“I understand,” said Liam. “Clarence can be very convincing. He mastered the art of lying long ago.”
“We’re really happy that you’re still alive,” said one of the sailors. “No one on the ship likes Prince Clarence. You should have seen his face when Master Audun showed up as a dragon! The prince screamed and hid in the galley.”
“He was sure they didn’t exist,” said Annie. “It must have been a shock to finally learn that there really are dragons.”
CHAPTER 14
Annie stood on the deck with Liam until they could no longer see the shoreline. While he stayed to talk to the captain, she went below to their cabin to put the bottle with the potion and the box containing the pearl in her luggage. She was trying to get the snarls out of her hair when the ship stopped with a sudden lurch, tossing her halfway across the cabin. For a moment, the ship was silent except for the sound of the waves smacking against the hull. And then the voices started, some from the other cabins, but most above deck. Some of the voices were angry, some were frightened, some demanded answers. Getting to her feet, Annie tossed her brush onto the bed and hurried out the door. Audun, a human again, was already pounding up the stairs with Millie close behind. Annie ran after them and reached the deck just as Liam shouted, “Who are you and what do you want?”
Liam and the captain were standing by the railing, facing something Annie couldn’t see. It wasn’t until she’d joined them at the railing that she saw a figure riding the crest of a stationary wave only a few yards from the ship. At first Annie had no idea who it was, but then she saw the nearly translucent hair and the dark green scales and realized that Nastia Nautica had found her.
For the first time Annie was able to see the sea witch’s face. Although the skin on her neck and arms was loose and wrinkled like an older lady’s, the skin on her face was as taut as the heads of Ting-Tang’s drums. Her lips were thin and her nose was narrow and pointed, but her eyes were her most arresting features. Two black circles stared at the people on board the ship, turning to Annie as she drew closer. Annie had never seen anyone without whites in their eyes, and she thought they were highly disturbing.
“There she is!” screeched Nastia Nautica. “That’s the thief who stole my pearl!”
When Liam glanced behind him and saw Annie, he moved so that he was between his wife and the sea witch. Annie stepped around him so that she was facing Nastia Nautica again. “This is my fight, not yours,” she murmured to her husband.
“You’re my wife, so it’s mine as well,” he replied, taking her hand.
“Give me back my pearl!” the sea witch screamed. With a twitch of her hand, the wave that was supporting her rose another ten feet into the air so that she was looking down on everyone.
“I’m not giving you anything!” Annie called back.
“I’d reconsider if I were you!” cried the sea witch. “You either hand over the pearl, or I’ll have my beast take your ship apart board by board until I find the pearl myself!”
The witch wiggled her fingers and something big and wet slapped against the hull. Translucent tendrils slurped over the railing, hauling Nastia Nautica’s creature onto the deck. It fell on the wooden planks with a loud sploosh! “You can’t do this, Mother!” Pearl cried, rising up on a wave of her own. “Someone like you should never have that pearl. I took it from you because I knew you’d use it for something evil and nasty. If anyone should have the pearl, it’s me!”
“And what would you do with it—put it in your jewelry chest and wear it on fancy occasions?” Nastia Nautica said with a sneer.
“I’d keep it safe from people like you!” Pearl shouted at her mother. With a swoosh of her hand, she made the column of water supporting Nastia Nautica lose its shape and fall back into the sea.
“How dare you!” her mother screeched. Drawing water from the depths of the ocean, she sent a huge wave crashing over Pearl’s head, nearly capsizing the Sallie Mae.
The ship tilted until the floor was nearly vertical. The people scrambled to stay on board, grabbing hold of whatever they could reach. Liam snagged Annie with one hand while wrapping his free arm around the mast. Annie caught hold of a sailor as he fell past her, nearly dislocating her shoulder as his weight swung her around.
When the ship rocked back in the opposite direction, it didn’t tilt as far. It soon began to level out and Annie began to look around. She was surprised to see that Nastia Nautica’s creature had stretched itself between a mast and a railing, and that three sailors were embedded in its squishy body. As the water around the ship grew calmer, the creature twisted itself, squirting the men out of its body like seeds from an orange.
“That was the most disgusting thing that’s ever happened to me!” one of the sailors said as he wiped slime off his face.
Annie frowned and turned to the man. “At least you didn’t fall off the ship and drown,” she told him.
While the ship’s crew ran around trying to make sure everyone was all right and set everything back where it was supposed to go, Annie glanced at the sea witches. Nastia Nautica was motioning with her hands, trying to enclose her daughter in an oily-looking ball of water, even while Pearl was sending small jellyfish to plaster themselves all over her mother. They were so involved in fighting each other that neither one was looking at the people on the ship. Hoping that Nastia Nautica and Pearl would stay busy for a while, Annie hurried to the creature that was halfheartedly trying to pull a plank out of the decking.
“I know you aren’t mean or nasty like Nastia Nautica,” Annie began. “And I’m sure you don’t really want to do this. You don’t seem to be happy with the sea witch, so I don’t know why you stay with her.”
The creature turned its sorrowful gaze on Annie even as it stopped pulling on the planking.
“Now is your chance to get away,” Annie told it. “You could flee while Nastia Nautica and Pearl are fighting. Nastia Nautica won’t notice if you leave this very minute. Go now and swim as fast as you can so she can’t find you.”
The beast stared at her for a moment, then began to slide backward toward the railing opposite from where the witches were fighting. Oozing over the side of the ship, it disappeared, hitting the water with a loud plop! Annie ran to the railing to watch the creature undulate out of sight.
When Annie turned back to the two sea witches, most of the jellyfish were gone and Pearl was trying to pry starfish off her face. Nastia Nautica was chortling with glee and pitching more starfish at her daughter when Annie joined her friends at the railing. “What are we going to do if Nastia Nautica wins?” Annie asked them.
“If it looks as if that’s going to happen, I can turn into my dragon self and make the water around her boil,” said Millie.
Audun leaned over to kiss his wife on the cheek. “That won’t be necessary.” Turning back to the sea witches, he shouted, “Nastia Nautica! Remember me?”
The older sea witch looked up from hurling starfish. “No, why should I?”
“Maybe you’ll remember me better if I look like this!” Audun replied as the air around him began to shimmer. A moment later, Audun the dragon was there, already spreading his wings.
Nastia Nautica recognized him then. Her face twisted in rage and she began to scream, “It’s you! You’re the one who stole my flute! You took the desicca bird from me when it hadn’t finished its job. And it was you who rescued that horrid witch Emma! Why, if I—”
Audun didn’t give the sea witch a chance to finish her threat. She was still ranting at him when he took to the air and swooped down. The witch had scarcely raised her hand to point at him when he plucked her from the sea, pinning her arms and hands to her sides. Even Annie had seen enough to know that the sea witch needed to gesture to make her magic work, so she wasn’t surprised when all Nastia Nautica could do was kick and scream. Lifting the sea witch high into the air, Audun carried her toward the shore, disappearing over the jungle.
As the water around the ship grew calm, everyone watched
as Pearl pulled the last few starfish off her face. She was tossing them into the water when Audun came back without Nastia Nautica.
“What did you do with her?” Liam asked as Audun landed on the deck.
“I dropped her into the pool in the bottom of the pit where we found Ting-Tang,” Audun replied.
“You know that pool might open into underground caves,” said Liam. “Eventually she might be able to make her way back to the sea.”
“I know,” Audun told him. “But by then we’ll be long gone.”
“Can mermaids survive in freshwater?” asked Millie.
“I have no idea,” said Audun.
“It will make her ill, but she’ll survive,” Pearl replied before turning to Annie. The young sea witch had called up a wave to hold her level with the deck and face-to-face with Annie and her friends. “I need to ask you, what do you intend to do with the giant pearl?”
“Return it to the sea monster that owned it before Millie’s mother took it, unless you have a better idea,” said Annie.
Pearl laughed. “The sea monster didn’t just own it. The monster created it. That pearl didn’t come from any oyster. It may look like a pearl, but it’s actually something very different. Everyone just calls it a pearl for lack of a better name. Now that I think about it, I believe that your proposal is an excellent solution. The monster can probably keep it safer than anyone else. I was going to take the pearl back from you, but instead I believe I’ll let you complete your task. Just make sure you keep it safe until you give it to the monster. It’s too dangerous to let it fall into the wrong hands.”
“I’ll guard it with my life,” said Annie. “But do we have to put it back exactly where it was before? I really dread the idea of going into the monster’s mouth and down its gullet.”
“Throat,” said Millie.
“Either way,” Annie went on. “Couldn’t we just fling the pearl at the monster and leave?”
“That sounds like a much better plan,” Liam said.
Pearl shook her head. “You have to get it in the monster’s mouth at least. Otherwise the pearl might lie on the sea floor unnoticed until someone bad comes along.”
“I know the monster was last seen near the witches’ island, but where should we look exactly?” asked Liam.
“If you’re on the witches’ beach, enter the water and go straight ahead for four hundred yards, then turn left,” Pearl told him. “After you’ve gone another hundred yards, you should see Coral’s castle. There’s a seaweed forest behind it. Go through the forest and you’ll see the shipwreck where my mother used to live. The monster lived in a coral reef near there, but it could be anywhere by now.”
“It sounds awfully complicated,” said Annie.
“We can handle it,” said Liam. “You know, Annie, we might as well be the ones to take it. We were going there anyway. Do you mind if we borrow your amulet, Audun? I don’t know how we’ll do this otherwise.”
“Of course you can,” said Audun. “Next time we need it, we’ll just come see you. It will give Millie and me a good reason to visit.”
“If that’s all settled, I’ll be off,” said Pearl. “My mother knows where I live now, so it’s time for me to move. It’s too bad. I really do like that ship. Ah well, at least I got to stay there as long as I did. Good-bye, everyone.” With a wave of her hand and a flick of her tail, the mermaid sea witch disappeared back into the water.
“What did you mean when you said that we were going there anyway?” Annie asked Liam. “Where are we going, the monster’s coral reef?”
“Close enough,” said Liam. “After we take the potion to Treecrest, we’re going to visit the island where the witches live. It would be the perfect place for my mother. She’s always liked witches, and it’s far enough away.”
“I’m glad you finally made a decision about her,” replied Annie.
“So am I!” Liam said. “Now I can’t wait to leave her there so we never have to see her again. All we’ll have to do is convince the witches to keep her there.”
“And I can’t wait to take this potion to my father and Uncle Rupert,” said Annie. “This already took far too long!”
CHAPTER 15
The trip back to Kenless wasn’t nearly as long as the hunt for Skull Cove. Rather than looking for islands or following the coastline, Audun used his dragon senses to take them straight across the ocean to the seaport. When the wind died down, he used his newfound ability to control the winds to make it strong again. The Sallie Mae sped across the water with a tailwind filling her sails. Fortunately, they didn’t encounter any more pirates, witches, or sea monsters on the trip.
Annie became more and more agitated the closer they came to shore. Now that the end of the trip was approaching, she felt guilty for having enjoyed the voyage as much as she had. While hunting for the cove and the witch doctor, she had let the search distract her from thinking about the suffering her father and uncle were enduring. With the potion in hand, their illness was all she could think about. Too upset to stand still, she paced back and forth across the deck as if that would help them go faster. The others stood by the railing, looking up every time she walked past.
After watching Annie for a while, Millie turned to her husband. “Audun, do you think the captain knows the way to port from here?”
Audun shrugged. “All he has to do is go straight ahead. At this rate we’ll be there in about two hours.”
“Then why don’t you carry Annie to her parents’ castle? Liam and I can stay on the ship until we reach the port, then take the carriage back. The sooner Annie gets the potion to her family, the sooner her father and uncle will be cured and she can stop worrying.”
“I don’t like leaving you behind,” said Audun.
“I’ll be fine,” Millie told him. “Liam will take care of me, won’t you, Liam?”
“Of course,” he replied. “I wouldn’t let anything happen to Millie, and I know it would mean a lot to Annie.”
“If you’re sure … ,” Audun said to his wife.
“Absolutely!” said Millie.
Audun kissed her on the cheek. “Then I should go talk to the captain.”
“And I’ll try to catch up with Annie so I can tell her!” Millie announced.
Annie was in the bow of the ship, gazing toward the still invisible land, when Millie found her. “Go get the potion. I have a bag you can use to carry it,” Millie told her. “Audun is going to fly you to Treecrest as soon as he’s talked to the captain.”
“What? Why? I mean, I thought we were going together,” said Annie.
“Liam and I will be right behind you in the carriage,” Millie said. “This way you can get the potion to your father and uncle that much faster. It’s still daylight, and … Oh, I suppose that could be a problem. People aren’t used to seeing dragons around here. Maybe you and Audun should wait until dark.”
“Forget that!” exclaimed Annie. “There are lives at stake! Please let Audun know that I’ll be ready in a few minutes.”
Annie ran below deck to get the potion. When she returned a few minutes later, she was carrying the potion and the box containing the pearl. Both Audun and Liam had joined Millie, and they all looked at the wooden box when she appeared. “You’re taking that with you, too?” asked Millie.
“I have to,” said Annie. “Pearl said to keep it safe.”
“I don’t think it will fit even if we take it out of the box,” Millie said, studying the bag she’d brought.
“But I have to take the pearl!” said Annie. “I don’t dare leave it with the luggage. Someone might take it, and you heard what Ting-Tang said about how dangerous it is!”
“I can carry it for you,” said Audun. “It won’t affect me and it should fit in my pouch. I can’t fit that box, though.”
“I don’t need the box,” said Annie, taking out the pearl.
“Here, give me the potion,” Millie said, taking it from Annie. “It can go in this bag. I thought we could strap it
to your back so you don’t drop it.”
When Annie glanced at Audun, he had already turned into a dragon. “That was fast,” Annie said, handing him the pearl. She watched while he raised his wing and tucked the pearl into a pouch made from loose skin. The skin drew tight when he lowered his wing, so she wasn’t worried that it would fall out.
Once Millie had helped Annie strap the bag containing the potion to her back, Annie was ready to go. “Millie and I will ride in the carriage all night,” Liam told his wife. “We should reach the castle by midafternoon.” He kissed her then, making her wish that she weren’t in such a hurry.
It was early evening when Annie finally climbed onto Audun’s back. Even as she waved good-bye to Liam and Millie, her thoughts were already turning to the invalids at home, worried that she might not get the potion there in time.
“Hold on tight,” Audun told her. “I’m going to fly high so no one will see us as more than a speck in the sky. We can go lower once the sun sets.”
Annie bent over Audun’s neck as he angled upward, wrapping her arms around him as far as they would go. She could feel the temperature of the air change the higher they went, and soon began to wish she’d worn something warmer. When Audun leveled off, they were high above the sparse clouds, and Annie forgot about being cold. She felt like she could see forever, and she marveled at how small everything below her appeared. There was the ocean with the port just ahead. The miniature town around it looked like a child’s toy set; the people were too small to see. The patchwork farmland came next, with hedgerows and stone walls dividing one section from the next. And then they were flying over the forest, a different shade of green than what she’d seen when flying over the jungle, but just as lush and beautiful.
Annie glanced to her right. The sun was setting, turning the sky pink and orange. It was glorious, but she would have enjoyed it more if it hadn’t reminded her how quickly time was passing. As the sky grew dark, Annie’s stomach began to hurt from worry. She had to get there in time; she just had to!