Immediately the crew started to push and shove, yelling over one another to be heard. Toby winced and glanced at Ayla as Crocker threw a punch at Marcus. Ayla leaned on a table away from the melee, with her right arm tightly folded over her broken one.
“Stop this!” the captain roared.
A table crashed to the floor. Hiko hid behind Toby and D’von moved to his side.
Rahul hauled Nisha to safety and Rita burst from the pack to stand with them. “If you want to do this, Captain, it doesn’t have to be Toby!” she panted, “D’von’s the right age and I’ve passed for sixteen – remember Kabul?”
D’von’s face lit up and Ayla looked away from the fight, offering what seemed to Toby to be a genuine, gentle expression. “It’s a good offer, D’von, but there’s too much risk of you being rejected by the order if they realize that Rita’s not a teenager. Toby and I stand a better chance of being accepted as the Sun and Moon.”
The captain sucked air through his teeth. “Rita, could you work with D’von?”
Rita nodded swiftly.
“All right then,” he roared. “This isn’t a democracy. Settle down or you’ll all be on a charge.”
The battling crew fell silent.
“I’ve made my decision. Rita and D’von are going to Gozo. Ayla – you’ll give them the pills and if we retrieve two inverters, well … I’ll make sure you get one.”
Fury darkened Ayla’s green eyes. “You can’t cut me out of my own plan!” She poked him in the chest, looking as if she wished she was using a knife and not her fingernail. “She’s too old. It won’t work!”
When the captain ignored her, Ayla appealed to Toby. “They won’t get picked. If they’re turned away, we’ll have to wait another year for a second chance. And by then we’ll be too old to try ourselves. You may as well throw those panels away.”
Toby looked at D’von. Yes, there was a chance he’d be picked by the order and get inside the sanctuary. But would he be able to sneak around and steal the inverters without being caught? D’von was not as slow as he looked; there was a deeper well of cunning inside him that had surprised both Toby and Ayla in Tarifa, but he was honest, open and did as he was told.
Hiko gripped Toby’s hand. “You can’t let him go,” Hiko whispered. “He’ll be caught.”
Polly glared down at him. “Be quiet, you,” she squawked.
Toby turned to the captain. “So … are you planning to keep Ayla prisoner on the Phoenix until the heist is over?”
Ayla’s eyes widened. “You can damn well try.”
Toby put his hands on his hips. “If she gets away she’ll go to Gozo and tell the order that Rita isn’t sixteen.”
The captain frowned and Toby carried on.
“Or she’ll get herself another partner and go in without the Phoenix.” He turned to the crew. “If that happens Ayla will get an inverter for the Banshee and the Phoenix will get nothing. Nell has the map, same as us. You want the Banshee getting to the island first? Even if we could translate our map, we can’t do a long sea voyage without those inverters. It may as well point us to the moon.”
Polly swayed from side to side. “I don’t like where this is going,” she murmured.
“If we don’t join Ayla, there’s no way to stop her cutting us out.”
“There is one way.” Peel ran his finger along the knife he kept at his belt.
“Peel!” Toby snapped. “We’re not murderers.”
“We’re pirates,” Crocker spat.
The captain rubbed his eyes. “We may be pirates, but we don’t murder little girls because it’s convenient.”
“Little girls!” Ayla bristled.
“Shut up, Ayla.” Toby spun round. “If we could trust you, we wouldn’t be having this problem.”
As Ayla smirked, Dee shoved her into a chair. “We should never have heard her out. You think she’s not planning a double-cross?”
“Toby’s right,” the captain groaned. “I don’t like it, but he is.” He twisted his compass. “I don’t trust the girl and nor should he, but he’s bright enough to keep an eye on her and make sure he gets an inverter for the Phoenix despite any hidden agendas.”
“I don’t have—” Ayla interjected.
“Enough,” the captain growled. “Toby is going. But Rita and D’von are going, too, as insurance. If they’re the ones to get picked, all the better.”
“They won’t,” Ayla stated confidently.
Dee slid her blade free and Ayla closed her mouth.
The captain sighed. “It’s not ideal, but I can’t think of any other way that doesn’t put a stain on our souls.”
“The stain doesn’t have to be yours.” With a terrifying suddenness Dee raised her knife.
Ayla was still seated. As she tried to get up, to protect herself, her foot caught on the chair leg.
“No!” Toby screamed.
Fast as a snake, the captain grabbed Dee’s wrist. The knife hovered above Ayla’s chest. She kicked backwards and the chair toppled, taking her away from the blade. She rolled from the seat and in one smooth movement moved into a crouch, flicking her long coat away from her face.
As it settled, Toby realized that she too had drawn a knife.
“Where’d she get that?” Crocker called into the shocked silence.
“That’s one a my kitchen knives. Get if offa her,” Peel roared.
Ayla lunged towards Dee and the captain swung his second in command behind him. Ayla froze as she came face to face with the captain. Her knife hand trembled.
“Drop it!” Marcus ran to disarm her and the captain raised a hand.
Toby could hear the harsh rasp of Dee’s breath even over the pirate’s muttering.
“No one is to harm our visitor.” The captain spun to Dee, putting his back to Ayla and her knife. “Do you understand?”
“It’s the only way.” Her face was pale, her scarf a livid slash of colour around her dark hair.
“It’s not our way.” The captain opened his hand and released her. “Toby’s right – if we let her go, she’ll sabotage our own attempt on the inverters and if we try and keep her prisoner she’ll do all she can to escape.”
“So you’ll allow your son to go with her on this crazy mission, to risk his life, just so you don’t have to take hers?”
“Careful, Dee,” the captain warned.
“I’m your second in command, why won’t you listen to me?” She spun to face Toby. “You’re a pirate, stop being a hero.”
Toby sighed. “It’s not heroism, Dee; it’s good sense. Rita’s too old. Yes, she and D’von might get into the sanctuary, but they might not. I have to go: it’s the best thing for the Phoenix.”
As Dee moved to object, the captain spoke first. “Toby, take Hiko and get the boiler running. It’s almost a week’s straight sailing to Gozo. We leave at first light.”
“No!” Dee shook her head. The captain caught her arm and lowered his voice. “You know better than to undermine me in front of my crew.”
Dee pulled free of the captain’s hold. “I’ve been on this ship as long as you have. I’ve supported every decision you’ve made, but not this one.” She shook her head.
“You will support me, or at least remain quiet—”
The captain sagged. “Stop forcing my hand.”
“I can’t stand here and watch you—”
“Then don’t!” the captain groaned. “Theo and Simeon will be back in a few days. If we leave at first light, they won’t know where we’ve gone. Someone needs to stay behind and tell them where the Phoenix is. I was going to ask Arnav, but…”
Dee’s mouth flattened into a line. “You’re ordering me off ship.”
“We both need to cool down.”
“You need me to make you see sense. And I’m not just your second – I’m navigator, too.”
“Rita can navigate, she’s spent enough time on Steerage. Toby can be Second.”
Toby paled. “What?”
“It’s about time, Toby.” The captain raised his voice. “Any of my crew disagree with the fact that Toby should be second in command while Dee’s off ship?”
There were a few mutterings, but the crew said nothing. Even Peel and Crocker kept their voices down.
“So, you don’t need me any more, is that it?” Dee slammed her knife back in her belt. “If you order me, I’ll go, but I won’t come back.”
Toby jolted forwards. “Don’t say that.”
“Of course you will,” the captain said.
“No. You don’t respect me or my opinion. You don’t need me any more so I’ll get another berth.” She looked at Ayla. “I hear the Banshee needs new crew members.”
Toby caught his breath. “You wouldn’t!”
“Well, Captain?” Dee’s eyes were hard and dark as steel.
“I’m ordering you off ship.” The captain’s voice almost trembled.
Dee swung round and stalked towards the mess door. She paused at Marcus’s side. “Marcus?”
“I’m with you,” Marcus said quietly. His freckles stood out against the paleness of his cheeks and sweat stuck his red curls to his forehead like bloody smears. He looked at Toby. “Toby, I—”
“I know,” Toby murmured.
“Take care. And don’t trust her.” Marcus tilted his head towards Ayla.
Dee too looked at Toby. “Keep Nix close.” She called Marcus to her side. “Start packing our things, we have to be off the Phoenix by nightfall.”