The Turning Tide (5 page)

J
ean was lying on the floor of his room, groaning.

“Am I to understand that you’re hungry?” Jack inquired.

“My stomach feels like it is caving in,” Jean said woefully. “Hey, where’s Lakshmi?”

Jack brightened and looked around their room alertly. The orange-clad warrior was missing; she hadn’t followed them back yet from the feast pavilion. “Right,” Jack said. “Back in a minute.”

“Jack, no!” said Jean. “You’re going to get her in trouble.”

“Little trouble never hurt anyone,” Jack said. He stopped in the doorway and turned around. “Except in the literal sense, that is.” He sprang out the door. Jean could hear his boots trotting away down the hall.

“Uh-oh.” Jean sighed, crossing his arms over his face. “I’d follow him, but I’m too hungry. All I can think about is food. I can see dishes piled with food in my mind’s eye. I can even
smell
—”

He paused, then sat up suddenly.

Lakshmi was sitting on a cushion beside Jean’s bed, laughing at him. Her scarf was undone so he could see her face, and she was arranging small bowls of vegetables and rice between them.

Jean gaped for a moment. “Where did you get all that?”

“From the kitchens,” Lakshmi said. “The head cook is my cousin. I can get in any time I want—and I thought you needed something to eat.” She tore off a piece of bread, dipped it in a yellow sauce, and handed it to him.

“Are you sure it’s safe?” Jean asked.

“Absolutely,” she said. “No one would poison the Pirate Lord’s vegetables; everyone knows he never eats them. That’s probably the real reason why he left the priesthood—vegetarianism was too hard for him.”

Jean ate the mouthful of bread and closed his eyes with a blissful smile. “Wow,” he said. “Will you marry me?”

“All right,” she said. “But I have to work off my debt to Sri Sumbhajee first.”

Jean blinked at her and she started laughing. “That’ll teach you to be careful what you say, won’t it?” she teased.

“I would absolutely marry you,” he said fervently. “What debt are you talking about? When will it be repaid?”

Lakshmi went quiet, looking down at the bowls on the flagstones between them. “It’s not important.”

“It is to me,” Jean insisted. “Please tell me.”

“Well.” She tucked a strand of her raven hair behind her ear. “A few years ago, Sri Sumbhajee captured my father’s trading ship with my whole family on board. He was going to slaughter us all, but I guess he was impressed by my fighting skills—I’d been training with the
urumi
since I was very young. He said if I would join his crew and fight alongside him for either ten years or two big battles, he would spare my parents.” Her dark eyes glanced up at Jean, then dropped again. “Of course, I agreed. I thought a pirate like Sri Sumbhajee would face a major battle almost every day. But it’s been three years, and he’s managed to keep me away from anything that serious. I think he just likes having a warrior girl to show off,” she added bitterly.

“I’m sorry,” Jean said. A thought struck him. “You know, a major battle is coming—perhaps the biggest any pirate—any
person
—has ever faced. He won’t be able to keep you out of that. He’ll need you beside him.”

Lakshmi looked at him, her eyes skeptical, with a glimmer of hope and curiosity. “What are you talking about?”

“The Shadow Lord,” Jean said. Then he told her everything he knew…which wasn’t very much. “You haven’t seen a vial of Shadow Gold, have you?” he asked at the end.

She shook her head, confused. “Not that I know of. But if it’s really important, Sri Sumbhajee probably carries it on him at all times. What does it do?”

“Not sure,” Jean said. “But Jack says we need it, so…well, not that that means it’s true…in fact, knowing him as long as I have, I can guarantee you that it only means he’s probably not telling us something. But I like sailing with him, at least for now.” He shrugged. “Um, speaking of Jack—shouldn’t you be following him around? I wouldn’t want anyone to get angry at you.”

She shrugged dismissively. “I don’t really care what Sparrow takes from Sri Sumbhajee. I agreed to fight alongside the Pirate Lord; I never agreed to guard his belongings. Jack Sparrow is
his
problem, not mine.”

At that moment, keeping track of Jack Sparrow was actually Jack Sparrow’s problem as well. After racing off to explore the palace on his own, he had found himself hopelessly lost. Every long, columned corridor looked like every other long, columned corridor, and every garden looked mysterious and silvery in the moonlight.

Jack turned a corner and ran straight into a trio of Sri Sumbhajee’s biggest, burliest pirates. They glared at him, clearly unused to finding rogue Pirate Lords wandering the halls at night.

“Ah, yes, good,” Jack said, trying to act suave. “Excellent intimidating expressions. Very imposing. As you were, gents.” He took a step backward.

“You!” one of them cried. “You’re not supposed to be wandering around alone!”

“Ah, but technically I’m not alone,” Jack said. “I’m with you handsome devils, aren’t I? So you see, you’re not thinking logically.”

All three of them looked down at the floor and scratched their heads for a moment, pondering.

“Wait, but—” one of them started, raising his head.

Jack Sparrow was sprinting away down the corridor, his arms and knees pumping madly.

“Hey!” the pirates yelled, tripping over each other as they chased after him.

Jack fled through a quiet garden, leaping over the small walls that bordered each flowerbed. Hearing footsteps pounding ahead of him, he veered left and clattered down a flight of stairs. He dashed madly through the empty throne room, then paused and came trotting back in, backward, peering at the lion throne. He stopped for a moment to climb into the alcove and see if the throne came apart or could be lifted. The answer was a resounding no. He couldn’t even tug off one of the lion heads, although he strained a few muscles trying.

“There he is!” an Indian pirate shouted from the top of a wall.

Jack leaped off the throne and ran back into the corridor. Now he recognized where he was, and he remembered the way back to the main entrance. Flailing his arms wildly, he raced down the stairs, shot through the first courtyard, and hurled himself over the wall, bumping and sliding and crashing down into the hibiscus that crowded up against the base of the palace.

A shower of red and white blossoms cascaded over him as he hit the dirt with a thud.

“Urgh,” Jack mumbled. He lay there for a moment, catching his breath and listening. He was now in an enormous network of gardens that surrounded the main palace, which in turn was surrounded by a thick wall overlooking the hidden lake. Jack’s beloved
Pearl
was on the other side of that wall, just down the stone stairway, waiting patiently at the dock. He wondered briefly if he could sail it himself and whether it would be really all that bad to leave the rest of his crew behind. After all, they’d probably love India. Lots of mangoes. And monkeys. Didn’t everyone love monkeys?

A shadow hopped onto his shoulder and yanked on his hair. Jack jumped, swatting it aside. For a moment he thought it was a monkey, but then his heart sank as he realized it was a shadow coming to life! Which meant his shadow-sickness was returning.

He couldn’t flee on the
Pearl
, even if it seemed like a lovely plan. He needed Sri Sumbhajee’s vial of Shadow Gold. Tia Dalma had told him ingesting the liquid gold was the only thing that could cure the shadow-sickness. And from the looks of the shadows gathering to swarm around him, he needed it
soon
.

I
t was nearly midnight. The palace was dark and still. Diego quietly got up and stood beside his bed for a moment, listening to Catastrophe Shane’s breathing. It sounded like he was fast asleep. Cautiously, Diego tiptoed to the door.

“Better look out,” Catastrophe Shane mumbled.

Diego froze.

“Yeah, that’s right,” Shane muttered. “I’m…dread pirate Catastrophe Shane…so dangerous…all hide their weapons…mmph…better stay out of my way.”

Diego relaxed. Shane was dreaming. Diego had heard him mumbling in his sleep sometimes on the
Pearl
, when the crew was all resting in their hammocks. This frequently resulted in a few rum bottles (empty ones, of course; no one liked to waste rum) being tossed at Shane’s head by the less-agreeable pirates. But Diego didn’t mind, as long as Shane didn’t wake up.

He peeked into Jack’s room as he crept past. He couldn’t see the corner where Jack slept, which was hidden in shadows. But moonlight spilled through the window illuminating the shapes of Jean and Lakshmi, who had fallen asleep on top of the blankets, side by side.

Loud snoring came from Billy and Barbossa’s room, as it did from most of the pirates’ rooms. Pirates, for some reason, were not the quietest or most genteel sleepers. Shane wasn’t the only one who got rum bottles tossed at his head. In fact, it was hard to imagine anyone could sleep in the
Pearl
’s hammocks, given the ever-present danger of being whacked by a stray bottle.

Diego hurried soundlessly through the corridors, ducking into doorways whenever he heard a noise. At one point, he had to lunge behind a tapestry when two of Sri Sumbhajee’s pirates suddenly came out of a door at the other end of the hall.

He held his breath as their footsteps paused.

“Did you hear something?” one of them said.

“Nah,” said the other. “It’s nothing.”

“Could be that Jack Sparrow still lurking about,” the first one muttered.

“I still say we should have woken up Sri Sumbhajee,” said the second.

“Are you mad?” said the first pirate. “He would have run us through, turned over, and gone back to sleep. No one wakes Sri Sumbhajee!”

“True,” his friend muttered. “And with his powers, he probably knows about it already.”

“Right. Come on, let’s see if there’s any rum left.”

“Not with Jack Sparrow around,” the other pirate said darkly.

Diego heard them move away down the corridor. He waited a long time, until he was sure they were gone. Then he slipped out and ran softly through the last garden and down the stairs into the main courtyard, where he and Carolina had first been separated.

Carolina was waiting in the shadow of one of the elephant columns. She was still wearing the red sari she wore at dinner, but a new necklace rested lightly on the silk. It had a simple stone at the end which glowed faintly in the moonlight.

“Hey,” she whispered as they met in the center of the courtyard. She hugged Diego quickly and his heart sped up. “Let’s go down into the gardens. I think we’ll be less exposed there.” He didn’t protest as she took his hand and led him out into the jasmine-scented night. Here there were no lanterns; the only light came from the silver moon above.

“What kind of stone is that?” Diego asked, touching the jewel in her necklace lightly. It was cool and smooth under his finger, like a pearl, but more translucent.

“It’s a moonstone,” Carolina whispered. “Parvati gave it to me. She said it would protect me, but I don’t know from what. I think this food-poisoning business is really worrying her. She said if we do find the assassin and save Sri Sumbhajee, she’ll let me keep it.”

“So you don’t think
she
could be the assassin?” Diego said. “Does she have any reason to want Sri Sumbhajee dead?”

Carolina shook her head. “Not that I know of. I mean…I don’t get the impression that she
loves
him, exactly…but I think she would rather be the wife of the Pirate Lord than his widow, that’s for sure.”

She tugged him off the path and led him between a pair of tall hibiscus bushes. Hidden from view of the palace by a screen of foliage, they sat down on the grass, under a large tree with clusters of star-shaped white flowers. A nightingale was singing softly on a branch above them.

“You could be right that it’s Mannajee,” Diego said. “He does have a motive—but I kind of get the feeling he likes sleeping more than…you know, looting and pillaging.” He was having trouble concentrating on this conversation. With Carolina only inches away, and her soft hair brushing his arm, all he could really think about was her.

“What?” he said, realizing that she’d spoken and he’d missed it.

She gave him a funny look. “
What if it’s
Mannajee’s wife instead?
Jhumpa is pregnant with their first child. Now would be a great time to get Sri Sumbhajee out of the way, so there’s no question Mannajee’s child will inherit the title of Pirate Lord.”

Diego nodded. “Does she seem like a poisoner?”

“Well,” Carolina said, “I don’t know. What’s a poisoner like? I only know about pirates and princes. And I much prefer the former, by the way.”

“You know about stable boys, too,” Diego said boldly.

He could clearly see her smile in the moonlight. “Well, I know about one of them, and he’s better than all the pirates and princes combined.” Diego’s heart leaped. What should he say? Was this the right moment to tell her how he felt? He opened his mouth, but she was already talking about the assassination attempts again.

“We need to figure out who has access to the kitchens,” Carolina mused. “I asked Parvati, and she said they are off limits to everyone but the cooks. It’s a small space—someone would definitely notice if, say, Jhumpa wandered through and dumped a vial of poison into the curry.”

“Curry?” Diego echoed.

“Parvati was telling me about what they normally eat. If we solve this mystery, we might actually get to have some before we leave,” Carolina said.

“Well,” Diego said reluctantly, “then there might be one more person to add to our list.”

“Oh, there are countless suspects,” Carolina said. “Like Askay and Pusasn—do they get tired of being mouthpieces but having no power? And—oh, I’m sorry. You go ahead.”

Diego looked down, turning her hand over in both of his. “You know the warrior who’s been assigned to keep an eye on Jack?”

Carolina nodded.

“It’s a girl named Lakshmi. You should talk to each other; she has this unusual weapon I can’t even begin to describe. Well, unless she’s the murderer…then maybe you shouldn’t talk to each other.”

“Why would you think she is the one we are looking for?” Carolina asked, surprised.

“I overheard her talking to Jean earlier,” he said. “I heard her say that her cousin is the head cook, so she can get into the kitchens whenever she wants.”

“Huh,” Carolina said. She tapped her chin with the fingers of her free hand, looking thoughtful. “But why?”

Diego shrugged. “Maybe to get free of Sri Sumbhajee,” he said. “Otherwise she said she could be forced to work for him for the next seven years.”

“Yeah, that would do it,” Carolina said wryly. “Can you imag—what was that?”

They both sat up, listening.

A twig snapped somewhere nearby. The nightingale fell silent.

Was there someone—or something—watching them from the shadows?

Diego pulled Carolina to her feet and they tiptoed over to the bushes. “We’d better get back to the palace,” he whispered.

“All right,” Carolina whispered back. They waited for a moment until clouds drifted across the face of the moon and the gardens were plunged into darkness. Then they slipped out onto the open grass and started padding quickly back to the stairs.

Suddenly, without warning, Carolina stood on tiptoe, took Diego’s face in her hands, and kissed him.

The inside of Diego’s chest felt like sails filling with wind, wild and bright and full of happiness. For a minute he was too stunned to react; then he reached to put his arms around Carolina and pull her closer—

BRRRRRREEEEEEEAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A terrifying noise split the night. Diego and Carolina whirled around.

Some kind of monster was thundering across the grass toward them. In the dark, it was impossible to tell what it was…but it was big. Really, really big. From their perspective it looked as tall as a house, with four massive feet that shook the ground as it ran straight at the two teenagers.

“Run!” Carolina cried.