Sitting up and moving her legs to the side of the bed, she slips off onto the floor. “Where are we going?” she questions as she looks around at her strange surroundings.
“I want to show you something.” Taking Jody’s hand, Daniel walks to the Security Division. After opening the door and walking in, Daniel says, “Hello, Treysen and Joshua. This is Jody.”
“Hello, Jody,” they chorus.
Confused, but always polite, she says, “Hello.”
“Would you like to look at some pictures, Jody?” Daniel questions.
“…Pictures? What are pictures?” she questions.
“Come with me. We’ll just go over to this other monitor.”
Jody looks confused, “…Monitor?”
Daniel begins pressing several keys. Jody watches Daniel as closely as she had watched the dolphins. The pictures continue to change until Jody cries pointing to the screen, “That’s my father’s ship. What is everyone doing? They look like they are looking over the railing on the starboard side where I was standing.”
“Yes, it looks like a lot of confusion, doesn’t it.” Daniel comments.
“Father, can you hear me?” Jody begins to yell. “Father, I’m right here. How do I get to you?” Touching the screen she yells, “COME AND GET ME, FATHER.”
“Jody, he can’t hear or see you. Don’t worry little one we’ll get things worked out… Let’s rewind the events on this monitor frame by frame, and find out what happened.”
Curious, Jody watches every move Daniel makes, trying to understand what is happening. Finally, she begins to laugh, “That’s funny. Everyone is walking backward. There…” pointing with her finger. “There I am looking over the railing…. Look at that huge wave. That’s what I felt.”
“Watch the monitor, Jody… Listen to what your father is saying.” Daniel rewinds the sequence a little further and turns up the sound.
***
As Ian and Lucas continue to reminisce on their fortunate past and the way they met their wives while also imagining what their arrival home will be like, they are completely unprepared as the wind begins to blow, the waves of the sea begin to dance and the bow quickly rises, tipping to the starboard and then to the port, as if it had been hit by something below the hull. As they hold on for dear life, the ship continues forward while torrents of rain begin to fall.
In disbelief, Ian questions, “What happened? Why did the ship move like that? Did we hit something?”
“It must have been a rogue wave, Sir,” the helmsman shouts.
Concerned, Lucas remembers, “The last time the sea was angry like that, four of our mates fell overboard.”
Hearing that remark, Ian’s eyes widen. Looking up at the main mast, he notices the sails billowing full to capacity, propelling the ship forward at full speed. Fear grips his heart and goose bumps appear on his arms. Still on the deck floor where he had fallen, Ian quickly looks to the starboard bow where he had left his daughter a short time before, “WHERE IS JODY?”
Jumping to his feet he sprints toward the bow. Looking around the deck and over the railing where he had last seen Jody, he can see no sign of her. He runs to the port side of the bow. Still no sign! Ian and all of the crew scour every inch of the deck, calling “JODY… JODY WHERE ARE YOU?” never realizing that she could be anywhere else.
“WHERE IS SHE? CAN ANYONE SEE HER?”
One of the crew has climbed to the crow’s nest, carefully searching the waves surrounding their schooner. He cups his left hand around his mouth and shouts down. “SHE’S IN THE WATER…OVER THERE!” pointing in Jody’s direction as the ship continues to sail away from her.
Ian quickly marks her spot in the water and dashes toward the stern of the ship as he yells, “LUCAS, TAKE CHARGE. I’M GOING AFTER JODY!”
Knowing Ian, not only as his captain but also as a good friend, Lucas instinctively realizes his plan and with the rain hitting his face, begins yelling directions to the crew through the roar of the wind and the sound of the waves hitting against the hull of the schooner.
“Helmsman head into the wind… YOU”…pointing to each crew member… “Mikkel, Currito, Eduardo! … GRAB THE END OF THE MAN ROPE THAT IAN HAS JUST GRABBED… AND HOLD TIGHT!”
Holding the life line, which had miraculously been left on deck, Ian continues to sprint to the stern and dives overboard. Slicing through the Caribbean Sea head first, the rope continues to unravel on board the ‘Mysterious’ until Ian finally surfaces and swims in the direction that his mate had seen Jody.
“THE REST OF YOU SLACK THE MAINSAIL ALL THE WAY AND CAST OFF THE HEADSAIL. STOP THE SHIP!” Lucas commands. I WANT ALL OF THE SAILS TO LOOK LIKE FLAGS THAT HAVE LOST THEIR DIRECTION! I DON’T WANT THEM TO CATCH ANY WIND.”
***
Back in the security division, Jody states, “My father jumped into the sea to save me?”
“Yes, he did. Watch, let’s see what happens next,” Daniel answers.
Jody watches as her father swims in the direction that he had last seen her, frantically searching under the waves. She asks Daniel, “How can he stay under the water that long? He must be running out of air by now.”
“A father will do anything to save his daughter, Jody,” Daniel says with emotion, as his own memories return and tears start to flow from his eyes.
The monitor continues to show how frantic Ian is swimming and searching in the direction where she was last seen, for any sign of Jody.
***
Finally, Ian has to surface to fill his lungs with air. As soon as his face feels the familiar touch of air, he struggles to stay above the waves, looking in every direction for any sign of his daughter. Breathing deeply with the rain drenching his face, it takes a couple of breaths to get enough air to fill his lungs.
Still holding the rope, Ian dives back into the water. To his utter surprise, he sees a shark just below him. The shark is dazed from the pressure of the mixed undercurrents of the recent wave throwing it up against a large boulder, causing enough pain that it swims haphazardly.
Knowing that Jody would have no chance against this shark, he pulls his knife from it sheath, puts it between his clenched teeth, let’s go of his life line and swims toward the shark as fast as he can. Catching it by surprise, he stabs it several times.
In anger, the shark swims deeper to get away from his attacker and in retaliation, it turns around and comes back with his mouth open, ready to take a huge bite of his new enemy. At the last minute, Ian dodges to the side, thrusting his knife into its flesh. Undeterred, the shark returns again, this time a little less aggressive and Ian is able to hit its nose, a tactic that all of the pirates had been taught to do when coming in contact with a shark. Almost as if it had forgotten why it was there, it quickly retreats with blood streaming behind him.
The effort that Ian has put into swimming deeper to fight the shark has taken all of his air. Concerned that blood in the water would attract other sharks, he refuses to surface until the very last minute; he has to find his daughter.
Aboard the schooner Lucas has ordered that one of the schooner’s rowboats be put into the water, close to where the rope can be seen going into the sea. He knows that if Ian is able to find his daughter, he will surface at that very spot.
Worried, the crew members begin to talk among themselves. “Do you think that he will be able to find her?”
“I don’t know. He’s been underwater for a long time, and I can’t see either one of them.”
Concerned, Lucas asks, “What is that red color in the water over there?”
“…Where?”
“Over there by the rope,” he says pointing to the surface of the water.
Just at the very moment Ian’s lungs are about to burst, he sees movement out of the corner of his right eye. Turning his head he sees a dolphin swimming toward him. Extremely tired and out of air, he follows the dolphin’s nudge until he can feel the rope, which he quickly grabs with his hand. A second dolphin swims o
ver to him, carrying Jody in his mouth.
***
Pointing at the monitor in the security room, Jody says with excitement, “There I am… I didn’t know that the dolphin brought me to my father?”
“Do you remember the dolphin that would look like he was walking backward on the top of the water?” Daniel questions.
“Oh, yes. He was soooo funny,” she giggles.
“He is the one that found you and took you to your father.”
Jody continues to quietly watch the monitor with Daniel.
***
Grabbing his daughter’s body, while looking at the dolphin with gratefulness, Ian tugs on the rope.
On the Schooner’s deck, the crew feels the tug.
“PULL… PULL!”
With all their strength they start walking backward as fast as they can, pulling the rest of the rope back on board the deck of their schooner.
The crew members, who had boarded the rowboat and lowered it to the ocean waves in their efforts to rescue their captain and his daughter, finally, over the roar of the wind and the continuous movement of the waves lapping against their small boat’s wood side, hear Ian’s first breath. Looking toward the very loud deep sound, they see his head as it appears above the waves opening his mouth to fill his lungs with the much needed air that his body is craving. Looking over in his direction they pull back on their oars and quickly maneuver the rowboat over in Ian’s direction.
On board the ‘Mysterious’ in the crow’s nest, a crew member who has been scouting the surrounding sea as everyone fights the torrential rain, notices the rowboat quickly moving toward their captain. Announcing everything that is happening for those on the Schooner, he finally shouts, as he watches his mates in the row boat, “THERE HE IS EVERYONE. HE HAS JODY! HE HAS JODY! STOP PULLING THE ROPE.”
“Yea…Hip, Hip, Hurray.” Happy joyful cheers can be heard coming from the whole crew.
On the unsteady waves of the Caribbean Sea, within the small rowboat, everyone begins to work as a team, “I’ll hold the oars…you take Jody from Ian…you, grab Ian, let’s get them both aboard.” Jody and her father are pulled out of the water and into the rowboat. As soon as he can, Ian takes Jody from his shipmates, turns her over and begins hitting her back, trying to get her to spit out the water, and to take a breath.
***
“Daniel, that’s me…I’m in the boat.”
“Yes, Jody. Are you ready to go back?”
“I can go back?”
“Yes, sweetheart, your father will be given a gift that I was not given. In time your island sisters will need your strength, Jody. Remember…they will need your strength. Are you ready?”
***
Before she can answer, Jody finds herself coughing and spitting out the sea water she had swallowed. With the water out of her lungs she finally takes in a breath of air and Ian smiles as he sees the color come back into her cute rosy cheeks.
Pulling her into his arms and hugging her tightly, he says, “Jody, I thought that I had lost you.”
Looking up to her father, she smiles.
“I almost gave up hope until your friends, the dolphins, brought you to me. They are the ones that found you.”
“I know,” She says.
Shocked at her response, he is about to ask her a question when from the crow’s nest, a shout is heard.
“…SHIP ON THE HORIZON!”
Studying the approaching ship through his eye glass, Lucas yells over the railing, “IT’S THE QUEEN ANNE’S REVENGE, IAN.”
Knowing Lucas well enough to hear concern and urgency in his voice, Ian shouts an order to the crew members in the rowboat. “GET US BACK ABOARD THE SHIP AS FAST AS YOU CAN.”
With all the strength they can muster, the crewmen row as quickly as they can to the side of the schooner just at the bottom of the rope ladder. As each crewmember takes a position on the ladder they lift Jody up to Lucas. Ian is next as he is helped to the top rung.
Finally aboard the ‘Mysterious’, Ian commands Lucas. “Take her to my cabin and make sure that the doctor takes care of her while I handle this.”
“Yes sir.”
Taking Jody, Lucas quickly takes her to the Captain’s Cabin with the doctor following close behind him.
Ian asks, “Hand me the looking glass please.” His heart sinks, “Yes, it’s the Queen Anne’s Revenge. Black Beard has found us again.” He begins yelling out orders. “EVERYONE…GET TO YOUR STATIONS. WE NEED TO GET THIS SHIP MOVING.”
Within his heart he says, “I can’t let Black Beard get close with Jody on board. I don’t want her to get hurt and I don’t want her to see how dangerous it can be when we are fighting an enemy. Black Beard would surely kill me in front of Jody and then he would take her as his own”
“I will make sure that that will never happen! We are only a short distance from our home base where we can hide this ship. But we have to make sure that we are far enough ahead of the Queen Anne’s Revenge so that they won’t see our destination.”
“TRIM THE SAILS! Ian commands. “Make them taut, men! We need to move as quickly as possible.”
Moving at a dangerously fast clip through the waves, with water flowing onto the deck, Ulrik, the Sailing Master cautions, “Captain, should we be going this fast? We have to start turning in toward our base. We won’t make it if we continue at this speed.”
“I know that you are our navigator, Ulrik and I would take your suggestion to slow down. I would even continue in another direction if Jody wasn’t with us. Even if she hadn’t just fallen overboard, I might have thought of sailing somewhere else, but she is with me and she did fall overboard, and she needs her mother’s care.”
“Yes sir.”
“Another thing that I am particularly concerned about is the fact that if Black Beard even gets close to us he will find out that we use Martinique as our home base. Our families are there. Do you want him to have that information?”
“No, Sir.”
“You know what he would do, don’t you?”
“Yes sir. He would take our women and children and sell them on the black market, or keep them for his own use,” Ulrik replied with a shudder.
“…Exactly! That’s why we travel at this speed; for our safety, and most importantly, for the safety of our women and children.”
“I understand, Sir. Would you like me to take the wheel?”
“If you don’t mind, Ulrik I’ll take us in this time.”
“Whatever you say captain, I’ll help the others.” Ulrik quickly looks around to see where his help would be of most benefit.
With concentrated effort, each crewmember works as a team performing his responsibility for manning the schooner. Effortlessly, the ‘Mysterious’ glides through the pounding waves keeping well ahead of the evil Black Beard.
On Martinique, Diana, Ian’s oldest daughter and one of the oldest island girls, is on duty in the watch tower. Looking through the eye glass, she sees her father’s ship sailing toward the island.
“Why is he going so fast? He’s not going to be able to make the turn unless he slows down…there must be some good reason.”
Looking once again further behind her father’s schooner, she finally notices another ship following him. She sees the ships colors, “Ah, the Queen Anne’s Revenge.” Making the sound of a crow she alerts the islanders of the emergency. Sliding down the tower rope Diana runs over to her mother.
“Mother, Black Beard is chasing after father. We all need to work as fast as we can.”
Diana’s mother, Grace, starts giving instructions.
“Everyone, Ian is coming. He is being followed by the Queen Anne’s Revenge. You all know whose ship that is, so we need to work quickly to help the ‘Mysterious’ move faster through the channel. Grab the ropes that the crew will throw over both sides, and pull with all your strength.”
Pointing to the closest side of the cove where the boat will be rounding the curve she says, “We need two o
f you on each rope on this side, to make sure that it turns. Black Beard is following them, and we don’t want him to know where our home is. We need to get them in and close the gate as quickly as possible.” As she runs to the beach, she commands, “QUICKLY, MY SISTERS, QUICKLY.”
As the ‘Mysterious’ rounds the base of a protruding island mountain, several women are running out onto the beach opening up a man-made gate, covered with vines and island foliage. As soon as it is opened, it uncovers a man made channel.
On board the ‘Mysterious’, Ian is shouting commands. “Mates, when it is time, jump with the ropes in your hands over to the shore of the cove and help pull the ship in.” Rounding the point, he yells, “Ease out the sails!” As the sails flap in the wind, the speed is reduced and it slows while advancing toward the cove.
With the gates open, several of Ian’s crew jump with their ropes in hand onto the sandy beach. All of the wives and older island daughters help by pulling on the ropes with the crew as fast as they can. The younger daughters use palm branches to erase any tracks left in the sand and run back as quickly as possible; the men and older women run to close the gates behind them. The shipmates still on board the ship fold the sails and quickly tie them down. The ship is now hidden from sight of anyone sailing by what now looks like a deserted island.
Diana has climbed to the top of the watch tower.
“Can you see him, Diana?”
“Yes. He’s just rounding the point.”
“Quiet everyone.”
CHAPTER 2
As the Queen Anne’s Revenge rounds the point of the island, Black Beard stomps his foot and shouts, “Every time we get this close, we lose them…I don’t understand where they go!”
“Captain, everyone says that the ‘Mysterious’ is a ghost ship… maybe it really is.”
“Thomas, are you telling me that you really believe in ghosts?”
“Well, as you said, it seems to disappear. What else could it be?”
“I’m going to find out!” Black Beard says with determination. “Sail this ship over to the far end of the island. We’ll anchor just out of sight. I don’t believe in ghosts… they’ve got to sail around this area again some time. I’ll just wait until I see them!”