Claire Petersen

“Ariiiiiiiiii… Just because you’re the fancy captain of the ship and stuff doesn’t mean you can just sit around all day,” my little sister Erin whines. Like she was doing anything. 

“Technically, I’m standing.” I give her a pointed look. “Oh, by the way, could you go see if we have enough food for this month? Thanks.” 

Erin glares at me but rushes off anyway. Though she’s only seven, she’s easily the most useful person on the ship. 

I stare out at the ocean as it rocks the floor beneath me gently. It’s oddly cold today but the usual wind is absent. The leaves must be changing color back home, I think to myself, realizing how much time has passed since I’ve been on actual ground. I don’t miss it. Everything back home was always so chaotic and loud. Then again, it’s not like sailing is the most relaxing thing either. With people like Axel out there, I have to be on my toes. 

I turn around and head back to my cabin, remembering that I need to see how much longer until we hit land.

The wooden floor is slick with saltwater, which is weird, considering how far the deck was from the sides of the ship. Taylor had probably spilled more water. He’s always so clumsy. I knew I should’ve traded for the non-slip mildew-resistant shower mats from the last port.

Pushing open the door to my quarters, I step inside and glance around for my map. I’m typically very organized but with my father leaving me the entire ship for myself, things have gotten messy. Papers are scattered everywhere, mainly maps and random notes. My eyes catch the corner of my map but not before I unintentionally push a wooden model of the ship off my desk. 

The glass bottle encasing the wooden ship shatters everywhere at the same time my ears pick up on something that sounds eerily like a scream. I whip around to see where the noise came from and accidentally step on a piece of glass, cutting my bare foot open. I let out a little cry as I stumble backwards, momentarily blinded by the pain. I land hard on the floor in the corner of my room, clutching my foot; as I twist to see the bottom of my foot and how badly it’s been cut, I notice a piece of what looks like… paper? On the model ship? 

My injury briefly forgotten, I scoot over to the mystery note. It’s folded and taped to the second sail. That’s when my eyes notice something else – this model ship isn’t my ship. It’s close, the only difference being the symbol on the flag at the top of the middle mast. My ship, The Pearl, has a picture of an oyster with a pearl inside. This ship’s flag is a picture of a tooth. There’s only one ship out there with a flag with a tooth on it. Axel’s ship. My enemy, and at the moment, my biggest threat. 

I pluck the note from the thin material of the sail and unfold it.  

Ha, Ha. You should keep your guard up and your eyes open next time. 

I stare at the paper. It doesn’t make sense. The wording makes it seem like something bad has already happened. Then I remember – the supposedly heard scream before I dropped the glass on the floor. 

I rush out of my room and down to the hull where I sent Erin to find food not five minutes ago.  

“Erin?” I call as I step down the creaky stairs and into the darkness. No response. “Erin!” I shout, this time more frantically. Nothing. She must not be down here. Maybe she found food and ran back up to the decks to talk to me. I spin around and climb back up the steps. She isn’t in my room or her hammock. Just as I’m about to check the main deck, I spot Taylor, my master gunner.  

“Have you seen Erin?” I ask him, running over. He glances up from the cannon he’s cleaning. 

“No. Why?” 

I’m just about to respond when I notice another ship barely seventy feet away from mine. As I squint to get a better look at the vessel, everything clicks. 

The ship in the distance must be Axel’s. He must’ve come aboard, taken my model ship, planted his model – the one with a note on it, and then kidnapped my sister. And now he’s getting away with it. Great. 

Turning around, I head towards the stern of the ship. My sailing master, Cam, is standing by the wheel, but not steering the ship. He’s reading, per usual. 

“Hey, Cam?” I say quietly.  He looks up, startled. “You see that ship over there?” I ask, pointing. Cam squints against the sun. 

“Mhm…wait – isn’t that Axel’s ship?” Cam asks, looking to me for clarification. 

“Yeah. And he’s got Erin. So if you could, like, speed up the ship and get us fairly close to him, that would be great.” He nods and says nothing, but turns the ship around nonetheless. Just as I’m about to step out, something hits me and I turn back around. “Cam, how come you didn’t notice anything? I mean, Axel’s ship is so close, and he would’ve had to have been closer to jump to our ship, right? Is Axel really that stealthy or-” I cut myself off, noticing the book Cam had been reading earlier. I pick it up and leave without a glance backward. 

It’s just a little past midnight. I decided to wait a few hours before rescuing Erin just to ensure that Axel’s crew is surprised and therefore unarmed when we jump onto Axel’s ship to get her back. The water is still and quiet. This is both good and bad. Good, because most of Axel’s crew will be sleeping and nothing seems out of the ordinary to them. Bad because there’s nothing to cover up the noise of me landing on their deck in a few minutes. 

Cam has positioned us so that we’re near to Axel’s vessel, but definitely not close enough that we touch. As long as I get a running start, I should be able to jump over the water between us with ease. 

“You ready Captain?” 

I turn around and find that Taylor and Cam are standing beside me with a small trampoline in front of them. They both have swords in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. 

“Coffee at midnight?” I ask flatly. They shrug. Taylor responds first.

“We kind of figured that we’re going to need a little caffeine boost while we’re stabbing people. ‘Cause, you know, it’s like, super late.” He takes a dramatic slurp of coffee.

“We aren’t going to be stabbing people. Don’t get too excited,” Cam says.

“Wait, you guys are going with me?” I wasn’t planning on that. 

“Yeah… I thought you could use a little extra help,” he says, nudging the trampoline forward with his foot. 

“Ah. That explains the sword. Cool.” I clear my throat awkwardly. “So um, should we jump?” 

Taylor and Cam nod in unison. Taking a few steps back and a deep breath, I count us off. We all run and jump on three, flying through the air.  As soon as our feet touch the deck, the three of us can hear shouts coming from Axel’s crew.

 “What was that?” I hear someone yell. 

“I don’t know,” says another. 

“What was what?” 

“Go back to sleep Sam.” 

“Okay.” 

Cam, Taylor, and I glance at each other. 

“Search the ship! Don’t miss one spot. I want my sister back,” I whisper-shout over the chaos. Cam and Taylor nod and go their separate ways. I head towards the back of the ship where Axel’s room should be. Logic tells me Erin won’t be in his room but there’s no harm in checking. 

Opening the door to Axel’s quarters, I find the room pitch-black, quickly realizing why. Axel is sleeping in the hammock hung from the ceiling. I stifle a surprised gasp and begin to shut the door, but not before Axel stirs. 

I slam the door shut and run in the opposite direction before he can say anything. 

Axel’s ship is almost exactly like mine, which is extremely suspicious. I’m able to move around easily and confidently though, even at night. Shouts of victory and cries of terror pierce the night’s quiet as I head towards the main deck. The sound of metal on metal from the swords is also audible. I can see Cam and Taylor through the lantern light and it looks like they’re sword-fighting with Axel’s crew. Two against fifteen. This should be interesting. I can’t decide if I want to help defend Cam and Taylor or if I want to keep searching for Erin, but someone makes the decision for me. I feel a sharp point pressed lightly against my left shoulder. 

“Who are you?”