Island of Shipwrecks (7 page)

“Something bad is coming,” Spike said. “It is not a waterfall.” She spoke simply and without fear, for she was a very new
creature who was still learning the ways of the sea. Each experience the Artiméans went through gave Spike the information on which to build her predictions.

“How do you know it's bad?” asked Alex. His eyes grazed the sky, where a faint glow from the moon revealed a thick layer of clouds. Clouds were a rare sight for the people of Artimé, and immediately Alex wondered if they had something to do with Spike's premonition.

“I can feel the badness tugging at me. It's like the waterfall, but different.”

The sky lit up with a flash, followed by a low rumbling. Alex thought he saw a mass of land in the distance. He trained his eyes on the spot and waited for lightning to come again. “It's just a storm, Spike. You're safe under water. I hope it doesn't get too rough though, or we're going to be in trouble.”

“It's tugging at me.”

Alex frowned, not sure what the whale meant. Maybe there was an undertow churning below the surface. He glanced at Florence, who was watching him with concern as she listened to the conversation.

Lightning flashed again, and this time Alex clearly saw the
outline of an island, closer than he ever expected. “Captain!” he shouted, waking up several others in the process.

Captain Ahab, whose rattling head was still missing an ear, hadn't been the same since before the waterfall. He couldn't hear well, his balance was off, and rumor aboard the ship was that his head must have hit the deck pretty hard . . . about a hundred times. He also dozed off occasionally, which actually gave the rest of them some peace and quiet.

Now, though, he jumped to attention. “Is she there? Do you see her?”

“Captain,” said Alex, “it's land. We've reached the easternmost island. See?” Lightning lit up the sky again, and a light spattering of rain began to fall. The wind picked up. “Can you guide us there? A storm is coming.”

“What? What? Aye, how treacherous be the night storm,” muttered the captain, looking all around. “Rocks! Rocks! Everywhere! May as well toll the bell and surrender to death himself!”

The rain fell harder.

“Well, can you steer clear of the storm without picking up speed? I don't want the glass patch to break again, so we've got to keep it slow.”

Florence, who had been aligning her gaze with the looming land whenever lighting lit the sky, spoke up. “Guide us in over there, Ahab. To the north side, see? When we get close enough for me to touch the sea floor, I'll step out and try to guide the ship around the rocks from below.”

The captain mumbled something unintelligible as thunder exploded and the crew came to life, tying down their personal goods. The sea grew rough. Rain pelted down at a furious pace. The wind whipped about, and lightning played out more and more frequently.

At the next earsplitting crash of thunder, the Artiméans needed no instructions—they sprang into action. Samheed, Lani, and Octavia headed belowdecks to keep an eye on the leak. Sky, Copper, Crow, and the others secured the ship. Henry came up the stairs to the main deck to see if Alex needed him. The storm grew, and the wind began to sing around Alex's ears.

“Stand by, will you?” Alex shouted to Henry, grateful for the extra set of eyes. “Look at the land when it's lit up—we're moving awfully fast. We're heading straight toward it!”

Henry squinted and shielded his eyes from the rain. “The
storm is centered right on top of the island; did you notice that?”

“Yeah,” Alex said, “and it isn't moving. But we definitely are—right toward the rocks.” He looked at Florence as the rain poured down, sounding like a thousand drumbeats on the deck. She leaned over the side, making the boat shift with her weight and almost throwing Alex off balance.

“Florence!” he called. In a flash of lightning, Alex could tell the warrior was talking with Spike. He motioned to Henry to follow him, and the two maneuvered their way on the tilting vessel over to Florence. Waves roiling in all directions, seemingly undecided on their path, slapped at the ship, splashed up, and soaked them.

“We're being pulled toward the island!” Florence shouted when the boys drew near. “Spike is having trouble hanging on to us!”

“I
thought
we were moving way too fast,” Alex muttered. “Why isn't Captain Ahab doing anything?”

“I don't think he realizes it. He's not well, Alex.” She gave him a serious look. “I think you need to take over the ship's wheel.”

Alex looked at Florence in alarm. “Me? I don't know how to steer this thing!”

Florence pointed at the island in the flickering light. “We're turning, see? Watch the island. We're moving in a circle around it, picking up speed.” She looked at Alex. “Take over. I'll coach you. I'd do it myself if I could reach the wheel, but I need to get centered on the deck for everyone's safety, especially now that the waves are swelling.” She shifted carefully back to center, trying to counterbalance her weight against the rocking ship.

Alex nodded—there was no one else who could take Ahab's place, so it was up to him.
If only Simber were here!
he thought.
Simber would have seen this coming before it was too late.
“Henry,” he said abruptly, turning to the boy, “I need you to distract Captain Ahab and coax him away from the wheel. I don't know how happy he'll be to leave his post right now.”

“I can do it,” Henry said.

They braced themselves against the wind, and as the ship rocked, they lurched along with it until they reached the captain. Henry distracted the statue, suggesting to him that the whale he sought might be on the other side of the ship.

When they'd moved away, Alex grabbed hold of the wheel and peered into the storm. Florence called out instructions and Alex did his best to follow them and try to turn the ship away from the island, but at every lightning flash he saw they were growing closer and closer. Soon their wide circling of the island became a tighter spiraling motion around it, as if they were caught in the water of a draining bathtub. “No! Stop!” he shouted. Then, “Hang on!” His words were all but snatched up by the wind.

Alex tugged and pulled at the wheel, fighting the impossible current and wind, until his whole body ached. His muscles began shaking, and he knew he couldn't get the ship to turn away. “It's no use!” he shouted. “We're caught in this storm and it's not letting go!”

The ship rocked and the sea churned. Even in the confusion, Alex heard the glass-patched hole explode. The shouts of Samheed, Lani, and Ms. Octavia assured him they were still alive, but they would have trouble aiming a new glass spell accurately with all the rocking.

Spike jumped nearby, trying to fight the current by traveling through air rather than water.

“Spike!” Alex called, struck by an idea. “Can you use part of your body to plug the hole in the ship?”

“I will try, the Alex.” Immediately the whale dove down and disappeared. Alex listened, and soon he heard faint cheers from below. Spike had saved them once more. Alex just hoped he wasn't putting the whale's life in danger by trapping her in a runaway vessel. He focused on the island, looming very close now. Alex could see the rocky coast, and he didn't know what to do.

“We're going to crash!” he shouted. “If we don't slow down, we'll have to abandon ship!”

Word spread quickly from statue to creature to human, and before Alex knew it, Sky had arrived at his side, soaking-wet hair stuck to her face and shoulders. She was furious. “My mother can't swim!” she shouted. “She can't abandon ship—what are you thinking? We have to do something else!”

Alex gave her a frantic look. He whipped his head around, looking for any possible solution to this latest problem, and his eyes landed on Florence, who was a rock in stressful times. “Get your mother,” Alex said to Sky in a voice more assured and calm than he felt. “Bring her up here.”

She hesitated, skeptical.

“I mean it. We don't have much time.”

Sky turned and made her way below.

“Florence?” Alex called.

“Yes, Alex,” she replied, not taking her eyes off the looming rocks.

“I need the squirrelicorns to deliver Copper safely to the island. They can take up to two others who want to go by air—Ahab, probably, and someone else. Can you prep them? Sky's coming up with her mother now.”

“Of course,” Florence said. “I think Lani or Samheed should go too, or someone with magical ability, in case there are unfriendly islanders to greet us.”

“Yikes. I didn't even think of that.”

“That's why you have me,” she replied with an uneasy grin. Florence called the six squirrelicorns to attention and gave them their instructions. Within moments they were carrying Copper, Lani, and Captain Ahab—despite his protests—through the storm and out of sight in the dark torrent. With the hole plugged by Spike, the rest of the Artiméans trickled upstairs, some carrying supplies, prepared to jump.

The wind and current forced the swirling ship uncomfortably close to a bevy of rocks near the island's shore. Alex, grasping the railing for balance, pointed a blinding highlighter toward land, but it was useless—the rain was too heavy in his eyes, and he couldn't see much beyond the rocks. He looked at Florence and she nodded. It was time.

“Everybody, listen up!” he shouted. All of the Artiméans gathered together on the top deck, hanging on to the nets and railings as rain and wind stung their skin. “We can't wait for the squirrelicorns to come back—we're going to wreck. We've tried to control the ship but we can't. Without Simber here, there's nothing more we can do. So I'm ordering you to jump now, and swim for the rocks. Okay? Don't try to make it all the way to shore. The squirrelicorns will come out for you. Pair up and keep track of each other!”

The ship lurched and Alex lost his balance. He caught himself as lightning lit up the rocky scene, just yards away. “Go now!” he cried. “We're going to hit! Watch out for the rocks!”

Without a moment's hesitation, Ms. Octavia wrapped her tentacles around Henry's and Crow's wrists. The three climbed to the top of the railing, and at the octogator's signal,
jumped into the water. Samheed grabbed Kitten and shoved her into his pocket. He helped Fox to the ledge, then held his hand out to Sky. She glanced at Alex. Samheed did too.

“You okay?” Samheed asked.

Alex nodded. “Go. Hurry!”

Sky pressed her lips together. She took Samheed's hand, and they jumped.

“Now you, Florence.”

Florence gathered as many supplies as she could hold. “Climb on my back,” she said.

“I'm fine. I'll jump after you.”

“Simber will break me in two if I don't take you. You know that. Besides, if I step over the side, you'll go flying when I let go of the ship.”

Alex hesitated. He couldn't see how close they were to the danger, and there was no time to argue. “We don't know how deep it is here, and you sink like a rock. I'm better off swimming on my own.”

“Alex.” Florence would have none of it. “Grab on. If it's not deep, I'll get us both on land faster. And if it is deep and we keep sinking, let go of me.”

Alex frowned and lurched toward the statue. “All right, fine. Let's go.” He took one last look at the pirate-ship deck, thinking about all the conversations he'd had here, and wondering how in the world they were going to get home if this ship was destroyed or lost at sea. But he couldn't tackle that problem right now. He let out a defeated breath, and as Florence bent down, he moved to grab on to her neck.

Alex's hands barely skimmed the warrior's broad shoulders before his world turned upside down. With a deafening crash the ship struck the rocks, and with a thousand
crack
s it split asunder. Mage, statue, and hole-plugging whale went flying headlong through the stormy sky and dropped into the sea.

A
fter flying nonstop for days with Carina on his back and Sean in the makeshift hammock below, Simber glided over the lagoon and the jungle trees toward Artimé's welcoming lawn. It was a sight for sore eyes indeed.

The cheetah was relieved to see that his presence and strange cargo were recognized by Artiméans on the lawn, who had gathered, pointing, and now began to prepare a space for Simber to land. Simber lowered the hammock to the ground and then touched down over and around it, careful not to step on any part of Sean. He folded his wings for the first time in
many days. Carina slid off. She stumbled and fell on the grass, her stiff muscles unable to support her properly at first.

Mr. Appleblossom, Ms. Morning, and Gunnar Haluki came running to greet them.

“Simber, what happened?” cried Claire, helping Carina to her feet. “Where is everyone else? Is Sean okay?”