left. Following his cue, Scarlet looked and saw two more men march into the clearing.
More pirates! Scarlet wondered where they were all camped. Then she squinted at them between the leaves. These pirates looked strangely well dressed. And they walked with more of a clip than a swagger. And they—
Scarlet dug her fingernails into Jem’s arm, and he turned to her, slack-jawed.
“The King’s Men!” they mouthed in unison.
“But how?” Scarlet mouthed.
Jem just shrugged.
The King’s Men had halted and were staring at the pirates, who had yet to notice them. Lucas was crouched by the stream for a drink of water, and Pete stood behind him as if debating whether to push him in.
“You think the treasure might be rubies, Lucas?” Captain Wallace’s lip was twitching uncontrollably. He plucked another flower off the shrub.
“Seems like it.” Lucas dipped his hand in the water and slurped from it.
“Bah. Just because of some—” Pete began.
“It does, doesn’t it?” said the captain. “Can you imagine?” He dropped his flower and grabbed a fistful of blooms.
“I sure can! We’ll be rich!” Lucas slapped the water, splashing the blue butterflies and sending them fluttering off in a huff.
“A great big mound of rubies!” Captain Wallace tossed the crumpled flowers in the air and spun around. “There for the taking! It’s—”
Suddenly the captain’s eyes fell on the strangers, and he froze, arms outstretched. Lucas looked up from the water, and Pete looked up from Lucas. All three stared across the clearing at the King’s Men. Then they looked at each other. Then back at the King’s Men. Captain Wallace slowly lowered his arms.
For a few moments the men in blue didn’t move. Scarlet took deep breaths to slow her whomping heart and the voice in her head—her own this time—screaming, “How did they get here? What does this mean?”
Slowly, the King’s Men began to move closer. One raised a hand to the pirates, who looked at one another and shrugged. Captain Wallace waved back.
“Hullo!” one of the King’s Men called.
“Halloo!” Captain Wallace replied.
The King’s Men stopped a few y
ards away from the pirates. No one seemed to be able to think of anything to say.
“This is so awkward,” Jem whispered.
But Scarlet was barely watching the exchange; her eyes were glued on the newcomers. From their shoulders down they looked like twins, with identical blue trousers and identical coats with brass buttons. The one farther away had more little medals hanging over his heart and golden tassels on his shoulders—clearly higher in rank than the other. Their faces were different, though. The one nearer to the shrub had pasty, pockmarked skin and brownish-green eyes. The one farther away had a more stern face, with a sharp jaw and eyes the color of the sea after a storm.
Scarlet gasped, then slapped her hand over her mouth.
Outside the shrub, the pirates and King’s Men all paused at the sound and looked around. Seeing nothing, they resumed staring awkwardly at one another.
Jem looked at Scarlet quizzically. “What?” he mouthed.
She shook her head, squeezed her eyes shut, and then looked out on the scene again.
Nothing had changed. The Dark Ranger pirates still faced the King’s Men.
And the King’s Man farthest from her was still Admiral John McCray.
Scarlet’s father.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Jem wondered if Scarlet might be sick. She’d looked rather green since they’d witnessed the pirates meeting the King’s Men. Not that he blamed her. Having the pirates on Island X with clues about the treasure was bad enough. Throw in some blue and brass, and there was real trouble. Now they had to fend off two groups of much larger, much stronger enemies.
But still, he hadn’t expected her to react the way she did, all flustered and unable to concentrate. After their long run home (made longer by the fact that he’d steered them in the wrong direction—twice), Jem had to remind her to tell the others about this new danger. She’d been ready to go sit with the aras all evening.
“Right. Good call, Fitz.” Scarlet looked sheepish. “Could you round up the crew? Let them know it’s important.”
Thinking that “important” was the understatement of the century, Jem jogged off, shaking his head.
The Guardians of Island X Page 5