Skullduggery Island

by Adrianne Ambrose

  “I can’t believe it!” Matilda shouted as Owen pulled himself to shore.

  “I know!” the old man shouted back.

  Owen and Matilda turned to see the man happily jumping up and down with a net overflowing with fish.

  Chapter Eight

  A Close Call at Golden Harbor

  “How’d things go at Dragon Cove?” Morgan asked as Matilda and a sopping-wet Owen made their way up the gangplank to The Lark.

  “Fine,” Owen said. “Quite good, actually.”

  “Did you get what you came for?” Morgan asked as she spied the bottle that Owen clutched in his hands.

  “Yes, I, uh…,” Owen tried to reply without telling the smuggler what they’d found.

  “Yes, we did,” Matilda answered as she grabbed the bottle from Owen and headed belowdecks.

  “Great,” Morgan replied as she gave Matilda a suspicious look. “So, where are we off to next?”

  “I reckon Golden Harbor is the closest,” Bilge said as he poked his head out of the ship’s galley. He and Billy had been lending a hand to the crew of The Lark.

  “Golden Harbor it is, then,” Morgan replied. Then she ordered the crew to set sail.

  “In some ways this reminds of the summers I would spend out in the water with my father,” Owen said to Morgan, who was coiling a length of rope as Owen leaned against the rail. “He and I would take out this small boat and just sail around Fort Ridley. Some days we’d fish, others just talk or count the number of pelicans we saw.”

  “Are you still close with your father?” she asked.

  “Not really,” he said. “My heart was never in the sea. At some point we just ran out of things to talk about. Now he’s off traveling around the world, and I don’t know if I’ll ever see him again.”

  “I know how you feel,” Morgan said as she leaned on the railing next to him. “My family is still in Fort Ridley, both of my parents and my younger sister, but they don’t agree with how I make my living. I send them money anytime I have a little extra, but I haven’t been home in almost three years.”

  “How do you make your living, if you don’t mind me asking?”

  “It’s no secret,” she replied. “I take things from one place to another. I don’t ask questions and I don’t get caught.”

  “And you don’t care what you transport?” Owen asked.

  “Not as long as I’m getting paid,” she answered with a smirk. “Speaking of which, when do you think I’ll see some of that payment you promised me?”

  “I thought you didn’t ask questions,” Owen replied, mirroring her smirk.

  The Lark lived up to its reputation for speed, and they arrived at Golden Harbor in no time. The town’s docks were a crazy bazaar full of exotic food stalls, and people selling pottery, strange clothes, and other colorful items.

  “This is amazing,” Owen said as the crew moored The Lark to the dock. “There are so many wonderful smells.”

  “Golden Harbor be known for its spices,” Bilge said. “I might do a little shopping while we’re here. As long as no one minds.”

  “Just stay close to the ship,” Owen replied. “You never know when we’ll need to leave.”

  Bilge grunted and made his way down the docks, Billy trailing him.

  “And I suppose the two of you will be off on one of your secret missions again?” Morgan said to Owen and Matilda.

  Owen blushed slightly, while Matilda gave the smuggler a hard stare. There was something about Morgan that she didn’t trust.

  “Just make sure the ship’s ready to go when we get back,” she said as she grabbed Owen’s sleeve and heading off the ship.

  “Okay,” Matilda said once they were out of earshot of Morgan. “‘Golden lights twinkle in the night. Just make sure you’re safe and get the combination right.’ What do you think it means?”

  “Perhaps there are some lights that we can only see at night,” he replied. “It’s still day, so maybe we need to hang out until it gets dark.”

  “What about the other bit?” she asked. “Safes have combinations. Maybe that’s what we should be looking for?”

  Owen thought about it for a moment. “Banks have safes,” he said. “Let’s find a bank.”

  They strolled through the streets of the town until they came upon a building that looked like a castle. The sign out front read GOLDEN HARBOR BANK.

  It was unlike any other bank Owen had ever seen. There were safes and coins and stacks of money everywhere. Situated around the room were several mean-looking guards dressed all in black and carrying big curved swords. One of the guards noticed Owen just glancing in the direction of a pile of gold and growled.

  “Owen, look,” Matilda said in a hushed voice. “Check out that safe.”

  He looked in the direction she was nodding. There was a giant safe with an intricately decorated metal door depicting the street scene right in front of the bank. Hanging above the safe were five decorative lamps all twinkling as if they were reflecting moonlight.

  “That has got to be it,” Matilda breathed.

  They took half a step toward the safe and were immediately cut off by what seemed to be the biggest guard in the place. “What are you kids doing in here?” he snarled. “Do you have business with the bank?”

  “Uh…,” Owen tried to think. “We’re here to make a withdrawal from our account. It’s just in that safe over there.”

  “That safe?” the guard replied as if it was the craziest thing he had ever heard.

  “Yeah,” Matilda added. “We’ll just grab our withdrawal and be on our way.”

  “There’s nothing in that safe for you,” the guard said as he moved closer to them. “This bank is no place for kids.”

  Just then two giant hands reached down and picked Owen and Matilda up by their collars. Before they could protest, the guard deposited them on the sidewalk outside the bank.

  “Don’t let me catch you two playing around here again,” he growled one final time before closing the bank’s door in their faces.

  “Now what do we do?” Owen said. “How are we going to get into that safe?”

  “I know exactly what we’re going to do,” Matilda answered. “We’re going to disguise ourselves to get back in there, then find someplace to hide until the bank closes for the evening. After that, we’ll have to figure out something.”

  “Do you think it’ll work?”

  “Do you have a better plan?”

  Matilda led them back to the bazaar by the docks. Rummaging through all the stalls and shops, she found what she was looking for.

  “I feel ridiculous,” Owen said in a muffled voice as they headed back into the bank.

  “Keep quiet,” Matilda hissed. She was standing on his shoulders and had on a long black coat that covered both of them. She’d tucked her hair up into a plumed hat that she wore low over her eyes. “It’ll look suspicious if I’m having a conversation with my belly button.”

  Although Owen couldn’t see what they looked like, he was sure that they looked ridiculous. The bank guards would easily see that they weren’t a tall man in a hat. Owen could barely walk straight, and he had no idea where he was going. Every time he tried to peer out of the jacket, they started to wobble.

  Matilda did her best to guide him by kicking him and gently digging her heels into his shoulders. After a few minutes, she signaled him by stomping three times with her left foot. Owen dropped to the floor as quietly as he could as Matilda slid out of the jacket. He looked over the pile of gold they were hiding behind and couldn’t see anyone looking at them. Their plan was working.

  Once Matilda was out of the jacket she unfolded a big piece of shiny gold fabric and covered them with it. Hopefully no one would spot them before the bank closed.

  They waited quietly for several minutes after the lights went out and they heard the doors lock from the outside. “Now to figure out the safe’s combination,” Owen said as he poked his head out from under the gold fabric.

  Owe
n and Matilda both stared at the door of the giant safe and tried to figure out the clue. Golden lights twinkle in the night. Just make sure you’re safe and get the combination right.

  Finally, Owen whispered, “I think I have it. Look at the street scene decorating the door. There are five streetlamps, but only three of the lamps are lit: the first, the second, and the fourth. Maybe that’s the safe’s combination.”

  “Try it.” Matilda shrugged.

  Owen sidled up to the giant safe’s dial and tentatively spun it right, then left, then right, using the numbers one, two, and four. Nothing happened. Then he tried two, four, and one. Still no luck. “This isn’t working,” he said with a sigh.

  Matilda rubbed her chin and looked at the design on the safe’s door some more, then glanced up at the lamps hanging above the safe. “Maybe the map piece isn’t actually in the safe. Maybe the clue has more to do with these lamps.” She tapped Owen on the arm. “Give me a boost.”

  With Owen staggering as he lifted her, Matilda tried switching on the different lamps hanging above the safe. She tried different variations of the first, second, and fourth lamps. Nothing seemed to be working. Owen’s knees started to buckle as Matilda finally tried switching on the fourth lamp, then the second, and finally the first. There was a low rumble and a rustle. Then a compartment opened in the bank’s ceiling, and a piece of paper floated down. Matilda reached out and snatched it as it fluttered past.

  “This is it,” she whispered in an excited voice. “We found the second piece of the map.”

  “Who’s in here?” a deep, angry voice called out from the shadows. Matilda and Owen both froze.

  “There must be night watchmen,” Matilda whispered.

  “Show yourselves!” the voice called out again.

  “Let’s get out of here!” Owen said as Matilda tried to quickly dismount his shoulders. But Owen’s balance was off, and they both tumbled to the ground.

  Just then, a rather large guard carrying a torch stormed past, looking in every direction but toward the ground.

  “Come on,” Owen whispered as he started crawling across the floor with Matilda right behind him. Once they saw the torchlight vanish at the far end of the bank, they jumped up and ran toward the door.

  “That was close,” Matilda said as she grabbed the door handle.

  Just as the door started to swing open, a blaring alarm sounded. From the back of the bank, several torchlights appeared and started rushing toward Owen and Matilda.

  “That’s not good,” Owen cried out. “Run!”

  They made their way out the door and into the vacant street. The bank guards were not far behind.

  “We’ll never outrun them,” Matilda said. “We need to find a place to hide.”

  The only thing on the empty street was a carriage with two horses parked outside the front doors of the bank. In the front sat a driver slouching in his seat, his face concealed by the hood of a large cloak. When he saw Matilda and Owen running from the bank, he kicked the carriage door open and shouted, “Get in!”

  Owen didn’t know anyone on the island of Golden Harbor, but with the guards pouring out of the bank brandishing their giant swords, he felt like they had very little choice. Owen and Matilda had barely scrambled into the carriage when the coachman whipped the horses into a gallop and they took off down the dark street.

  “Where are we going?” Owen asked the driver, once the bank guards were safely in the distance.

  “To The Lark, of course,” was the reply.

  “Oh…” Owen was confused. “Um, how do you know we’re headed there?”

  A merry laugh escaped the coachman’s lips, and he threw back the hood of his cloak, revealing a tumble of red hair. He wasn’t a “he” at all.

  “Morgan!” Matilda cried out. “How did you know we’d be at the bank? Were you following us?”

  “Does it matter?” Owen asked. “I’m just glad she was there. Otherwise we’d be in jail by now.”

  “Humph.” Matilda exhaled. “I guess.”

  Morgan let out another chuckle. “I saw you two buying that long coat this afternoon at the market and figured you were working on some type of disguise. So, how’d the heist go?”

  Owen and Matilda shared an awkward look as the carriage pulled into the docks.

  Chapter Nine

  A Fern Grows in Bouffant Bay

  “Pirates!” Billy shouted.

  “Where?” Owen swung his head around and scanned the waters. The sun had just come up, and he’d been thinking about their next destination, Bouffant Bay. Owen had been so preoccupied with finding the map pieces, he’d almost forgotten about Captain Crawfish.

  But there he was. His pirate ship was flying the Jolly Roger and had its cannons pushed forward, ready for action. It was closing in on The Lark.

  “Bilge! Get Morgan!” Owen ordered.

  “But the soup will burn,” the cook protested.

  “Tell her, anyway!” Owen bellowed. “We can always make more soup!”

  “Aye,” Bilge grumbled as he scurried belowdecks.

  The loud crack of explosions filled the air.

  “They’re shooting at us!” Billy cried out. “What do we do?”

  “This is not good,” Owen said as he saw cannonballs heading their way. “Not good at all.”

  Billy screamed as a cannonball whizzed past his head and splashed down just inches from the side of The Lark.

  “Full speed ahead,” Morgan called out as she ran out onto the deck. “We’ve got the faster ship. As long as the wind is on our side that pirate ship shouldn’t be able to gain on us.”

  “Yeah, but those cannonballs might,” Matilda said. “If Crawfish sinks us, it doesn’t matter how fast this ship of yours is.”

  Morgan shrugged. “Just keep your head down and I’ll get us out of this. This isn’t the first time I’ve had to outrun a pirate ship.”

  Cannonballs continued screaming past their heads as Owen and Matilda sat on the deck and tried to keep out of the way. Matilda’s face was still red from arguing with Morgan.

  “Why don’t you like her?” Owen asked.

  “There’s something about her I just don’t trust,” Matilda replied. “And I don’t like how smug she is. ‘Oh, I have such a fast ship. Blah, blah, blah. Look how cool I am. Blah, blah, blah.’”

  “Come on,” Owen said. “She’s not that bad. And she did save us at the bank.”

  “I don’t care,” Matilda replied. “I still don’t trust her.”

  “Look!” Billy called out. “Crawfish is falling back!”

  Owen and Matilda poked their heads over the side of the ship. A few final cannonballs were halfheartedly lobbed in their direction, but other than that, it appeared the pirate ship was giving up pursuit.

  “I told you we’d outrun them,” Morgan said.

  “That and they don’t want to get too close to the authorities at Bouffant Bay,” Bilge noted.

  “There’s that, too,” Morgan agreed.

  Once they’d pulled into port, Owen and Matilda prepared to head into the town. Bouffant Bay appeared fairly pleasant, with lots of green ivy and large stone buildings. There did seem to be quite a few soldiers standing guard, probably due to Captain Crawfish.

  “Guard your tongues and your hair,” Bilge called after them as they headed up the dock. “You don’t want people talking about what you’re looking for, and this island is known for its outlandish barbers.”

  Owen turned and gave the old sailor a quizzical look.

  “I wonder if he’ll ever say anything helpful,” Matilda said as they continued down the dock.

  As they crossed into town, they discussed the next clue: When ferns are your passion, you’ll find you’re in fashion. If things get too hot, you’ve found the right spot.

  “Looking for ferns, are ye?” a voice asked from the crowd. Stepping in front of them was a shifty-looking character with an eye patch and a rusty cutlass. “The name’s Skinny Muldoon, but everyone just calls
me Old Skinny. I can help you find anything you be lookin’ for.”

  “Anything?” Owen asked.

  Old Skinny nodded eagerly. “Shrimps, shoes, dancin’ monkeys, whatever,” he said. “And especially plants.”

  Owen looked at Matilda. “Well,” he said to her, “it can’t hurt to ask.”

  “I guess not,” Matilda replied, although she didn’t look convinced.

  “Old Skinny, does this mean anything to you: ‘When ferns are your passion, you’ll find you’re in fashion. If things get too hot, you’ve found the right spot’?”

  “Of course, of course,” Old Skinny said, his one eye shifting back and forth. “It means…ah…ah…it means, um…”

  Owen and Matilda both gave him suspicious looks.

  “Okay, so I don’t know what it means,” Old Skinny admitted. “But if it’s ferns you be looking for, I can show you some.”

  “Great,” Owen said.

  “For a doubloon,” Skinny added.

  “Fine,” Owen said as he pulled a coin from his pocket.

  Old Skinny grabbed it from his hand and took off down the street. “Are you comin’ or what?” he called back.

  Matilda and Owen hurried after him. After several twisting turns, Old Skinny stopped in the middle of an old street. “Well, here we are,” he announced.

  “And where is ‘here’?” Matilda asked.

  “Why, Fern Way, of course,” he said with pride as he waved his hand in the air.

  Owen and Matilda looked up and down the street. It was full of old-looking buildings and shops. In front of each were rows and rows of potted ferns.

  “Well, if you two need anything else, just ask anyone for Old Skinny,” he said. “Everyone in Bouffant Bay knows how to find me.”

  “Thanks,” Owen said as Old Skinny took off down the street.

  “There must be hundreds of ferns,” Matilda said. “It’s going to take us all day to search through every one of those pots.”

  Owen and Matilda spent the better part of the day looking at ferns without any luck. Finally, they decided to take a break and get something to eat. Sitting in a small café, drinking root beer and eating sandwiches, Matilda suddenly stood up and pointed out the window.