by E. G. Foley
“Hmm,” said Jones with a dark stare that seemed to have all the weight of the sea behind it.
“Come on, eight,” Jake mumbled, a little unnerved. He cast the knucklebones out of the dice box.
Five: a two and a three. Whew.
“Roll again,” Jones said.
Jake scooped up the dice.
“No one’s ever done this before, you know,” Jones remarked as Jake shook the dice box. “Volunteered to trade places with me.”
“From what I know about curses,” Nixie said, “there are only two ways to get rid of one. If it can’t be broken, it can usually be transferred to a willing volunteer. It usually has to be an innocent person, so the wicked souls of drowned sailors you collect probably don’t qualify.”
“Aye, and by the time they meet me, they’re usually too scared to think straight,” Jones said in amusement, studying Jake. “But not this kid.”
Jake shrugged. “I don’t scare too easily.”
“Ha!” Jones let out a short bark of grim laughter. “Daresay you’d be perfect for the job, then. It has its moments, I suppose.”
Jake shook the dice box restlessly, ready as before to use his powers to get the result he wanted, but only as a last resort. He knew he’d better take care not to make Jones any more suspicious than he already was. There was no telling how he’d react.
He cast the dice again across the table: four.
Safe.
His next roll came up a ten. With every throw, it seemed more likely he would roll the seven. He was getting nervous at his own good luck, and that meant it was time to bring this charade to a close.
At last, Jake’s next roll produced the needed eight. He hadn’t even needed to cheat!
He sat back with a grin and a genuine sigh of relief. That must’ve been the easiest saving of the world ever.
“I win. Arch, Nix, let’s get out of here.” He started to stand up. “Nice playing against you, sir. We’ll take the orb and be on our way—”
“Not so fast! This isn’t over yet! I didn’t say they both could go!” Jones shot out of his seat and leaned menacingly over the table across from Jake, clapping him back down again with a clammy, blue-tinged hand on his shoulder. “One. I’ll let one go. If you want to try for the other, we play again.”
“That wasn’t what we agreed on!” Jake exclaimed.
“Take it or leave it, kid. Three prizes ought to take three rounds.”
Jake scowled at him. “You just want more chances.”
“We’re not wagering for tuppence here, lad. You want to play for high stakes, then welcome to the big boys’ table. One friend only may go this time, or I keep all three and you can turn around and walk away. Your choice.”
Jake and Archie exchanged a meaningful glance.
“Nixie,” Archie said in a strained voice, gesturing toward the hatch. “Ladies first.”
She scoffed at his gallantry.
“Go on, Nix,” Jake urged. “Maddox and Isabelle are waiting in the Turtle to pick you up. When you leave the Locker, swim over and hold on to the top of the sub. Maddox will carry you to the surface, then let you in the hatch.”
She looked from one to the other, then finally nodded in dismay.
“Here. Don’t forget your mask,” Archie said, handing it to her and tenderly helping her to put it on. “Try not to ascend too quickly, all right?”
She shook her head at him. “I don’t see why you shouldn’t be the one to go, Arch. You’re more valuable to the world than me–”
“Nixie!” both boys cried. There was no time for this.
“All right, all right, I’m going!”
Yes, Jake thought, before this madman changes his mind. After Jones’s sneaky, last-minute switch of the rules, Jake didn’t feel so bad about his willingness to cheat if necessary.
“Thanks for doing this, Jake,” Nixie said in a low tone before tightening her mask and sealing it over her face. As she hugged Archie goodbye, Jake believed she whispered something in his ear.
It strengthened his suspicion that the pair had already hatched some scheme. But he could see they were being careful not to let Jones notice their duplicity.
Then Archie bade Nixie a strained goodbye—all three of them well aware that this still could go very wrong.
Jones made the boys follow him so he could keep an eye on them as he escorted Nixie to the hatch. While Jones told his crew that she had his permission to leave, Archie elbowed Jake. He started to try to tell him something, but Jones turned around, eager to get on with the game.
Archie dropped his gaze and kept his mouth shut.
Jake wondered what it was.
“Go,” the captain ordered, leaving the hatch open this time in his haste to return to their wager.
Forced to walk ahead of him, they had no way to communicate without being seen or overheard. They returned to the tavern section in silence, and Jake returned to his seat at the gaming table.
“Now then. Round two,” Jones said, dropping heavily into the chair across from him. “The game starts over. Roll a new Main. Remember—a two, a three, or a twelve—”
“And I automatically lose. Yes, yes, I remember,” Jake said. Hopefully, he might just roll a seven or eleven and automatically win. Then Archie could at least get out of here, although Jake supposed the captain would probably force the boy genius to finish fixing the orb and then show him how it worked before he’d let him leave.
Archie stood near the table, anxiously watching the throw of the dice that would decide his fate.
Jake’s Main roll produced a nine. Since he had neither won nor lost, the game moved on to the Chance round.
“Try to roll another nine, Jake,” Archie offered helpfully. “Just stay away from sevens.”
Jake sent his cousin an exasperated look.
Meanwhile, Jones never took his eyes off him. The hope of getting out of his cursed fate after all these endless years seemed to have taken hold.
“Come on, nine,” Jake said under his breath, just for show.
Thanks to his powers, he was reasonably confident he could call up any number he wanted, but it had to be convincing.
His second roll resulted in eleven: a five and a six. Though the sum would’ve meant an automatic win on the Main, it was unfortunately meaningless in the Chance portion of the game.
“Come on, seven,” Jones mumbled, leaning forward and staring at the table as he waited for the next throw.
Jake cast the dice yet again; and suddenly, time seemed to slow to a drip. Jones gasped as one of the dice came up a five and the other, rolling farther, landed on the two. Jake froze. But he could see the four was right around the corner from the two, so he flicked his finger discreetly; with a motion delayed scarcely by the blink of an eye, the second die rolled one more time, flopping over from the two to the four.
His desired nine rather than the losing seven.
“I win,” Jake said coolly.
Jones lifted his gaze in bewilderment from the second die to Jake. “You cheated,” he said in shock. “Cruel child.”
Rage burst across his face. He suddenly leaped to his feet. “You’d dare cheat me aboard my own ship? In so grave a matter as this?” he thundered, pulling his knife out of the table. “Why, you brazen little— That’s it!”
“Don’t hurt him!” Archie cried as Jones grabbed Jake by the arm and yanked him to his feet.
“You!” the pirate captain roared, turning to the boy genius as he hauled Jake roughly around the table. “You get that thing working right now, or I’ll slice your cousin’s lying little throat!”
Before he could make a move, Jones had his blade pressed against Jake’s neck.
“All right, all right, calm down!” Archie said. “It’s almost ready.”
“Archie, don’t help him!”
“Jake—I have no choice,” he said. But behind his spectacles, there was the tiniest glint of defiance in Archie’s dark eyes.
It gave Jake a small twinge of hope.
As Archie hurriedly put the last two wedges of the orb back together, a pair of horrid-looking sailors climbed up through the hatch and ran through the cargo hold, clambering into the tavern area.
“What is it, Cap’n?” It was Swordfish Nose again, along with a dreadful moray-eel-looking fellow.
“Watch him!” Jones handed Jake over to them, and they held him roughly by the arms. “Keep his hands behind his back on account of his devilish talents! I’m tired of these insufferable brats and their tricks. Now then…you.”
“Leave him alone!” Jake protested as Jones stalked toward Archie, menacing him with his blade.
“I say! There’s no need for violence.”
Jones grabbed Archie by the lapel. “You told me you’d fix it. And I told you what would happen if you failed me.”
“It’s fixed, it’s fixed! See?” Archie held up the orb: a smooth, complete sphere once again.
Jake’s heart sank as Jones snatched it from his grasp.
“So you claim. We shall see. How do I get it started?”
“I-I can turn it on for you, Captain. But allow me to explain first what will happen. It’s all rather precise.”
“Start talkin’.”
“Once the device activates, you’ll see these crystal chips light up around the edges. It will then start to give off a peculiar sonic hum—creating an energy field of sorts made of sound waves.”
Jones narrowed his eyes skeptically.
“Archie, don’t tell him anything—”
“You boys want to die?” Jones interrupted, looming over his cousin.
Archie shot Jake a scowl as if to say, I can handle this! Then he turned back to Jones with a look of angelic sincerity. “You see, Captain, Atlantean technology was far more subtle and sophisticated than ours. Once the orb comes to life, as it were, it will begin to levitate and transform itself automatically from a sphere to a disk, and it will spin.”
“Spin?” Jones echoed, clearly dubious.
Archie nodded. “Trust me, you’ll see. But before you can give it your commands, it will need to scan you, almost like we would read a page, only it works off sound frequencies rather than visuals—like whale songs,” he said, using a comparison the ancient mariner would understand. “First it needs to know whose sound frequencies—whose commands—to follow. So it will have to take an imprint of your voice, and then you’ll be able to tell it whatever you wish it to do.”
“Aha.”
“When the time comes, you’ll have to lean close to the orb and speak loudly over it, while holding out your hands, like this, so it can, er, read your energy. But don’t actually touch,” Archie warned, his face perfectly earnest.
Jones looked at him like he was mad, but didn’t argue. At this point, Jake couldn’t tell himself if his cousin was telling the truth or making it all up as he went along. Half-truths, maybe, Jake thought, for usually Arch was a terrible liar.
Archie put out his hand. “With your permission, Captain?”
Jones warily gave him back the orb. Then Archie began the process he had first carried out during his demonstration on the beach. He turned and twisted the various sections and segments of the orb in a particular pattern—until the lights around the edges flickered.
Jake gulped. Oh, I hope you know what you’re doing, coz. He tried to wrest his arms free, but his captors held him fast, and when he struggled anew, the eel man gave him a little jolt of electricity to keep him in line.
“Ow!” Jake said, smarting.
Both sailors snickered.
“Better he should get you than me,” Swordfish Nose chided.
Jake couldn’t really argue with that. He did not wish to contemplate being impaled on the fellow’s lethal snout.
Archie clicked the last twist of the orb into place and set it on the table, then took a large step backward.
Just as before, it began to generate a deep, throbbing hum. The colored lights raced around the edges, flashing their unknown signals, while the hieroglyphs all over its surface kept their enigmatic secrets.
Jones stood rooted to his spot, watching in fascination as the orb floated up to hover in place about a foot off the table.
Then the cunning ancient technology that drove the Atlantean orb caused it to begin its predicted metamorphosis from metallic sphere into disk. The hum grew louder as the segments flipped outward, the orb folding itself flat.
The air crackled with the energy the artifact was giving off. Its spinning began creating a slight breeze. Jake’s hair blew a little and Jones’s long pirate coat riffled, but the captain stood unmoving, transfixed by the alien sight.
Eel Man suddenly let go of Jake, cursing as his own electrical properties reacted to the unseen energy field. It caused his dark, gold-speckled skin to give off a few sparks that apparently shocked even him. He backed away until he was out of range, and the sparks popping off him stopped.
Swordfish Nose glanced around nervously, for now they could all hear the planks creaking and feel the Locker swaying as the seas began churning around them.
Up on the surface, Jake imagined that the winds had begun to blow hard and fast, that the waves were growing violent, and that dark clouds were no doubt gathering. Perhaps the lightning had already started crashing, just like it had during Archie’s demonstration.
The Turtle might be getting tossed around a bit, but he figured the sub would probably be all right. On the other hand, he pitied anyone who might be in a boat up on the surface right now.
Jones stepped closer to the table and leaned slightly toward the orb to carry out Archie’s instructions. “So I…talk to it?” he yelled over the increasingly loud hum.
Archie nodded with an air of authority. “Just let it get a good sample of your voice!” he shouted back.
“What do I say?” Jones cried.
“I suggest you simply tell it who you are and what you want it to do! Oh—let me get this out of the way for you.” Stepping forward again, Archie quickly picked up the kerosene lantern. “Wouldn’t want it to fall and start any accidental fires.”
Then he came over and stood beside Jake in the spot the eel man had vacated. “Gentlemen, you might want to move back,” he warned both sailors. “Let’s give the captain room.”
They were happy to do so, barely bothering with Jake anymore.
Clearly, the crewmen had never seen anything like this before and were terrified, unable to take their eyes off the orb, and cringing at the hum that had grown into a roar.
“What are you doing?” Jake murmured to his cousin through gritted teeth.
“Trust me,” Archie breathed. “And be ready to put your mask on.”
Jake had his hanging around his neck. Archie had discreetly picked up the strange starfish one Jones had given him and tucked it in his pocket. Indeed, it seemed they’d need them soon. Judging by the swaying and creaking all around them, Jake would not be surprised if the sea tore the Locker apart any minute now.
But this had already gone farther than he was comfortable with.
“Archie?!” Jake whispered.
“Wait, wait…”
“Whatever you’re planning on doing, coz, do it!” Jake said.
“All right, all right. Be ready to run for the hatch,” Archie breathed.
“Why?”
“Because,” his cousin answered ever so quietly, “I put three barrels of gunpowder under the table, ready to blow. You can’t see ’em ’cause Nix hid them with her invisibility trick. And those splotches of water on the floor, leading toward the table where he’s standing…that’s kerosene.”
Jake fought to conceal his grin. “You’re brilliant.”
“So I’m told.” Archie lifted his chin. “Of course, we’re probably going to die here as well.”
Jake sent him a chiding glance.
“Want to bet?”
Meanwhile, Jones was diligently introducing himself to the orb. “I am David Wallingford Jones of Cornwall. Captain of the Flying Dutchman. Lord of the Locker. Ruler of the Seven Seas…”
“Ready?” Archie whispered.
Jake steeled himself. “Do it.”
“…master of hurricanes, bringer of typhoons…”
While the eel man backed away to the edge of the cargo hold, slapping at more sparks popping off his skin as the orb’s sphere of energy grew, Archie casually drew back his arm.
Making no fuss whatsoever, he suddenly hurled the lantern down, smashing the glass housing around the flame as it hit the trail of clear kerosene pools on the floor.
“Oops, so clumsy,” he murmured to the startled sailors.
At once, the lantern’s little flame ignited the oil, and Jake simultaneously wrenched his arm free of his captor’s hold. When the startled fellow turned his head, Jake had to duck beneath the sweep of that long, deadly snout. Then he pushed him away, hard.
Knocked off balance, the sailor tripped and fell to the floor—and got stuck there, on his hands and knees, with his swordfish nose stabbed deep into the planks.
“Aw, not again!” he said in disgust, trying to pull himself free.
Jones hadn’t even noticed, absorbed in proclaiming his own legend to this remnant from Atlantis. “I tame the whales!” he went on. “I call the Kraken to do my bidding! I make the sharks my minions. The man-of-war jellyfish swarms march at my command. I am the lord of thunder!”
Archie dodged past Eel Man into the cargo hold while the three-inch fire whooshed along its path toward the table—over which Jones leaned, announcing his credits to the spinning, levitating disk—and under which the three invisible barrels of gunpowder waited.
Jake was right behind him.
But having let Archie slip past him, Eel Man did his best to stop Jake.
Jake dodged this way and that, but when the hideous, sparkly-skinned brute reached to grab him, Archie kicked the eel man in the rear end and sent him stumbling forward into the pub again.
The moment he hit the orb’s energy field, his electrical skin started popping all over with sparks. “Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!”
“Do you mind?!” Jones turned around, disturbed from his trance by all the ruckus. “What the—?”