Upon the impact of the lightning, the Emerald listed starboard, then spun in midair. Barrels and buckets flew across the deck, and the broken mainmast careened toward the stern, swooped over Scallywag’s head, and smashed into the captain’s quarters behind him. Flames from the mizzenmast sparked and leapt onto the deck, catching the mainmast on fire and incinerating shreds of dingy sail that blew apart into cinders.
Scallywag stumbled, then collapsed onto his side. A flash of lightning illuminated his face, revealing he’d suffered a wound on his scalp. Still, he clung to the wheel.
“Hang on, mate!” Cedric cried. He burst from the hold, but the wind and the inertia from their tailspin buffeted him backward. He took flight, but his wings acted as sails that caught the gale and dragged him into the air, far above the reeling ship. Rigel flew after him, but he, too, lost control.
Adam pushed past Lily, who clung to his shirt and begged him not to go. “You’ll get killed!” she cried.
“I’m the one with the good arm, right?” he shouted. He grasped a rope whipping about in the storm, and towed himself to the foremast, where he braced himself against the raging winds. An inkling of hope stirred within Lily as she watched, but it flitted away as Adam struggled to inch his way forward. The force of the storm and the spinning drove him back, and he could only cling to the rope and hold on for dear life.
The ship shook, its rotted timber quaking and twisting under the strain. Lily feared that at any moment it would come apart like a matchstick house in a breeze.
Then, with flames rising around him, Scallywag hauled himself to his feet. Veins bulged from his temples as he hoisted the wheel, and with a terrible groan the ship slowed and ceased its quivering. Adam ran to help Scallywag, and Keisha and Lily, who’d been gripping a pole within the hold so tightly that their knuckles whitened, relaxed. Lily breathed a sigh of relief.
Crack.
Lily rushed to the doorway of the hold to discover that flames had eaten through the mizzenmast, and it had fractured in two. The top half, still ablaze, broke loose and tumbled straight toward Adam and Scallywag.
“Adam!” Lily ran from the hold, with Keisha quickly behind her. Adam shoved Scallywag out of the way, but the frail pirate tripped, dragging them both to the floor. Above them, the flaming mast sailed down and lit up the turbulent sky with angry fire.
“Adam! Get out of the way!” Lily shouted. She slipped on a patch of slime.
The mizzenmast barreled down. Adam scrambled to his feet and yanked on Scallywag’s arms, but the captain lay crumpled on the deck in exhaustion.
The mast closed in. Five feet above them. Then two.
Cedric swooped into view. He flew toward the ship like a bronze bullet and pierced the gloom with his wings folded against his sides. Lily caught her breath just as Cedric released a beam of light to envelop the hurtling mast. The light extinguished the fire, and the mast crackled as if suddenly encased in ice, then flipped over on itself twice and slammed into the poop deck, leaving a crater of splintered wood in its wake.
The ship veered out of control again. With thunder crashing and lightning sizzling through the sky, the Emerald reared backward and threatened to capsize at ten-thousand feet, casting its occupants into the swamps below.
With a cough and a cry of desperation, Scallywag again grasped hold of the wheel. Adam joined him, and together they leaned in to steady the ship, but to no avail. Lily’s stomach heaved into her throat as the prow of the ship tipped, and they accelerated toward the ground in a nosedive.
“We’re gonna crash!” Keisha screamed.
Lily felt pressure under her arms, and realized that Cedric had grasped her around the torso. “We need to abandon ship!” Cedric cried, lifting her into the air. He flew toward the stern to retrieve Adam and Scallywag, but a broken barrel struck him, and he veered off course. Lily held on to Cedric and watched in horror as the ship fell away beneath them.
“No!” Lily screamed, with tears blurring her vision. “We have to save them!”
The crippled ship sank through clouds and fog, down toward the craggy base of Bald Peak. Cedric dived after the Emerald. He flew so swiftly that Lily’s eyes teared in the wind, but still, the ship outpaced them in its descent.
No. This can’t be happening. Lily raised her eyes and saw the light from tenth spire of Castle Iridyll burning through the dark.
Then she remembered another light. In the Petrified Forest, it had melted away her fears and ushered her to safety. In the Catacombs, where lava had steamed and Eymah had darkened the day with the terror of his wings, it had overcome.
Lily closed her eyes. Pax, please. If you can hear me now, please help. She clung to the plea, held it in her heart. Please, help us.
A new light caught her eye, not cascading down from Castle Iridyll, but from within the pocket of her fleece panda pajamas.
The soothstone gleamed a brilliant white.
A cluster of glittering lights, like stars, suddenly appeared above them and pirouetted in the sky. They streaked down toward the ship, leaving ribbons of silver dust, like comet tails, in their wake. As the dust cleared, Lily could discern their silhouettes: three swans, fifteen feet long and shimmering as if woven from moonlight, dived toward the doomed ship.
As if on cue, the swans swooped toward the wreckage and emerged with the terrified shipmates on their backs. Then they banked toward the mountaintop, where the castle’s beacon burned through the storm. Lily squeezed her eyes shut and felt her chest heave as she whispered a prayer of thanks.
When she opened her eyes, the Flying Emerald, which for decades had so regally sailed the skies of the Somnium Realm, crashed and disintegrated to rubble on the slopes of Bald Peak.