words are truth. The proof lies in the wheel.” He leaned hard

on the wheel, but the ship didn’t change course. “Haunted, sure as I’m alive. I hear the whispers like a heavy heart about to burst. But look,” he said in a softer, even scarier voice. “She’s tracking yonder, ever bitter, ever seeking. Revenge is in our

grasp!”

Alex stared, openmouthed, not sure what to do or say.

Not even sure what was happening. The captain leaned on

the wheel in the opposite direction, but the ship stayed steady.

Alex looked ahead to where the captain pointed, but he saw

nothing but water. Warbler loomed larger to the port side, a

good ways off. He knit his brow, trying to make sense of the

conversation.

Finally he turned without a word and hurried back to Simber. “We have a problem,” Alex said. “It’s not the captain. I

don’t think it is, anyway. He seems to be trying to get us to

Warbler, but he thinks . . . he thinks the ship is haunted. And

it’s going somewhere on its own power.”

Simber blinked, but showed no other clue to his thoughts

until he spoke. And what he said next spread a chill through

Alex’s bones.

“About thrrree minutes ago,” he said slowly, “as you were

talking to the captain, the island beyond Warrrbler disappearrred.”

Destination:

Unknown

Alex scanned the horizon, and then he remembered he hadn’t seen it when he was talking to the captain. “It—it should be right out here somewhere, shouldn’t it? Is it hidden behind Warbler?” Alex stood on his tiptoes, but he knew that there was no way the

island could be hidden at this angle. It should be right in front of them, due west, not out to the port side of the ship, where Warbler was.

Simber looked grim. “I’ve wonderrred in the past if therrre was something strrrange about that island. Therrre werrre times I couldn’t see it, but I assumed it was because of its distance, the lighting, and the tides. . . .” He trailed off, lost in thought.

Alex watched Warbler Island as the pirate ship continued past it. His heart dropped, and he could hear people commenting about it. “I’ll be right back,” he said to Simber.

He ran down to the deck below. “Sky! Crow!” he called out, knowing he had to put aside what had happened earlier. “Sky? Are you down here?” He raced around the deck, frantically looking for them.

“Alex?” Her voice always surprised him. The husky rasp remained at the edges of her words since the thorn necklace had been removed, and it somehow made her voice more beautiful. He turned, heaving from the run, and saw her eyes were puffy. He felt terrible.

“Sky,” he said, “I—need you. Can you come with me?” She lifted her chin. “Of course,” she said. The words were cool, crisp enough to shatter.

Ouch. “Thanks—up a deck, to where Simber is flying.”

Halfway up the stairs, he stopped suddenly and turned. Sky bumped into him.

“Oh, sorry,” she said, startled. She looked up. They were alone in the stairwell.

Alex stared at her, her pretty eyes, her smooth brown skin, her hair that was bleached by the sun, and his stomach jumped and crashed around inside his ribs. He lifted his hand and it faltered, and then he swallowed hard and gently pushed a strand of her hair to the side.

“Look, I’m the one who’s sorry,” he whispered. “I know you heard—earlier—and I want to explain, but there’s no time right now. I just . . . I kind of feel like I’m cracking apart.”

Her mouth twitched.

Alex glanced at her lips, and then found her eyes again. He knew his mind had to change gears. He had a huge problem to fix. But he couldn’t just toss aside this thing that consumed his thoughts more often than he wanted to admit. Still, he didn’t know what else to do. “Everything is just so . . .” He breathed, she blinked, and he forgot what he was going to say.

Sky didn’t speak. She stood very still, looking at him. And then she reached up, slipped her cool fingers into the hair at Alex’s neck, and pulled his head toward hers. His eyes closed and he felt her mouth press against his for the briefest, weirdest moment as the world swirled around him. Her lips were cool and soft and a little bit wet, and it didn’t feel anything like what he would have expected, which was strangely okay. When he opened his eyes, his breath escaped in a tiny huff, and he stared at her, his heart still whirling. “Howowah,” he said, his brain a jumbled mess.

She raised an eyebrow, a small smile curling at the corner of her lips. “Now,” she said calmly, putting a hand on her hip, “what’s the big dramatic emergency this time?”

They reached Simber just as Warbler began to grow smaller and move away. “Oh,” said Sky, realizing the problem. She frowned and looked to the west. “Where are we going?”

“We don’t know. The ship seems to have a mind of its own.” Alex sucked in a deep breath and blew it out, trying to calm his twisting insides enough to concentrate on the issue at hand. He didn’t think he could look Simber in the eye for fear of breaking out into a goofy grin.

“Is there any magic you can do to stop it?”

“Not that I know of.” Alex racked his brains, but he could think of nothing. “Maybe Ms. Octavia or Florence would have an idea.”

“It whispers, you know,” Sky said.