Steel

Resting her chin on her palm, she stared out over the water, which hadn’t changed at all. It still went on forever, still rippled with endless waves, the same waves she watched back at Nassau, when everything was normal. Now, though, they were flecked silver by the moonlight. Then there were the stars—tipping back her head, she looked up past the palm fronds, past the thin smoke from the fire, and saw a sky bright with stars. The scene was hypnotizing. Staying awake ended up being a big enough challenge in its own right. She’d never been so sore, and she didn’t imagine there was a hot tub around to soak the aches away. She could fall asleep watching the waves, dreaming of hot water and cold sodas. She’d never complain about homework again.

Outside the circle of the camp’s fire, the world was mostly shades of blue, black, and silver. Cool colors, soft and restful. A flicker of yellow at the edges of Jill’s vision caught her attention. She straightened, squinting to better see it. It flashed again on the other side of the cove, like a bit of flame in midair. Past the camp, past the ship, at the very edges of the trees, on the shore looking out over the ocean.

A lantern, she thought. Someone there was holding a lantern.

REDOUBLEMENT

She almost shouted, but stopped herself. Her call would carry over the water, and whoever was holding the lantern would escape before anyone reached the spot. Jill jumped from her perch and ran as well as she could, sliding in the sand, following the edge of the forest.

“Tadpole?” Abe said as she came around behind the camp.

“There’s someone with a lantern out there,” she said. Abe got up and signaled, and he and a couple of the pirates followed her, pistols in hand.

As she reached the end of the cover, the light was still there, and she could see the figure of the man holding the lantern.

It was Emory, the surgeon. She recognized his silhouette by the shape of his clothes and the rough cut of his hair.

“Hey,” she said.

Quickly, he turned around and slammed closed the shutter on the lantern.

“Signaling your navy friends, eh?” Abe said, and he didn’t sound surprised. He might even have been amused.

Emory straightened. Jill couldn’t see his expression clearly but imagined him frowning. “You can’t slip by them forever. They’ll find you, eventually, and you’ll all hang.”

“Get on with you, back to camp,” Abe said. The two others grabbed the surgeon by the arms and led him along, pulling him so that he stumbled. “Good eyes again, Tadpole,” Abe said to her.

Jill didn’t feel any better. She spent a moment looking out to the horizon and didn’t see anything, no sign that Emory was signaling anyone in particular rather than randomly flashing the light in the hope that someone spotted him.

Back at the camp, Abe tied Emory’s hands and feet and left him sitting sullenly near the fire. Then he told Jill to get some rest.

Hard to do when Emory slumped against a barrel, glowering at her where she sat in the sand with a thin blanket she’d dug out of the pile of gear from the ship. Jill had the feeling that the crew wouldn’t have bothered keeping him around at all except his skills as a surgeon were too valuable to let go. But it seemed like more trouble than it was worth. Except the alternative was probably not just letting him go, but tipping him over the side. That didn’t seem right, either.

“So you’ve thrown your lot in with them for certain,” he said to her in a low voice that didn’t carry. “We could have helped each other.”

“You’re not helping much of anyone,” she muttered.

“What is your name—Tadpole?” She scowled and he chuckled. “Your pardon. It’s Miss Jill, isn’t it? You don’t belong here. I can see that.”

At least someone could.

The others were scattered along the beach, lying stretched out or curled up, snoring, sleeping off the rum, dead to the world after the day of hard work.

“Where are you from, really?” he said.

Shaking her head, she gave a wry smile. “A long way from here.”

“Philadelphia? Boston?” he said. “Or did you cross the Atlantic to get here?”

There was no point explaining it.

“Jill, the Royal Navy will find us, sooner or later. They’ll take the ship and everyone aboard her prisoner. But if you help me, I can save you. I can get you a pardon.”

“Help you, how?”

“Untie me, and we can both escape. Lead the navy here ourselves and collect the bounty on the pirates,” he said.

“Escape and go where?” she whispered. They were in wilderness. The jungle and hills were a solid wall around them.