Suddenly the Banshee’s wail cut off and Toby’s ears rang with the sudden silence.
“Judy Ford, I’m coming for you.” Nell’s voice rang across the waves and her entire crew started to yell and jeer.
Toby turned towards the bridge, where his mother was surrounded by Greymen.
“I didn’t know they would do it, Nell,” she replied, her words amplified through a loudspeaker.
“Liar,” Nell bawled. “Those men were under your command.”
Toby jerked. His mother had told him the Greymen had gone against her wishes – that she thought the authorities would simply help get her son back. Who was telling the truth?
Ayla clutched his arm as a bronze-winged bird glided down and clattered on the deck at his feet.
“Your father’s sending Birdie,” she squawked. “Can you get off the ship while Nell distracts Judy?”
It was Ayla’s turn to gasp. “You mean she really is holding off the attack until I’m safe?”
Polly’s eyes whirred around to her. “Of course, what did you think? Now can you get off the ship or not?”
Toby looked at the winch above the boat they had arrived in. Greymen stood around it with drawn weapons. “I-I…”
“I know what to do.” Ayla started towards the stern. “Stay low and follow me.”
Toby lifted Polly on to the gunwale. “I have to send you back to the captain. Tell him I’ve slashed the delivery lines in the engine room and I think the boiler’s going to explode. He and Nell have to stay back.”
Polly threw herself off the ship and dropped towards the waves. At the last minute her wings caught the wind and she began to glide in the direction of the Banshee. Toby’s heart slowed its frantic beat and he turned to find Ayla. She was climbing on to a rail at the ship’s stern.
“What are you doing?” Toby ducked and sprinted towards her.
“The hawespipe, remember?” Ayla gasped as the jacket pulled tight across her back. “I got on to the Phoenix by climbing the anchor chain – we can get off here the same way.”
Toby threw a leg overboard just as Judy screamed his name.
“It’s been great getting to know you,” he yelled, “but I’m not staying.”
Judy darted towards him. “Stop him!”
Three Greymen abandoned their posts and raced for Toby, but he spoke only to Judy. “I’m not your son any more. You have to let me go.”
“Never!”
Toby shook his head and swung overboard. The anchor chain was directly below him, creaking with Ayla’s weight. Theo and Marcus were frantically rowing Birdie into position below.
Toby looked up again as Judy slammed into the gunwale directly above him, chest first. “I’ll shoot you down,” she screamed.
Toby stared in horror as she pulled a gun from the belt of the Greyman next to her.
Desperately he dropped and caught the anchor chain – it was thick and pitted with the poison from the salt, making it easy to grip. He started to slither down as fast as he could.
Judy aimed her weapon. “You’re making me do this,” she yelled.
The ship rocked with a massive explosion. Judy fell backwards and Ayla and Toby screamed as the anchor chain lifted and then slammed back into the hull.
Toby grunted and his hands almost opened, but somehow he managed to keep his grip. He looked down. Ayla was swinging below him one-handed.
“Hold on,” Marcus called. “You can make it.”
“Of course we can make it,” Ayla muttered, as she swung back to strengthen her grip.
Birdie bumped against the hull as a second, smaller explosion rattled Toby’s bones and the whole ship tilted. “She’s sinking, we’ve got to hurry!”
“Slide!” Ayla loosened her grip and dropped down the chain with a cry.
Toby winced as he did the same, the corroded metal stripping the skin from his hands. His feet slapped down into Birdie seconds behind Ayla and he staggered towards Theo, who steadied him. He shoved his hands under his armpits – he didn’t dare look at them.
Theo sat him down and then he and Marcus grabbed the oars. They rowed as fast as they could from the sinking ship.
“We’ve got to get out of range, or it’ll drag us down, too,” Theo panted.
Toby looked back – the Grey ship sloped to one side then slid into the salt and disappeared beneath the surface. For a moment he thought he could see Judy clinging to the mizzen mast, but his blurry eyes failed him and when he looked again, there was no sign of her. Now only debris bobbed on the surface. He could see no survivors.
Slowly Birdie drew level with the Phoenix. As the winches were lowered, Toby stared vacantly, with his hands dangling between his knees. Ayla leaned against him, her palms tucked between her thighs.
“Do you think Uma will be willing to treat me again?” Her voice was faint.
“I’ll order her to,” Toby said. “I just can’t believe this was all for nothing.”
“For nothing?” Marcus frowned as he attacked the winch cable. “What do you mean?”
“We lost both inverters,” Toby whispered, hardly able to say it out loud. “After everything we went through.”
A tremor shuddered through Ayla’s body and, with a shudder of his own, he realized that tears were running down her cheeks, leaving tracks in the soot that had daubed her in the boiler room.
Marcus cleared his throat. “You’re wrong,” he said. “You might have lost your inverter, but Ayla didn’t lose hers. Nell took it at the festival.”
“So the Banshee has operational solar panels.” There was no triumph in Ayla’s tone, she sagged even further.
“Wrong again!” Marcus spread his arms as Birdie started to rise. “Why do you think Dee and I were coming for you? Nell didn’t keep the inverter any longer than you did. Dee and I stole it back.”
“You mean the Phoenix has working panels?” Toby’s eyes widened.
“Not yet,” Theo rumbled. “The captain wanted to wait for you to come home.”
As Birdie was lifted back on board, the whole crew was on deck waiting.
“Polly!” Toby’s parrot glided to his shoulder and suddenly he felt balanced again.
“It hasn’t been the same without you, boy.” Arnav helped Toby from the skiff.
The moment his bare feet touched the warm deck, he felt something shift inside him. Tension fled from his shoulders.
“You’re home!” D’von shoved through the cheering pirates and gripped his shoulder, making Polly squawk crossly. “I missed you.”
“I missed you, too.” A smile touched Toby’s lips. “I’m so happy to be back.”
Theo carried Ayla from Birdie and Marcus hopped out to land beside them.
“I suppose you need me, now.” Uma grabbed his chin, turning his face this way and that.
Toby nodded. “Ayla first.”
“Have you learned nothing?” she muttered, but then she saw Ayla’s bloodless face. “Get her to the mess hall, Theo. Hideaki’s already down there treating Hiko, I’ll follow right away.”
“What’s happened to Hiko?” Toby asked.
“Nothing serious,” Uma soothed. “He cut his arm in the boiler room.”
“Toby.” The captain swept towards him with tears shining in his damaged eyes. “Judy’s gone.” He caught his shoulders. “Are you all right?”
Toby nodded, too exhausted to speak.
“I’m so sorry about your eyes.” His father squinted at him. “I’ve spoken to Dee already. She says the sight-loss is likely permanent – we’re lucky to have any vision left at all. But at least we have this.” His father held up the inverter. “Marcus and Dee worked hard to get it.” The captain nodded at Marcus. “We should all be grateful, but I thought you should get to do the honours.” He looked at Toby’s bleeding palms. “Are you up to it?”
Toby reached for it and the captain smiled. “The hook-up is exactly as you left it.”
Toby closed his fingers around the inverter and turned to the rest of the crew. His eyes met Peel’s and the old chef nodded. “Finish it, Toby.”
Polly spread her wings to retain her perch as Toby limped towards the bridge. To his right the solar array was clear of the tarpaulins that had hidden it from view. The last of the setting sun gleamed from the black glass panels.
Inside the bridge, he ran his fingers over the loose wires that lay almost exactly where he had left them, feeling like a stranger trying to slip back into his own skin. He had changed – would he ever be able to tell them what he had gone through?
Outside they were waiting for the solar panels to power up. He looked up as the door banged.
“You know what to do?” the captain asked.
Toby picked up the wires that fitted into the inverter’s sockets and clicked the components together.
For a moment nothing happened, then a blinking red dot appeared and turned green as they watched. There was a shout from the deck.
The captain propelled his son out of the door. “Let’s see.”
The solar array seemed to be buzzing very gently.
“It’s working,” Toby said wonderingly.
Nisha shrieked. “Rahul – it’s working!”
The pirates cheered, grabbing one another in celebration.
“Now, Toby,” the captain said gently. “Go and find Uma.”
Wearily Toby sloped towards the mess hall, allowing the blurriness of his vision to take over. He could picture the Grey ship vanishing under the waves. He had met his mother and now he had lost her.
Had she loved him, or had he just been a possession to win back, a way to punish his father for turning traitor to his country? He would never know.
He thought of her hard grey eyes. Life for Toby on the Grey ship would have been no better than life for Ayla on the Banshee. She had been as icy cold as Nell.
He paused outside the mess door and took a deep breath. His pulse raced at the thought of seeing Ayla.
He couldn’t forget that she had betrayed him again, but she had taken a flogging for him, fought to help him sink the Grey ship and got them to safety before it sank. He owed her. He pressed his fist to his forehead – he was fooling himself. It wasn’t gratitude he felt towards his fellow pirate. He had been falling in love with her on Gozo and, despite everything, the seed that had taken root hadn’t died.
Still, Ayla had made her own views clear – her loyalty to Nell was more important than ‘stupid feelings’. Once Uma had treated her, Ayla would go back to the Banshee. Toby would remain on the Phoenix. They had no future.
He opened the mess door and walked inside.
On his right Ayla was sitting hunched over her knees while Uma’s fingers patted lightly over her back. Her face was pinched and pale.
To his left was Hiko, his shirt pushed up to his shoulder. Hideaki was stitching a jagged wound. “Toby!” Hiko cried.
“Hiko, what happened?”
“Just a slip in the boiler room.” His face was black with soot and the whites of his eyes shone through the dirt. “You did it! You got the inverter!”
“It’s working.” Toby grinned.
Ayla nodded, sighed and looked back down.
“Sit still, Hiko.” Hideaki sounded exasperated. He refused to look at Ayla.
Uma pointed to a chair beside Hiko. “Sit there, Toby. Hideaki’s almost done with Hiko and then he can start looking at you.”
Toby slumped into the chair, but his eyes kept sliding towards Ayla. She looked defeated.
“The Grey ship sunk,” Toby said at last. “Your mother will be pleased about that.”
Ayla jerked her head up. “Are you kidding? We stole her vengeance. She’s got no inverter and no way to punish Judy Ford herself. We’re only lucky she hasn’t already attacked the Phoenix.”
“She wouldn’t,” Toby said.
Ayla groaned as Uma tightened the bandage around her back.
Hideaki took a wet cloth and began to clean the blood from Hiko’s arm.
“Thought so,” he said with a smile. Hideaki held up Hiko’s arm and grinned.
“Twenty thousand, one hundred and forty,” he said. “I was always good at those. Why is that number inked on your arm?”
Hiko frowned. “What number?” He twisted his arm to look.
Hideaki pointed to Hiko’s tattoo. “That one.”
“That’s not a number,” Toby said. “It’s lines. I’ve seen it.”
Hideaki smiled. “It’s Japanese – a multiplication problem. Fifty-three times three hundred and eighty.”
“Twenty thousand, one hundred and forty.” The captain strode into the mess hall, answering the problem as he crossed to stand in front of Hiko. “Why did you say you have that tattoo?”
“It matched my father’s,” Hiko said in a small voice.
Barnaby folded his arms and frowned. “Tell me about your father.”
Hiko hunched. “He died when I was little.”
“What else do you remember?”
Hiko clenched his fists, unwilling to speak.
“They were travelling when he died,” Toby supplied. “Isn’t that right?”
Hiko nodded, keeping his eyes lowered.
“Where were you going, Hiko?” Barnaby pressed.
“I don’t know,” Hiko wailed. “I was little. We were going somewhere safe. He’d been away, but he came back for us.”
“Back from where?” Ayla asked, suddenly interested.
Hiko glared at her. “He was a fisherman – gone for ages at a time, that’s all I remember.”
“Hiko.” Barnaby lifted the boy’s arm in careful fingers, turning it one way and the other to look at the tattoo. “Is it possible that your father found the island?”
“That’s where he was taking you!” Toby leaped to his feet. “The tattoo marks the coordinates.”
“I’m going to fetch Dee.” The captain ran from the room.
“We’ve found it,” Ayla breathed.
“If they’re coordinates,” Dee said, turning Hiko’s arm back and forth in the light of the lamp, “the island is nowhere close.”
Toby was dying to know how she had stolen the inverter back from Nell, but the discovery of the meaning behind Hiko’s tattoo had swept everything else away.
“Where is it?” the captain pressed.
“See here.” She pointed to two small arrows in Hiko’s tattoo. “I’m guessing these indicate direction so, assuming the coordinates are 20 degrees north and 140 east, it puts the island … here.” She opened her atlas and pointed. “About 750 miles from the east coast of Japan.”
Toby leaned in. Her finger rested on some writing. He nudged it aside. “The Dragon’s Triangle,” he read.
Arnav pushed through the gathered crew. “I’ve heard of that. We don’t want to go there. Dragons live there – and devils.”
Peel nodded agreement.
“Really, Peel, you’re superstitious?” The captain frowned.
Dee turned to the back of the Atlas. “There’s something here about it. It’s been marked as a danger zone for shipping since 1950. There’re undersea volcanoes.”
“Which explains the dragon stories.” The captain nodded.
“And might have caused the island to rise,” Toby cried excitedly.
“It’s not just volcanoes.” She traced the words. “Magnetic anomalies, whirlpools, thick fog, sudden storms. It’s practically unnavigable.”
Toby’s eye fell on the map, tucked into the back of the Atlas next to Hiko’s attempted translation. It seemed years ago that he had last seen it. He pulled it carefully from the book and turned it over.
“Avoid the fast mist and take three swift turns around the white doom spiral,” he muttered.
“Let me see that,” Peel snatched it from him.
“Careful,” the captain warned. “It’s meaningless, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to throw it out.”
“It isn’t meaningless,” Toby said slowly. He saw Ayla, listening intently from the back of the mess hall. “Don’t you see?”
The captain shook his head.
“The white doom spiral,” Toby pressed. “It’s a whirlpool!”
“Ashes, he’s right,” Dee murmured. “And the fast mist – that’s a sudden fog.”
“So it means ‘avoid the sudden fog or you’ll be taken three times around the whirlpool’.” Dee jumped to her feet. “This isn’t a map, it’s instructions. There are a dozen haikus here. Taken in order they’re a guide through the Dragon’s Triangle.”
“Did your father have a map?” Toby whirled on Hiko.
Hiko shook his head. “I don’t know. When the trader sold me at the slave market, he said he’d get a few pennies for all Father’s things, too. He didn’t leave me with anything.” He ran his fingers over the tattoo.
“That’s why the Tarifan port master had the map.” Toby was almost jumping in his excitement. “He bought it from the trader when he bought you. It was your father’s, Hiko. Your father knew where the island was and he was taking your family there.”
“And now we have it.” Dee added. “Permission to set a course, Captain?”
Ayla stood on the deck of the Phoenix and watched the Banshee approach. “Nell’s coming,” she said.
Toby touched her bandaged hand with his own wrapped fingers. “It’ll be all right, the Banshee’s not wailing.”
Ayla laughed bitterly. The wind shifted her hair around her face and she made no move to push it away. “I’ll have to go back,” she said eventually.
“I know.” Toby leaned closer. “I wouldn’t ask you to stay.”
“Even though I know the coordinates?”
“Even though.” Toby smiled wryly. “You might know where the island is, but you can’t translate your copy of the map. Dee said the sea was unnavigable without it. We’re not worried.”
Ayla leaned on the railing. “We can just follow you.”
Toby pulled Ayla around to face him. “You can try.” A shout from the Banshee told Toby they were within hailing distance. “Part of me hopes you succeed. An island won’t be fun without you.”
Ayla’s eyes widened as Toby took her face in his hands and kissed her.
The breeze caressed them and salt foam danced as the Phoenix dipped into a wave. Toby didn’t care that they had an audience. Ayla’s arms snaked around his neck and he deepened the kiss.
They were pirates. They had today. Tomorrow would take care of itself.