by Petra James
Arkie looked into the sky. Black clouds had gathered during their race and were now swelling above them.
The wind roared around the sails and the ship was tossed from wave to wave.
‘There’s a storm coming,’ Clem yelled. ‘Rope yourself onto the deck and hold on tight.’
And then he left her.
The sea was soon roaring with anger and the waves were white and fierce. Spray leapt onto the ship, sweeping all before it.
‘TJ,’ yelled Arkie, as she lurched across the deck. She couldn’t see TJ anywhere.
The pirates cursed as some of the barrels of rum rolled off the deck into the waves.
Blackbeard was pulling hard on the steering wheel and shouting instructions to the men.
The Quartermaster spied Arkie and grabbed her by the arm. ‘This is your fault,’ he hissed. ‘Throw her overboard,’ he yelled to a couple of pirates wrestling with the ropes of the sail. ‘The ship is doomed because of her. We didn’t follow the Pirates’ Code and now we pay the price.’
The two burly pirates picked Arkie up and tossed her into the raging sea.
falling falling falling falling falling falling
I’m going to drown, thought Arkie, as she hit the water and slipped deeper and deeper into the churning sea.
She hated opening her eyes under water but she forced them apart now. I want to see the last things I’m ever going to see.
She felt suspended between time and place in this world of water.
She wasn’t frightened.
It was very peaceful. The roar of the storm was beyond her now.
It was just like falling asleep; all the lights in her head turning off one by one for the long night ahead.
She could see a shape in the murky distance, coming towards her.
Must be a fish, she thought. A fish coming to take me to Davy Jones’s Locker. A fish with glasses.
As the fish swam closer, Arkie saw that the fish wasn’t a fish after all: it was TJ.
Bubbles of air escaped from both their lips as they grasped each other’s hands and tried to speak.
TJ pointed to the surface and Arkie nodded.
But she knew they’d never make it in time.
They didn’t have enough air.
But we’re together, she thought as she blacked out.
nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing
Arkie’s head was thumping loudly as if someone was trapped inside and banging on her skull with a hammer.
She sat up slowly.
TJ was lying face down in the sand beside her.
Arkie turned her over and saw her chest rising and falling. She was alive.
‘TJ,’ said Arkie, shaking her. ‘Wake up.’
TJ groaned and stirred. ‘Where are we?’ she said. ‘I’m having déjà vu. Me sleeping. You waking me, again and again.’
‘What just happened?’ said Arkie. ‘One minute we’re deep in the Atlantic Ocean and the next we’re on land. But soaking.’ She squeezed her shirt and a rivulet of water trickled across the sand.
‘TimeSlip,’ coughed TJ. ‘There must be a default setting that kicks in when maximum danger is reached and transports you to safety. That’s never happened before?’
‘No,’ said Arkie. ‘But I’ve never been in these kinds of situations before either. Thank goodness Quincy thought of everything. He just saved our lives from afar.’
And when I see him, thought Arkie, I’m going to give him the biggest box of Turkish Delights he’s ever had.
‘But how did you end up in the water too?’ said Arkie.
‘I saw that mean old Quartermaster telling those pirates to throw you overboard. I think I had about a second before they were going to chuck me overboard too so I thought I’d jump before I was pushed. It’s more dignified.’
‘So you jumped in to save me?’ said Arkie.
‘I guess I did,’ said TJ.
‘That was really brave,’ said Arkie.
TJ smiled. ‘I know you’d do it for me too. But what do you think happened to Clem Sparkle?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Arkie. ‘Those Sparkles don’t hang around for long.’ She thought of her first cousin. She didn’t want him getting in her way but she didn’t want him to die either. He was still family. Family is so complicated, she thought.
TJ got up slowly and looked around. ‘We’re right back where we started,’ she said. ‘On Ocracoke Island.’
‘Back where we first landed?’ said Arkie.
‘Seems so,’ said TJ. ‘Nifty manoeuvre really. Complete spatial 360 degrees. Almost as though everything that just happened never really happened.’
‘Except that it did,’ said Arkie.
‘Maybe the same thing happened to Clem,’ said TJ. ‘If he’s using similar timeslipping technology, maybe he was whisked out of danger to where he first landed too.’
They both looked across at the beach, to the place where they had first seen Clem. But there were no bonfires lighting up the beach tonight, only the moon shining across the lonely sea.
Arkie looked at her THinc ring. It was nearly midnight on 21 November – the night after the party.
‘But if we’re right back where we started, except a day later,’ she said, ‘we’ve basically just travelled around in a circle.’
‘Well, I guess that’s one way of looking at it,’ said TJ, ‘although it’s a bit depressing to think we nearly checked into Davy Jones’s Locker for nothing.’
‘We haven’t got the ruby, or any idea where the real one is,’ said Arkie.
‘We haven’t got Mawby either,’ said TJ. ‘What am I going to tell the pet shop?’
Arkie suddenly thought of Anne Bonney’s words: A little nest egg . . . a place I go . . . my Gem is never forgotten ...
‘TJ,’ she said. ‘Where are those gravestones? The ones we landed in.’
‘Over there,’ said TJ, pointing to a cluster of trees.
Arkie searched the names on the stone tablets until she found what she was looking for.
She was only a year older than me when she died, thought Arkie.
The ground around the stone was overgrown with grass but Arkie could see that there was a patch of freshly dug earth at the foot of the stone.
She dug into the dirt with her hands, and TJ joined her.
A box was buried in the sand. They lifted it up and opened it.
Inside the box was a large red ruby.
‘The ruby was here all the time,’ said Arkie. ‘Right under our noses.’
TJ took of a photo of Arkie holding the ruby. ‘Let’s get out of here,’ she said. ‘It’s nearly the next day and the beginning of the end for Blackbeard.’
‘Coming,’ said Arkie, putting the ruby back in the box and reburying it.
Wildflowers were blooming at the foot of one of the trees and Arkie picked a posy of sweet-smelling freesias and snowdrops.
‘Your sister thought about you every day, Gemma,’ she said. ‘She never forgot you.’
She placed the posy next to Gemma Bonney’s name.
Debrief
‘Anne Bonney stole the ruby from Blackbeard and put the fake in its place,’ said Arkie. ‘She wanted money to bring her sister out to the New World but Gemma Bonney died before she could make the journey.’
‘But what happened to the ruby?’ said TJ.
‘If I’m right,’ said Arkie, ‘we left just before it was discovered. Blackbeard died 22 November 1718 and the governor’s men searched the entire island for his treasure. They found the ruby and returned it to Queen Anne so it was once again part of the Crown Jewels of London.’
‘We’ve got a photo of you and the ruby so we just have to fill in the treasure map now,’ said TJ. She placed a huge X on the spot where they found the treasure.
Arkie emailed the map and the photo to the kidnappers at [email protected].
‘And we need to ring Edie,’ she said. She had already told TJ about discovering Edie’s mobile number.
She picked up the THinc hotline and dialled Edie’s phone.
The phone rang and rang. After half a dozen rings, it switched to voicemail.
‘You have successfully reached the number you dialled,’ said the voice on the answering service. ‘Please leave a message after the beep.’
‘Edie, it’s me, Arkie,’ said Arkie. ‘Please ring me. Urgently. Mum and Dad are in big trouble. TJ and I need you.’
As BLUR sped home through the clouds, Arkie and TJ were silent.
Arkie was thinking about Clem and Cate Sparkle.
She had always wanted brothers and sisters and, because of TJ, she had always thought first cousins were the next best thing.
But now I’ve got two new first cousins, she thought, I’m not so sure.
What Next?
‘What’s that beeping?’ said TJ. She was rummaging through the fridge for cheese and mushrooms.
They had arrived home a couple of hours ago and after a long shower and some clean clothes, they were both starving.
‘It’s HAL,’ said Arkie, cracking eggs into a pan. ‘Someone’s at the front gate. We can see them on the video screen.’
Arkie rushed over to the console at the side of the kitchen table. TJ stood beside her.
Someone was peering into the monitor. Up close. Two huge green eyes filled the whole screen.
‘WHOA,’ said TJ, as they both reeled backwards. ‘That’s intense.’
‘I’m sorry but I can’t see you properly,’ said Arkie into the microphone. ‘Can you stand back a bit, please.’
The person stood back and waved. It was a woman in jeans and a red trench coat. She had shoulder-length curly black hair and red tortoise-shell glasses.
Arkie waved back. ‘TJ,’ she said excitedly. ‘It’s Edie. Edie’s here!’ Arkie started to type in the access security codes.
‘Wait,’ said TJ, stopping her. ‘Are you sure it’s Edie?’
‘Well it sure looks like Edie,’ said Arkie.
‘But are you sure sure? Remember what your dad said: “Things are not as they seem.”’ said TJ.
‘Well, unless Edie’s had a face transplant, I reckon things are exactly as they seem,’ said Arkie.
‘A face transplant,’ said TJ. ‘That’s possible. Remember that movie we saw where a man wanted by the FBI swopped his face for another man’s face? Can you see any scars or signs of recent surgery?’
They looked closely at the woman.
‘She’s too far away now,’ said TJ. ‘We need a semi close-up.’
‘Can you come closer, please,’ said Arkie. ‘And can you please pull back your hair so we can see your face clearly and check you out for signs of recent surgery.’
The person who might be Edie frowned and moved a little closer, pulling her hair back from her face.
‘I can’t see any scars,’ said Arkie.
TJ nodded. ‘No, she looks unscarred to me too. But in that movie the plastic surgeon did an amazing job. What about asking her a question? Something that only Edie would know.’
‘Good idea,’ said Arkie. ‘What did you give me when I was four?’
‘A gold scarab beetle brooch from Egypt,’ said the person who was sounding more and more like Edie. ‘You keep it in your jewellery box on your chest of drawers. Along with the very first treasure you ever found when you were two: a chewed-up plastic spoon.’ She smiled. ‘Do I pass?’
‘YES, YES, YES,’ cried Arkie. ‘It IS her, TJ.’ Arkie’s fingers were shaking as she fumbled with the numbers and keyed in the codes.
She tore through the house and opened the front door.
Edie was already at the front step. She must have run all the way from the front gate.
‘ARKIE,’ she cried, holding out her arms.
‘EDIE,’ said Arkie, running into her arms for the biggest hug ever.
Arkie had never been so happy to see anyone in her life.
Edie would help them find her mum and dad.
Edie would know just what to do.
She breathed into Edie’s jumper and inhaled the perfume that Edie always wore. It was the same kind as her mum’s.
Arkie closed her eyes and smiled. Everything was going to be all right.
She had a million questions and things to tell Edie but as she pulled back from Edie’s hug and was about to launch into question number one, she suddenly realised something.
There were two feet standing close behind Edie.
Edie wasn’t alone.
In Real Life
The Black Prince’s Ruby
This very precious jewel has belonged to English royalty for many hundreds of years. If you ever visit the Tower of London, you will be able to see it.
Blackbeard
Blackbeard was one of the most villainous pirates in the Golden Age of Piracy. He is so famous that he even appears in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. But despite all his villainy, Blackbeard didn’t really steal the Black Prince’s ruby. The author just made that up.
Anne Bonney
Anne Bonney was born in Ireland and was respected as a pirate. She sailed on a pirate ship with Mary Read and Captain Jack Calico. No one knows for certain how or when she died.
The Queen Anne’s Revenge
Blackbeard’s treasure was never found so there was great excitement in the archaeological world when the shipwreck of the Queen Anne’s Revenge was discovered off the North Carolina coast in 1997. So far, divers have found pieces of an anchor, various artefacts and part of a sword, which may have belonged to Blackbeard.