by Ellis Byrd
“You’ll have to do better than that!” Cosmo taunted, dancing a little jig and waving at the crew of the Befouler. The distraction worked: Captain Red Eye roared and ordered another round of goop fired, and the Phantoms scurried to obey.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
This time, the Spirit’s crew was ready. As the gobs of muck flew toward them, they pulled out the extra-strong strips of bark Graham had given them right before they’d set sail. Each monkey, panda, fox, and otter picked a gob, swung back, and . . .
Thwack!
They hit the gobs, sending them flying back over to the Befouler and causing the Phantoms to scatter.
In the chaos of the battle, none of the Phantoms saw Peck jump from the bow of the Spirit to the bow of the Befouler, the end of the vine rope in her paw.
She worked at lightning speed, triple-tying the rope in a knot around the Befouler’s bow, then leaping back to the Spirit just as another BOOM! sounded. Peck landed on the deck next to Cosmo, along with several spatters of goop, and gave Liza the thumbs-up.
“All right, Captain Red Eye!” Liza called. “Let’s see whose ship is truly seaworthy, shall we?”
Using every bit of strength she possessed, Liza spun the wheel all the way to the right and held it there. The Spirit began to sail in a fast circle—and, thanks to the rope connecting the ships’ bows, so did the Befouler.
Captain Red Eye roared again as his wheel spun out of control. The Befouler began sailing in a circle opposite the Spirit, like two dance partners twirling round and round. Between them, the murky waters began to churn faster and faster . . .
“It’s working!” Peck cried, holding on to the railing with one paw and the map with the other. “We’re creating a whirlpool!”
“Helllllp!” Luglow went flying over the railing of the Befouler, landing in the water with a great splash. Two more Phantoms followed, and even Captain Red Eye had to grab on to a mast to keep from falling.
Liza’s arms trembled with the effort of holding the Spirit’s wheel in place. She glanced back at the stern as Graham emerged from belowdecks, then called: “Cosmo! Get ready to untie the knot!”
“Ready when you are!” Cosmo clung to the bow, his paws on the knot.
Sir Gilbert stared at the center of the whirlpool, hoping the information Peck had gotten out of Captain Red Eye was accurate. If the Befouler couldn’t actually open Phantom portals, this plan would surely fail . . .
Was it his imagination, or was the whirlpool changing from brown to purple? Sir Gilbert leaned as far over the railing as he dared, peering down into the depths. Dark purple swirling with green was glowing in the water now, and the tiger Alpha smiled. A Phantom portal was opening, growing wider by the second.
“On my count!” he cried, and everyone clung to the nearest railing or pole. “Three . . . two . . . one!”
Cosmo clipped the knot loose with his nails, and the Spirit of Jamaa broke free of the whirlpool. Captain Red Eye shook his tentacles menacingly as the Befouler was caught in the current, drifting closer and closer to the center—and the portal.
Gritting her teeth, Liza spun the Spirit’s wheel in the opposite direction. The current was strong, but she had faith that, thanks to Graham, their ship was stronger. The Befouler was halfway into the portal already. Just as the Spirit broke free of the current’s pull—
“Cosmo!”
The koala Alpha’s eyes were wide as he lost his grip on the bow. The other Alphas—Liza at the helm, Greely in the crow’s nest, Sir Gilbert at the railing, and Graham at the stern—watched in horror, too far away to do anything as their friend began to fall toward the Phantom portal.
But Peck had noticed him losing his grip, and she hadn’t wasted a second. She grabbed a hook secured to the mainsail’s ropes and flung herself over the side of the ship.
“Gotcha!” Peck grabbed Cosmo’s arm with her free paw, and the rope went taut. They dangled there, watching as the last of the Befouler was swallowed in the Phantom portal. Then something fluttered past them, and Peck gasped. “The map!”
“Grab it!” Cosmo squeaked, reaching for the map. But Peck didn’t loosen her hold on her friend.
“Are you kidding?” she said with a shaky laugh. “Losing the map is okay. Losing you definitely isn’t.”
Cosmo grinned, and they watched as the map vanished into the portal, along with all the green slime and brown goop. The turquoise water stilled, and Peck heaved a sigh of relief.
“Peck! Cosmo!” Liza’s worried face appeared over the railing, along with the other Alphas. Cosmo waved at them with his free arm.
“We’re fine!” he called. “But would you mind pulling us up? This is pretty comfy, but I’d rather not sail all the way home this way!”
After Sir Gilbert and Greely pulled them to the deck safely, Cosmo gave Peck a big hug.
“Thanks,” he said, eyes sparkling. “I know how much that map meant to you.”
Peck blinked. “You didn’t actually think I’d risk letting go of you just to save the map, did you?” She felt slightly ashamed when she thought about how important the map had been to her. After everything the Alphas had just been through, the idea of buried treasure now seemed more silly than anything else.
“You were pretty fixated on it,” Liza said with a kind smile. “But I was excited, too! Maps mean adventure, and that map certainly gave us one.”
Cosmo nodded emphatically. “It gave me the opportunity to talk with those magnificent trees down in the caves.”
“It gave us this ship!” Graham agreed, patting the Spirit’s railing lovingly.
“Not to mention,” Greely added dryly, arching a brow at Peck, “it gave us the opportunity to see you in the most ridiculous pirate disguise of all time.”
Everyone laughed at that. Sir Gilbert placed a paw on Peck’s shoulder. “And most importantly,” he told her, “the map led us here, which turned out to be exactly where we needed to be to once again save Jamaa from the Phantoms. I admit, I’d hoped the treasure might be a Heartstone or a clue as to where we might find Mira. Now I believe she left us that map knowing the Phantoms would bury their treasure here, and trusting we would find the map and set sail to intercept the Befouler when the time was right.”
Peck beamed at her fellow Alphas. “You know what? I bet she did.”
“Okay, enough chitchat, mateys!” Liza said, clapping her paws. “Hoist the sails! Swab the decks! Clean up this muck and goo! Arr!”
“Arrr!” the crew cried, still laughing as they returned to their posts. The Alphas smiled at one another, then set to work charting a new course for the Spirit.
Together, they set sail for home—and whatever new adventures waited for them in the exciting land of Jamaa.
CONTINUE YOUR
ADVENTURE!
The story continues online! Uncover this book’s code to unlock a secret adventure on www.animaljam.com! Find the letters and numbers under stones at the beginning of each chapter, and put them together using the code below to unlock the secret password. Make sure to keep the letters and numbers in the right order of chapters one through ten!
Once you solve the code, go to www.animaljam.com/redeem or the Play Wild app to redeem your code!*
* Each code valid for a one-time use.
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