Authors: Justin Somper

Tags: #Action & Adventure - General, #Ghost Stories, #Pirates, #Action & Adventure, #Healers, #Juvenile Fiction, #Seafaring life, #Children's Books, #Fantasy & Magic, #General, #Juvenile Horror, #Horror & Ghost Stories, #Action & Adventure - Pirates, #Children: Grades 4-6, #Ages 9-12 Fiction

Vampirates 3: Blood Captain (35 page)

REUNION

“There’s nothing there,” Grace said.

“See with your mind,” said Mosh Zu. “Not with your eyes.”

They all looked down at the gap above the captain’s shoulders. There was still very clearly an absence of anything. You could see straight through to the thin pillow Mosh Zu had placed on the slab.

As they looked down, Grace realized that she could no longer see the floorboards. They were hidden from view under a layer of smoke. Her first thought was that a candle had fallen and set one of the tapestries alight. But there was no smell of burning. Nor was the room warm with fire. Indeed, if anything, it had grown cooler. The smoke thickened and Grace realized that it was not smoke but mist. She looked across at Connor. He stared back at her, confused. She smiled faintly, hoping somehow to reassure him, though she was no more certain about what was happening than he was.

The mist reached up to the level of the captain’s prone body but no higher. Instead, it began to thicken and take shape, rolling back and forth like waves on the shore. Now, more than ever, the captain appeared to be floating.

Grace looked once more toward Mosh Zu. His eyes were tightly shut and he was chanting softly once more.

Like the flower blooming in the sun . . .

Like the cloud letting loose the rain . . .

Like the shell liberating the pearl . . .

Grace felt herself trembling. Connor came and stood beside her, resting a hand gently on her shoulder.

Grace turned her gaze from Mosh Zu down to the captain once more. As she did so, she caught her breath. There, where previously there had been nothing, a face was beginning to form. It was very faint at first — no more than an outline — but slowly it came into focus as if it, too, were rising through a deep mist. Grace was transfixed. It was a face she had seen before.

As the features began to sharpen, she remembered her first meeting with the Vampirate Captain. Talking to him, she had suddenly had a vision of a man’s face, his deep brown skin marked with a crimson scar. This was that face. The captain had congratulated her for seeing behind the mask. And now, so much further on in her journey, his mask was removed and here was his face, visible at last.

“It’s him,” she gasped. “That’s the captain.”

Connor gazed down in amazement. Lorcan was transfixed. Mosh Zu’s eyes remained closed and he continued to chant.

Like the chrysalis releasing the butterfly . . .

Like the mouth setting free laughter . . .

“Look!” Connor whispered in her ear.

They watched as the face began to rise up. A body followed. A man was climbing out from the captain’s familiar armor. But he was clothed in stained and tattered rags. He looked up at Grace.

“Hello,” she said, smiling. She realized she was crying. Something amazing had happened in this room. It was as if a baby had been born.

The man gazed back at her, but he did not smile. He cowered from her.

“What’s wrong?” asked Grace. She turned to Mosh Zu. “He seems frightened of me. Doesn’t he know me any more?”

Mosh Zu shook his head. “He
doesn’t
know you. He is
not
the captain.”

“What? I don’t understand . . .” Grace began.

“Wait,” Mosh Zu said softly. “Wait and watch.”

Confused, Grace watched as the man stepped away from the shell of the captain’s body and began walking off through the mist.

“It’s happening again,” Connor whispered.

They all watched as a second face began to take shape in the void above the captain’s shoulders. As the features became clearer through the mist, they saw a woman’s face. She looked old and frail, her eyes flickering around her. It wasn’t clear whether she was looking
at
them or through them. Now she too rose, as if pushing back the sheets of a bed, and stepped out from the captain’s body, making her way into the mist.

“Who
are
they?” Connor asked as a third face began to take shape.

“These are lost souls,” Grace whispered, suddenly realizing. “The captain has been carrying them. They need to be released.” Mosh Zu nodded, never wavering from his chanting.

The third soul — that of a young man — began to rise.

Together, they watched a fourth, then a fifth figure emerge from the captain’s body.

“How many more?” Grace asked. She felt deeply emotional and realized tears were running down her face.

They watched in silence as a sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth figure awoke from the depths of their “sleep,” rubbing their eyes and glancing about the room, then rising and stepping out into the mist.

Throughout, the captain’s husk of a body lay there, still floating. And Mosh Zu continued his chant, his voice unwaveringly strong and melodic.

Grace realized that the souls who had risen had gathered around them, watching as they were joined by their fellow travelers.

“Will they survive?” she wondered. “Are they real people? Or just ghosts? Will they survive now they have been released from the captain?” She ached to ask Mosh Zu these questions but she could not disturb him from his chant.

Seeing her discomfort, Connor drew near once more. He put his arm around her shoulder. She realized she wasn’t the only one experiencing this intense wave of emotion. Darcy and Lorcan were crying, too. They were holding each other tightly.

They all watched as another face came into view before their eyes. It was a young woman. Grace could tell she was going to be beautiful as the first lines of her nose and cheekbones sketched themselves in the air. Her flesh was pale and lightly freckled. Shoulder-length auburn hair came into focus, tendrils floating out in the breeze. And then her eyes opened. Grace caught her breath. At the same instant, Lorcan gasped. Grace felt Connor’s hand clasp hers all the more tightly. The woman’s eyes were green, a deep emerald green.

As the woman lifted her head, Mosh Zu spoke at last. “She is the last,” he said, stepping back, evidently drained from his work.

Grace looked at Connor. He too was transfixed by the woman in front of them. She was sitting up now, pushing her unruly hair back behind her ears and blinking as she took in her new surroundings.

Grace could not contain herself any more. She addressed the woman directly.

“Look over here!” she said.

It took a moment for the woman to respond. It was as if she were still some distance from them and could only see and hear them faintly. But at last she turned and her eyes settled upon Grace and Connor.

Grace was crying. Connor was frowning, shaking his head in disbelief.

The woman rose. Surely she couldn’t walk away, out into the mist like the others, thought Grace. She couldn’t
go
.

But she wasn’t going anywhere. She seemed to be growing more alive, more vibrant with every moment. And now she stood up and, rather than turning away, began walking toward them. Her emerald-green eyes were wet with tears, but they were happy tears. She held out her arms to Grace.

“Mother!” Grace said, unable to hold back the word. “Mother, it’s you, isn’t it?”

The woman nodded, as Grace thudded into her, wrapping her arms around her. She was surprised to feel the touch of living, breathing flesh. And then she felt the brush of the woman’s lips on her forehead. She kissed her.

“Mother!” Grace said again.

“You’ve no idea how long I’ve waited to hear you say that, Grace.” The woman’s voice was warm and gentle.

“Mother! Mother! Mother!” Grace repeated, overcome. She wanted to carry on saying it for all those times she had thought about her or wished she was there at the lighthouse. For all the times she had dreamed of her mother, then woken to find no trace of her.

The woman hugged her and kissed her again, then held out an arm to her son.

“Connor,” she said, looking across at him.

He was uncertain at first but then he let go of any doubts and ran to her, flinging his arms around her and Grace until they were one compact bundle.

The woman hugged her children tightly and lifted her head.

Grace noticed then that Lorcan was watching them intently.

“Hello, Sally,” he said at length.

Grace was taken aback. How did Lorcan know her mother’s name?

She looked from Lorcan to her mother and back again. They were smiling at each other — a smile that spoke of deep friendship, maybe more.

“It’s grand to see you again, Sally,” Lorcan said.

“And you, Lorcan,” she said. “Thank you. Thank you for taking such good care of my babies.”

Grace looked at Connor. Like her, he was gazing curiously at his mother and Lorcan.

Suddenly Grace wondered about the others. She glanced around the room for Mosh Zu and Darcy. They were nowhere to be seen. All the other souls had disappeared too. And there, visible in the thinning mist, was the slab the captain had lain on. But there was no sign of him, either. Even the pillow had disappeared. Where had they all gone? What was happening?

She would find out soon enough, she decided. She held tight to her mother and her brother, as Lorcan too came forward and joined them. As the four of them stood there, hands connecting, Grace felt a moment of perfect peace. She knew it couldn’t last. Why, it might even be some kind of dream. But however fleeting the moment might be, whether a dream or not, she didn’t care. It was the moment she had waited for all her life and nothing,
nothing,
was going to spoil it for her.