Vampirates 1.5:Dead Deep (3 page)

“Hey, I think I’m getting the hang of this!” Connor said, discarding his last card and holding up his empty palms.

Jez shook his head and raised his eyebrows, while Lika threw down her own hand of cards in mock disgust.

“Beginner’s
luck.” João laughed, his eyes sparkling in the lantern light. It appeared to be easy sailing out toward the reef. The waters were calm tonight, and the stars were bright enough to guide the way. Flynn was back at the helm, steering their course, while Diani and Teahan had been assigned the task of manning the lateen sails—listening for Flynn’s shouts and occasionally adjusting a line of rigging
here and there.

For the rest of the crew, the only imperative appeared to be to relax. It seemed to be second nature aboard
The Lorelei
to just sit and watch the world pass by. It wasn’t hard to feel at home here. Connor already felt an easy and familiar camaraderie with the crew—especially Lika and João, with whom he and Jez were engaged in an increasingly competitive bluejack
contest. Meanwhile, Bart and Kally were sitting together, deep in conversation, at the bow of the boat. Connor could see their silhouettes framed against the sails.

“They make a good pair, yes?”

Connor looked up to find João nodding his head toward Kally and Bart. Connor smiled in agreement.

“I’ve never seen Kally look so happy,” said
João. “I think perhaps Bart will have to stay on
The Lorelei
forever.” He laughed.

“Maybe we all will,” said Jez. “I can tell you, it’s a lot more chilled-out here than on our ship.”

“Really? But you’re pirates!” said João. “You need adventure, excitement, danger, no? I think life aboard
The Lorelei
would bore you.”

Jez leaned
back in his chair and stretched out like a cat. “You know what, pal? I think I could handle some boredom. I’ve been a pirate since I was knee-high to a sea urchin, and it feels great to take some time off.”

João smiled. “How about you, Connor? Is that how you feel?”

“Connor’s only been on
The Diablo
for five minutes,” said Jez. “Besides, his sister’s on board.
He couldn’t abandon her, could you, kid?”

“No.” Connor shook his head firmly.

“They’re twins,” Jez explained.

“Really?” Lika said, staring at Connor with increased interest. “They say that twins have a special bond, that they can communicate with each other without speaking and stuff. Is that true?”

Connor shrugged.
“I don’t know if it’s quite like that, but Grace and I certainly pick up on each other’s moods.”

“Really?” said Lika. “So tell us: Can you sense what Grace is thinking right now?”

“I doubt it,” said Connor.

Lika smiled at him. “Try.”

Playing along, Connor shut his eyes. The others remained silent. He summoned up an image of Grace
as he’d last seen her, watching him climb into the lightboat and leave
The Diablo
. He focused on her face. Her mouth was open and she was saying something. He couldn’t hear the words. He had to find a way of getting closer.

He thought of the locket that he’d given her and pictured her wearing it, hoping that would intensify the contact between them. It worked!

Suddenly, he heard the words she was speaking.

Danger. Underwater.

He was shocked at the clarity of the vision. Was it a true vision or merely a trick of the mind? He kept his eyes shut tight and found that Grace seemed even closer now. He could see the anxiety in her eyes and hear the words even more clearly.

Danger. Underwater.

Connor’s heart began to race. Opening his eyes, he found the other three staring at him curiously.

“What is it?” asked Lika.

“She spoke to me,” Connor said.

“Really? What did she say?”

Connor took a breath. As he tried to relax again, he made a decision. “She said
…”

“Come on, man,” said Jez. “Out with it!”

“She said…they’re awful at cards, so be gentle with them!”

Connor could feel Lika and João’s eyes on him. There was a moment’s silence, and then they both burst out laughing.

Time passed swiftly as they played game after game of bluejack. Then Flynn’s voice called out from the stern:
“We’re here!”

“We’re here!” Kally echoed, excitedly racing down toward the center of the boat. Bart jogged alongside her.

Within moments, the entire crew had wheeled down to the center deck. The pirates sat down among them. The crew seemed to be waiting for something…or some
one
. All eyes turned as Flynn stepped down from the steering platform and made his way
slowly along the deck toward them. He walked erratically, a soft bootstep on the deck boards with one foot, then a heavy thump with the other. Out of his chair, the captain’s age was all the more evident.

As he joined the others, his weathered face broke into a smile. “It’s a beautiful night for a swim,” he said. “And a wonderful spot for it, eh?”

The
crew of
The Lorelei
all looked at him, their eyes eager and expectant. The full moon bathed their faces in pure light. Connor watched, fascinated.

“Well, what are you waiting for?” Flynn said. “It’s time to go and explore the reef! Who shall be first tonight?”

His eyes roved around the deck and settled on Lika. Flynn nodded and Lika steered her wheelchair
out of the crowd, toward the very edge of the boat. She sat there for a moment, looking out at the sea. Flynn came over and placed a hand on her shoulder. He was humming a strange tune. Suddenly, Connor noticed the oilskin bag that bound Lika’s legs start to move—gently at first, then more strongly. It was almost as if Flynn were bringing Lika’s legs back to life.

“Are you ready?”
Flynn asked her gently.

Lika nodded. As she did so, she put her hands to her waist and unfastened the bag. It fell away in her hands, revealing not legs but a vast, oily fish tail, which thumped the deck as if relieved to be free at last.

It was as natural to Connor as it was unbelievable. It was as if he had known all along that
The Lorelei
was no ordinary dive-boat.
Now he watched in wonder as Flynn lifted Lika into his arms and carried her toward the side, then released her to plunge into the waters below.

Flynn smiled, turning to the others. “Who’s next?”

Now it was João who joined Flynn. Once more, Flynn hummed the haunting tune. Once more, Connor watched as movement stirred beneath the oilskin bag. Then João
tore away the bag and, with Flynn’s help, launched himself off the side of the boat. He soared into the air, then disappeared beneath the surface of the water.

One by one, Flynn called each of his crew forward and delivered them to the ocean. At last, there were twelve empty wheelchairs on deck and only Connor, Bart, and Jez sitting silently among them.

Flynn
beckoned them. “Come,” he said. “We’ll watch them from the stern.”

They followed silently, a few steps behind the old captain, as he made his way back up to the steering platform. Joining him at the wheel, they glanced down.

The waters were dark for a moment. Then João and Lika swam into view. Their tails, which had been dull and monochrome up on deck, were now
ablaze with light, illuminating the water all around them.

“Aren’t they beautiful?” Flynn said, his face bathed in the reflective glow.

“They’re…they’re mermaids!” Bart said, dumbfounded.

Flynn smiled, wrapping a long bony arm around Bart’s shoulder. “I don’t think João would take too kindly to being called a mermaid, do you?” He chuckled. “Around
here, we call them
fishtails
. They’re
my
fishtails. My beautiful fishtails!”

He gazed down and Connor’s eyes followed his, watching with wonder as the jewel-colored lights shot back and forth beneath the surface of the water.

“Let’s go in with them!” said Bart, his eyes shining with the possibility. He turned to Flynn. “That’s all right, isn’t it, sir?”

Flynn smiled, nodding.

Connor, Bart, and Jez stripped down to their underwear and dove off the side of the boat. As Connor hit the water, it was dark. Then, suddenly, it was illuminated by laser brightness. He looked down and saw Lika and João swimming beneath him. He watched as Bart swam over to Kally. Just as Flynn had said earlier that day, she was like an angel
underwater. They all were. They swam with such effortless grace, it made Connor feel clumsy.

“Welcome to our world,” said João, swimming over to meet him, the reef glowing coral-pink behind him.

“We’re so glad that you all came,” Kally said, beaming.

Connor looked at Bart and Jez in surprise. So the fishtails could talk underwater. Connor wondered
if he, too, might be invested with these magical powers. He opened his lips to speak, but found himself swallowing a mouthful of saltwater.

Kally smiled at him. “This is our world,” she said. “Just as we are restricted above the water, so are you beneath it.” She smiled again. “But you’re very welcome as our guests.”

With that, she dove down below him, her tail
sending a rainbow of light up in her wake. Connor wished that Grace could be here to share this with him. Remembering the message she had sent him, he tried to send one back to her—to let her know that she was wrong, and that everything was okay.

Magic. Underwater.

He repeated the phrase several more times in his head, hoping that it
would get through to her, that somehow she might see this amazing sight for herself. Then he dove down deeper, following the colored lights to join his good friends, old and new.

When the fishtails were at last finished swimming, Flynn threw a rope line into the water. The boys, who had long since returned to the deck to dry off, watched as Flynn helped the fishtails back onto the boat. When Bart offered his assistance, Flynn shook his head. “Thanks,”
he said, a little sharply, “but I can still manage.”

He carried each of the fishtails back to their chairs, binding their tails inside the oilskins once more. Connor watched as Flynn poured a little seawater into each of the oilskins before fastening them tightly. “Their tails must never dry out completely,” he explained. He flipped a handle on each of the wheelchairs so that
they reclined, almost like beds. Flynn shuffled off and pulled a pile of blankets out from a bench seat, then tenderly laid a rug over each fishtail. As if under a spell, all twelve of them already seemed to have fallen into a deep sleep.

“The shock of coming from their world into ours is tiring for them,” Flynn explained. “They will rest now and, when they wake, their balance
will be restored.” He threw a blanket to each of the pirates. “Take these up to the foredeck,” he said. “You can sleep there.”

With that, he turned and moved off toward his seat at the wheel.

Connor slept soundly but woke anxious to check that he really was on
The Lorelei
, and that it hadn’t all been a dream. He was pleased to find not only that was he still on
board, but that Jez was already awake.

“Mermaids!” said Jez. “Can you believe it? Mermaids!”

“They don’t call themselves that,” Connor said, speaking softly, as Bart was still sleeping beside them. “Remember? They call themselves fishtails.”

“Hmm,” said Jez. “You say tomatoes and I say…mythological sea creatures we had no idea really
existed!”

Connor grinned. “Well, they certainly
do
exist. Look at them!” He eased himself up into a sitting position and looked back along the deck at the fishtails, still sprawled over their chairs.

“Connor,” said Jez, the tone of his voice suddenly changing.

“Yes?”

“I’m a tad concerned for our safety.”

“Really?” said Connor. “You think there might be something fishy going on?” He smiled. “Sorry, I couldn’t resist! Go on.”

Jez smiled, too, but then grew serious. “I’ve been remembering the old myths, and traditionally merm— fishtails— whatever you call them, well, traditionally they lure sailors and take them prisoner.”

“You think we’ve been lured here?”
Connor asked, alarmed.

Jez shrugged. “I don’t know. I mean, we’re at sea, aren’t we? And I might be wrong, but I reckon we’ve been sailing through the night. We could be miles away from
The Diablo
by now.”

Connor looked over the side of the boat. Was Jez right? It was hard to tell. How could you tell one patch of ocean from another? “Maybe I’m being
paranoid,” Jez continued, “but I just can’t shake the feeling that something’s wrong here.”

Connor frowned. He remembered his fleeting vision of Grace and her message to him.
Danger. Underwater.
Had she been warning him about the crew of
The Lorelei
? He still couldn’t get his head around how she could know where he was, let alone that he was in danger. He wondered if he should
share the vision with Jez. “Actually,” he began, “there
is
something I wanted to—”

“Hey, what’s up, dudes?” Bart’s cheery voice drowned out his own. He sat up and thumped them each on the back. “How are my fellow Buccaneers this morning?”

“Concerned,” Jez said.

“Concerned?” repeated Bart. “About what?”

“Bart, this isn’t
easy for me to say. I know you’re getting along well with Kally and everything.…”

Now Bart was frowning. “If you’ve got something to say, Jez, then please just spit it out.”

“You remember what they say about merm— erm, fishtails?”

“That seeing them causes bad luck?” Bart didn’t seem surprised by Jez’s question. Perhaps he, too, had been pondering
the myths.

Jez nodded. “That and more.”

Bart shrugged. “Is that all? You’re worried by a little maritime mythology? Life’s more complicated than that, isn’t it? I mean, think about Tempest’s sister, Grace. She was kidnapped by Vampirates, but they let her go. And, according to her, they actually took care of her. Isn’t that so, Connor?”

Connor
nodded. Then a shadow crossed his face as he remembered Grace’s tale of her encounter with the evil Sidorio, and he shivered. Sidorio had imprisoned Grace in her cabin in an attempt to satisfy his bloodlust. The Vampirate captain himself had had to take extraordinary measures to rescue her from certain death. Grace had seemed very calm when she’d recounted the tale afterward, but perhaps that was
because Sidorio had been immediately banished from the ship and not heard of since.

Connor turned to Bart. “Yes, all but one of them.”

“That’s my point,” Bart said. “We have to be open and judge everyone on his or her individual merits. There’s good and bad in every group of people.…”

“These guys aren’t
people
, though, are they, Bart?” asked Jez.
“I mean, they have great big swishy tails instead of legs.”

Connor thought Bart would be enraged by Jez’s words, but instead he smiled calmly. “You can’t write off a whole crew just because they’re a little different.” He smiled again. “Look, they’re waking up.”

The others followed his gaze along the deck. One by one, the fishtails were pushing aside
their blankets and bringing their chairs into the upright position. Their energy seemed to return to them instantly, and they began chattering and laughing. Just as Flynn had predicted, their rest had returned them safely to the world above the sea. The boys watched as Kally turned and immediately began wheeling her chair toward them.

“Good morning, pirates!” she beamed. “How
are you all doing?”

“Excellent!” said Bart, beaming at her and reaching out his hand to hers. She took it and gave it a squeeze. Connor thought then that they looked like a couple who had been together a long time, not one who had met just the night before. Kally was great. Seeing her again, listening to her lively chatter, Connor was instantly brought around to Bart’s way of
thinking. Once he discounted the fish tail itself, Kally was just a regular girl. Well, a very beautiful, intelligent, funny, regular girl. It was going to be hard to leave
The Lorelei
when the time came—especially for Bart—but not because the fishtails wouldn’t let them. They were a cool group of people, and it was a great boat. Connor decided he was going to quit worrying and make the most of
every last minute of his time aboard.

“Hey, guys,” cried João, joining them. “Come and get some breakfast!”

The day slipped easily away on board
The Lorelei
. After breakfast, the fishtails took another dip in the ocean. The young pirates joined them in the water. This time, as Connor swam beside them, it seemed second nature that his new friends had
luminous fins and could talk underwater.

Back on deck, as Connor toweled himself dry, he asked when they would reach Hell Bay.

João smiled at him. “You’re just itching to dive, aren’t you? Don’t worry, we’ll get there soon enough. In the meantime, there are plenty of ways to entertain yourself.…”

Connor grinned. In contrast to his time
on
The Diablo
, a day on
The Lorelei
was blissfully free of chores. He was free to while away the hours perfecting his bluejack technique, working on his tan, grazing on delicious snacks, and chatting about everything and nothing with Jez, Lika, and João.

Bart didn’t join them. He spent the whole day with Kally. Whenever Connor caught a glimpse of them, they were talking
or laughing together, like old friends. Or more than friends. Connor wondered how they had so much to say to each other, but he supposed it was nothing more profound than the chitchat he was exchanging with the others.

Flynn sailed the boat smoothly across the ocean—so smoothly that, most of the time, Connor was hardly aware it was even moving. And yet, at last the sun gave way
to dusk, and the dusk to star-pierced darkness. Everyone gathered for dinner, and afterward, João strummed his guitar and Lika, Teahan, and Diani sang shanties for their pirate guests. Connor watched as Bart took Kally’s hand and held it in his own. When the song was over, the pirates clapped.

Jez and Connor went over to congratulate João.

“Nice playing, man,”
said Jez.

João smiled at them. “Hey, do either of you play? No? I can teach you a few chords, if you like.”

A short while later, Bart and Kally came over to join them. Bart put his hands on Connor’s and Jez’s shoulders.

“Guys,” he said, “there’s something I need to talk to you both about.”

“We’ll let you three have a private chat,”
Kally said, indicating to João that he should follow her. Reluctantly, he put down his guitar, and the two of them wheeled away, leaving the Three Buccaneers alone.