Chapter 24
“Bugger it! They’re ghost pirates!” Jasper shouted. “Hang on tight!” He turned the motor on high and we bounced over the waves, smacking down on the surface of the water so hard my teeth clacked together. I clutched the boat’s side, fearing I’d bounce right out of it.
Olive didn’t flinch at the sight of the ship. Instead, she said, “Get us to shore. We’ll be safe there.”
“Safe from that?” I cried, gesturing wildly at the ship rapidly closing in on us. “They’re saber-wielding ghosts!”
“Yes, I’m aware. Ghosts haunt the living either because they died a horrific death”—she paused to glance at the ship—“which in this case seems likely, or because they have unfinished business. Judging by the fact that none of them have jumped overboard to get to you, I suspect they’re bound to their ship. ”
She lowered her sunglasses, which were suspiciously devoid of the water droplets that covered everything else, and studied the pirates with a narrowed gaze.
Without looking away from the ship, she reached into the pocket of her overcoat and pulled out several small nutmeg shells that resembled mini conchs.
She handed one to each of us. “Keep it on your person and the ghosts can’t harm you. ”
I studied it, noting the thick red thread tied around the delicate brown-and-white shell. The scent of rosemary wafted up from the shell and I could see that a small sprig had been stuffed inside and secured by the thread.
Jasper pocketed his, as did Eloise. I followed suit, very doubtful that a shell the size of a walnut could protect me from a ship full of irate ghost pirates, but I wasn’t about to quibble as we raced for our lives.
I wanted to keep my gaze on Hagshill Isle as it grew larger on the horizon, but I compulsively glanced back to track the progress of the ghost ship.
Gliding unimpeded over the water, it was moving more swiftly than us.
There was no way we were going to make landfall before they overtook us.
I felt like throwing up my coffee, but there was no time.
“What else can we do?” I asked Olive, raising my voice to be heard over the engine’s roar and the whipping wind.
She glanced at me and her dark eyes were solemn when she said, “Most likely, they’re after that book of yours. If you throw it in the sea, they might go after it instead of us.”
I felt a shiver from the backpack I’d put on backward to secure it to my chest. Was the book afraid? Instinctively, I clutched it closer and shook my head. “Unacceptable.”
Olive’s mouth tipped up in one corner a mere millimeter or two. I supposed it could have been a grimace from the impact the boat had on the water, but I preferred to believe it was approval.
“All right, then we have to scare them off,” Olive declared.
“I don’t think this boat has the fearsome quality you’re looking for in a watercraft,” Jasper shouted.
“It doesn’t need it,” Olive said. “It just needs an illusion.”
I glanced at Eloise, who was watching Olive with a curious expression. As we watched, Olive tucked her sunglasses into her pocket and moved to stand in the center of our boat. Over her shoulder, she yelled, “Hold her steady.”
Jasper nodded and turned toward the island.
He slowed the speed just enough to keep the boat from slapping against the surface.
I glanced at the pirate ship and noted it was closing the gap.
Olive spread her arms wide, tipping her face up to the sky.
The wind pulled at her coat and tugged her hair loose, letting it whip about her head and shoulders.
Fog appeared between her outstretched hands, materializing as if she’d fashioned it out of the air.
As it was Olive, maybe she had. I would expect no less from her at this point.
The fog mushroomed, enveloping our little boat in a thick bank.
As I watched, it formed the shape of a dragon.
I felt my mouth go slack as the head of the beast moved forward to loom over the ghost ship.
We could hear shouts and curses from the ship, which appeared to have slowed as the body of the dragon spread out across the water, hiding us from view.
“That should do it.” Olive sat down and Jasper revved the boat back into a driving pace.
I had no idea how he was navigating us to the island through the blanket of gray that enveloped us, but it was clear he knew what he was doing. A surge of relief for the competency of those around me filled me to the brim.
It was then that a cannonball landed in the water off the starboard side of the boat, sending up a massive splash and taking my relief with it.
“Punch it, Griffin!” Olive ordered.
Jasper shoved the throttle into a higher gear and we went back to slamming our way across the water toward the island. I heard an eerie laugh behind us and a shiver of dread whispered down my spine. They were just ghosts, I told myself. Specters. They couldn’t actually hurt us, could they?
“Wait!” I turned to Olive. “How could they be ghosts on a ghost ship that passed through another ship and have actual cannonballs that fire into the water? That makes no sense.”
“How old do you suppose their ship is?” Olive asked me. It felt like a test.
“Judging by the rigging, it was built in the seventeen hundreds. Why?” I asked.
Her eyebrows went up and I might have thought she was impressed with my memory and random bits of knowledge, but she continued on before I could be sure. “Correct. Which means they’ve had almost three centuries to harness their ghostly powers.”
“So they can manifest a ghost cannonball into a real one?” I asked.
“Precisely, the older the ghosts, the more powerful they are, and they do have the ability to harness energy and weaponize it.”
“So ghosts can actually hurt you,” I said.
“That’s how I got this scar.” Olive tapped the eyebrow with the slit in it. Having made her point, she slipped her sunglasses back on.
“Well, shit.”
“Everyone, hang on,” Jasper ordered. “I’m going to try to outmaneuver them.”
We each grabbed a built-in handhold. Jasper veered to the right and then the left. He shot forward and dropped back. All the while, I heard the boom of the cannon and noted splashes of water breaking the surface all around us.
Suddenly, Jasper switched tactics and aimed straight for the island, which I could just make out in the thinning fog. The cannonballs landed all around us but never came close enough to cause any damage.
I leaned forward so I could see Jasper’s face. His thoughtful expression indicated that he’d come to the same conclusion as me. “They’re missing us on purpose.”
He turned his head and his gaze met mine. “I think so, too, but why?”
I had no idea.
We glanced ahead and the island’s marina appeared. Jasper turned to face the others and said, “Land ho!”
I turned back and saw the ghost ship stop. It hovered on the water, not moving. There had to be a ward or spell that kept it from the shore. Relief whooshed through me. There would be no ghosts stalking us on the island.
As I watched, Captain Cole raised his sword in the air. “Be wary, granddaughter of Toni Donadieu. All is not as it seems. We will await your return.”
My return? Was he telling me we were going to do this dance again? No, no, no. I didn’t care how I got off the island, I was not facing down a pirate ship again. No way, no how. I’d hire a helicopter if I had to.
Jasper slowed the boat to accommodate the no-wake zone as we entered the cove. With the pirates held firmly offshore, I found I could breathe again.
“They let us go. What a relief.” Eloise sagged against her seat. “I’m surprised you didn’t give them the book, Zoe.”
“Me, too,” I said. “But I couldn’t. It wouldn’t have been right.”
Eloise smiled at me. Her eyes were kind and soulful when she said, “Your grandmother would have been proud of you.”
I tried to wave her off, but a silly, sentimental part of me was pleased to hear it.
Would Mamie have been proud? Or would she have thought I was an idiot?
I had no way of knowing. She’d been gone for more years than I’d known her.
I liked to think she’d have approved, but I didn’t want to presume. I didn’t want to be wrong.
Jasper pulled up to an open slip in the marina. The fog had lifted, leaving only the relentless rain. With a glance out at the ocean, I noticed the pirate ship had faded, much like the fog, leaving only the memory of its presence behind.
“Come on, let’s tie up,” Olive said. “We want to be out of here before the ferry lands and they realize they’re missing a lifeboat.”
Jasper lifted Eloise up and set her on the dock. He turned to do the same for Olive, but she climbed out of the boat, nimbly stepping onto the creaking boards and kneeling to tie the boat. I scrambled after her, tying the bow while Jasper propped up the engine on the back of the boat.
Olive led the way to the larger pier. Like good little soldiers, we fell into step behind her. Eloise was agog at the view of the town from the pier.
“Oh no, the ice cream parlor is gone!” she cried. “They’ve replaced it with a locally harvested seaweed shop. That’s just wrong.”
I kept glancing back at the ocean, expecting the pirates to appear.
“It’s all right, Zoe.” Jasper came up beside me. “As Olive said, the pirates can’t leave their ship.”
“You’re right.” I shook my head. “I’m just having a hard time processing…” I waved my hand at the water. “Whatever that was.”
“Terrifying. It was bloody terrifying.”
A surprised laugh burst out of me. “I thought I was the only one who thought so.”
“Not at all. If I never see another pirate again in this life, I’m fine with it.”
“Agreed.”
“Where are we going first?” Eloise asked.
“We’re going to Toni Donadieu’s house,” Olive said. She took out her phone and consulted the route. “It’s only a ten-minute walk around the edge of the village.”