Twenty-Two

Mary

This was, by far, the worst day of Mary's life.

She'd tried to put on a brave face for Jack earlier, when his voice had cracked with fear, and when he'd gathered those last scraps of his courage because she'd told him to, but the moment he was up the stairs, she'd sunk to the floor and buried her face in her arms.

He was gone. Gone gone now, if the cheering crowd was anything to go by. The explosion. The screaming. She'd never heard of such a lively execution (though to be fair, her experience was limited), but all this chaos suggested it had been especially horrible. Perhaps Jack had indeed erupted into sea foam. And perhaps it had made a sound—an explosion. She'd never seen anyone go foam before, and who knew what kind of sound it made on land.

Mary's face was hot and slick. Her eyes felt swollen with too many tears.

This was her fault. All her fault.

Jack was a good man. Kind. Thoughtful. Her best friend since they were minnows.

And now he was gone.

It had been a mistake to put so much of her sense of worth into the contest. Who cared about being the Pirate Queen anyway? Why should such a thing even exist? She'd only done it because she'd let her father get to her—because she'd thought winning the contest would be enough to prove she didn't need him anymore.

She pulled the hourglass from her pocket. Of course the wretched thing had come back to her after the soldiers took it. And as she gazed at it, she estimated the land chamber still held several more days. Her time would run out before the hourglass did.

When the Sea King came looking, he would be too late.

She could see his face now, the grief returning after learning of her death. Again. What Karen had said about him being upset after he'd visited her—it had stuck with Mary. At the time, she'd assumed he was upset because she hadn't given in and gone home. But now, it seemed obvious that he'd been upset because he'd wanted her to return, and she would have chosen death over that humiliation.

"I wish you could come get me now," she whispered. But the hourglass wasn't like the shell phone. It wouldn't relay her words to anyone.

The sound of a seagull outside drew her gaze toward the tiny, barred window. It squawked at her.

"Oh, bird!" Mary scrambled to her feet. "Bird, listen to me!"

"Squawk." It rustled its feathers.

"Go find my father," she said. "Tell him I need him to come get me now."

"Squawk." It tilted its head.

"My father," she tried again. "The Sea King."

The bird settled down onto the windowsill. "Squawk."

"Gah!" Mary scooped up the hourglass and threw it at the seagull, causing it to fly off. "Go get my father!" she shouted out the window.

"Squawk!" called the bird, and then it flew to a roof in the town and—as far as she could tell—went to sleep.

Mary let out a wordless shriek, then fell against the wall and slid back down to the floor. Tears burned her eyes.

She should never have entered the contest. Tobias had been right about the danger.

She should have gone to Aruba with him.

And where was Tobias now? She had no idea. For all she knew, he'd drowned when she'd pushed him overboard.

Mary sobbed harder. Soon, her nose was running, her eyes were aching, and her head was throbbing. And the only things she could think about were every mistake she'd ever made.

There were so many of them.

She was so caught up in her grief that she didn't notice as the noise around her died down. Her crew—previously discussing which one of them was going to be called out next—had stopped talking. She didn't hear the screech of metal on metal. Or the heavy footfalls.

The only thing she noticed was someone approaching her cell.

She scrambled to her feet, moving to the back of the cell as quickly as possible. She wiped her eyes and nose on her sleeve, but it wasn't a guard, come to take her to the gallows. It was Tobias, holding an iron ring bristling with keys.

She hadn't killed him after all.

"Ready to get out of here?" he asked, flashing a grin.

"How'd you get here? And what about the others? And I think Jack—" Her voice broke on her cousin's name.

"Jack is fine." Tobias tried a key in the lock on her cell. "As for the others, I set them all free and told them to meet us at the William ."

"Jack's alive?" She could hardly believe it. "Are you sure?"

Tobias finally found the right key and opened the door. "Quite sure."

Mary rushed out of the cell and threw her arms around him, squeezing him as hard as she could. "I'm sorry," she whispered by his ear. "I'm sorry for everything. I should have—"

"Don't worry about that right now." Tobias's fingertips dug into her sides for a moment, then he stepped back. "Just add another point to my tally. I'm saving you."

A faint, disbelieving laugh bubbled out of Mary. "How? I pushed you off the ship! Did you swim?"

"Let me explain," he said. "No, there is too much. Let me sum up. After you pushed me overboard, all I had to do was swim for the William , sail here, steal Anne, and plan everyone's escape. After I found a stick of dynamite."

"And the keys?" Mary asked, wiping her face on the last clean spot on her sleeve.

"We had a significant liability. By sundown, the fort gate was guarded by sixty men. We didn't have very many assets. My brains, Anne's steel, and a troupe of actors. But then we got a wheelbarrow, so Captain Gregory impersonated Barnet, sneaked us into the fort, and then I—"

Into the fort! Barnet!

Right. They weren't out of danger yet.

Mary seized him by the arm. "Even the sum-up is too much. Let's get out of here."

Their escape was swift, with only a handful of guards chasing them down the crowded streets (which smelled eerily of explosives), one detour around a cart accident (no one was hurt, but it did bring traffic to a standstill), and then a series of hiding spots while they approached the William sitting in the harbor like it was any other ship. It was flying the Jester 's flag.

Clever , Mary thought as they climbed up the gangplank and the rowers started to row the ship away from the docks. The flag switcharoo must have been Tobias's idea.

But what of the Ranger ?

Her heart sank as she turned and scanned the docks. There, in the impound section, her gaze caught on the Ranger . As the William moved out, Mary watched her ship fade into the darkness. It had been her home for an entire year. It had been the place she'd finally understood herself—who she was and what she could do in this world.

She'd thought she was all cried out, but another tear found its way down her cheek. Not everyone made it out of Port Royal , she thought, blinking a few times before she turned to face the crew.

"Mary!" Jack ran toward her, Anne just behind him. "You're alive!"

" You're alive," she countered, throwing her arms around him.

He hugged her back. "Bonn got me out just in time. It was very exciting." He grinned widely. "She loves me . "

"Well, yes, obviously," Mary said. "We all knew that."

Jack gave her a fierce squeeze, then let her go. His smile had faded, and he was staring at something beyond her. "Well, finrot."

Mary spun to see what had caught his attention. The rest of the crew, too, was pointing. There were audible gulps of fear.

Which was fair enough. Because there, blocking the entrance to the harbor, were half a dozen ships flying the British flag and three ships flying Vane's flag, most notably the Conspicuous .

"Well, finrot," Mary agreed. The William was small and fast, but it would be impossible to get through without taking some damage. "Tobias, the liabilities are obvious. What kind of assets do we have, besides your brains, Anne's steel, and a troupe of actors?"

"Your strength," he said.

She couldn't exactly hop from one ship to another and fight all those men individually, though. But she supposed...

"Full speed ahead!" Mary climbed up to the helm. Her fists closed around the wheel. "Hoist the sails! The wind is with us."

"Uhh," said a bunch of pirates all at once.

"You want us to sail directly into nine heavily armed ships, all of them carrying our various enemies?" Jack asked.

"Do it now!" Mary ordered. "And get the Jolly Roger flying. I want them to know who's coming for them."

"Aye, Captain!" Anne said cheerily. Then she was up in the rigging.

Slowly, the William began to gain speed. The skull and crossbones flapped in the wind. And when Mary peered through her spyglass, she could see the crews of the other ships—all staring at the William and scratching their heads.

At first, it seemed like nothing was going to happen—nothing except the very small William about to ram several much larger ships. But that was when everyone noticed the rushing sound around the hull of the ship. The seagulls flying in formation around them. The dolphins and sharks swimming alongside the ship.

And the wave growing ahead of them.

"What the heck?" Mr. Gaines shouted.

"Oh, look what you made her do!" called Mr. Swift gleefully. "Look what you made her do!"

Mary grinned as the wave surged before them, rising up and up until the water frothed and broke upon the nine ships blocking the exit.

Like toys, they spun out of the way. Water raced along their decks, sweeping soldiers and pirates overboard. And now there was a narrow path for the William , which was picking up speed with all the sails trimmed and the sea creatures swimming ahead to let the ship sail in their wake.

Mary laughed as they slipped through the gap. Then she waved at the soldiers and pirates who hadn't been pushed overboard but were wringing water out of their clothes.

From the Conspicuous , Vane glared at her, murder in his eyes.

"Enjoy your retirement party," Mary called.

And then they were through, into open waters. The sharks and dolphins left. The seagulls went back to Port Royal. And Mary let out a long, exhausted breath.

The crew whooped and hollered. Jack cheered, while Anne dropped down from the rigging, a huge grin on her face. Tobias clapped Mary on the shoulder. "Wow," he said. "I didn't know you could do that ."

Mary gave a tiny shrug. "The ocean is a friend of mine."

"Well, Captain," DuPaul said, when Mary let him have the helm again, "where to now?"

Mary bit her lip. She'd been thinking about this. "That depends." Slowly, she looked down at the men gathered on the deck. There were a few faces missing—the men who'd sided with Vane—but most were still with her. They gazed up at her, waiting, Effie Ham among them, and the actors from the Jester . "Now that we're free, we have a decision to make."

"What's that?" Anne asked.

"The contest. I know I've been pushing the crew. We've been all over, braving storms, other contestants, and just now, Barnet. And we don't have a bit of gold to show for it."

"You didn't find the gold on the boot island?" DuPaul asked.

"No," Mary said simply. "It wasn't there."

They were all quiet, the only sound the William cutting through the waves.

"You all voted for me. You trusted me. And under my watch, we've gotten into more trouble than we've ever been in before. Jack almost died."

"I'm fine, though," Jack piped up. "I didn't end up hanging by the neck until dead, and the musket ball is finally out of my leg. Look!" He held up the small piece of iron.

"You kept that?" Mary wrinkled her nose. "Whatever floats your boat, I guess."

"It does float my boat." Jack shoved the musket ball back into his pocket.

Mary shook her head. Only Jack would keep something like that.

"So what's this decision you're talking about, Captain?" Quint called.

Mary took a steadying breath before she said, "We need to decide whether we should keep going in the contest. Or if we should drop out."

"Why would we drop out?" DuPaul asked.

"Because a title isn't worth your safety. Your freedom. Besides, we're pirates. What do we need a king for, anyway?"

"That's what I've been saying," Tobias said faintly. He looked ready to drop. Had he slept at all since the encounter with Barnet? Caesar, who was standing behind him, looked worried, too.

All this time, Mary had been focused on her freedom. She hadn't spent any time thinking about what that would mean for everyone else.

But as captain, it was her duty to protect her crew, even if it meant she had to go home to Underwhere.

"Well," DuPaul said, "I think we should go back to the boot island and try again."

Quint stepped forward. "Aye. I want to finish the contest."

"Really?" Mary said. "We could go somewhere else. Settle down. Stay out of sight. I hear Aruba is nice this time of year...."

"None of us want that," Swift said. "We want to win this."

"But why?" Mary asked.

Swift took off his hat to let a mess of blond hair fall around his face. Then he adjusted something beneath his shirt. And he... changed . "You see," Swift said, "I've been a woman this whole time."

"Aye, me too!" Gaines wiped a film of dirt off his—uh, her —face. "You have no idea how happy I was to see you on the stage that day saying you're Mary Read."

Child lifted Croaky into the air. "Us too, Captain. Croaky and I have both been hiding for years. But no more!"

Mary's head spun as she gazed out across the crew, men and women. More were coming up from the lower decks, now that they were out of the harbor and the wind would take them in the right direction. "This is—I never expected—" She could hardly believe it. Her heart felt so full with love for them.

All this time, she'd thought she would win the contest for herself. But it mattered to her crew, too. Anne, Effie, and all the rest.

So Mary had to win. Nothing would stop her.

"All right," she called out, "let's go get that gold."