Blackwells and the Briny Deep Page 5

  In the end, Jonah had run up the mast.

  But that’s where they caught him, since once you go up the mast, eventually you have to come down. Eye-Patch climbed up after him, and that was the end of the running away part of the day.

  Then the pirates had tied him up again, and here he was, walking the gang-plank.

  “To the queen!” Gold-Tooth said again.

  “To the bottom of the ocean!” Eye-Patch yelled.

  “Boil his bones! Shiver me timbers!” the green parrot called. It flew in circles over their heads.

  Jonah rolled his eyes. He’d had enough. “Look, let’s get on with this, can we! I’m tired of listening to you two fight. I say let’s go see this queen. Why not? She’ll tell you I’m not one of hers.”

  Now, these two pirates were not what you’d call terribly bright. Surely there must be some smart pirates somewhere. But this quarrelling brother and sister definitely weren’t them.

  Jonah was beginning to realize that his appearance was the most exciting and confusing thing that had ever happened to them.

  The pirates stared at him.

  “What did you say?” Gold-Tooth demanded.

  “Well, I just said, let’s get this over with and go and see the queen. You two can’t seem to decide what to do with me. Why not let her decide?”

  Gold-Tooth drew up close to Jonah and pulled out his sword. It was awfully sharp and glinted in the sun. He put it against Jonah’s back. Jonah flinched and took another step toward the end of the gang-plank.

  “Why should we take you to the Mermaid Queen?”

  Mermaid Queen?

  “Well, maybe she can help you.”

  Both pirates blinked at Jonah.

  “Help us?” Gold-Tooth asked, confounded.

  “Well, yes! With the curse you keep talking about. The one that’s made you … like you are,” Jonah spluttered. He couldn’t bring himself to say “into zombies.”

  He was starting to feel light-headed. This was all just too weird. The hot sun, the zombie pirates, the shrieking parrot. Where was William? Where was Emma? It was possible that this was all a weird dream and he was still asleep on the deck of Peregrine, in the fog.

  But at the thought of Emma, Jonah felt a tiny pang of guilt. The pirates’ quarrelling was suddenly a little too familiar.

  “But she’s the one who made us INTO zombies!” Gold-Tooth growled and jabbed his sword at Jonah again. “And she DON’T want to be disturbed for a water rat like you!”

  “But I’m not a water rat!” Jonah yelled. “I can sail! I can help you sail this ship. One of you can be the captain and the other the first mate. I’ll be the cabin boy!”

  The pirates grew suddenly quiet. Jonah strained to see what was happening behind him. The pirates eyed each other and slowly began to circle the deck, swords drawn.

  “But I’m the captain, sister!” Gold-Tooth hissed.

  “Beggar your bones, I’m the captain, little brother!” snarled Eye-Patch.

  “No, I’m the captain!” yelled Jonah, pretending to be one of the pirates. The pirates circled each other, growling. He had hit on the very thing to infuriate them. He knew exactly how to stir up a brother and sister, it seemed. There was that little pang of guilt, again.

  “No, I AM!” shouted Gold-Tooth.

  “Over my headless corpse! I’m older!” shouted Eye-Patch.

  “I told you, I’m the captain,” Jonah shouted again, just to keep things going.

  Clang! Clang!

  The pirates crossed swords, forgetting all about Jonah. He saw his chance! He rolled off the gang-plank and ran to the wheel.

  The brother and sister circled the deck, their swords pointed at each other.

  “I tell you, I’M the CAPTAIN of this ship!” That was Eye-Patch.

  “I’ll boil you alive in hot tar before I let YOU be the CAPTAIN! You’re the first mate, that’s good enough for you!” That was Gold-Tooth.

  Clang! Clang!

  “I’ll skewer you through and through before I see you be CAPTAIN!” yelled a third voice, which sounded a lot like Jonah.

  The pirates circled each other, back and forth across the deck, closer and closer to the sides. Jonah wriggled his hands free of their ties and crouched behind the wheel.

  Just a little closer, go just a little closer.

  “I tell you this, sister, YOU WILL NEVER BE CAPTAIN OF THIS SHIP!” Gold-Tooth held Eye-Patch at the edge of the deck with the point of his sword.

  “And neither will you!” yelled Jonah. And with that, Jonah turned the wheel with all his strength. The ship lurched hard. Both pirates looked astonished, just before they lost their balance and fell overboard!

  SPLASH! SPLASH!

  Jonah steered the pirate ship toward the island. He ignored the zombie pirates calling him names from the water — what exactly was a “sea dog” anyway? — and kept his eye on the horizon.

  He had a pirate ship to sail. And his brother and sister to find!

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  IT’S SUNDOWN SOMEWHERE

  The water rose and rose around William.

  A huge wall of foam burst from the ocean, and waves rolled upon themselves, high above his head. Sea creatures, small fish, crabs, sea horses, and less pleasant sharks, barracuda, and ancient horseshoe crabs, swirled in the water, rising and falling into the ocean, only to rise again.

  Sea foam doused him. He tried not to splutter, and he kept his head up, looking at the sea monster before him.

  The Mermaid Queen held the whalebone sword in one spiny hand. She reached forward and plucked Peregrine  ’s boat hook from the rock and shook it at William with the other. Two large mermaids each held one of Peregrine ’s paddles and stood guard beside him. The rest of the mermaid army rose above the water, too. A thousand seaweed-swept heads gnashed horrible teeth and shook fish-bone weapons at William.

  The Mermaid Queen looked drowned, a thousand years dead. Seaweed hair swept from her fierce forehead, and her silver lips were swollen, bitten by her ferocious mouth of teeth, row upon row, behind them.

  William stood in shock. This creature was nothing like Emma’s mermaids. Nothing.

  I will never let Jonah tease Emma about mermaids again if I get out of this, he thought.

  The Mermaid Queen stared down at William tied to the rock and spoke in her terrible drowned voice. “WHO ARE YOU?”

  “I’m … I’m William Blackwell, older brother to Emma and Jonah Blackwell and captain of the good ship Peregrine,” he croaked. I sound completely crazy, he thought. And why am I talking like I’m from the 1800s?

  The Mermaid Queen’s eyes were huge, black, wet. When she blinked they rolled backward and turned white like a shark’s.

  “CAPTAIN?” the queen roared, blowing water across William in a slimy gush. All the mermaids in the lagoon howled, enraged. Clearly, they didn’t like captains.

  William nodded. “Y-yesss.” Although not a great one, it seems, he thought.

  This cannot be real. I can’t actually be standing here talking to the Mermaid Queen. Who ever heard of a Mermaid Queen? I’m really still stuck in the fog, sleeping on Peregrine. I hope. It’s about time I woke up, though …

  “DOES THIS WEAKLING LUNG-BREATHER KNOW WHAT WE DO TO CAPTAINS?” the queen shrieked, and all the mermaids in the lagoon cheered. They knew.

  The queen drew her horrible, dead-fish face close to William. The stench of rotten fish and decayed sea-life almost knocked him over. He might have fallen over, had he not been tied to the rock. Seagulls screamed and cried far above.

  William tried his best to look at her. It wasn’t easy. He closed one eye and tilted his head.

  “WE DROWN THEM,” she hissed, water burbling through her lips. Then a frill of fins rose around her head in a horrible fan and she shook them at William, while her mermaid army slapped the water and shrieked. He closed his eyes.

  I’m unconscious. I’m dreaming. I’m on board Peregrine. This is all just a weird nightmare.


  “DO YOU KNOW WHEN WE DROWN THEM?” she cried. William shook his head.

  “WE DROWN THEM AT SUNDOWN  !” She pointed the boat hook to the horizon. The sun was still a few hours from sinking. Sundown?

  Then all the mermaids slapped the water and shrieked, and the noise was a terrifying wave that broke upon the prisoner on the rock.

  The mermaids began to swim in tight circles around him, and the water rose and rose.

  The churning water slowly rose to William’s knees. Then to his waist. Then to his chest. It rose to just below his chin and stayed there as the legion of sea-dwellers swam around and around him in dizzying circles.

  The Mermaid Queen sat behind them, gnashing her rows of teeth.

  The water crested just below William’s nose.

  The mermaids parted, and the queen came forth.

  “IT’S SUNDOWN SOMEWHERE ON THE BRINY DEEP! MAYBE WE SHOULD DROWN YOU NOW!” She thrust the whalebone sword at William’s head, and he ducked below the water.

  He came up spluttering.

  “ANY LAST WORDS BEFORE YOU DIE, CAPTAIN WILLIAM BLACKWELL OF THE GOOD SHIP PEREGRINE?” William stared at her, his heart pounding, his teeth chattering. My little brother and sister deserve better than me as a captain, he thought.

  But … I’m all they have!

  “What words would I have for you? I’ve done nothing to you!” William shouted, blowing water from his lips. “I don’t even know why I’m here or what you want with me! I just want to find my ship, gather my brother and sister, and go home! I AM the captain of Peregrine, and there’s nothing you can do to change that!”

  William was suddenly angry. For a dream or a hallucination or whatever this was, the Mermaid Queen was awfully real. Not to mention that his head was about to slip forever below the waves.

  Someone please wake me up!

  He was a captain without a ship or a crew. He was a sailor lost at sea, about to drown, like so many had drowned before him. A tiny flicker of white-hot anger started in his chest. He didn’t have time for this, whatever this was. He had to find Emma and Jonah!

  “I’ll get my crew home AND save my ship! That’s what captains do!” he yelled.

  The Mermaid Queen let out a shriek. She laid the heavy whale bone sword on top of his head and with one quick push shoved William below the water.

  He gulped one final breath and sank below the waves.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  THE MERMAID CURSE

  Emma opened her eyes.

  Nearby, the horse chomped the long grass and lazily flicked its tail in the shade. The monkey chattered from a tree. The sad mermaid played with her hair, still in her spot.

  But above Emma, a circle of concerned faces looked down at her in the grass. A medieval knight in armour. A Roman gladiator. A schoolteacher. A little girl with a daisy-chain of flowers in her hair. A sea captain. And Finn.

  The coiled snake was nowhere to be seen.

  Emma closed her eyes again for a moment. She took a deep breath.

  I’m probably still on Peregrine, asleep, and this is all a weird dream. It doesn’t matter if this is real or not. Just find William and Jonah!

  Emma sat up. Finn offered his hand, and she shakily took it. He pulled her to her feet.

  “It’s all right, lass,” the sea captain said. He took a few puffs of his pipe.

  “Sumus amici,” said the gladiator.

  “He only speaks Latin,” the schoolteacher added matter-of-factly.

  Of course he only speaks Latin, Emma thought. Why not? She crossed her arms. She frowned. It would be very easy to let her brain wander. For one thing, where exactly WAS that giant snake, anyway?

  “But he said, ‘We are friends,’” the little girl said, proudly.

  “Well done, Mary-Celeste.” The schoolteacher beamed, patting the little girl on the shoulder.

  Finn stepped forward. “The shipwrecked figureheads need your help, Emma,” he said.

  “Shipwrecked? Figureheads?”

  “Yes. Each of these figureheads belonged to ships wrecked here long ago, lured by the mermaids. Their queen cursed them to stay here upon this island as her prisoner in this graveyard.” Finn looked over his shoulder at the sad mermaid and dropped his voice.

  “Our mermaid was the first. And she’s SO cursed, she can’t even move. She’s the wrong kind of mermaid, apparently.”

  “But you come and go,” Emma pointed out.

  “I’m not cursed,” he said quietly. “I choose to be here. But we’re all sea spirits … or some say kaboutermannekes.”

  Emma shook her head.

  “Pardon?”

  “Ka-bout-er-mann-e-kes,” Finn said. Emma just looked at him.

  “We’re ancient, wandering sea spirits, Emma. We swim the seas, save the drowning, or lead lost sailors to safety. You’ll find us in many forms, in figureheads, even in dolphins. I was never shipwrecked, I was not cursed, so I’m free to come and go, but they’re not.” He nodded at the other figureheads. “All they want is to be free to return to the sea, like me.”

  Emma took a quick look at the sad mermaid on her rock, then she shook her head.

  “But … but I can’t help you. I have to save my brother William, and I don’t even know where my other brother is, or my ship, Peregrine.”

  “If you help us end the Mermaid Queen’s curse, we can help you find your brothers and your ship,” he said. Emma hesitated. The figureheads all looked at her with such hopeful expressions. She shifted and frowned.

  “Well, why me?”

  Finn dropped his voice. “We can only reveal ourselves to someone who has received a gift from the sea.”

  “Gift? I haven’t received any gift from the sea,” Emma said, doubtful.

  Finn nodded. “Yes, you have. You carry it on your back.”

  Emma stared at him.

  “Your conch shell.”

  She slowly understood. “You? You gave back my shell?”

  Finn nodded. “When I took your ensign, in the fog. Who gave it to you anyway? Think back to the day you first found your shell, so long ago, Emma. Did a dolphin leap in the moonlight? Let me see it.” Emma reached into her backpack and handed the conch shell to Finn. He raised it to his lips and gently blew. A thin, fine note came out, high and true. It sent shivers down Emma’s back. He handed it back to her.

  “You can call me with it now, anytime, and I will appear,” he smiled.

  Emma shook her head. There were too many questions. Finn put seaweed in their mouths to save her and her brothers from drowning? He stole their ensign? Now her shell was his doing, too?

  It was too much all at once. She still wasn’t entirely convinced any of this was real. And how could she possibly help, anyway?

  Emma looked at the figureheads. Big mistake. The schoolteacher, the sea captain, the knight and the gladiator, were trying their best to put on a brave face, but Mary-Celeste, being very young, had flopped down in the grass. She handed Emma a daisy-chain.

  Her small face was so hopeful. “For you,” the little girl said sadly.

  Emma uncrossed her arms. She sighed. “Well, what do I have to do?” She wasn’t there to break an ancient mermaid curse. She was there because of the phantom ship, the storm, the fog, and running aground. She had to find William and Jonah and get home.

  “You have to challenge the Mermaid Queen to break the curse,” Finn said quickly.

  The figureheads all looked at her. And for ancient wooden ship statues come to life, Emma thought, they all looked very afraid. She was about to say something more, probably something along the lines of how exactly does one CHALLENGE a mermaid queen when …

  BOOM BOOM da-dum!

  BOOM BOOM da-dum!

  Everybody jumped. The knight’s helmet visor slammed shut. The gladiator drew his short sword. Mary-Celeste whispered, “Pirates !”

  Emma gulped. “Pirates? There are pirates here, too?”

  “Oh yes, lassie,” the sea captain answered. “And you dinna want to
cross them.”

  “They’re not the brightest of pirates, either,” the schoolteacher added, as though this explained everything.

  BOOM BOOM da-dum!

  BOOM BOOM da-dum!

  “Hostibus,” the gladiator breathed, glancing at the treetops.

  “That means ‘enemy,’” the schoolteacher translated.

  “So why are the pirates drumming?” Emma asked, nervously eyeing the treetops with the gladiator.

  BOOM BOOM da-dum!

  BOOM BOOM da-dum!

  “It could be warfare, milady,” said the knight helpfully.

  “Or perhaps a wee prisoner,” the sea captain added.

  BOOM BOOM da-dum!

  BOOM BOOM da-dum!

  “Will you help break the curse, Emma, and set the figureheads free to return to the sea? We’ve been waiting for someone like you,” Finn said. Everybody looked at her, even the sad mermaid.

  If it’s the only way I can find William and Jonah and our ship, what choice do I have? And none of this is probably real, anyway.

  Emma slowly nodded.

  “Come on, then,” said Finn, handing her the foghorn. “To the Mermaid Queen. Oh, and keep an eye out for the giant snake. He’s always hungry.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  PIRATE JONAH AT YOUR SERVICE

  Jonah held the wheel with his foot. Then he stretched as far as he could and banged the drums.

  BOOM BOOM da-dum!

  BOOM BOOM da-dum!

  He stopped, pulled out a long telescope, and scanned the beach. Emma and William might hear the drums and come to the shore. It was his only plan.

  But the beaches stayed empty.

  Jonah sailed on, searching the shoreline. He tied a piece of black sailcloth to his head for shade. He shared a banana with the parrot, then it settled on his shoulder with sharp claws and screeched in his ear.

  “Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight!”

  That’ll teach me to be kind, Jonah thought. And what are pieces of eight, exactly?

  Slowly, Jonah sailed the huge pirate ship to the end of the island. It was hot and tiring work. It was a big ship, a heavy wheel, and the drums were loud. His arms were tired and his head ached. But he couldn’t stop until he found his brother and sister.