by Liz Kessler
Someone else was coming into the ballroom!
The three pirates looked up as the door at the far end of the room opened. This was my chance. I could run across to the stage while they were all looking the other way. Maybe Aaron was there, with the other pirate. Jonny, or whatever he was called.
I probably had a two-second window while they were looking away. So I darted across the gap and made it to the stage. I hid behind a curtain and listened.
“Sir, your wife is here,” a voice called from the other side of the ballroom. “Shall I tell her you’ll join her after your meeting?”
“No! bring her in,” the pirate king replied.
“Yes, sir.”
I heard the door close again and a chair scrape back.
“All right, sons,” the pirate king was saying. “I hope you are going to make your mother happy. You know how she feels about these business trips, so I’m depending on you to help me make it worth her while. You hear me?”
“Yes, Father,” the two boys replied in unison.
Just hearing their voices made a dart of anger scratch through my chest.
I didn’t get to dwell on it for long, as I heard the door open again and a flurry of people come into the room.
Voices coming closer.
While they were distracted by greeting each other, I pulled the curtain a little farther out, so I could get into a better position for listening in on their conversation, to see if they revealed anything that might help me find Aaron. Now I could see a little from my hiding place too.
At the far end of the ballroom, a woman had entered and was striding across to meet them.
She was as tall as the pirate king and as outlandishly dressed. She wore a black dress with a purple jacket over it. Her hair was orange, her ears held the biggest earrings I’d ever seen, and her neck had so many gold necklaces around it I was surprised she could take the weight of them.
It didn’t take much to figure out that this was the pirate king’s wife.
As she approached her husband and sons, the three of them got up from their seats. The pirate king kissed her cheek and pulled a chair back for her, before all four of them sat down.
“My darling, how do you like our little excursion?” the pirate king asked.
His wife flicked back her hair. “Ask me when they bring me the spoils,” she replied haughtily. “I really cannot judge till then.” She cast her eyes around the room. “I suppose it looks fine enough.”
“It does, my dear, it does,” the pirate king replied. “And speaking of finery and spoils, I have organized a surprise for you,” he went on. “I thought I’d spice things up with a little competition. The boys were given the task of fetching something for you while they were scoping out the ship for me. I told them you’d choose your favorite.”
His wife tutted and shook her head. “You boys,” she muttered. “Always with the competitions.”
The pirate king turned to his sons. I ducked back behind the curtain, as he was almost directly facing me, but I could still just about see around the edge.
“I believe you each have something for your mother,” the pirate king said. He was looking almost directly toward me. I stopped breathing and prayed that my shape wasn’t visible through the curtain. “The winner is the one whose gift she prefers. Noah, let’s start with you.”
Noah cleared his throat as he reached into his jacket pocket. “Now, Mother, I would normally give you something much, much better than this,” he began. For the first time since we’d met him, he seemed awkward and uncertain. “But time was limited and —”
“Enough talk, son,” his father chided him. “Just give your mother her gift.”
Noah pulled his hand out of his pocket and opened it.
His mom took an object from Noah’s palm and examined it. As she held it up, I could see it was silver and round.
“You got me a napkin ring?” his mother announced in a voice that even from this distance didn’t sound impressed. To be fair, I’m not sure I would have been impressed with a napkin ring either.
She held it up to examine it more closely. “I suppose it is shiny,” she went on, squinting against the light. It sounded like she was desperately trying to find something positive to say about it.
As Noah’s mom continued to study the napkin ring, I realized I recognized it. We’d had them at the tables. For all I knew, that was what he’d been up to when he was shuffling around with his napkin. Stealing a napkin ring from our table!
The pirate king stared at his oldest son. His face had turned bright red. “Noah, I expected better from you,” he growled.
“I’m sorry. I — I tried to get something else. It was beautiful. It was perfect, but it slipped through my fingers and then I lost it and —”
“Enough!” His dad cut him off. “No excuses.” He nodded at Sam. “Well, son? Here’s your chance. Let’s see if you can do better than your brother.”
“For once,” Noah muttered.
His mom tutted at Noah and smacked his hand. “Now, now,” she said. Then she smiled fondly at Sam. “What have you gotten me, darling boy?” she asked in a voice about fifty times softer than she’d used up to now.
Sam fumbled in his pocket and held something up.
It was too small to see exactly what it was from here. They were all staring at it, so I risked edging forward a bit to see better. I pushed the curtain and leaned out as far as I dared.
“I got you this, Mother,” Sam said.
As I shifted position, and Sam continued to hold his gift out, I saw what it was. I had to clamp a hand over my mouth to stop myself from gasping out loud and giving myself away.
A chain. Fine, shiny gold, with a pendant on it. Two interlocked hearts — one made of tiny diamonds, the other gold. A mermaid’s tail looped around the hearts.
Sam’s present to his mother — it was my mom’s necklace!
Oh, Sam,” his mom exclaimed. “It’s beautiful. So fine. So delicate.”
“Nice work, son,” the pirate king agreed, stroking his beard as he nodded approvingly.
Nice work? Nice work?
I could barely hold myself back. I wanted to storm down there and snatch the necklace out of their greedy, thieving hands.
But then, suddenly, everything changed.
The pirate king leaned forward to take a closer look. As he did, his face darkened. “Wait a minute,” he growled. “Samuel, what is the meaning of this?”
“Of what, Father?” Sam asked.
The pirate king pointed at the necklace with a shaking hand. “That thing on this necklace. It’s a — it’s a — I can’t even say it!”
Sam examined the necklace more closely, as if he were properly looking at it for the first time. His cheeks reddened.
Noah looked over his brother’s shoulder to see what they were studying. For a split second, his eyes flashed with something that looked like recognition or shock. Then he scowled. “A mermaid!” he exclaimed. His face was full of disgust. “You got Mom a necklace with a mermaid on it? Seriously?” He burst out laughing. “Oh, man, you are priceless,” he said, slapping his brother on the back.
“How could you do such a thing?” the pirate king growled. “Everyone knows that mermaids are bad luck. Even the toughest of pirates fear them. This is how you show us what you think of us? This is how much respect you have for me? This is how little you think of your mother, that you’d give her a mermaid necklace?”
“Father, I hadn’t realized —” Sam began.
His dad waved an arm to stop him and continued his tirade. “Do you not remember your history, son? Or do you simply not care about it?”
“Neither! Father, I —”
“I banned mermaids from being so much as talked about after one of them lured your grandfather toward dangerous rocks that broke up his ship and nearly killed him. And then you insult your mother like this.” He hissed in disgust.
I could barely believe what I was hearing. It felt like they had
reached inside of me, pulled my insides out to examine them, and then thrown them away, repelled.
The pirate king’s wife had leaned forward to look more closely at the necklace. As she did, her face turned gray.
“Get that thing away from me!” she shrieked. “Get it out of my sight! Put it in one of the bags with the rest of the takings from this ship. Just don’t let me see it again!”
“You heard your mother,” the pirate king said. “Get rid of it.”
“I’m sorry,” Sam said as he shoved the necklace back in his pocket. His voice sounded forlorn and miserable, like a little boy desperate to please his parents but resigned to failing.
The pirate king turned to Noah. “Under the circumstances, I have no option but to declare you the winner of round one. Not a great win, but a win nevertheless.”
Noah threw back his chair as he practically bounced out of it. He slapped his brother on the back so hard that Sam almost fell forward onto the table. Then he made a fist and punched the air. “Bad luck, bro,” he crowed. “I win. As usual.”
“All right, Noah,” his mother said. “No need to rub it in.”
“Why not?” her husband asked. “These boys are out there representing me. It’s my family business, my name on the letterhead, my name Sam makes a mockery of with stunts like this. Your babying him doesn’t help any of us.”
His wife took a sharp breath in. “My what?”
The pirate king opened his mouth. Nothing came out of it for a moment. Then in a placative voice, he said, “I — I mean, not that you baby him, exactly. You’re a wonderful mother, Michele. The best.”
Michele folded her arms and raised an eyebrow.
“I just mean — come on, the boy needs to toughen up. Remember whose family he’s part of.”
“Our family, Jakob,” she said. “Ours, not yours. And I say don’t be so hard on him.”
The pirate king let a breath whistle out through his gold teeth. “All right, all right. Let’s move on.” He turned back to his sons. “Here’s the plan,” he said, leaning on the table. “My crew will be busy all night collecting goods. In that time, we need to get ready for the main challenge.”
“The main challenge?” Sam asked.
His father glared at him. “Yes, son. Round one was the warm-up. There are two more rounds to go. Think you’re up to a serious test of your abilities?”
“Of course I am!”
“Good. Well, then, this is your chance to prove it.” He sat back in his seat. “If you win round two, you’re even with your brother, and you might earn back some of the respect you’ve thrown in my face with this stunt.”
He pulled something out of his pocket, and he and his sons leaned over to look at it. What was it? I needed to be nearer.
Could I risk pushing the curtain aside? Would it be obvious?
I took the chance. Pushing gently on the curtain, I edged slowly forward. They’d unfolded a large sheet that they were leaning over and studying. It looked like it could be a map. Probably a sea chart.
“This is where we are right now,” the pirate king was saying. He prodded the chart. “You remember before we got here, I gave you the names of some important local landmarks and told you to learn all you could about this area?”
“Certainly do, Father,” Noah replied. He was smirking as if he had a big secret that he was desperate to share. “Like Halflight Castle?”
“Well remembered, son,” his father replied. “You have tonight to become as familiar as possible with the area. In the morning, you will use your knowledge, your skills, your crew, and your instincts to compete in round two.”
Noah was practically bouncing out of his seat.
“What is it, son?” Jakob snapped. “Why are you so antsy?”
“No reason,” Noah replied with a massive grin. “Just that I’ve used my initiative to seize the advantage already.” Then, as if he’d just told the funniest joke, he burst out laughing. “Ha — get it? Seized the advantage. Literally!”
My ears pricked up. What was he saying?
Sam echoed my thoughts. “What are you talking about?” he grumbled.
“I’ll give you a clue,” his brother taunted him. “Let’s say I’ve enlisted a willing helper. Well, maybe not willing, as such. But when it comes to local knowledge, all I’ll say is that you might as well give up now, bro.”
A willing helper.
Local knowledge.
I knew exactly what Noah was saying. I prayed and wished and hoped as hard as I could that I was wrong.
And then Noah went on. “All right, then. I’ll tell you. Found myself a local guy. He knows the area inside out.”
I shoved my fist into my mouth to stop myself from crying out.
“My boys are looking after him as we speak,” Noah went on. “So, like I said, as usual, I’m a step ahead of you.”
The pirate king looked from Noah to Sam. Then he scratched his head. “I’m not sure what you are saying, son,” he said. “But I can’t help agreeing. If you have indeed found yourself a helper with strong local knowledge then, yes, you are definitely a step ahead.”
Sam didn’t say anything. He just stared at his brother, his face as red and angry as mine felt.
The pirate king cleared his throat. “OK, let’s get down to business,” he said. “I am almost ready to retire. You know what that means, don’t you, boys?”
“It means I’ll finally get what’s coming to me,” Noah replied, nudging Sam with his elbow. “Lucky me, eh?”
“You shouldn’t make assumptions,” his dad scolded him. “Inheriting a family business like mine does not come automatically with age. You know as well as I do that pirate rules do not work like that.”
No. Pirate rules are “Do what you like and don’t care about anyone else.”
“I have achieved much in my career. And recently I have heard of a prize that would outweigh anything I’ve ever achieved.”
“What’s that, Father?” Sam asked.
Jakob leaned back in his seat. Stroking his mustache, he breathed in deeply. Then he said, “The Trident’s Treasure.”
The Trident’s Treasure?
I’d never heard of it, but I’d heard of a trident. It was what Neptune — the king of all the seas — always had with him. It was as precious to him as his crown, and it had magical abilities. He used it to create storms or curse people or make the sea do incredible things.
Did the Trident’s Treasure have something to do with Neptune?
“The Trident’s Treasure? What is that?” Noah asked, echoing the questions racing around my head.
“It is the single most valuable chest of treasure in the oceans,” his father replied. “In fact, it is so valuable that its very existence is almost mythical.”
“You mean it might not even be real?” Sam asked.
His father stopped rocking back in his chair and banged a fist on the table. “Of course it is real! Would I put this much effort into looking for something that did not exist?”
“N-no, Father. I just —”
“You just questioned me! And you will not do so again. You hear me?”
“Yes, Father. I hear you. I’m sorry.”
Michele put a hand on her husband’s arm. “Jakob, leave the boy —”
“Do not tell me how to bring up my sons!” he snarled, shaking his wife’s hand from his arm.
The four of them looked at one another in silence for a few moments.
“Now, then,” the pirate king carried on, his voice light and relaxed again, as if he hadn’t just practically burst a blood vessel in front of them all, “I’ll continue. I had heard of the Trident’s Treasure many times, but until recently, it has always been alluded to as though it were a tale out of a book. Something not real. But now I have reason to believe that it is not only VERY real, but it is also very close to where we are right now.”
No one replied. I guess they were probably scared of saying the wrong thing and getting their heads bitten off again.
“So here’s what’s going to happen,” the pirate king continued. “I am going to possess this treasure, and when it is mine, I shall retire and one of you will take over as the pirate king.”
“And we . . . ?” Sam prompted his father.
“And you,” his father replied, smiling as he looked from one son to the other. “You are going to find it for me. And the one who does will get half of it.”
“Um, forgive me,” Noah said, “but with something of this magnitude, why leave it to us?”
The pirate king laughed. “Good question, son. And you’ll find out soon enough. But first, your ships. Noah, as you won round one, you get to choose your ship first.” He got out of his seat. “Come, make your choice.”
The three of them passed close to the edge of the stage as the two boys followed their father to one side of the ship. I stood as still as I possibly could. I didn’t breathe, didn’t move. I pretended I was a statue and prayed they didn’t need to come onto the stage for anything.
“Father, why don’t I just take the Sunbeam?” Noah asked, pausing on the way to a window. They’d stopped about ten paces away from my hiding place. I thought I was going to be sick with fear.
His father stopped and turned to Noah. “Son, you have disappointed me with that question,” he said. “I expected better of a pirate prince.”
“I’m sorry. I —”
“No matter. The moment’s passed.” He turned to Sam. “And what about you? You want to sail to the heart of the pirates’ world in a glorified rubber raft as well, do you?”
“No, sir,” Sam replied firmly. “I want to sail a ship from your fleet. I want to be a real pirate,” he said. He sounded like a little boy pretending to be a grown-up and hoping for his father’s approval.
His dad nodded as he patted Sam on the back. “Good lad,” he said. Sam’s face beamed. It made me feel sad — I wasn’t even sure why.
Turning back to Noah, Jakob went on. “When you’re in charge, you can do things your way. While I’m still the head of the family business, we do it my way. Clear?”
Noah nodded sulkily as the three of them looked out the window.
“We stick to the traditional ships, the traditional methods, and the traditional values,” Jakob was saying. “Study them well and give me your decision in the morning. But first, get some sleep, you two. You won’t be getting much over the next couple of days.”