The key wasn’t the only thing Jocelyn gained that night. She also gained a new member of her crew, likely the best she would ever have.

After Evie left, Roger felt it best to give Jocelyn some space. He squeezed her arm, then made a show of taking time to look over the ship’s repairs.

Jocelyn stayed with Gentleman Starkey, staving off heartbreak by contemplating what to do with him. The man was a pirate through and through—and a rather superlative one, I might add—but Jocelyn suspected that he was not entirely heartless, that he had been touched by the bravery he’d witnessed in Evie. She was likely wrong about that, but we can forgive her this once. She was going through an emotional time.

“I knew your mother somewhat, years ago,” Starkey told the girl, “back when she was just a bit older than now—and again after she was newly married to the captain. Evelina was one of the most remarkable people I’ve ever met. I always admired the way she was determined to live each day as if it could be her last. If you are going to save her father, I’ll help you, but I won’t set foot on those school grounds again, and don’t be asking me about it. I have my reasons.”

Jocelyn shook her head. “I’m tired of secrets, both my own and others’.”

“I don’t much care what you are tired of. I’ve a right to keep it to myself.”

“And I’ve a right to return you to Tiger Lily’s village. I’m certain the children would be glad to get you back. How did you know both my mother and I went to school there?”

To Jocelyn’s surprise, the man laughed. “You’re a dirty extortionist, you are,” he said. “I can respect that.” He shook his head. “All right. I’ll tell you. It makes little difference now. I knew about your mother because I was on Captain Hook’s crew while he was building his treasure caves. I never set foot in them, which I believe is part of the reason he let me live. My job was to scout the school grounds, to make sure no one stumbled upon the old carriage house and found their way in before the booby traps were set. To do so, I took a job as an assistant teacher.”

Jocelyn found that hard to believe. “If that’s true, how was it that Evie didn’t recognize you all the times she saw you here on the Neverland?”

“I must have begun teaching after she returned home, so the Evie you knew hadn’t yet met me. And when she finally did at school, she was smart enough not to let on. At any rate, if you’ve finished interrupting, I’ll continue.”

Jocelyn nodded.

“On occasion, the captain would come ashore with a new building crew. He never liked to leave any of them alive for too long, lest they start getting ideas about mutiny and selling out the treasure location. At those times, he’d join me in walking the school grounds to hear my report. I’m sure he thought often of killing me, but he restrained himself, knowing it would be difficult to place another in my position. Not many pirates have been trained as an English schoolteacher, now, have they?”

“I suppose not.”

Since Jocelyn had not added anything interesting to the conversation, he carried on as if the girl hadn’t spoken. “On one such evening, as we were walking along, we overheard a young lady, Miss Evelina Hopewell, boasting to her friends that her father had bought a fine new ship and was planning on sending her out on a pleasure cruise for her eighteenth birthday. She named the upcoming date and time, just a fortnight from thence, and expressed her hope that the party would attract the right sort of gentlemanly attention. Captain Hook quietly parted the foliage separating us from the girl and, upon looking at her, declared to me that he was the right sort himself. He made a dramatic entrance to the party, sacking the ship and beginning a formal courtship of Evelina in one fell swoop. The two were married before a month was out.”

Jocelyn wondered at this. It didn’t sound like Evie, though the details did fit in with what she knew about her parents’ meeting. “But why did he let you live, once the treasure was hidden away and he no longer needed you? And how did you know I went to school there?”

“He let me live because, once he married Evelina, she took a liking to me. She insisted that I stay on as crew and made him promise to never harm or dismiss me. It didn’t hurt that he knew I’d never go back to the school, not as long as Cook was still alive and working there. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Cook may have hated me, but she was happy to work for him, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious and, later, keeping an eye on you.”

Cook had known her father? And even more shocking, had had a love affair with Starkey?

“But how did you know that I went to school there?” she asked. “If Cook was so angry with you, she wouldn’t have told you, would she?”

“Once, when he was well into a bottle of muscat, Captain Hook showed me one of her letters, telling how you were getting on. I daresay he was pleased.”

Her father was pleased with her? Of all the revelations Jocelyn had received, this one seemed the most incredible. She was quite speechless over the idea.

Starkey did not seem to notice her consternation. “So,” he concluded, “there you have it. What you’ll do with it, I can’t say. But as I mentioned, if you require my services in saving Evelina’s father, I will do what I can. I think I owe her that much, for my life. But don’t be getting any ideas that I’ll enjoy serving under a mewling infant, such as yourself.”

“Nor would I enjoy your service. But I could use you. I am short a man, thanks to that traitor Dirty Bob. I’ll take you on,” she said, “but don’t cross me again.”

“I won’t. But you had better not put any sticky hands on me. I don’t like it.”

And that is how Starkey joined the crew. Jocelyn was reluctant to have him. He was reluctant to sign on. It couldn’t have been a better match.

Meriwether delivered Jocelyn’s note to the crew, and she was able to round them up without any difficulty. She gathered them together and informed them of her intentions. “The most important thing is that we free my grandfather—even if I have to give up the treasure to do it.”

Jim McCraig volunteered to use the information in Jocelyn’s locket to crack the code. “Says he’s good with languages, miss,” Smee translated.

After copying the code key into the logbook, Jocelyn instructed him to write his translations in it. Blank pages do come in handy for writing, she thought. She also copied the key directly onto the map. She was hoping to free her grandfather by stratagem, but if it came down to it, she was prepared to meet Krueger’s demands in order to save Sir Charles’s life.

Both Gentleman Starkey and Mr. Smee had made the trip from the Neverland to the mainland many times and knew the way. Starkey guided them through a rock arch in the middle of the sea. On the Neverland side it was bright and sunny; a soft, warm snow drifted down and hit the decks with a sizzle. But as soon as they came through the archway, the Hook’s Revenge was plunged into a deep gray fog.

“So, we’re back in English waters, then,” Smee said.

Jocelyn would soon have to face Captain Krueger again. It was not the chilly air that caused her to shiver.